Advice to the Minister for the Environment and Heritage from英文资料.pdfVIP

Advice to the Minister for the Environment and Heritage from the Threatened Species Scientific Committee (TSSC) on Amendments to the list of Threatened Species under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) 1. Scientific name, common name (where appropriate), major taxon group Zosterops natalis (Christmas Island White-eye) 2. Description The Christmas Island White-eye is a small greenish bird characterised by a white ring around the eye. The White-eye occupies all forested habitats on Christmas Island. It feeds on both fruit and insects. 3. National Context The Christmas Island White-eye was formerly confined to Christmas Island, but has been introduced to the Cocos Keeling Islands. While the Cocos Keeling Islands population is now well established and self-sustaining, this population has not been considered in this assessment as it is an introduction outside the species’ natural range. The species is not listed as threatened under any State or Territory legislation, nor is it currently listed under the EPBC Act. 4. How judged by TSSC in relation to the EPBC Act criteria. TSSC judges the subspecies not to be eligible for listing under the EPBC Act. The justification against the criteria is as follows: Criterion 1 – It has undergone, is suspected to have undergone or is likely to undergo in the immediate future a very severe, severe or substantial reduction in numbers. While there has been no recorded decline in the numbers of Christmas Island White-eye, the spread of Yellow Crazy Ants (hereafter called Crazy Ants) has been identified as a possible threat to this species. Crazy Ants are an aggressive invasive species that were accidentally introduced to Christmas Island between 1915 and 1934 and are now widespread throughout the rainforest and settled areas on the island. They can build up into colonies with extremely high numbers called supercolonies. Before recent abatement pr