What drives the abundance of marsupial carnivores in production forest landscapes?

Jones, Evie Maree; Koch, Amelia J.; Mann, Dydee; Hamede, Rodrigo; Jones, Matthew T.

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2022.120745

Cited by 4 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…At a landscape scale, female devils did not show selection among plantation, native forest remnants, and native grassland in any movement state, and no habitat attributes considered affected devil home range sizes. This demonstrates the adaptability of devils to human-modified landscapes, consistent with Jones et al (30)’s finding that devil abundance slightly increased with plantation extent in production forest landscapes. Devils are generalist carnivores (29), and generalist species usually respond more positively to human-modified landscapes than specialists (55).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Movements and habitat selection of a marsupial carnivore in a modified landscape

Jones

Koch

Pay

et al. 2023

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Landscape modification is a major threat to carnivores worldwide, but modified landscapes can also provide important habitat for these species, as protected areas alone are insufficient. Understanding how carnivores move through modified landscapes, such as production forests, can inform management strategies to improve the value of these landscapes to carnivores. Little is known about habitat selection by marsupial carnivores in production forests, where they occupy a similar ecological niche to their more well-studied eutherian counterparts. We used GPS tracking, Hidden Markov Models, and Manly’s selection ratios to identify the habitat selected in 3 movement states indicating resting/feeding, foraging, and travel by the largest marsupial carnivore, the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii), in a timber plantation-dominated landscape. Devils did not show preferences for any of native forest, native grassland, and plantation in any movement state. Within plantations, devils preferred a plantation age of 4–7 years (selection ratio [wi] = 1.52) and slightly avoided older plantations (8–13 yearswi= 0.74, 14+ yearswi= 0.65). Devils preferred roads (state 1:wi =2.71, state 2:wi= 2.48, state 3:wi= 2.97) and plantation edges (state 1:wi =2.38, state 2:wi= 2.24, state 3:wi= 2.78) in all movement states, and moved faster on roads (0.06 [95% CI 0.04 to 0.09] m.sec-1) and edges (0.08 [0.06 to 0.10] m.sec-1) than away from them, indicating they use them for foraging and travel. No measured habitat variables influenced devil home range size. To support devils in plantation landscapes, we recommend maintaining a heterogeneous landscape of different plantation ages and native remnants and reducing the risk of vehicle collisions by minimizing forestry traffic at night. Tasmanian devils share similar adaptable traits to generalist eutherian carnivore species in their use of modified landscapes. Plantations can provide valuable habitat for this and other threatened predator species.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Movements and habitat selection of a marsupial carnivore in a modified landscape

Jones

Koch

Pay

et al. 2023

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“…It is likely that lead exposure in devils differs among landscape types 15 . Tasmanian devils commonly inhabit forestry plantation landscapes, 47 and forested areas fringing agricultural land 48 . They are known to scavenge on the carcasses of macropods (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Further investigation of lead exposure as a potential threatening process for a scavenging marsupial species

Hutchinson,

Jones,

Pay

et al. 2023

Aust Veterinary J

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There is a growing recognition of the harmful effects of lead exposure on avian and mammalian scavengers. This can lead to both lethal and non‐lethal effects which may negatively impact wildlife populations. Our objective was to assess medium‐term lead exposure in wild Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus harrisii). Frozen liver samples (n = 41), opportunistically collected in 2017–2022, were analysed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP‐MS) to determine liver lead concentrations. These results were then used to calculate the proportion of animals with elevated lead levels (>5 mg/kg dry weight) and examine the role of explanatory variables that may have influenced the results. The majority of samples analysed were from the south‐east corner of Tasmania, within 50 km of Hobart. No Tasmanian devil samples were found to have elevated lead levels. The median liver lead concentration was 0.17 mg/kg (range 0.05–1.32 mg/kg). Female devils were found to have significantly higher liver lead concentrations than males (P = 0.013), which was likely related to lactation, but other variables (age, location, body mass) were not significant. These results suggest that wild Tasmanian devil populations currently show minimal medium‐term evidence of exposure to lead pollution, although samples were concentrated in peri‐urban areas. The results provide a baseline level which can be used to assess the impact of any future changes in lead use in Tasmania. Furthermore, these data can be used as a comparison for lead exposure studies in other mammalian scavengers, including other carnivorous marsupial species.

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“…Relatively small (~0.1 g) hair samples were collected from 61 live wild devils living within Surrey Hills, a forestry plantation landscape in northwest Tasmania (-41.420S, 145.814E). Surrey Hills is an intensively managed forestry landscape dominated by Eucalyptus nitens plantations (Jones et al, 2023). Culling, using lead-based ammunition, is regularly undertaken at the site prior to planting in coupes to protect seedlings from browsing by three marsupial species: Bennett's wallaby, rufous-bellied pademelon, and brushtail possum.…”

Section: Forestry Plantation Landscape Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They are endangered due to devil facial tumor disease (DFTD) 2 , a transmissible cancer which has caused population declines of over 80% since 1996 (Cunningham et al, 2021). Due to their endangered status, the species is the focus of intense conservation efforts, including proactive attempts to identify threatening processes that may prevent or delay their recovery, such as threats from anthropogenic activities (Jones et al, 2023, 2007). The aforementioned study of Hivert et al (2018) also measured lead exposure in wild devils but restricted their investigations to blood lead concentrations, reflecting only short-term exposure (Pain et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Portable X-ray Fluorescence for Measuring Lead in the Hair of Wild Mammals

Jones¹,

Bengsen

Specht

et al. 2023

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Lead (Pb) toxicity is a threat to scavenging wildlife across the globe. To allow inexpensive measurement of long-term lead exposure from archived wildlife tissues, portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF) devices have been optimized to measure lead concentrations in bone samples from avian species. In this study, we assessed portable XRF for hair lead measurement in an Australian mammalian scavenger, the threatened Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii). We attempted to first validate the method by analysing relatively large (~1.0 g) hair samples from 39 deceased animals initially with XRF, and then with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) (validation study). We then measured lead concentrations via XRF only in a further 61 hair samples taken from live devils trapped in a plantation forestry landscape, where devils may scavenge on browsing marsupials that are regularly culled using lead ammunition (plantation study). Portable XRF hair lead measurement demonstrated a positive correlation with ICP-MS results (R2 = 0.95), although the relationship was weak at low lead concentrations. In the validation study, 95% of sampled Tasmanian devils had relatively low lead levels (≤ 3 mg/kg), but the remaining two animals showed considerably elevated lead levels (> 15 mg/kg), suggesting that harmful long-term lead exposure can occur in this species. In the plantation study, lead levels were comparable to those found in the hair of mammals in other studies, though a higher proportion (11%) of devils showed levels > 3 mg/kg than in the validation study, suggesting devils may have higher exposure to lead in a landscape subjected to regular culling of browsing mammals. Our results suggests that portable XRF is a promising emerging technology, and after some refinement, may allow non-invasive real-time measurement of lead concentrations in the hair of mammals.

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What drives the abundance of marsupial carnivores in production forest landscapes?

Cited by 4 publications

References 45 publications

Movements and habitat selection of a marsupial carnivore in a modified landscape

Movements and habitat selection of a marsupial carnivore in a modified landscape

Further investigation of lead exposure as a potential threatening process for a scavenging marsupial species

Portable X-ray Fluorescence for Measuring Lead in the Hair of Wild Mammals

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