Populations of Four Small Mammals in Radiata Pine Plantations and Eucalypt Forests of North-Eastern Victoria.

1978 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 305 ◽  
Author(s):  
GC Suckling ◽  
A Heislers

[See also FA 39, 2088] A 2-yr trapping study was made on (a) Rattus fuscipes, (b) Antechinus stuartii, (c) Mus musculus and (d) A. swainsonii in mature eucalypt forest, a narrow stream-side strip of eucalypt forest, and in 3 pine plantations, 8, 22 and 42 yr old. In each area (a) and (d) were largely and (c) always confined to dense native vegetation along streams, whilst (b) was more frequent along streams than on slopes. More animals were found away from streams in young pine plantations than in other forest types.

1979 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 151 ◽  
Author(s):  
GR Friend

Before, during and after a clearing operation for pine plantation establishment, small mammals were trapped on ridges which were to be cleared of all vegetation, and in adjacent gullies which were to be permanently retained under native forest. Rattus fuscipes was the most abundant native species on all grids throughout the study, while R. lutreolus, Antechinus stuartii and A. swainsonii were in low abundance. Clearing in early summer, the breeding season in most of these species, resulted in an acceleration and accentuation of population turnover. Some juveniles and subadults may have moved from the ridges during clearing, while breeding adults remained and probably perished. Populations of R. fuscipes on ridge areas were drastically reduced by clearing and windrowing, but subadults recolonized the affected areas within 1-2 months. Results for the other three native species were inconclusive, due to the few individuals captured at any time during the study. The exotic species Mus musculus began to invade immediately following windrow burning.


1987 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 163 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Lunney ◽  
B. Cullis ◽  
P. Eby

This study of the effects of logging on small mammals in Mumbulla State Forest on the south coast of New South Wales included the effects of a fire in November 1980 and a drought throughout the study period from June 1980 to June 1983. Rattus fuscipes was sensitive to change: logging had a significant impact on its numbers, response to ground cover, and recapture rate; fire had a more severe effect, and drought retarded the post-fire recovery of the population. The three species of dasyurid marsupials differed markedly in their response to ground cover, canopy cover, logging and fire. Antechinus stuartii was distributed evenly through all habitats and was not affected by logging, but fire had an immediate and adverse effect which was sustained by the intense drought. A. swainsonii markedly preferred the regenerating forest, and was not seen again after the fire, the failure of the population being attributed to its dependence on dense ground cover. Sminthopsis leucopus was found in low numbers, appeared to prefer forest with sparse ground cover, and showed no immediate response to logging or fire; its disappearance by the third year post-fire suggests that regenerating forest is inimical to the survival of this species. Mus musculus showed no response to logging. In the first year following the fire its numbers were still very low, but in the next year there was a short-lived plague which coincided with the only respite in the 3-year drought and, importantly, occurred in the intensely burnt parts of the forest. The options for managing this forest for the conservation of small mammals include minimising fire, retaining unlogged forest, extending the time over which alternate coupes are logged and minimising disturbance from heavy machinery.


1997 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 737 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ross L. Goldingay ◽  
Robert J. Whelan

The distribution and abundance of small terrestrial mammals were assessed in forest adjacent to powerline easements at three different sites in New South Wales. At each site, four transects of 300 m length extended into the forest from the edge of the easement. The abundances of two native species (Antechinus stuartii, Rattus fuscipes) did not differ significantly with distance from the easement but abundances differed markedly among sites. Mammals were captured in only one easement where dense vegetation was present. Feral carnivores, which may mediate edge effects on small mammals, were surveyed by using hair-sampling tubes. Cats and dogs were detected only 50–200 m inside the forest. Foxes were not detected by hair-tubes but were observed on two easements. These results suggest that powerline easements may not create edge effects in eucalypt forest for some native mammal species, although further studies are needed to determine the generality of this conclusion. We recommend that easement management should be more benign to native mammals, given the ubiquity of this form of habitat fragmentation. Promotion of dense vegetative cover and habitat linkages within easements could achieve this.


