Natural Values Report for the Natural and Cultural Heritage Division’s Biodiversity Monitoring Program Camera trapping for the detection of small mammals -Trial of camera traps to survey for the New Holland mouse (Pseudomys novaehollandiae) in Tasmania Biodiversity Monitoring Section Micah Visoiu – Biodiversity Monitoring Ecologist Michael Driessen – Senior Zoologist Nature Conservation Report 2018 / 4 Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment Natural Values Report for the Natural and Cultural Heritage Division’s Biodiversity Monitoring Program – Camera trapping for the detection of small mammals -Trial of camera traps to survey for the New Holland mouse (Pseudomys novaehollandiae) in Tasmania Project team Micah Visoiu Michael Driessen Acknowledgements Funding for the surveys and report preparation was provided by the Tasmanian government. The authors would like to thank Tim Rudman (NCH) for participating in field work, Rosemary Gales (NCH) and Elise Dewar (NCH) for providing comments on the manuscript and Phoebe Burns of the University of Melbourne who provided useful advice and feedback Copyright 2018 Crown in right of State of Tasmania Apart from fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any means without permission from the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment. Nature Conservation Report 2018/4 ISSN: (electronic): 1838-7403 Published by: Biodiversity Monitoring Section, Natural Values Conservation Branch, Natural and Cultural Heritage Division, Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment (DPIPWE), GPO Box 44 Hobart, Tasmania, 7001. Suggested citation: Visoiu, M. and Driessen, M. (2018) Camera trapping for the detection of small mammals -Trial of camera traps to survey for the New Holland mouse (Pseudomys novaehollandiae) in Tasmania, Nature Conservation Report 18/4, Natural and Cultural Heritage Division, Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment, Hobart Cover photo: Coastal Heath, Waterhouse Point, Tasmania. i Executive Summary A camera trapping method developed in Victoria for the survey of the threatened New Holland mouse (Pseudomys novaehollandiae) was tested and refined using available equipment. This included the development of a protocol to modify Keepguard 680V camera traps to enhance their suitability for this purpose. New Holland mice have undergone a dramatic decline in recent years in Tasmania, likely as a result of interactions of habitat management practices and climatic conditions. The last unequivocal capture of a New Holland mouse in Tasmania was in 2004, although possible hair samples were collected in 2009 and 2010. In the intervening years substantial trapping effort has been put into re-locating the species both at historically known sites and other sites with suitable habitat. In the process of testing and refining the camera trapping method we conducted a survey of known and potential New Holland mouse sites. Despite over 1200 animal visitations being recorded by the trialled camera traps no images that could be confidently determined as New Holland mice were recorded. Despite this, the camera trapping method modified during the trial is considered to be suitable for wide-scale and/or intensive surveys for this and other small-bodied mammal species in Tasmania. It is far less time and labour intensive than live trapping programs and can be carried out at far greater spatial and temporal scales. This effectively and efficiently increases the likelihood of detection of this highly threatened and cryptic species whilst minimising resources investment. ii Table of Contents Summary ................................................................................................................................................................... ii Table of Contents ................................................................................................................................................. iii 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 1 2. Methods ........................................................................................................................................................... 2 Site selection ....................................................................................................................................................... 2 Camera trap setup ............................................................................................................................................ 5 Vegetation information..................................................................................................................................... 8 Image identification ........................................................................................................................................... 8 3. Results ............................................................................................................................................................. 8 4. Discussion ..................................................................................................................................................... 11 5. Communication ........................................................................................................................................... 13 6. References .................................................................................................................................................... 14 Appendix one ........................................................................................................................................................ 16 iii 1. Introduction The New Holland mouse (Pseudomys novaehollandiae) has a patchy distribution in coastal eastern Australia from Evans Head in NSW to Angelsea (Victoria), Flinders Island and eastern Tasmania (Menkhorst and Knight 2001). The species was first trapped in Tasmania in 1976 (Hocking 1980) and is likely Tasmania’s rarest terrestrial mammal species. It is listed as endangered under the Tasmanian Threatened Species Protection Act 1995 and vulnerable under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 2002. The species was reliably, although sparingly, captured via targeted trapping programs up until the early 2000’s, with several studies undertaken on its biology in the 1980’s and 1990’s. The first of these studies was carried out in the Eddystone Point area of larapuna in 1986-87 (Pye 1991). Subsequently the same population was also studied in 1998-99 along with other sites at Coles Bay, wukalina / Mt William National Park and on Flinders Island (Lazenby et al., 2008). Incidental captures of the species were also made in the Taylors Beach area near The Gardens in 1978 (Green 1979) and in 1982 (Norton 1987a). Norton (1987b) in undertaking a study on the ecology of Swamp Rats (Rattus lutreolus velutinus) in the Gardens area of the Bay of Fires, captured enough New Holland Mice to also complete a small study on their ecology. The last known record of a live capture and thus unequivocal positive record of the species was by Lazenby in Stumpies Bay, wukalina / Mt William National Park in August 2004 (Lazenby unpub. data). A potential hair tube detection was made in 2009 near Binalong Bay and a probable hair tube detection made in 2010 from Waterhouse Point (Lazenby unpub. data). The hair tube detection at Waterhouse Point is the only indication of the species in the area despite a targeted survey with 385 trap nights undertaken in 1993 (Driessen, Hocking and Holdsworth 1995). In the past 10 years there have been targeted (and incidental) trapping surveys at several locations: wukalina / Mt William in 2016 (Wildlife Management Branch unpubl. data), Eddystone Point in 2013 (Biodiversity Monitoring Section unpubl. data), Flinders Island in 2012 (Lazenby unpubl. data), and the Gardens and Binalong Bay areas of larapuna in 2008 and 2009 (Driessen, unpubl. data). These surveys have comprised thousands of trapping nights in locations where New Holland Mice were expected to be present, and would have in the past been expected to be captured. Hair tube surveys have provided some limited success with the aforementioned detections in 2009 and 2010 (Lazenby unpub. Data), and the 2014 DNA in predator scats survey failed to detect the DNA of this species in areas of potential habitat (Modave 2017). The evident reduction in numbers is potentially attributable to management practices, in particular inappropriate fire regimes; the species has been shown to occur in early-mid stages of vegetation succession after fire (Hocking 1980; Lazenby et al., 2008; Seebeck and Menkhorst 2000) and is considered to generally benefit from frequent, small-scale patch burning (Seebeck et al., 1996). However drought has also been shown to significantly impact populations (Lock and Wilson 2017) and prolonged periods of below average rainfall through the 2000’s has likely also contributed to a reduced density of New Holland mice. Given the conservation significance of this species and current uncertainty about its status, the re- location of known populations or locating new populations is integral to the management of critical habitat, and potentially, the long term survival of the species in Tasmania. Due to recent unsuccessful