The conservation of arboreal marsupials in the montane ash forests of the Central Highlands of Victoria, South-East Australia: III. The habitat requirements of leadbeater's possum Gymnobelideus leadbeateri and models of the diversity and abundance of arboreal marsupials

Abstract

Factors influencing the presence and abundance of leadbeater's possum Gymnobelideus leadbeateri McCoy and the diversity and abundance of other species of arboreal marsupials in montane ash forests were determined from logistic and Poisson regression analyses. The presence of G. leadbeateri was related to the number of trees with hollows and the basal area of Acacia spp. There was a positive correlation between the abundance of the animal and the number of trees with hollows, the quantity of decorticating bark and a negative correlation with the number of shrubs and the slope of the site. The diversity of arboreal marsupials was greatest on sites with a large number of trees with hollows, a high basal area of Acacia spp., a large quantity of decorticating bark and south- or east-facing sites. A model containing similar variables was developed for the abundance of arboreal marsupials. This model also produced a significant negative correlation with the number of stumps resulting from timber harvesting operations. Our findings highlight the deficiencies of current measures to conserve arboreal marsupials which are dependent on hollows in trees, when these forests are harvested by clear-felling.