A method for estimating wildlife detection probabilities in relation to home-range use: insights from a field study on the common brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula)

2005 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen J. Ball ◽  
David Ramsey ◽  
Graham Nugent ◽  
Bruce Warburton ◽  
Murray Efford
Keyword(s):  
Home Range ◽  
Radio Telemetry ◽  
Distance Sampling ◽  
Brushtail Possum ◽  
Native Forest ◽  
Trichosurus Vulpecula ◽  
Radio Receivers ◽  
Detection Probabilities ◽  
Home Range Use ◽  
Wildlife Detection

Using field data from brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula), we present a method for modelling wildlife detection probabilities. Whereas detection functions typically (e.g. for distance sampling) describe the probability of direct human observations of animal subjects, we adapted this approach for cryptic species where observation depends on animals being caught in traps. Specifically, we characterised the probability of individual brushtail possums being caught by leg-hold traps in an area of farmland and native forest in New Zealand. Detection probability was defined as the per-individual, per-trap, per-night probability of a possum being captured, and was modelled as a function of home-range utilisation. Radio-telemetry was used to define the home-range distributions of 18 possums, and a combination of scanning radio-receivers and movement-activated video-cameras recorded instances when radio-collared possums encountered and stepped on the trigger of leg-hold traps (inactivated by being wired open). We estimated a 5% chance of trapping individual possums with a single leg-hold trap located in the centre of their home range for one night (median value across possums). Furthermore, this probability decreased rapidly as a function of distance, so that at 120 m from the centre of the home range there was less than a 1% chance of trapping success per possum per night. The techniques developed in this study could be applied to a wide variety of species and sampling methods.

Home range and den use of common brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) in urban forest remnants

2005 ◽  
Vol 32 (8) ◽  
pp. 681 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Harper
Keyword(s):  
Home Range ◽  
Urban Forest ◽  
Brushtail Possum ◽  
Urban Landscapes ◽  
Trichosurus Vulpecula ◽  
Residential Areas ◽  
Minimum Convex Polygon ◽  
Close Proximity ◽  
Forest Remnants ◽  
Den Use

The common brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula) is an arboreal marsupial that has adapted well to urban landscapes. Fifteen adult possums (12 female, 3 male) caught in small patches of indigenous vegetation (remnants) in the south-east of metropolitan Melbourne were radio-tracked over a three-month period to investigate nocturnal behaviour and den use. Minimum convex polygon (100%) home-range estimates of both female (1.02 ± 0.28 ha) and male (1.19 ± 0.33 ha) urban brushtail possums trapped in urban forest remnants appear to be smaller than those previously reported for urban brushtail possums. All the brushtail possums foraged extensively in remnants but made repeated forays into adjacent residential areas. The use of few dens, by both female (2.21 ± 0.35 ha) and male (2.51 ± 1.45 ha) brushtail possums, in close proximity to their nocturnal ranges is similar to the behaviour of non-urban brushtail possums

Investigating brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula) home-range size determinants in a New Zealand native forest

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 316 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. S. Richardson ◽  
C. Rouco ◽  
C. Jewell ◽  
N. P. French ◽  
B. M. Buddle ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Population Density ◽  
Home Range ◽  
Disease Transmission ◽  
Home Range Size ◽  
Range Size ◽  
Home Ranges ◽  
Native Forest ◽  
Trichosurus Vulpecula ◽  
Age And Sex

