PhD Scholar
Ecology and management of the Flock Bronzewing Phaps histrionica
E-mail: peter.dostine@nt.gov.au

The Flock Bronzewing is a characteristic bird of the open black-soil (cattle production) plains of northern Australia. This species has suffered a substantial reduction in range and is now absent from large areas that were formerly occupied. However, it remains patchily and periodically common on the Barkly Tableland in the Northern Territory and parts of the Channel Country in south-west Queensland. Currently, the level of ecological understanding of this species is not sufficient to prescribe adequate conservation measures. Key data on resource use, movement patterns and interactions with the dominant land use on the black-soil plains are lacking. This project will redress this deficiency and provide data on distribution, diet, habitat requirements, and movement patterns in relation to variation in resource availability. The key component will be description of movement patterns at local- and broad-scales. Studies of local-scale movement will identify how they use landscapes currently dominated by the pastoral industry: studying the nature and extent of broad-scale movement will identify the sequence of habitats and resources that are required throughout the seasonal cycle, and the nature of linkages within the broad landscape that are required for maintenance of populations of this species.