Aspects of the ecology of the Atherton antechinus (Antechinus godmani) living in sympatry with the rusty antechinus (A. adustus) in the Wet Tropics, Queensland – a trapping and radio-tracking study

Abstract

The ecology of the geographically restricted Atherton antechinus (Antechinus godmani) is poorly known. This trapping and radio-tracking study provides historical baseline information on its ecology. The Atherton antechinus foraged primarily at night in deep leaf litter and rotting logs. The sympatric, smaller rusty antechinus (A. adustus) was arboreal and active both day and night, suggesting resource partitioning between species. The diet of the Atherton antechinus included a significant component of beetles, centipedes, spiders, cockroaches, crickets, and ants; minor items included a frog and a skink. Declines in male condition of both antechinus species occurred in June–July. Free-living young of the rusty and the Atherton antechinus were first trapped in November and January, respectively. Minimum convex polygon home ranges for the Atherton antechinus were 2.5–5.8 ha for males and 3.6 ha for a female. Multiple nest sites were used by individual Atherton antechinuses with simultaneous sharing of nests observed only between sexes. A home range of a single female was overlapped by the home ranges of numerous males. The Atherton antechinus prefers contiguous areas of wet tropical upland rainforest with old-growth characteristics, including large old trees for nest sites, fallen woody debris and deep leaf litter for foraging. The impacts of climate change could be devastating.

The Use of Selfie Camera Traps to Estimate Home Range and Movement Patterns of Small Mammals in a Fragmented Landscape

“…To study movements and home ranges a variety of methods to track individual animals are available to ecologists. Many home range studies utilise tracking collars [ 16 , 17 , 18 ] or directly resight tagged individuals over a study period [ 19 , 20 , 21 ]. However, these methods can be costly, difficult or have impacts on animal welfare.…”

Vegetation structure and ground cover attributes describe the occurrence of a newly discovered carnivorous marsupial on the Tweed Shield Volcano caldera, the endangered black‐tailed dusky antechinus (Antechinus arktos)

“…To analyze differences in vegetation structure, a fourth-root transformation was required to reduce the influence of dominant functional groups (Gray et al, 2016;Smith et al, 2017). A resemblance matrix was produced using a Bray-Curtis similarity statistic (Anderson et al, 2008;Bray & Curtis, 1957).…”

“…One method of understanding how microhabitats influence abundance and finer‐scale occurrence of mammals adopts a comparison of autecological capture and occurrence data, linked with fine‐scale structural vegetation attributes. Various studies have considered such relationships between microhabitat use and structure for small mammals (e.g., Cusack et al, ; Diffendorfer, Gaines, & Holt, ; Kelly & Bennett, ; Morris, ; Santos, Thorne, & Moritz, ; Smith, Means, & Churchill, ; Stokes, Pech, Banks, & Arthur, ). These studies provide important information about microhabitat preference and use, which is invaluable for the development of conservation programs.…”