Arboreal Mammal Habitat Associations in Wombat State Forest P.V. Macak, R.R. Chick and R.H. Loyn 2010 Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research Unpublished client report to the Wombat Biodiversity Working Group/Wombat Forestcare Inc. Arboreal mammal habitat associations in Wombat State Forest Phoebe V. Macak, Ryan R. Chick and Richard H. Loyn Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research 123 Brown Street, Heidelberg, Victoria 3084 June 2010 Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research Department of Sustainability and Environment Heidelberg, Victoria Report produced by: Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research Department of Sustainability and Environment PO Box 137 Heidelberg, Victoria 3084 Phone (03) 9450 8600 Website: www.dse.vic.gov.au/ari © State of Victoria, Department of Sustainability and Environment 2010 This publication is copyright. Apart from fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical or graphic) without the prior written permission of the State of Victoria, Department of Sustainability and Environment. All requests and enquires should be directed to the Customer Service Centre, 136 186 or email [email protected] Citation: Macak, P.V., Chick, R.R. and Loyn, R.H. (2010) Arboreal mammal habitat associations in Wombat State Forest. Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research Unpublished client report to the Wombat Biodiversity Working Group/Wombat Forestcare Inc. Department of Sustainability and Environment, Heidelberg, Victoria Disclaimer: This publication may be of assistance to you but the State of Victoria and its employees do not guarantee that the publication is without flaw of any kind or is wholly appropriate for your particular purposes and therefore disclaims all liability for any error, loss or other consequence which may arise from you relying on any information in this publication. Front cover photo: Study site (WCR19) in Wombat State Forest (Phoebe Macak). Authorised by: Victorian Government, Melbourne ii Contents List of tables and figures................................................................................................................. iv Acknowledgements............................................................................................................................v Summary............................................................................................................................................1 1 Introduction.............................................................................................................................2 2 Methods....................................................................................................................................4 2.1 Study area .................................................................................................................................4 2.2 Site selection.............................................................................................................................4 2.3 Arboreal mammal spotlighting surveys ....................................................................................4 2.4 Arboreal and small ground mammals hair-tube surveys ..........................................................4 2.5 Vegetation surveys....................................................................................................................5 2.6 Data analyses ............................................................................................................................6 3 Results......................................................................................................................................7 3.1 Mammals and nocturnal birds...................................................................................................7 3.2 Vegetation surveys....................................................................................................................8 3.3 Cover/abundance of vegetation attributes...............................................................................10 3.4 Relationship between arboreal mammals and tree attributes..................................................11 4 Discussion ..............................................................................................................................13 References ........................................................................................................................................15 Appendix 1 Study sites in Wombat State Forest used to investigate mammal habitat associations ......................................................................................................................................17 Appendix 2 Tree form classification system used during eucalypt tree surveys .......................20 Appendix 3 Size and form of eucalypt trees measured at study sites.........................................21 Appendix 4 Cover-abundance of understorey vegetation at each study site .............................22 iii List of tables and figures List of tables Table 1. Mammals and nocturnal birds recorded during spotlighting and hair-tubes surveys within Wombat State Forest................................................................................................................ 8 Table 2. Number of trees counted per site, grouped into eucalypt species or type, size class and tree form. Dominate eucalypts are MM=Messmate or Gum=gum-barked.............................. 9 Table 3. Cover abundance measurements for habitat attributes and numbers of logs and stumps at each study site. ....................................................................................................................... 11 Table 4. Parameter estimates from best fit logistic regression model of the presence of Greater Gliders in Wombat State Forest using data collected in 2005-2006 ...................................... 12 List of figures Figure 1. Study sites within Wombat State Forest used to investigate mammal habitat associations in mature forest ........................................................................................................................ 3 Figure 2. Predicted response of Greater Glider presence to the number of peppermints per hectare for one (blue), two (green) and three (red) stags (form 3-5) per hectare ............................... 12 iv Acknowledgements Funding for the Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research (ARI) component of this project was provided by the Wombat Biodiversity Working Group (BWG) via the Wombat Community Forest Management Council of Stewards and the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE). The DSE Daylesford office generously provided ARI with a vehicle for field work associated with study site selection and spotlighting surveys. Murray Ralph (BWG) originally proposed the study; Gayle Osborne and Murray Ralph (BWG) contributed to discussions regarding study design, and selected some of the study sites. The authors would also like to acknowledge the enormous effort made by members of the Wombat State Forest community to carry out the hair-tubing and collect vegetation data, which was coordinated by Gayle Osborne and Tanya Loos (BWG). Joanne Potts (ARI) advised on project design and statistical analysis in the pre-data collection phase; Dave Ramsey and Andrew Gormley (ARI) provided post-data collection statistical advice and assistance; Tuesday Phelan and Elisabeth Ashman (DSE Daylesford) provided regional support. Note that the BWG has since been disbanded with the above members now part of Wombat Forestcare Inc. Hair-tubing was conducted under Wildlife Act 1975 and National Parks Act 1975 Research Permit No. 10003522, and Department of Sustainability and Environment Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research Animal Ethics Committee Approval No. 05/011. Fauna data collected during spotlighting surveys has been submitted to the DSE Atlas of Victorian Wildlife electronic database. v vi Arboreal mammal habitat associations in Wombat State Forest Summary Wombat State Forest is a large (70,000 ha) mixed eucalypt foothill forest that has had a long history of timber harvesting. Messmate Eucalyptus obliqua has been the major sawlog extracted. Sawlog harvesting ceased in 2003 and a forest management trial was initiated to continue forest management as a community-government partnership. The Wombat Forest Biodiversity Working Group (BWG) obtained funding to conduct research into aspects of forest biodiversity. The Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research (ARI) was asked to carry out a study to contribute to the understanding of the fauna-habitat associations in mature forest areas of Wombat State Forest. Thirty research sites of 1 ha each were selected in areas dominated by Messmate or gum-barked eucalypts. ARI conducted spotlighting surveys for arboreal mammals, and the BWG collected vegetation data (tree species and diameter classes, and cover abundance of understorey habitat attributes) and conducted hair-tubing for ground mammals. A total of 19 fauna species (15 mammal and 4 nocturnal birds) were recorded during spotlighting and hair-tubing. Agile Antechinus Antechinus agilis was the most widespread species recorded (20 sites) and Brushtail Possums Trichosurus spp. were the most widespread arboreal mammal recorded (13 sites). A total of