Alaric Fisher

Senior Scientist with NT Parks & Wildlife Commission

Research interests & activities

Alaric's position involves two main, interrelated, components.

• The first is developing Conservation Plans for selected bioregions in the Northern Territory, which usually involves a lot of basic plant and animal surveys to identify conservation values and examine management issues. He is currently working in the Sturt Plateau region, south of Katherine.
• The second involves studying the effects of land management practices, such as fire and grazing, on biodiversity and therefore how biodiversity may be protected under a range of different land use regimes. Most of this work is connected to NT PWCNT involvement with the Tropical Savannas Management CRC.

Alaric will be project leader for two projects in the new Savanna Management CRC, one investigating how to most effectively monitor biodiversity in northern rangelands, and the other looking at methods for conserving biodiversity outside the reserve system.

Alaric has been working as a biologist in the Northern Territory since 1990. He has broad interests in the flora and fauna of northern Australia and initially was involved in biological surveys in a diversity of areas and ecosystems. Now, he is mostly interested in how country should be managed in order to protect biodiversity values, and the ecological research that is necessary to inform good management. Most of his recent work has been in pastoral lands and examined the impacts of grazing on wildlife. He is currently completing his PhD at CDU, which has examined the biodiversity of the Mitchell grasslands in northern Australia. These tussock grasslands are one of the most productive of the northern rangelands and almost entirely given over to cattle grazing. His project examined the effects of pastoral use on the wildlife of this environment, and investigated ways that land management could be adjusted to improve the conservation status of species affected by pastoralism. This work also contributed to the Biograze project, a collaborative effort between CSIRO, PWCNT and SE DEH, concerning regional conservation planning in Australian rangelands.

Publications

Fisher, A. (in press). Wildlife conservation within a pastoral landscape: the Mitchell grasslands of northern Australia. Proceedings of the Australian Wildlife Management Society Conference, December 1999. Key Centre for Tropical Wildlife Management, Darwin.

Woinarski J.C.Z., Whitehead P., Fisher A., Fensham R. and Beggs K. (2001) Developing an analytical framework for monitoring biodiversity in Australia's rangelands. Final report to the National Land and Water Resources Audit. Tropical Savannas Cooperative Research Centre, Darwin.

Woinarski J.C.Z., Fisher A., Brennan K., Morris I. and Chatto R. (2001). Patterns of bird species richness and composition on islands off Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia. Austral Ecology 26: 1-13.

Biograze (2000). Biograze: waterpoints and wildlife. CSIRO, Alice Springs.

Fisher, A. (2000). Monitoring biodiversity in the northern grassy landscapes. Proceedings of the Northern Grassy Landscapes Conference, August 2000. Tropical Savannas CRC, Darwin [ A workshop presentation on 'Regional environmental planning' is also available on the CD version of the proceedings]

Woinarski, J.C.Z., Fisher, A. and Milne, D. (1999). Distribution patterns of vertebrates in relation to an extensive rainfall gradient and variation in soil texture in the tropical savannas of the Northern Territory, Australia. Journal of Tropical Ecology 15: 381-398.

Woinarski J.C.Z., Brock C., Fisher A., Milne D. and Oliver B. (1999). Response of birds and reptiles to fire regimes on pastoral land in the Victoria River district, Northern Territory. Rangelands Journal 21: 24-38.

Contact details

Postal address: Wildlife Research, NT Parks & Wildlife Commission, PO Box 496, Palmerston. NT. 0831.
Email address: alaric.fisher@nt.gov.au
Phone: (08) 8944 8471
Fax: (08) 8944 8455

Relevant links

Parks & Wildlife Commission NT
Biograze Project
(www.dwe.csiro.au/rangelands also has a lot of interesting information)
National Land and Water Resources Audit
Australian Natural Resources Atlas
(rangelands section)
Environment Australia
(this site has many links including information about Australian biodiversity, threatened species, conservation reserves and legislation).