In October 2021 NACC NRM’s Biodiversity team and the Western Mulga Rangers installed 10 camera traps as part of a National Malleefowl Recovery Teams (NMRT) adaptive management experiment. We recently returned to check out who’s been out and about!
Called the AMPE (Adaptive Management Predator Experiment) this nation-wide experiment aims to understand the efficacy of predator control on Malleefowl (Leipoa ocellata) populations. Malleefowl are listed as Vulnerable under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act and their populations are continuing to decline across their whole range. A key threat is predation by introduced species such as cats and foxes. Foxes not only eat the adult birds but will dig into mound to access eggs and chicks!
The AMPE site NACC NRM and DBCA are monitoring are two pastoral stations set up as a pair. One site with fox control and the other no predator control. Both sites are very similar in their environmental conditions and rainfall and both have active Malleefowl mounds which are monitored annually as part of the NMRT monitoring program.
It is far to early to be able to share results of the experiment with you, but these are a few of the curious creatures our cameras encountered in the six months since they were deployed. Some we have been excited to see, and some not so much.
This project is supported by NACC NRM with funding from the Australian Governments National Landcare Program.