It's too early yet to tell what the long-term impacts of exclusion fences will be on marsupial animals in southern and western Queensland, according to research undertaken by the University of Southern Queensland.
Wildlife researcher Dr Deane Smith delved into the impacts of exclusion fencing on non-target species as part of his USQ PhD project, which included travel to Quilpie to explore the positive and negative effects of the man-made structures on colonies of yellow-footed rock-wallabies.
The fences have been established to remove pest species from the area, many of which were the wallabies' natural predators and competitors.
Dr Smith said one of the potential consequences of the fences, especially in a conservation regard, was that protected animals would lose their predator avoidance behaviour, which would make them vulnerable should the fences be removed.
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"We wanted to determine whether or not these wallabies were using the habitat differently inside and outside of the fencing," he said. "There appeared to be little difference in behavioural expression."
This means that they were still operating in a 'landscape of fear', according to one of Dr Smith's supervisors, Dr Ben Allen.
"That could be for many reasons - it could be because they haven't gotten rid of all the wild dogs, that they're scared of something else, or that it may take time to change behaviour," he said.
Dr Allen theorised that because the wallabies shy away from goats, who they see as competitors, the presence of goats in the rocky paddocks that they like to frequent could be keeping them in a state of tension.
The research found that wallabies outside the fence appeared to avoid goats and they were more active in the morning, while inside of the fence they were active in the evening.
Dr Smith also performed a DNA analysis on the animals, to see if there was a close familial relationship that had been interrupted.
"I did find those familial links, which means the fence could be affecting their dispersal movements," he said.
Dr Allen added that determining whether that was having an effect on their population was still a work in progress.
"There have been a couple of theories about what would happen if you took away predators - one was the behavioural response and the other was the numerical response, that numbers would go up," he said. "Numbers haven't changed much but that's to be expected - it takes time for that to happen."
While the economic and agricultural benefits of the fences are often studied, Dr Smith said the impact on other wildlife in the surrounding ecosystem was sometimes unclear.
"My findings showed there was the potential for both positive and negative impacts, but longer-term studies are needed to figure out if the fences have an overall net positive or negative effect on different species," he said. "It's important to study the fences because of their potential conservation value, but also to make sure they are not causing more harm than good."
Dr Allen said that although the project was focused on rock-wallabies, they were now starting to look at the fences' impacts on other species, including threatened reptiles, birds and other mammals.
"Given what we know about the success of exclusion fences in getting rid of competitors and predators, there exists a great opportunity to reintroduce or translocate animals that are locally extinct from this area," he said.
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Sally Gall
Based at Blackall, CW Qld, where I've raised a family, run Merino sheep and beef cattle, and helped develop a region - its history, tourism, education and communications. Get in touch at 0427 575 955 if you've got a story idea for me.
Based at Blackall, CW Qld, where I've raised a family, run Merino sheep and beef cattle, and helped develop a region - its history, tourism, education and communications. Get in touch at 0427 575 955 if you've got a story idea for me.
