Small Mammals and Habitat Disturbance in Open Forest of Coastal New-South-Wales .1. Population Parameters

摘要

Removal and capture-mark-release trapping were carried out in mined and unmined open forestnbetween 1972 and 1977 near Nelson Bay and Smiths Lake, New South Wales. Most commonly caughtnspecies were Pseudomys novaehollandiae, Antechinus stuartii and Mus musculus, with few captures ofnRattus fuscipes, R. lutreolus, R. rattus, Isoodon macrourus and Petaurus breviceps. Abundance ofnPseudomys novaehollandiae and A. stuartii was maximal in autumn and minimal in spring. Populationnincreases were primarily the result of recruitment of first-year animals. A low-intensity autumn firenthat burnt 66% of the study plot at Nelson Bay resulted in the loss of no nore than 13% of P.nnovaehollandiae and 26% of A. stuartii, but by 2 months postfire 26% of P. novaehollandiae andn52% of A. stuartii had disappeared from the grid. At 2 years postfire, P. novaehollandiae density hadnincreased by 37% over the immediate prefire level, but A. stuartii had attained only 68% of the prefirendensity. Abundance of M. musculus was low until 1 year postfire. At 2 years, it was 32 times thenprefire level. Sex ratios of the three major species were all not significantly different from 0.5.nFemale A. stuartii and male and female P. novaehollandiae lived up to 2 years of age.