History, distribution and present status. The purple-crowned fairy-wren Malurus coronatus: I. Such a landscape-scale approach to conservation may be of benefit to other patchily distributed species. Controlling access of stock to waterways and management of fire are most important to conserve suitable habitat.

The greatest benefit may be achieved by a combination of broad-scale actions to reduce the impact of ubiquitous threatening processes, and fine-scale targeted effort in areas where populations are most vulnerable. Therefore, a landscape-scale approach to conservation management, across multiple tenures, is critical to safe-guard connectivity within populations. The sub-populations spanned numerous patches of habitat across multiple properties of varying tenure. Populations were predicted to be large on the Fitzroy, Durack and Drysdale catchments, and small on the Isdell and northern Pentecost catchments, and a total population of 2834 to 4878 individuals could be supported. Suitable habitat was extremely limited (305 km of riparian vegetation) and fragmented (342 patches) along the 2700 km of waterway surveyed within catchments where the species occurs. coronatus across 14 catchments in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. We used data from aerial vegetation mapping of waterways, with on-ground bird surveys to predict the occurrence of suitable habitat for M. Here we present a rare regional assessment of the population size and distribution of a patchily distributed, threatened species, the purple-crowned fairy-wren (Malurus coronatus coronatus), across a vast landscape.

coronatus subpopulations.Conservation of the patchily distributed and declining purple-crowned fairy-wren (Malurus coronatus coronatus) across a vast landscape: the need for a collaborative landscape-scale approachĬonservation of species that are patchily distributed must consider processes that influence both the occurrence of individuals within patches, and the persistence of populations across multiple habitat patches within the landscape. A regional-scale approach to conservation with a focus on preventing degradation and enhancing connectivity may be critical to safeguard the persistence of M. Genetic differentiation of these smaller geographically isolated populations affirms the negative effect that habitat degradation and fragmentation can have on population connectivity.

The genetic similarity of large populations of fairy-wrens on four catchments (Fitzroy, Durack, Drysdale and Victoria) indicates widespread recent gene flow, whereas the high genetic distinctiveness of the Bindoola and Isdell catchments may reflect the current geographic isolation of these smaller populations. coronatus occurs as genetically differentiated subpopulations that correspond to catchment boundaries or expansive gaps in habitat along waterways. Our analysis of multilocus microsatellite data, from 79 individuals sampled from across the species’ range, indicates that M. We investigate the population genetic structure of the declining western subspecies of the purple-crowned fairy-wren (Malurus coronatus coronatus) in order to guide conservation management recommendations for this riparian habitat specialist.

Purple crowned fairy wren