Application for Scientific Permit - Available for Public Comment
Public comment on the following application for a Scientific Research (Fauna) Permit is open until 25 September 2024.
Applicant: Australian National University
Species/Taxon: Orange-bellied Parrot (Neophema chrysogaster); Blue-winged Parrot (Neophema chrysostoma); birds
Location: This study will take place across multiple sites including the wild orange-bellied Parrot breeding site (i.e., Melaleuca Valley) and the Five Mile Beach Wildlife Management Facility operated by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment near Hobart. Tenures include reserves and crown land overseen by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment (inclusive of the ‘Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service’ & ‘Environment, Heritage and Land’) as well as private land by agreement with landholders.
Title of research: Bioacoustic monitoring of orange-bellied Parrots
Aim of project: The aim of this project is to develop a bioacoustic monitoring approach for the orange-bellied Parrot.
Justification: The project will contribute to conservation of the migratory orange-bellied parrot across its breeding, migratory and wintering range. Specifically, this project will develop a method to confidently detect the orange-bellied parrot using passive acoustic recorders.
The orange-bellied parrot population is best studied in Tasmania, where they return to breed each year at a known breeding site (i.e., Melaleuca). However, many juveniles do not survive their first winter on the mainland, and juvenile mortality has doubled in the past 20 years. The cause of this high mortality remains unknown, but it is strongly suspected that habitat quality during winter and migration has a major impact.
Although winter habitat is critical for the survival of migratory species, there is a paucity of information about what winter and migratory locations are important for orange-bellied parrots. This is partially because orange-bellied parrots are more widely dispersed in their winter range and therefore more difficult to detect. Only a fraction of the population are reliably detected at a couple sites during winter. This makes it difficult to identify, retain, protect and restore habitat and address threatening processes impacting the population. New methods are required to improve survey capacity and identify critical habitat used by orange-bellied parrots.
First, this project aims to develop a bioacoustic method for detecting orange-bellied parrots. This includes development of a call recogniser using training data and creating an automated workflow for future management and researchers to use. Currently, there are no call recognisers for the orange-bellied parrot, which is a barrier to implementing bioacoustic surveys.
Second, we aim to establish bioacoustic survey guidelines for orange-bellied parrots. Pilot studies at the captive breeding facility and wild breeding site in Melaleuca will inform the optimal study design of bioacoustic monitoring for orange-bellied parrots and yield training data for developing call recognisers.
Third, this project aims to verify and calibrate results obtained with bioacoustic monitoring and traditional survey methods. As orange-bellied parrots are well documented at the breeding site in southwest Tasmania, acoustic and observational data can be reliably compared. This will help determine the efficacy of bioacoustic methods and conditions in which they are best suited.
Fourth, calls of a similar sounding species (i.e. blue-winged parrots) will also be recorded in the wild at sites where no orange-bellied parrots occur. This is to likewise identify blue-winged parrot calls reliably and ensure their calls are not confused with orange-bellied parrots by automated processes.
Finally, the technical advances made in this project will enable detection of orange-bellied parrots across a broader geographical range and timescale than previously possible. Our resulting methodology is intended for use in wintering and migration sites where presence of orange-bellied parrots is currently difficult to detect.
Maximum likely numbers of individuals involved: No animals will be handled so zero individuals will be involved in the traditional sense. Recorders may passively record all animals in the vicinity, which could be up to several hundred individuals heard at the captive facility. Approximately 50-100 orange-bellied parrot’s and up to 30 blue-winged parrots may be detected during observational surveys.
Activities undertaken and methods:
Bioacoustic monitoring. Passive acoustic recorders will be deployed at multiple sites in 2024-2025. The duration and design of deployments will vary as methods are refined. We estimate 2-week deployments will be sufficient to obtain adequate data. Longer deployments may take place to test the longevity of equipment and settings.
Observational Surveys. Surveys using traditional point-count methods will be used to verify and compare the efficacy of traditional and bioacoustic methods. Up to ten days of observational surveys will take place across one to two fieldtrips at Melaleuca, with many sites repeatedly surveyed using an occupancy framework. The number of minimum survey sites will be determined using data simulation to test model sensitivity prior to surveys. Each site will be surveyed between 3-7 times.
Fate of animals: N/A. No animals will be handled in this study.
Likely impact on species involved (including any by-catch): None to negligible.