Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Title

Ecology and Evolution

Volume

11

Issue

15

First Page

10644

Last Page

10658

Publisher

Wiley

School

School of Science / Graduate Research Services

RAS ID

36872

Funders

Chevron Gorgon Barrow Island Threatened and Priority Species Translocation Program Western Australian Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions

Comments

Lohr, C. A., Nilsson, K., Sims, C., Dunlop, J., & Lohr, M. T. (2021). Habitat selection by vulnerable golden bandicoots in the arid zone. Ecology and Evolution, 11(15), 10644-10658. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7875

Abstract

In 2010, vulnerable golden bandicoots (Isoodon auratus) were translocated from Barrow Island, Western Australia, to a mainland predator-free enclosure on the Matuwa Indigenous Protected Area. Golden bandicoots were once widespread throughout a variety of arid and semiarid habitats of central and northern Australia. Like many small-to-medium-sized marsupials, the species has severely declined since colonization and has been reduced to only four remnant natural populations. Between 2010 and 2020, the reintroduced population of golden bandicoots on Matuwa was monitored via capture–mark–recapture data collection, which was used in spatially explicit capture–recapture analysis to monitor their abundance over time. In 2014, we used VHF transmitters to examine the home range and habitat selection of 20 golden bandicoots in the enclosure over a six-week period. We used compositional analysis to compare the use of four habitat types. Golden bandicoot abundance in the enclosure slowly increased between 2010 and 2014 and has since plateaued at approximately one quarter of the density observed in the founding population on Barrow Island. The population may have plateaued because some bandicoots escape through the fence. Golden bandicoots used habitats dominated by scattered shrubland with spinifex grass more than expected given the habitat's availability. Nocturnal foraging range was influenced by sex and trapping location, whereas diurnal refuge habitat, which was typically under a spinifex hummock with minimal overstory vegetation, was consistent across sex and trapping location. Our work suggests that diurnal refuge habitat may be an important factor for the success of proposed translocations of golden bandicoots.

DOI

10.1002/ece3.7875

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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