Context The Australian brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) introduction to New Zealand has exacted a heavy toll on native biodiversity and presented the country with its greatest wildlife reservoir host for bovine tuberculosis (TB). Management efforts to control both possums and TB have been ongoing for decades, and the biology of possums has been studied extensively in Australia and New Zealand over the past 50 years; however, we still do not have a clear understanding of its home-range dynamics. Aims To investigate determinants of home range size by using a uniquely large dataset in the Orongorongo Valley, a highly monitored research area in New Zealand and compare our findings with those of other studies. Methods Possum density was estimated, for subpopulations on four 13-ha cage-trap grids, by the spatially explicit capture–mark–recapture analysis of trapping data from 10 consecutive months. Home ranges were estimated from trap locations using a 100% minimum convex polygon (MCP) method for 348 individuals and analysed with respect to grid, age and sex. Key results Mean (standard error) possum density, estimated as 4.87 (0.19), 6.92 (0.29), 4.08 (0.21) and 4.20 (0.19) ha–1 for the four grids, was significantly negatively correlated with mean MCP home-range size. Grid, age, and the interaction of age and sex were significantly related to home-range size. Older possums had larger home ranges than did younger possums. When ‘juvenile cohort’ and ‘adult cohort’ data were analysed separately, to investigate the significant interaction, males in the ‘adult cohort’ had significantly larger home ranges than did females, with the grid effect still being apparent, whereas neither sex nor grid effects were significant for the ‘juvenile cohort’. Conclusions Our findings indicate that, in addition to density, age and sex are likely to be consistent determinants of possum home-range size, but their influences may be masked in some studies by the complexity of wild-population dynamics. Implications Our findings have strong implications regarding both disease transmission among possums and possum management. The fact that adult males occupy larger home ranges and the understanding that possum home range increases as population density decreases are an indication that males may be the primary drivers of disease transmission in possum populations. The understanding that possum home range increases as population density decreases could be a direct reflection of the ability of TB to persist in the wild that counteracts current management procedures. If individuals, and particularly males, infected with TB can withstand control measures, their ensuing home-range expansion will result in possible bacteria spread in both the expanded area of habitation and new individuals becoming subjected to infection (both immigrant possums and other control survivors). Therefore, managers should consider potential approaches for luring possum males in control operations.

scholarly journals Preovulatory follicle development and ovulation in the brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula) monitored by repeated laparoscopy

Reproduction ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 110 (2) ◽  
pp. 361-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. L. Crawford ◽  
G. H. Shackell ◽  
E. G. Thompson ◽  
B. J. McLeod ◽  
P. R. Hurst
Keyword(s):  
Brushtail Possum ◽  
Follicle Development ◽  
Trichosurus Vulpecula ◽  
Preovulatory Follicle

Mobility and home range use by pine martens (Martes martes) in a Polish primeval forest

Ecoscience ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrzej Zalewski ◽  
Wlodzimierz Jedrzejewski ◽  
Bogumila Jedrzejewski
Keyword(s):  
Home Range ◽  
Martes Martes ◽  
Range Use ◽  
Primeval Forest ◽  
Pine Martens ◽  
Home Range Use

Expression of the FcRn receptor (α and β) gene homologues in the intestine of suckling brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula) pouch young

2003 ◽  
Vol 39 (12) ◽  
pp. 707-717 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.H Western ◽  
D.C Eckery ◽  
J Demmer ◽  
J.L Juengel ◽  
K.P McNatty ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Brushtail Possum ◽  
Trichosurus Vulpecula

scholarly journals Predispersal home range shift of an ocelot Leopardus pardalis (Carnivora: Felidae) on Barro Colorado Island, Panama

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafael Mares ◽  
Ricardo S. Moreno ◽  
Roland W. Kays ◽  
Martin Wikelski
Keyword(s):  
Home Range ◽  
Radio Telemetry ◽  
Barro Colorado Island ◽  
Range Shift ◽  
Range Shifts ◽  
Home Ranges ◽  
Adult Size ◽  
Subadult Male ◽  
Leopardus Pardalis ◽  
Natal Home

Home range shifts prior to natal dispersal have been rarely documented, yet the events that lead a subadult to abandon a portion of its home range and venture into unfamiliar territories, before eventually setting off to look for a site to reproduce, are probably related to the causes of dispersal itself. Here, we used a combination of manual radio-tracking and an Automated Radio Telemetry System to continuously study the movements of a subadult male ocelot (Leopardus pardalis), a solitary carnivore with sex-biased dispersal, on Barro Colorado Island, Panama, for 18 months from May 2003 through October 2004. The subadult ocelot?s parents were also radio-tracked to record possible parent-offspring interactions within their home ranges. At the age of ca. 21 months the subadult gradually began to shift its natal home range, establishing a new one used until the end of the study, in an area that had previously been used by another dispersing subadult male. Only three parent-offspring interactions were recorded during the four months around the time the range-shift occurred. The apparent peaceful nature of these encounters, along with the slow transition out of a portion of his natal home range, suggest the subadult was not evicted from his natal area by his parents. The timing of the shift, along with the subadult?s increase in weight into the weight range of adult ocelots four months after establishing the new territory, suggests that predispersal home range shifts could act as a low risk and opportunistic strategy for reaching adult size, while minimizing competition with parents and siblings, in preparation for an eventual dispersal into a new breeding territory.

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