Multi-scale distribution patterns of the southern hairy-nosed wombat

Abstract

In isolated areas across South Australia, the Southern Hairy-Nosed wombat constructs large craterous burrows that are vital to their survival. Throughout intensive farming regions, the presence of wombat burrows results in reduced productivity, creating conflict between financial stakeholders and biodiversity conservationists. One area where the conflict is substantial is the Murraylands, which is an active farming region inhabited by a large population of Southern Hairy-nosed wombats. To address this conflict, farmers are allowed to cull wombats in limited numbers according to permits issued by the State, under the National Parks and Wildlife Act, 1972. Each permit quota is based on an estimate of the number of wombats per property. However, the permit quota is conservative with the view to alleviating the farmers concerns while preserving the sustainability of the local wombat populations. Long term, this management regime is inadequate due to unreliable estimation of local wombat populations and no consideration for the sustainability of the total species. To improve management practices increased knowledge of the species ecology, distribution, habitat preferences and population sizes is required. In this study the distribution of Southern Hairy-nosed wombats was assessed nationally and regionally, relative to multiple independent environmental variables. On the regional scale, within the Murraylands, wombat warrens were mapped as a surrogate for wombat presence using high resolution Google Earth imagery prior to assessing the distribution. The findings presented are the first quantitative results indicating the habitat preferences of the Southern Hairy-nosed wombat.