Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2023L01712:body:0:p18
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2023L01712
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 51762–54713

species in the world that care for their young.

  Source: Birriliburu IPA

  Ecosystem Function of Tjakura
  Tjakura play an important role in the ecological processes and functions of the areas they inhabit.
  Their extensive underground burrows systems provide a safe, thermally stable refuge for other animals seeking shelter from predators and/or climatic extremes. Such refugia have become increasingly important following the loss of larger burrowing mammals (bandicoots and bettongs) for non-burrowing species such as the Woma python (Bruton et al. 2014) which is regularly recorded on camera traps deployed at burrows (Ridley 2015, Moore et al. 2017). The brush-tailed mulgara also frequently uses Tjakura burrows (Molyneux et al. 2018) but it is unknown whether this is to prey on young skinks, as a refuge from predators or for thermoregulation benefits.

  Burrows also harvest water, interrupt localised sheetflow from heavy rains and cycle nutrients.
  This appears to promote localised plant germination, growth and diversity.

 Main Threats
 Unmanaged fire and unsustainable predation by feral cats, foxes and dingoes are the two major threats to Tjakura populations, and it is likely that these two threatening processes act in synergy.

"When big wildfire come through Warrana won't be safe without spinifex because cat will be getting them
 and the dingo, so we have to do the little firebreaks next to the burrow so Warrana can stay safe and the little families"
 Christine Ellis, Newhaven Wildlife Sanctuary/Nyirripi Ranger, December 2021

Unmanaged Fire
 Information from senior Knowledge holders suggests that Tjakura used to be much more common and widespread in the "pujiman" days when Aboriginal people were living traditional nomadic lifestyles.
 As people moved into settlements in the 1950s and 60s the fine scale fire mosaic that had been maintained by regular burning was obliterated by occasional lightning- induced wildfires that were at 10-100 times larger than the mean fire size under the traditional fire regime (Burrows 2006, Blackwood et al. 2022).

 When fire removes the vegetation cover from Tjakura burrows, most burrows become inactive within 12 months (Moore et al. 2015). At Yulara, a 20-year burrow monitoring program across 11 sites found that there was continuous turnover of burrows with an average of 30% of unburnt burrows becoming inactive each year (range = 12 - 55%) as new ones were established. However, when sites were burnt, 83% of burrows became inactive within 12 months of the fire occurring (Paltridge and Eldridge 2021) and number of active burrows at burnt sites plummeted 1-2 years after fire. Similarly, within UKTNP, the Tjakura subpopulation suffered significant declines in the number of active burrows at sites after wildfires occurred (Bennison and West 2018). Broadscale surveys across Newhaven Wildlife Sanctuary Wildlife Sanctuary found only 16% of 78 active burrows recorded