Wildlife of lancewood (Acacia shirleyi) thickets and woodlands in northern Australia, 1: variation in vertebrate species composition across the enviro

J. C. Woinarski and A. Fisher
Wildlife research
22, 3, p379-411, 1995
Vegetation dominated by lancewood (Acacia shirleyi) occurs extensively across the Northern Territory and Queensland. Vertebrate species composition was sampled at 61 patches of lancewood and the distribution of species was related to a wide range of environmental characteristics, spatial variables, disturbance and season. Of 165 species recorded from lancewood patches, eight species were recorded from more than half of the sampled patches. An ordination of all quadrants by their vertebrate species composition suggested a loose patterning associated mainly with latitude and, less strongly, soil texture and co-occurring tree/shrub species. Suggesting a depauperate and poorly defined vertebrate community in lancewood, quadrants in small isolated lancewood patches had more species than those in large patches, and this pattern was shown for many individual species. Lancewood patches showed minor impacts from grazing and logging, but the impacts of fire were generally more severe, and were negatively associated with the abundance of relatively many species. Lancewood vegetation is not represented in any conservation reserve in the Northern Territory.