Supplementary Material used to characterise the spatial and temporal dynamics of magpie goose populations in the Kakadu Region NT and their cultural harvesting values

Brief description

Summarises all available aerial survey data and metadata used to characterise the long-term distribution and abundance of magpie geese in the Northern Territory undertaken by different institutions and publically available in several journals (Appendix A). Summarised also are results from a PhD study (E. Ligtermoet) documenting the cultural harvesting values of magpie geese ascertained by interviews with Kakadu Traditional Owners (2011-2015).
Lineage: Historical aerial survey data of magpie geese and their nests in the Kakadu Region (1981-2006) of the NT are used to characterise their seasonal use of floodplains in order to identify abundance “hotspots” for future site-specific management purposes. Decadal trends in abundance (1958-2000) were examined also in relation to trends in rainfall and global-scale interactions between the ENSO and PDO climate indices. Customary harvesting practices of magpie geese and their eggs were ascertained from interviews of Kakadu Traditional Owners as part of a PhD study (2011-2016) in help manage future threats in a socio-ecological context.

The data collection here comprise the Supplementary Material for the publication:

Bayliss, P., and Ligtermoet, E. (2016 in press). Seasonal habitats, decadal trends in abundance and cultural values of magpie geese (Anseranus semipalmata) on coastal floodplains in the Kakadu Region, Northern Australia. Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research. Published online. Kakadu Special Issue.

Appendix A: Magpie goose aerial survey metadata and data used in spatial and temporal analyses.

Table A1. Metadata for aerial surveys of magpie geese and their nests in the Kakadu Region (1981‐2003).

Table A2. Indirect cross calibration of population estimates of magpie geese derived by Tulloch and McKean (1983) with those derived by Morton et al. (1990) and the NT Parks and Wildlife Commission (Bayliss and Yeomans 1990a; NTPWC 2003; Delaney et al. 2009) in the Kakadu Region.

Table A3. Estimates of magpie geese population size in the Western ‘Top End’ of the Northern Territory, source of data and corrections applied to standardise data between the Tulloch and McKean (1983) time series (1958-1980) and subsequent surveys conducted by the NT Parks and Wildlife Commission (1983-1999).

Appendix B: Cultural harvesting values of magpie geese in the Kakadu Region.

Table B1. Respondent comments illustrating the diverse attributions of causality to changes in magpie goose abundance (data from E. Ligtermoet PhD thesis submitted).

All population data are in the public domain (published papers and reports as referenced). Data were acquired in the Oceans and Atmosphere Business Unit, Coastal Development and Management Program. Data in Appendix B are from a PhD study by E. Ligtermoet (co-author on the above paper) and submitted here as her contribution to the paper. Both authors have signed a licence to publish with the Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research.