33 – Summary: monitoring and adaptive management of threatened biodiversity^409expensive management action undertaken for this species, resolving whether it has
any value or not is clearly important. A replicated, large-scale ‘treatment/control’
AM experiment has been designed and is being implemented across southern
Australia to resolve this uncertainty. Importantly, a large number of AM sites are
needed to tease apart the effect of predator control from natural variation in
malleefowl breeding activity, and the experiment will likely run for many years
before the results are conclusive (adding substantial logistical costs). To overcome
this challenge, the AM experiment is linked with the malleefowl national
monitoring program: a citizen science run project with a proven capacity to
reliably and cost-effectively monitor malleefowl populations. Chapter 31 illustrates
that innovative and highly collaborative approaches to AM and monitoring can be
co-developed to conduct robust science and management with limited resources.
Despite the clear applicability of using either passive (Chapter 30) or active
(Chapter 31) AM to guide the conservation of threatened species, examples of AM
involving threatened species remain rare in the scientific literature. While
undoubtedly many examples remain unpublished, AM appears under-utilised in a
threatened species context. Chapter 32 examines some of the challenges that arose
when attempting to implement an AM experiment to inform the conservation of
the Critically Endangered Leadbeater’s possum Gymnobelideus leadbeateri, which
occurs in the wet ash forests of the Central Highlands of Victoria. Clearfell logging
and associated changes in fire regimes are the primary threat to Leadbeater’s
possum and an active AM experiment was designed to test whether alternative
logging practices could help retain large old trees that this species depends on,
while still allowing resource extraction. However, as the experiment progressed, it
became clear that legislation prevented the experimental logging of any
Leadbeater’s possum habitat and that the original active AM experiment was
untenable. Importantly, Chapter 32 highlights that, in some cases, an AM approach
is not always suitable for threatened species management. In such cases, other
forms of investigation, such as observational studies or quasi-experiments, may be
more appropriate.
The chapters in this section highlight the value of integrating monitoring
within an AM framework to provide vital information to guide the management of
threatened species. Importantly, while AM can be a powerful approach for filling
knowledge gaps and improving management (Chapters 30 and 31), in some
contexts, alternative approaches are more appropriate (Chapter 32). Irrespective of
the overarching framework under which management is implemented, it is crucial
to ensure that species responses are monitored. In a climate of constrained
resources, a useful approach is to ‘piggyback’ monitoring onto existing programs
(Chapters 31 and 32). Without monitoring species responses to management, the
value and merit of investing in conservation actions cannot be demonstrated; this
reduces confidence that resources are justifiably spent and that management
actions are indeed improving conservation outcomes.