The application of focal species knowledge to landscape design in agricultural lands using the ecological neighbourhood as a template

The focal species approach to nature conservation provides a method for identifying management actions required to meet the needs of the most vulnerable species in a landscape with respect to the threatening processes responsible for their decline. For each threat, a focal species is identified as the one with the most critical requirement pertaining to the threat. With multiple threats, the resulting suite of focal species can be regarded as a “focal community”, whose combined needs are used to address a range of management actions. In this paper, the critical requirements of a focal community of resident land birds are identified with respect to the threats arising from the loss, fragmentation and degradation of habitat in the central wheat-belt of Western Australia. This knowledge of their critical requirements is then used to guide a landscape design procedure for the enhancement of bird habitat in the Gabbi Quoi Quoi sub-catchment of Western Australia. The landscape design procedure is framed against the concept of the ecological neighbourhood, where the necessary size, spatial arrangement, area of influence and connectivity of existing landscape elements are used as a starting point for habitat restoration and re-vegetation.