Priorities for Future Research

Many aspects of the life history remain unknown. Juvenile dispersal and recruitment are virtually unknown. There is also limited information on adult mortality, territory turnover in males, and dispersal of females. There is an urgent need to compare the species' breeding success in rural farmland and formally protected areas. Feral cats and dogs in rural areas may negatively affect the Short-clawed Lark – and other bird species – and this aspect needs investigation. Commercial beef-producing farms and the game ranch industry may be an important but currently undervalued player in Short-clawed Lark management. Research should be conducted on habitat management practices that favor occupancy by the Short-clawed Lark without compromising the agricultural sustainability of the land. The impact of urban expansion and different agricultural practices on local populations also needs further investigation. Regular monitoring of the population should be conducted to determine the spatial and temporal distribution of the species in relation to different land management practices and eco-climatological variables. A study to investigate to what extent the “reclamation” of previously occupied habitats through sustainable wood harvesting and burning programs leads to the re-colonization of these habitats would also be valuable. Dialect differences across weak or no geographic barriers within the eastern and western populations warrant a genetic investigation to establish if the vocal differences have a taxonomic basis, e.g., cryptic species. If there are cryptic species, these populations will be highly threatened due to their small ranges.