Fire ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suyanti Winoto-Lewin ◽  
Jennifer Sanger ◽  
James Kirkpatrick

There are conflicting conclusions on how the flammability of wet eucalypt forests changes in the time after disturbances such as logging or wildfire. Some conclude that forests are most flammable in the decades following disturbance, while others conclude that disturbance has no effect on flammability. The comparative flammability of Eucalyptus nitens plantations in the same environment as wet eucalypt forest is not known. We determined fire incidence and fire severity in regrowth, mature and old growth wet eucalypt forest, and E. nitens plantation, in the Huon Valley, Tasmania after the January–February 2019 wildfire. To control for topographic variation and fire weather, we randomly selected sites within the fire footprint, then randomly located a paired site for each in different forest types in the same topographic environment within 3 km. Each pair of sites was burned on the same day. Old growth forest and plantations were the least likely to burn. Old growth and mature forest exhibited scorched eucalypt crowns to a much lesser degree than regrowth forests. In a comparison of paired sites, plantation forest was less likely to burn than combined mature and old growth forests, but in all cases of detected ignition the canopy of plantation was scorched. The lower flammability of older forests, and their importance as an increasing store of carbon, suggests that a cessation of logging outside plantations might have considerable benefits.


1977 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 233 ◽  
Author(s):  
JL Barnett ◽  
RA How ◽  
WF Humphreys

Populations of small mammals were examined in a 6 yr Pinus taeda plantation (extended to include similar age P. radiata) and adjacent native rain forest in north-east New South Wales, Australia. Of the 6 species trapped, Rattus fuscipes was the only one with viable populations in both vegetation types. R. lutreolus, R. rattus and Mus musculus were restricted to the plantation; Melomys cervinipes and Antechinus stuartii (except for a few individuals) were confined to the native forest.


2005 ◽  
Vol 32 (8) ◽  
pp. 657 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. B. Cunningham ◽  
D. B. Lindenmayer ◽  
C. MacGregor ◽  
S. Barry ◽  
A. Welsh

In this study, we use data drawn from a series of trapping events on four 0.5-ha trapping grids surveyed in the wet eucalypt forests of central Victoria, south-eastern Australia, to identify relationships between capture probabilities and several factors of interest for three species of small mammals that are common throughout the forests of this region: the agile antechinus (Antechinus agilis), the dusky antechinus (Antechinus swainsonii) and the bush rat (Rattus fuscipes). The design of our study – four regular trapping grids – generated spatio-temporal data with binary responses and many covariates. We used powerful and relatively new statistical methodology to deal with the spatio-temporal dependence patterns in the data – analytical problems that are common in trapping data such as these modelled here. Although A. agilis, A. swainsonii and R. fuscipes are among the best studied mammals in Australia, our data analysis produced new perspectives on their probability of being captured. In particular, we quantified how capture probability is affected by trap position within a trapping grid, day of capture in a sequence of trapping days, history of trap occupancy over time by different species and sexes of those species, time of the year or season, and microhabitat attributes. Our insights are discussed in terms of their consequences for trapping protocols that might be applied in the field.


1978 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 249 ◽  
Author(s):  
GC Suckling

Small baited tubes of pvc piping lined with a double-sided adhesive tape and attached to trees have been used successfully to detect the small mammals Antechinus stuartii and Petaurus breviceps in eucalypt forests of south Gippsland, Vic. The hair sampling technique has generally been more successful than trapping for the detection of A. stuartii and about as successful as spotlighting for the detection of P. breviceps. The suitability of the technique for detecting shy species such as Acrobates pygmaeus and Cercartetus nanus is at this stage uncertain.


1983 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 467 ◽  
Author(s):  
CR Dickman ◽  
DH King ◽  
D.C.D. Happold ◽  
M.J. Howell

A technique for determining the filial relationships of free-living small mammals is described. The radioisotope 35*sulfur is injected into a lactating mother, and this passes from the milk and is incorporated in the growing hairs of the young. In three species, Mus musculus and Rattus fuscipes (Rodentia) and Antechinus stuartii (Marsupialia), radioactivity in the hairs of the young was detected for up to 130 days after injection of the mother. The technique has the following advantages: (1) the half-life of 35*S is only 87.4 days; (2) 35*S had no evident adverse effects; (3) different treatments, ranging from 0.75 �Ci [27.75 kBq] g-� to 4.25 �Ci [157.25 kBq] g-� body weight of the mothers, resulted in different levels of radioactivity in the hair of the juveniles; consequently, the filial relationships of several mothers and their young may be established. The application of this technique to field studies of small mammals is outlined.


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