Abstract: |
FULL PROJECT NAME: Assessing a survey and monitoring technique for Western pygmy-possums in the Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges.
AIMS:
The aims of this project are to:
1. Determine whether Western Pygmy-possum (Cercartetus concinnus) in the Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges (AMLR) NRM Region, Near Adelaide, South Australia, will utilise artificial nest boxes;
2. Improve knowledge of preferred nest box placement to increase effectiveness of methodology;
3. Use nest boxes to determine local presence/absence and relative abundance of pygmy-possum.
BENEFITS:
The installation of pygmy-possum nest boxes at a number of sites in the AMLR region will benefit this species conservation by:
1. Improving knowledge of presence or absence of the species at numerous sites within the region;
2. Providing additional suitable hollows at sites where they may be lacking;
3. Helping determine local relative abundance by comparison between sites;
4. Providing information to be entered into Biological Databases of South Australia; which is particularly important to the planning of prescribed burns and other strategic land management (e.g. priority areas for revegetation projects), as well as having a baseline to monitor temporal and/or spatial changes.
BACKGROUND:
Western Pygmy-possum are small, nocturnal marsupials (average 13 grams) that can be found in temperate, semi-arid, and arid regions across southern Australia. They are not listed under the EPBC Act 1999, however the population in the AMLR region is classified as critically endangered (AMLR Regional Conservation Assessment Project, 2014).
This population is limited in distribution, and may be isolated from other extant populations within South Australia. In AMLR pygmy-possum prefer heathy woodland with a thick shrubby undergrowth; preferential species include (but not limited to) banksia, hakea, grevillea and melaleuca. During the day they tend to rest in tree hollows or amongst the dense leaves of Xanthorrhoea species.
Threats to this species include the loss, fragmentation and degradation of habitat, altered fire regimes, and potentially predation by introduced species such as Feral Cats.
Pygmy-possum often rely on small hollows for shelter and breeding, and artificial hollows such as plywood nest boxes can be used for survey and monitoring purposes. Additionally, nest boxes may provide a less stressful method of capture when compared to methodologies such as pit-fall trapping. A study on the influence of nest box design on use by a similar species, the Eastern Pygmy-possum, indicated they will use artificial hollows (nest boxes).
Additionally, females of this species preferred nest boxes with a vertical cavity for rearing young (Rueegger et. al., 2012).
|