Short‐term response of threatened small macropods and their predators to prescribed burns in subtropical Australia

Abstract

Fire is an important ecological process that shapes vegetation structure and habitat for faunal assemblages globally. Prescribed burns are increasingly being used in conservation and management to restore fire regimes in fire-suppressed vegetation communities. Small threatened macropods require structurally complex habitat that allows them to evade detection by predators. Given that fire can alter vegetation structure, it can be viewed as a strong ecological force in shifting the dynamics between predator and prey species. Previous studies in temperate Australia have shown that prescribed burns in the presence of European Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) and feral Cat (Felis catus) can have negative impacts on small macropods and medium-sized mammals. Post-fire response of threatened small macropods and their predators has not been experimentally examined in subtropical Australia despite this region providing refugia for the Long-nosed Potoroo (Potorous tridactylus) and Red-legged Pademelon (Thylogale stigmatica). We conducted a before-after-control-impact fire experiment at two paired sites after low-moderate intensity burns typical of cool season prescribed burns. We used camera trapping to investigate changes in activity of threatened small macropods and their predators. We also recorded vegetation change. Despite large reductions in ground and shrub cover, activity of small macropods and the Dingo (Canis dingo) did not change in response to fires. Therefore, the threat of dingo predation appears to have remained unchanged following the fires. Although feral cats and foxes were present, they showed negligible activity across our sites. Our study suggests that small-scale patchy ecological burns may not lead to increased predation of small macropods in our landscape. We attribute this to sufficient post-fire refugia and very low densities of foxes.

Multiyear monitoring of threatened iconic arboreal mammals in a mid‐elevation conservation reserve in eastern Australia

“…That is, two independent surveys support the hypothesis that the population showed temporal stability over >15 years. Our finding of high koala occupancy over eight years is also surprising given that our study area has a relatively large population of dingoes (McHugh, 2020 ; McHugh et al, 2019 ), which are perceived as a serious threat to koalas (see Beyer et al, 2018 ). We did not investigate this threat but it is noteworthy that koala occupancy increased over a period concurrent with high dingo activity.…”

Occupancy and co-occurrence patterns of endemic mammals and introduced predators across a broad geographical gradient in eastern Australia

“…However, this finding may not be uniform across the distribution of this species. Long-nosed potoroo and predator activity did not change following prescribed burns in sub-tropical Australia (McHugh et al 2020). Greater caution may be required in using fire in this species' habitat in the southern but not northern part of its distribution due to the varied abundance of foxes.…”

“…One limitation of our study was that we were not able to ascertain the response of species to prescribed burns due to a smaller sample of sites where prescribed burns had occurred. Wildfires will generally encompass large areas and have a high intensity/severity (Leonard et al 2014;Chia et al 2016), whereas prescribed burns will generally be small in scale and conducted during cool weather with low-moderate intensity/severity (McHugh et al 2020). Consequently, wildfires can be expected to be more detrimental to potoroos compared to prescribed burns.…”

Utilising power analyses and occupancy modelling to inform population monitoring of the regionally endangered black‐striped wallaby (Macropus dorsalis) in New South Wales

“…There may be a need to actively manage the open habitat preferred by the black-striped wallaby. Richmond Range has experienced an absence of fire in recent decades, allowing the encroachment of mesic vegetation into dry forests (McHugh et al 2020). Therefore, fire management may be very important to maintain its habitat.…”

“…The advent of camera traps has enabled these species to be detected more reliably (e.g. Wang & Fischer 2012;McHugh et al 2019;McHugh et al 2020;Miritis et al 2020). Camera traps produce detection-non-detection data which are well suited to an occupancy statistical approach (Long et al 2008;Karanth et al 2011;Shannon et al 2014;MacKenzie et al 2018) and are highly cost-effective when compared with traditional trapping methods (De Bondi et al 2010).…”