384 Monitoring Threatened Species and Ecological Communities
Nevertheless, even in these circumstances, monitoring remains imperative to
inform and drive the adaptive management process. At Edgbaston, monitoring has
demonstrated the worth of several interventions (e.g. translocations, barrier
fencing) instilling confidence to continue and expand these programs, but has also
shed light on failures (e.g. house bore), uncertainties (e.g. localised extirpation in
the absence of gambusia) and deteriorating trends (e.g. declining genetic diversity,
gambusia infestation), enabling these actions to be stopped or modified.
Lessons learned
● (^) Monitoring remains imperative in the absence of true controls and replicates.
Establish a clear plan for species recovery with an articulated risk assessment
and a process of regular management review and iterative modification
informed by outcome monitoring.
● (^) Have courage to act. Management interventions enacted with imperfect
knowledge but supported by monitoring increase knowledge and are more
likely to benefit threatened species than inaction.
● (^) Monitor other (non-target) aspects of the ecosystem to detect perverse
outcomes of management actions, especially when the ecosystem supports
other threatened species or ecological communities.
● (^) Genetic monitoring is critical, particularly when managing small populations,
and should be adopted to inform translocation interventions.
● (^) Although there will always be trade-offs between frequency and intensity of
monitoring, continuity of monitoring is essential. Gaps in monitoring hinder a
manager’s ability to make informed evidence-based decisions.
Acknowledgements
Bush Heritage acquired Edgbaston Reserve with the assistance of The Nature
Conservancy and the Australian Government’s Maintaining Australia’s
Biodiversity Hotspots Program. Bush Heritage’s Red-fin Blue-eye Program is
supported by the Queensland Government’s Everyone’s Environment program and
the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund. Bush Heritage also
acknowledges the generosity of its supporters and donors.
References
Fairfax R, Fensham R, Wager R, Brooks S, Webb A, Unmack P (2007) Recovery of the
red-finned blue-eye: an endangered fish from springs of the Great Artesian Basin.
Wildlife Research 34 , 156 –166. doi:10.1071/WR06086
Faulks LK, Kerezsy A, Unmack PJ, Johnson JB, Hughes JM (2016) Going, going, gone?
Loss of genetic diversity in two critically endangered Australian freshwater fishes,