Yellow‐footed rock‐wallaby in Queensland 131
FIG. 4 Sites visited during previous surveys (1973–1987; Gordon et al., 1978, 1993) and this study (2010–2015, 2020–2023), with apparent trends in Petrogale xanthopus celeris abundance. Absence in all periods: 6 sites; presence in all periods with no change: 39 sites; decline: 7 sites; increase: 4 sites; recolonization: 9 sites; recovery by 2023 following declines in 1980s–2010s: 6 sites; translocations: 2 sites. Sites at Terrachie and in the McGregor Range to the south-west of the map area (absence reported in the 1970s–1980s; presence post-2009) are not shown, as absences in the earlier survey period may have been non- genuine. Hatched areas show national parks (NP).
predation can drive them to extinction (Sinclair et al., 1998) or because foxes are in lower abundance in the study area compared to the locations where P. xanthopus xanthopus occurs (Stobo-Wilson et al., 2022). All except 15 sites at which P. xanthopus celeris was present occur outside the dingo barrier fence (Fig. 1), and there is some evidence to suggest that relatively high densities of dingoes outside the fence may limit fox numbers (Johnson et al., 2007; Letnic et al., 2012). However, the ecological effects of dingoes remain under debate (Allen et al., 2013; Castle et al., 2023). Although common wallaroos were present at nearly all
sites, they consume mainly grasses. Consequently, there is only dietary overlap with P. xanthopus celeris in good sea- sons (Dawson & Ellis, 1979; Allen, 2001). When grasses are no longer abundant at sites during dry periods, common wallaroos decline or disappear through mortality and mi- gration (Allen, 2001; Hornsby & Corlett, 2004). There is, however, significant dietary overlap between yellow-footed rock-wallabies and goats, whose diets are dominated by grasses and forbs (notably fleshy chenopod species) during wet years and by browse (mainly dry leaf fall from Acacia trees) in dry times (Dawson & Ellis, 1979; Copley & Robinson, 1983; Allen, 2001). Competition for food re- sources during dry times is likely to have adverse effects on Queensland yellow-footed rock-wallaby subpopulations, particularly in terms of juvenile survival (Sharp & McCallum, 2015). Competition with goats for shelter has also contributed to declines in the nominate subspecies in New South Wales and South Australia (Copley, 1983; Lim & Giles, 1987).
Feral goats were abundant at most eastern sites through-
out the 1980s and early 1990s, but numbers have fallen since c. 2010, as their increasing market value has incentivized mustering. Declines and local extinctions of P. xanthopus celeris at sites in the north-east of the current distribution of the subspecies between the 1960s and 2000 could reflect the effect of competition with goats, particularly during dry seasons. Three small 2020 translocations to gorges on Ravensbourne where goats were eradicated through muster- ing and shooting have been successful to date (R. Kerr, pers. comm., August 2023). The reappearance and/or increased abundance of rock-wallabies at several sites in the Warrego, Edinburgh, Wallaroo, Grey, Yanyang, Macedon and Cheviot ranges (Fig. 4) suggest that with good rainfall and the absence of high goat numbers P. xanthopus celeris can naturally recolonize areas of suitable habitat. The effect of broadscale clearing of valleys between the
ranges seems to be a less important factor than goat pres- ence in the dynamics of the yellow-footed rock-wallaby in Queensland. Although this subspecies has a small home range (Sharp, 2009) and dispersal between subpopulations is apparently limited (Pope et al., 1996), occasional observa- tions of individuals moving between hills indicate some level of dispersal, and P. xanthopus celeris is known to forage on flats adjacent to hills (Sharp, 2009). Between the 1980s and 2023, yellow-footed rock-wallabies recolonized eight sites in the Edinburgh, Wallaroo and Warrego ranges, where clear- ing of valleys has been extensive; whether this was because of dispersal from a nearby (c. 10 km distant) translocation site in 1998 (Lapidge &Munn, 2011) or stemmed from sub- populations to the west is unknown, but it suggests there
Oryx, 2025, 59(1), 123–135 © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605324000760
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