Monitoring the threatened brush-tailed phascogale (Phascogale tapoatafa tapoatafa) at Sugarloaf Reservoir, Victoria

Abstract

The brush-tailed phascogale (Phascogale tapoatafa tapoatafa) is a marsupial threatened in Victoria by habitat fragmentation and modification. As part of the development of infrastructure in phascogale habitat, Melbourne Water was required to improve habitat for the phascogale. We aimed to develop and test a method for monitoring phascogales on Melbourne Water land, and to assess the effectiveness of habitat improvements. Trapping, nest boxes, and cameras were all successful in detecting phascogales; however, cameras had the highest detection per unit effort. We suggest that future monitoring should favour camera surveys with trapping potentially every 3–5 years for acquisition of physical data.