The abundance of hollow-bearing trees in urban dry sclerophyll forest and the effect of wind on hollow development

Abstract

Anthropogenic change, particularly in urban landscapes, has resulted in the fragmentation of indigenous vegetation into often small isolated ‘remnants’. The persistence of arboreal fauna in small urban remnants in part depends on the distribution and abundance of habitat resources within the remnant. We surveyed 44 small (<2.5 ha) eucalypt remnants located within the south-eastern suburbs of metropolitan Melbourne to ascertain the abundance of hollow-bearing trees, an important ecological resource. The probability of a live or dead tree containing a hollow was investigated in relation to site variables that influenced exposure to wind, a factor thought to increase the propensity of hollow formation in eucalypt trees. A total of 2678 live and 224 dead eucalypt trees were surveyed, of which 350 live (12%) and 70 dead (31%) trees were hollow-bearing. The probability of a tree being hollow-bearing was strongly positively associated with the diameter of the tree, however, past management practices have lead to a paucity of large (>80 cm DBH) trees in small urban remnants. We found that variables that measured exposure to wind were correlated with the chance that a live tree will be hollow-bearing while reducing the chance that a dead tree will be hollow-bearing. Although highly variable, the number of hollow-bearing trees contained within small urban remnants (mean of 5.8 ha −1) fell well below that contained in areas of un-logged non-urban forest. Our results indicated that large numbers of hollow-bearing tree are unlikely to be recruited into urban remnants for a significant time-span and as such there is an increased importance placed on maintaining the current inventory of hollow-bearing trees for the maintenance of biodiversity in urban areas.