Ground mammal colonization of restored wildlife corridors in the tropical uplands of north‐eastern Australia
Nigel Tucker, Nara VogadoAbstract
Introduction
Since European settlement, Australia's Wet Tropics bioregion has been extensively cleared, leaving a mosaic of rainforest fragments, crops, pastures, orchards, and human settlement. Fragment isolation leads to declines in faunal diversity and genetic variability, effects potentially exacerbated by climate change. Restoring habitat corridors enhances landscape permeability, potentially allowing genetic exchange and landscape‐scale dispersal, partially alleviating both fragmentation and climate change effects.
Objectives
This study compares species composition of ground mammals in restored corridors with adjacent reference forest and tests for the effect of corridor age and proximity to reference forest on the number of detections of ground mammals at community and species level.
Methods
Using trail cameras, we examined ground mammal species composition in three wildlife corridors ranging in age from 10 to 30 years since planting, and from 1.2 to 4.4 km in length.
Results
We found no clear separation of ground mammal community composition between reference forests and corridors. Corridor age, distance from reference forest, and the degree of ecological specialization of a species all affected the number of detections of native species in corridors and reference forests. Corridor age ( χ 2 = 32.54, p < 0.001) and ecological specialization ( χ 2= 20.85, p < 0.001) and their interaction ( χ 2= 31.50, p < 0.001) were the most important factors.
Conclusion
Results indicate restored wildlife corridors are being used as habitat and possibly a dispersal conduit by native ground mammals, and are potentially an effective wildlife management strategy in fragmented tropical forest landscapes.