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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)

The black‐tailed dusky antechinus (Antechinus arktos) is a recently discovered, endangered, carnivorous marsupial mammal endemic to the Tweed Shield Volcano caldera, straddling the border between Queensland and New South Wales in eastern Australia. The species' preference for cool, high‐altitud...

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Autores principales: Riordan, Caitlin E., Pearce, Coral, McDonald, Bill J. F., Gynther, Ian, Baker, Andrew M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7042678/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32128142
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.6045
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author Riordan, Caitlin E.
Pearce, Coral
McDonald, Bill J. F.
Gynther, Ian
Baker, Andrew M.
author_facet Riordan, Caitlin E.
Pearce, Coral
McDonald, Bill J. F.
Gynther, Ian
Baker, Andrew M.
author_sort Riordan, Caitlin E.
collection PubMed
description The black‐tailed dusky antechinus (Antechinus arktos) is a recently discovered, endangered, carnivorous marsupial mammal endemic to the Tweed Shield Volcano caldera, straddling the border between Queensland and New South Wales in eastern Australia. The species' preference for cool, high‐altitude habitats makes it particularly vulnerable to a shifting climate as these habitats recede. Aside from basic breeding and dietary patterns, the species' ecology is largely unknown. Understanding fine‐scale habitat attributes preferred by this endangered mammal is critical to employ successful conservation management. Here, we assess vegetation attributes of known habitats over three sites at Springbrook and Border Ranges National Parks, including detailed structure data and broad floristic assessment. Floristic compositional assessment of the high‐altitude cloud rainforest indicated broad similarities. However, only 22% of plant species were shared between all sites indicating a high level of local endemism. This suggests a diverse assemblage of vegetation across A. arktos habitats. Habitat characteristics were related to capture records of A. arktos to determine potential fine‐scale structural habitat requirements. Percentage of rock cover and leaf litter were the strongest predictors of A. arktos captures across survey sites, suggesting a need for foraging substrate and cover. Habitat characteristics described here will inform predictive species distribution models of this federally endangered species and are applicable to other mammal conservation programs.
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spelling pubmed-70426782020-03-03 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) Riordan, Caitlin E. Pearce, Coral McDonald, Bill J. F. Gynther, Ian Baker, Andrew M. Ecol Evol Original Research The black‐tailed dusky antechinus (Antechinus arktos) is a recently discovered, endangered, carnivorous marsupial mammal endemic to the Tweed Shield Volcano caldera, straddling the border between Queensland and New South Wales in eastern Australia. The species' preference for cool, high‐altitude habitats makes it particularly vulnerable to a shifting climate as these habitats recede. Aside from basic breeding and dietary patterns, the species' ecology is largely unknown. Understanding fine‐scale habitat attributes preferred by this endangered mammal is critical to employ successful conservation management. Here, we assess vegetation attributes of known habitats over three sites at Springbrook and Border Ranges National Parks, including detailed structure data and broad floristic assessment. Floristic compositional assessment of the high‐altitude cloud rainforest indicated broad similarities. However, only 22% of plant species were shared between all sites indicating a high level of local endemism. This suggests a diverse assemblage of vegetation across A. arktos habitats. Habitat characteristics were related to capture records of A. arktos to determine potential fine‐scale structural habitat requirements. Percentage of rock cover and leaf litter were the strongest predictors of A. arktos captures across survey sites, suggesting a need for foraging substrate and cover. Habitat characteristics described here will inform predictive species distribution models of this federally endangered species and are applicable to other mammal conservation programs. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2020-02-12 /pmc/articles/PMC7042678/ /pubmed/32128142 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.6045 Text en © 2020 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Original Research
Riordan, Caitlin E.
Pearce, Coral
McDonald, Bill J. F.
Gynther, Ian
Baker, Andrew M.
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)
title 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)
title_full 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)
title_fullStr 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)
title_full_unstemmed 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)
title_short 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)
title_sort 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)
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7042678/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32128142
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.6045
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