Vertebrate biodiversity in Perth’s urban bushlands

Collection Highlights | Updated 1 decade ago

34 vegetation remnants on the Swan Coastal Plain within the Perth metropolitan area have been surveyed for terrestrial vertebrates. These remnants range between 1 and 340 hectares and were sampled for at least 50 days during the year to determine their species composition.

This survey recorded seven native and six introduced mammals, 11 amphibians and 43 reptiles. Very few native mammal species survive this fragmentation of native bushlands. However, reptiles and amphibians are less affected by fragmentation of their habitat, although snakes are generally rare except in larger bushland areas.

This study showed that even small remnants are important for conservation of reptile assemblages and there is a strong positive correlation between size of the bushland and the number of reptile species; however, all bushland remnants require active management to exclude fire and predation in order for the native species to persist.

Across the Swan Coastal Plain different soil types support different reptile species and the Swan River also acts as a barrier to the movement of many species.