The rainforest-dependent Gulbaru leaf-tailed gecko is threatened by unmanaged burning and grazing that is severely fragmenting and destroying the remaining forest.
The rainforest-dependent Gulbaru leaf-tailed gecko is threatened by unmanaged burning and grazing that is severely fragmenting and destroying the remaining forest.
This area would have had larger patches of dry rainforest prior to European settlement and remaining forest is now restricted to isolates, although genetic data suggests a degree of isolation dating back several thousand years. This is prime grazing land, and grazing and attendant fire has accelerated fragmentation.
There is ongoing, unchecked destruction of dry rainforest habitat by fire. Three of the known sites form a cluster near an area of farmland where locals set fires late in the dry season. This has led to hot, uncontrolled fires in recent years that are known to have destroyed rainforest in at least one locality.
The southernmost locality, which exhibits the lowest density and highest genetic divergence, is also likely to be at risk from fire.
• Image | ©️ David, All Rights Reserved
• Sources | (Hoskin, 2018; Hoskin, Couper, & Schneider, 2003; The State of Queensland, 2018)
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