Landscape and Urban Planning 103 (2011) 277–288 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Landscape and Urban Planning jou rn al h om epa ge: www.elsevier.com/locate/landurbplan Landscape and local influences on patterns of reptile occurrence in grazed temperate woodlands of southern Australia Geoff W. Brown a,∗ , Josh W. Dorrough b , David S.L. Ramsey a a Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research, Department of Sustainability and Environment, 123 Brown St., Heidelberg, Victoria 3084, Australia b CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, GPO Box 284, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 18 March 2011 Received in revised form 1 August 2011 Accepted 2 August 2011 Available online 13 September 2011 Keywords: Agriculture Biogeographic pattern Multivariate model Native pasture Reptile Tree cover a b s t r a c t The woodlands of temperate south-eastern Australia are characterised by extensive historical clearing and ongoing modification of the understorey habitat through livestock grazing, fertilization and crop- ping. The reptile assemblage of these temperate woodlands, while relatively speciose, is believed to be in decline. We report on the abundance and diversity of terrestrial reptiles in native pastures in south- eastern Australia in relation to landscape and local factors; in particular, latitude and grazing management and tree retention. Reptiles were sampled on 24 paired farms spread widely over the south-western slopes of south-eastern Australia. Each pair comprised one farm under rotational grazing and a neighbouring farm with continuous grazing. Twenty-one species were detected, dominated numerically by several skinks and a pygopodid, with clear disparities in the biogeographic distribution of reptiles and also varia- tion owing to survey technique, location, grazing regime, and the presence of trees. Multivariate models showed that the distribution of reptiles is influenced by factors operating at several levels and, to a lesser extent, by farm management. Reptile occurrence was regularly explained by correlations with site-level structural heterogeneity (e.g. native plant richness, number of large trees and log cover) as well as show- ing strong underlying latitudinal variation. The presence of woodland is critical to reptile occurrence in grazed (and fragmented) landscapes. If the reptile assemblage of this agroecosystem is to benefit from altered farm management, then different management and policy responses may be required, depending on the levels of habitat structural complexity and agricultural intensification that already exist. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction At the global scale, intensification of agricultural activity has had considerable deleterious effects on biodiversity; in particu- lar, biodiversity in grasslands has been affected through changes to structure and vegetation patterns by intensification of livestock production and the increased use of organic and mineral fertilizers, as well as intense grazing pressure without fertilization (Benton, Vickery, & Wilson, 2003; Steinfeld et al., 2006). The woodlands of south-eastern Australia have not been immune from such impacts, commencing with the rapid spread of pastoralism in the mid-1800s and cereal cropping in the late 1800s (Wadham & Wood, 1939). The issue is whether, after a protracted period of intensive agriculture, different farm management practices can mitigate the impacts on biodiversity; there is growing recognition that pastoral landscapes can be managed for both production and environmen- ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +61 3 94508600; fax: +61 3 94508799. E-mail addresses: geoff.brown@dse.vic.gov.au (G.W. Brown), Josh.Dorrough@csiro.au (J.W. Dorrough), david.ramsey@dse.vic.gov.au (D.S.L. Ramsey). tal benefits (e.g. Benton et al., 2003; Crosthwaite, Malcolm, Moll, & Dorrough, 2008; Dorrough, Moll, & Crosthwaite, 2007; Fischer, Lindenmayer, & Manning, 2006), although there may be trade-offs with productivity. The occurrence of reptiles in temperate agricultural landscapes of southern Australia has received some attention in recent years (e.g. Brown, Bennett, & Potts, 2008; Driscoll, 2004; Fischer, Fazey, Briese, & Lindenmayer, 2005; Fischer, Lindenmayer, & Cowling, 2003; Michael, Lunt, & Robinson, 2004), not least because so little is known about the impacts of many agricultural practices on the distribution and abundance of this diverse animal group, and the prospects that altered management, such as extensification, hold for it. Broadly, reptiles in these agri-landscapes are thought to be in decline (Brown et al., 2008; Driscoll, 2004). In these agricultural regions much of the relatively intact native vegetation persists as small lightly grazed remnants; there are few extensive tracts of woodlands in these ‘fragmented’ landscapes (sensu McIntyre & Hobbs, 1999). For reptiles in these landscapes, a greater proportion of remnant native vegetation in the land- scape has usually been beneficial (Brown et al., 2008; Cunningham, Lindenmayer, Crane, Michael, & MacGregor, 2007; Dorrough, McIntyre, Stol, Brown, & Barrett, 2008; Fischer, Lindenmayer, Barry, 0169-2046/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2011.08.002