Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia, 86(1), March 2003 
arrays of 6 lines) were placed on each of five 
rehabilitated waste dumps and 48 pit-traps (8 arrays of 
6 lines) in the adjacent undisturbed areas. The pit trap 
arrays adjacent to the waste dumps are between 50 and 
200 m away from the base of the waste dump. Pit traps 
were positioned in an additional six undisturbed areas 
(48 pit-traps each) during this period. Different habitats 
based on vegetation types were selected for each of the 
undisturbed areas. Although the undisturbed habitats 
varied in composition they can generally be 
characterised as Eucalypt-Casuarina-Mulga woodlands 
interspersed with Acacia acuminata shrublands. The 
rehabilitated waste dumps are less vegetated, generally 
with a sparse covering of chenopod shrubs (i.e. 
bluebush and saltbush) and large areas of bare ground. 
The waste dumps were rehabilitated in 1993, 1994, 1997 
and 1998, and the fifth waste dump had a staged 
rehabilitation in 1992 and 1996. 
Daily movements of adult P. minor were monitored 
between 13 and 29 September, 1 to 15 December 2001, 
and 11 to 23 January 2002, a total of 43 days. These lizards 
were caught by hand or in pit-traps and released at or 
near their place of capture within 10 minutes of capture. 
Lizards were weighed, snout-to-vent (SVL) and tail 
length measured, and individually numbered by toe 
clipping. Sex was confirmed by the eversion of 
hemipenes (for males) or the presence of eggs (for 
females). 
A spool of white, double-stranded nylon thread 
(Penguin Thread Co, Victoria) was attached to the dorsal 
surface of the base of each lizard's tail with 35 mm grey 
polyvinylchloride (PVC) electrical insulation tape The 
attachment of the spool to the dorsal surface of the base 
of the tail was intended to minimise the possibility of the 
spool impeding movement. The free end of the thread 
was tied to a fixed object at the point of release. As the 
lizard moved away from this point the thread pulled 
away from the centre of the bobbin, leaving a white 
nylon thread on the ground indicating the path the 
animal had taken. Each nylon spool contained over 225 
m of thread. If the nylon spool ran out, either the lizard 
was recaptured (and the spool replaced) or the insulation 
tape came off after a further 2-3 days, leaving the lizard 
unencumbered. 
The daily movement patterns of 19 P. minor we 
recorded from the day after their release, by retrievi, 
e nylon thread by hand, noting where the lizard h; 
^°r e i a " d "fasuring the length of the nylon-thre. 
trail. The lizards were handled and disturbed as little 
possible, and there was no evidence to suggest that th< 
distance travelled or their behaviour was affected l 
an ing A Universal Transverse Mercator (UT > 
location for each P. minor, each day, provided 
measurement of the linear distance moved for tl 
EM' 5 T"* 3CCUrate to * 4 m (Garm 
the S llTS‘ T f h l dni y , dlStanC e travelled, as measured 1 
t':rr,°V he , nyIon fhread ' is referred to as tl 
g g istance , and the distance between UT 
The haWti't r r! J°/ S the ' Unear distance ' ^velle 
e habitat traversed (e.g. number of bushes, log pile 
whe^ l ed ' 1 C) by each lizard was rccordc 
when retrieving the nylon thread. 
Bai^d 0 a St h rehabi ! itated T ining waste dum P s aro und O 
Banda have steep sides with a flat or concave to 
Vegetation on waste dumps generally consists of a high 
proportion of Atriplex spp and Maireana spp, often with 
little leaf litter, and many sites have large areas where 
the vegetation is sparse. Most have an apron of bare 
ground around the perimeter that colonising reptiles 
must cross to get onto the top of the waste dump. For 
most sites, the topsoil had been deeply ripped on the top 
and sides to stop water run-off, formation of gullies and 
erosion. Deep ripping creates a very uneven surface of 
linear mounds and furrows. 
Three gravid females from the site were removed in 
early October and laid eggs that were incubated at 27.5 
(± 1.0) °C in a mixture of vermiculite and water (1:1 by 
mass) to determine incubation period and neonate size at 
a known temperature. 
Results 
Pogona minor always represented a higher proportion 
of the reptile species richness in the five rehabilitated 
mining sites than in the adjacent undisturbed areas (1/14 
species vs 1/33 species; 1/9 vs 1/25; 1/9 vs 1/17; 1/20 vs 
1/25 and 1/17 vs 1/25). Because P. minor was present on 
all rehabilitated sites, even when the species richness was 
less than for the adjacent areas, we conclude that P. minor 
is one of the early reptile species to colonise rehabilitated 
mines sites in the Ora Banda area. 
A spool was attached to five adult males (mass = 59.2 
± se 2.63 g; SVL = 125.8 ± se 3.15 mm) and 14 adult 
female P. minor (mass = 67.3 ± se 7.95 g; SVL = 128.9 ± se 
2.42 mm). Nine lizards were recorded for six or more 
consecutive days, and we have 103 lizard-days of 
movement data. One lizard was found immobilised in a 
bush, caught by the nylon thread, on three occasions. 
Data for this lizard on the days for which its movement 
was impeded were not used in the analysis and are 
additional to the 103 days of data. There were no 
mortalities. 
On some days, lizards did not move, and on some 
days the thread broke or ran out. Consequently we have 
three possible measurements of daily distance moved; a) 
distance travelled when the total distance moved was 
known (including when the lizard did not move and the 
thread did not break or run out) was 79.0 ± se 7.40 m (n = 
79); b) distance travelled when the total distance moved 
was known but excluding those days when the lizards 
did not move away from their overnight position (and 
excluding days when the thread broke or ran out) was 
114.6 ± 14.77 m (n = 90); and c) distance travelled on all 
days, including data where the thread broke, ran out or 
was dislodged, which was 111.7 ± 15.53 m (n = 103). The 
corresponding 'linear distances' are 41.2 ± 3.69 m, 68.3 ± 
11.83 m and 66.8 ± 12.12 m. The length of thread when it 
broke or ran-out was greater than the mean for the 
known daily distance travelled ('foraging distance' = 
186.4 ± 14.43 m and 'linear distance' = 123.4 ± 16.44 m, n 
= 11) so it can be assumed that the 114.9 m 'foraging 
distance' or 41.2 m 'linear distance' is an underestimate 
of the actual mean daily distance travelled by P. minor. 
The ratio of 'foraging distance' to 'linear distance' 
travelled was 1.68:1 for days when lizards moved and 
the total distance moved was known (i.e. moved with 
unbroken nylon thread). 
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