Mark Cowan

• Bachelor of Science
• Senior Researcher at Department of Parks and Wildlife

Determine seasonal, annual, and decadal patterns of abundance in reptile species and assemblages occupying central Bold Park (~338 ha), an isolated urban bushland remnant in Perth, Southwestern Australia. Fenced pitfall trapping in four sampling sites, representing different habitats and fire history, over the primary reptile activity period for 35...

Aim Determine seasonal, annual and decadal patterns of abundance in reptile populations and assemblages occupying an isolated urban bushland remnant Location Bold Park (~338 ha), Perth, Southwestern Australia Time period 1986-2021 Major taxa studied: Squamate reptiles Methods Fenced pitfall trapping in four sampling sites representing different hab...

Our knowledge of the conservation status of reptiles, the most diverse class of terrestrial vertebrates, has improved dramatically over the past decade, but still lags behind that of the other tetrapod groups. Here, we conduct the first comprehensive evaluation (~92% of the world's ~1714 described species) of the conservation 1 Joint senior authors...

Simple Summary As a result of urban development, 122 western grey kangaroos (Macropus fuliginosus) were relocated from the outskirts of Perth, Western Australia, to a nearby forest. Tracking collars were fitted to 67 of the kangaroos to monitor survival rates and movement patterns over 12 months. Spotlighting and camera traps were used as a seconda...

Australia hosts approximately 10% of the world’s reptile species, the largest number of any country. Despite this and evidence of widespread decline, the first comprehensive assessment of the conservation status of Australian terrestrial squamates (snakes and lizards) was undertaken only recently. Here we apply structured expert elicitation to the...

Aim To examine the relationships between island environmental attributes, both biotic and abiotic, and three measures of reptilian variation—species assemblage, species richness and body size distributions. Location Houtman Abrolhos archipelago, Western Australia. Taxon Reptiles. Methods Nineteen islands were sampled from 2002 to 2012 using fora...

Context Feral cats (Felis catus) are known predators of northern quolls (Dasyurus hallucatus). Management to suppress feral cat densities often uses the poison sodium monofluoroacetate (compound 1080) in baits broadcast aerially. Eradicat® baits have demonstrated efficacy at reducing feral cat densities in some environments. However, these are not...

Species abundance data are critical for testing ecological theory, but obtaining accurate empirical estimates for many taxa is challenging. Proxies for species abundance can help researchers circumvent time and cost constraints that are prohibitive for long‐term sampling. Under simple demographic models, genetic diversity is expected to correlate w...

The redclaw crayfish, Cherax quadricarinatus (von Martens, 1868), inhabits freshwater creeks and water bodies, and is native to the tropics of Queensland and the Northern Territory in Australia, as well as southeastern Papua New Guinea. It has been translocated to other parts of Australia and around the world, often becoming established in the wild...

The near-pristine continental-shelf islands along the remote and rugged Kimberley coast of north-western Australia are important natural refuges that have been isolated from many of the threatening processes affecting the adjacent mainland. Between 2007 and 2014, 27 of the largest of these islands were sampled for non-volant mammals, bats, reptiles...

We assessed the utility of stable isotope analysis as a tool for understanding community ecological structure in a species-rich clade of scincid lizards from one of the world's most diverse lizard communities. Using a phylogenetic comparative framework, we tested whether δ¹⁵N and δ¹³C isotopic composition from individual lizards was correlated with...

Habitat data from Rabosky et al. (2011) American Naturalist. This supplementary file is a previous publication containing habitat data used in the present study. (PDF)

Stable isotope and stomach content data used in the present study. (ZIP)

This biodiversity survey examined the terrestrial vertebrate fauna, avifauna and vascular flora of two adjoining, ex-pastoral stations in the Murchison Bioregion of Western Australia. A diverse native biota was identified with at least 58 reptiles, 18 terrestrial mammals, 73 birds and 385 vascular plants documented. Few rare species were recorded a...

We undertook sampling for reptiles and mammals using pitfall traps (pits), funnel traps (funnels), Elliott traps (elliotts) and observational techniques at 16 sites within the Kiwirrkurra Indigenous Protected Area (IPA), Western Australia, over a period of 12 days in September 2015. From the more than 300 captures and observations we identified a t...

We undertook standardised sampling with pit, funnel and Elliot traps for frogs, reptiles and mammals at Katjarra over two week periods in August 2012, in May 2013 and again in late March and early April 2014. On each survey the trapping was supplemented with manual searching, spotlighting and the use of infrared motion sensitive cameras. The more t...

