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The Dispersal of Honey Possums, Tarsipes Rostratus, in Relation to Habitat Fragmentation and Fire

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The Dispersal of Honey Possums, Tarsipes Rostratus, in Relation to Habitat Fragmentation and Fire The dispersal of honey possums, Tarsipes rostratus, in relation to habitat fragmentation and fire Rachel Louise Clancy Bachelor of Science (Hons) This thesis is presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the University of Western Australia, School of Animal Biology, 2011 For Wilbur Acknowledgements The completion of this thesis would not have been possible without the generous support and assistance provided by the following people. From the University of Western Australia I would like to thank my coordinating supervisor, Professor Dale Roberts, who provided invaluable and continuous direction, advice and encouragement. Thank you for not giving up on me, and for sticking with me. I would also like to thank my second supervisor Dr Oliver Berry for his support and guidance with the genetic component of this thesis. Funding of this study was provided by an Australian Postgraduate Award, the School of Animal Biology (UWA), the Linnean Society of NSW, the M.A. Ingram Trust (State Trustees Victoria), and the Australian Geographic Society. Fieldwork carried out in Yanchep National Park, Yeal Nature Reserve and the Gnangara Pine Plantations was licensed under permits from the Western Australian Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) and with permission from the University of Western Australia’s Animal Ethics Committee. This work would not have been possible without the generous in-kind assistance provided by DEC, Wanneroo. Specifically, I would like to thank Dr Mark Garkaklis, Dr Barbara Wilson, Brent Johnson, Alice Reaverley, Natalia Huang, Leonie Valentine, Clayton Sanders, and importantly, Tim Gregson and all the Wanneroo crew guys who provided massive support in the trapping component of this study. Thank you to Janine Kuehs and Tracey Sonnerman for producing the polygons and original GIS files that allowed me to produce the maps presented in Chapter 5. I would also like to thank the following people for their contributions to tissue collection used in the phylogeography study- Professor Don Bradshaw, Tub Liddelow, Dr Mike Bamford, Johnny Prefumo, Janine Liddelow, as well as the Western Australian Museum. Thanks must also go to my field volunteers- Gregor Buchanan, Christine Bowman, Jill and Peter Bowman, and Liz Clarke. I would also like to extend my gratitude to Dr Kate Bryant and Murdoch University’s undergraduate students for their help with my habitat assessments. For their much valued help in the genetics lab and my microsatellite development, Maxine Beveridge, Janine Rix, and Sharron Perks, thank you. Thanks must also go to Matt Johnson for providing me with his extensive GIS expertise. i Finally I would like to thank my family and friends for supporting me throughout this PhD. Thank you to Kerry Knott for providing me with a family away from home and most importantly to Jenny and Greg Clancy for their emotional and financial support. Thank you for picking me up every time I fell. ii Abstract The honey possum Tarsipes rostratus is a tiny (7-16g) highly specialised flower-feeding marsupial endemic to south-western Australia. This study utilised both demographic and genetic data to investigate the effects of habitat fragmentation and fire on honey possum dispersal at both broad and local scales. At a broad scale, genetic analyses revealed very little phylogeographic structuring across the complete range of the honey possum. Overall phylogeographic structuring of T. rostratus was shallow and it is probable that honey possums have maintained recent genetic connectivity. I conducted a trapping study in and around the Gnangara Pine Plantations approximately 60 km north of Perth, Western Australia, in both fragmented and continuous habitat. This study was intended to investigate honey possum density, demography and dispersal using mark- recapture and genetic tools for assessing population structure and dispersal. Previous studies relying on mark-recapture and radio tracking have generated contradictory or inconclusive data in relation to dispersal capacity: e.g. a radio tracking study suggested mark-recapture data may underestimate dispersal, particularly by males. All previous studies have been conducted in cool climate, more continuous habitats across the south coast and may not be representative of much of the range of this species, which ranges from Shark Bay to the edge of the Nullarbor Plain. Fragmented patches in the pine plantation recorded the highest average number of honey possums caught per trapping session. Assignment tests revealed no population structuring within the Gnangara pine plantation and indicated that all individuals were part of a single population. Further analysis using spatial autocorrelation also revealed no fine scale genetic structure over distances of up to 20 km indicating that the matrix of the pine plantation is not a barrier to honey possum dispersal. While the current landscape is not affecting the genetic connectivity of honey possums, current pine removal plans will accentuate fragmentation of natural habitats and are likely to reduce the species ability to move through the landscape. Fire did not appear to influence the distribution of honey possums within this study area. Animals were caught in recently burnt, as well as long unburnt areas and there was no correlation between the average number of honey possums caught per trapping session and the fire age of a habitat. There was some evidence that abundance was highest 7-9 years post fire - contrasting with a peak at 20 years at Fitzgerald River approximately 450 km south-east iii of my study. Vegetation condition was a much more important predictor of abundance than fire. This study has shown that honey possums are able to utilise habitat of all fire ages and may not be as ‘fire-sensitive’ as previously thought. Selective foraging behaviour by T. rostratus may indirectly generate genetic connectivity during times of climatic pressure on preferred food plants. For example, if potential impacts of climate change such as decreased rainfall affect the distribution of preferred food plants, gene flow throughout the landscape may increase as a result of honey possums being forced to move greater distances to access adequate food resources. Future studies on this species should incorporate both demographic and genetic analyses to further understand how this species responds to different landscapes and landscape manipulations, as it is representative of a deep phylogenetic lineage with a long history in south-western Australia: a biodiversity hotspot with major environmental pressures due to clearing of native vegetation for agriculture and forestry and changing climates. iv Contents Acknowledgements........................................................................................................... i Abstract............................................................................................................................. iii Contents............................................................................................................................ v Chapter 1 Introduction...................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Conservation issues: threats and disturbance...................................................... 1 1.2 Habitat fragmentation in south-western Australia.............................................. 1 1.2.1 Impacts of fragmentation: demographic studies.................................... 2 1.2.2 Impacts of fragmentation: genetic insights............................................. 4 1.3 Fire impacts in south-western Australia............................................................... 5 1.3.1 Impacts of fire: demographic studies...................................................... 6 1.3.2 Impacts of fire: genetic insights............................................................... 7 1.4 Impacts of fragmentation and fire: a case study in the Gnangara and Yanchep pine plantation..................................................................................................... 8 1.5 Thesis context......................................................................................................... 11 Chapter 2: Phylogeographic structure of the honey possum, Tarsipes rostratus in south- western Australia.............................................................................................................. 14 2.1. Introduction to Phylogeography.......................................................................... 14 2.1.1. The study of phylogeography...................................................................... 14 2.1.2. Evolutionary and geographical context....................................................... 14 2.1.3. Phylogeography- a tool for conservation biology....................................... 15 2.2. Methods.............................................................................................................. 17 2.2.1. Sample collection....................................................................................... 17 2.2.2 DNA extraction........................................................................................... 20 2.2.3 Mitochondrial DNA amplification and sequencing..................................... 20 2.2.4 Data analyses.............................................................................................. 21 v 2.3 Results................................................................................................................... 22
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