186 Monitoring Threatened Species and Ecological Communities
basis for uplisting the conservation status of three of these species (Critically
Endangered B. penicillata and Ps. occidentalis and Vulnerable Ph. tapoatafa)
(Wayne et al. 2017). Other examples of the benefits of, and responses to, the
monitoring results include:
● (^) Accountability – effective and meaningful monitoring is an important
element of community acceptance awarded to organisations responsible for
biodiversity conservation and natural resource management. Monitoring
provides accountability by demonstrating the value of biodiversity
conservation efforts, or assessing whether the impacts from particular
activities (e.g. resource exploitation) on threatened, sensitive or priority
biodiversity elements are acceptable.
● (^) Policy – monitoring results underpinned increased commitments for species
conservation (e.g. investments to establish insurance populations within fenced
sanctuaries and for developing feral cat control methods), increased NGO
involvement (e.g. Warren Catchments Council, Australian Wildlife
Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund), a review of the Western Shield program
(Bain 2013), changes in species conservation priorities, prioritisation of areas
for threat abatement, some changes to local government bylaws regarding the
ownership and registration of pet cats.
● (^) Management – recovery plans were developed, insurance populations were
established (for B. penicillata, Ps. occidentalis), introduced predator management
was enhanced (e.g. frequency of fox baiting was increased and feral cat baiting
was incorporated into the threat abatement program in priority areas).
● (^) Research – monitoring data were used to investigate possible drivers of
population change (e.g. Wayne et al. 2015), additional samples and data were
collected during monitoring to assist research including decline diagnosis, and
numerous related research projects including multi-disciplinary collaborations
were enabled because of the issues revealed by monitoring.
● (^) Design improvements – a review of the data and results for all species led to
method standardisation, improvements in the spatial and temporal resolution
of the monitoring (increasing the number of sites and frequency of sampling),
broadening the scope of monitoring to include more detail on particular
species and covariates (e.g. introduced predators, animal health and disease),
centralising and improving data management, and increasing the frequency of
data analysis and reporting.
Using multiple methods and monitoring many species
The use of multiple monitoring methods (e.g. various types and arrangements of
traps, spotlighting, nest boxes and sand plots) increased confidence in the veracity of
the population changes (e.g. Wayne et al. 2013, 2017). This was fundamentally