A terrestrial vertebrate fauna survey was undertaken over a period of seven nights from the 4th September 2013 to the 11th of September 2013 at two potential NatureBank sites in the vicinity of Python Pool, Millstream Chichester National Park. Remote camera traps within the same area were established on the 7th August 2013 and remained in operation...

The Northern Kimberley region in north-western Australia has high biodiversity and conservation values, including a rich herpetofauna with high levels of endemism. To date, the numerous islands off the coast have been little surveyed. We surveyed 24 of the largest islands along the Kimberley coast for reptiles between 2007 and 2010, to improve our...

The islands off the Kimberley coastline of northern Western Australia are among Australia’s most isolated areas. To date, frogs of the Kimberley islands have been a particularly poorly surveyed group owing to the remoteness of the region and the need to conduct surveys during the summer wet season at night when frogs call and are most active. Here,...

We undertook standardised sampling for reptiles and mammals using pits, funnels and elliot traps at eight locations towards the southern end of Credo Station northwest of Kalgoorlie in the Western Australian Goldfields. Hand searching and opportunistic sightings were made at these survey locations as well as more broadly across the full extent of t...

Evolutionary history can exert a profound influence on ecological communities, but few generalities have emerged concerning the relationships among phylogeny, community membership, and niche evolution. We compared phylogenetic community structure and niche evolution in three lizard clades (Ctenotus skinks, agamids, and diplodactyline geckos) from a...

We undertook standardised sampling with pit, funnel and elliot traps for terrestrial vertebrates in the Nanutarra Block at the southern end of Cane River Conservation Park. Opportunistic sampling was also conducted across a larger area of the overall Conservation Park. More than 276 captures and observations were made representing six species of na...

A terrestrial vertebrate fauna survey was undertaken over a period of seven nights from the 30th November 2011 to the 7th of December 2011 at New Island Bay, Cape Le Grand National Park. Data collected from this work is compiled here with that of reports and electronic database sources from the Western Australian Museum and the Department of Enviro...

Details about species/community: Lorna Glen is an ex-pastoral station of approximately 244,000 hectares that was purchased by the Department of Environment and Conservation in 2000 for biodiversity conservation. The area supports an extraordinarily rich array of flora and fauna with more than 480 vascular plant species and 220 vertebrate species id...

Both local and regional processes may contribute to community diversity and structure at local scales. Although many studies have investigated patterns of local or regional community structure, few have addressed the extent to which local community structure influences patterns within regional species pools. Here we investigate the role of body siz...

The Department of Environment and Conservation (Western Australia) has the lead responsibility for protecting and conserving Western Australia’s environment. This includes managing the State’s national parks, conservation parks, State forests and timber reserves, nature reserves. Its key responsibilities include the conservation of the State’s biod...

Three expeditions examining 35 islands in the Bonaparte Archipelago along the northwest Kimberley coast were undertaken between August 2002 and June 2005. These documented numerous new records of mammal and reptile species for the islands with the fauna of 27 islands being examined for the first time. Mammals were usually confined to the larger isl...

Native frog, mammal and reptile specimen data in the Western Australian Museum were examined from the western third of the Australian continent covering nearly 22 degrees of latitude and 16 degrees of longitude and encompassing tropical, desert and temperate regions. The timing of specimen data collection and collecting effort were evaluated and sh...

Trapping sites were sampled on six occasions over a period of ten months to assess whether changes in abundances of small ground dwelling vertebrates could be detected after an area of predominantly spinifex sandplain was successfully baited for cats. Temporal variation in abundances of small mammals and reptiles was also documented to aid in refin...

Assemblages of mammals, reptiles and frogs were sampled 20 years apart on the same five Eastern GoldfIelds sItes and 1I1 the same months using the same techniques for the same periods of time. None of nine species of snakes were captured on both surveys and three additional species of lizard were added to the 32 recorded on the first survev. No new...

We sampled the frog and reptile species on 63 quadrats chosen to represent the geographical extent and diversity of terrestrial environments in a 75 000 km 2 study area in the Carnarvon Basin. Twelve frog and 17 gecko, 10 pygopodid, 16 dragon, 58 skink, four goanna and 16 snake species were recorded, an average of 16.3 species per quadrat. Patterns...

Many of the wetlands on the Swan Coastal Plain, Western Australia are nutrient-rich and subject to blooms of blue-green algae. Some of these wetlands, however, are dystrophic and are less likely to experience algal blooms possibly because of high gilvin levels.Gilvin (yellow colour determined by absorbance at 440 nm) levels and the octanol/water pa...