6 - Patch use: how animals use patches of remnant eucalypt forest surrounded by pine

Summary

Landscape change can have direct negative impacts on species such as through the interconnected processes of habitat loss, habitat degradation and habitat subdivision (Lindenmayer and Fischer, 2006). Landscape change and habitat fragmentation can also lead to changes in the behaviour and biology of particular species (reviewed by Banks et al., 2007). This, in turn, can alter patterns of patch use and, in some cases, result in population decline or even extinction (Simberloff, 1988; Banks et al., 2007). As highlighted in the previous chapter, much of the work at Tumut has quantified patterns of site occupancy in different landscape contexts. However, other studies have either directly or indirectly explored the way that animals actually use patches of remnant native forest that were surrounded by stands of exotic Radiata Pine. This chapter summarises some of that work. It includes brief descriptions of:

• Studies of home range use in eucalypt patches by arboreal marsupials;

• Bird movements within patches as well as the surrounding pine stands;

• Bird calling behaviour within eucalypt patches surrounding Radiata Pine stands;

• Within-patch breeding biology of the small carnivorous marsupial, the Agile Antechinus.

Movement and other changes in patches of different sizes

Patch use by the Greater Glider

The size and spatial configuration of habitat patches in modified landscapes can have profound effects on their use by the individuals of a given species. For example, the home ranges and movement patterns of animals may be altered as a result of habitat subdivision (Arnold et al.,1993; Brooker and Brooker, 2002).