Habitat destruction of the Victorian lowland temperate native grasslands, and the pending fate of the fat-tailed dunnart ( Sminthopsis crassicaudata )

Abstract

Victorian lowland temperate native grasslands are among the most endangered ecosystems globally. At broad scale, they are classified into two primary climatic types: semi-arid and mesic lowland grasslands, and both habitats are threatened from dramatic habitat destruction, invasive species and improper management. Upon arrival to Australia in the early 1800s, European colonists identified the fertile Victorian grasslands as prime agricultural land, making temperate grasslands and grassy woodlands among the first Australian ecosystems to be cleared for farming. These ecosystems have continued to suffer from agricultural and urban development, as well as the introduction of invasive predators and competitors, and remaining grassland fragments are often small, isolated and degraded. This ecosystem devastation has reduced the distribution and abundance of native species, and has driven many mammal species to local, mainland or total extinction. There is a single remaining small marsupial of the Victorian temperate grasslands that has not yet met extinction: the fat-tailed dunnart. Here we synthesise historical and contemporary drivers of Victorian temperate grassland loss, examine implications for the fat-tailed dunnart and propose priority conservation. If considerable action (particularly from the federal and state governments) is not implemented to assist conservation and restoration of these ecosystems, further extinction of irreplaceable species, like the fat-tailed dunnart, are imminent.