Red-tailed phascogale population diminishing

FARMERS and locals in WA’s Wheatbelt are to helping to ensure the conservation of the endangered red-tailed phascogale (Phascogale calura).

Once recorded across much of arid and semi-arid Australia, populations have contracted to the Wheatbelt and even there, its range is shrinking.

Now largely confined to the far western Wheatbelt, the small, squirrel-like, carnivorous marsupial has been threatened historically by feral and domestic cats and more recently by intensive agriculture.

Wildlife Research and Management director and principal research scientist Dr Jeff Short was part of the group trying to work out where the species still occurs.

“We were engaged by the South West Catchments Council and in partnership with local landcare group the Wagin Woodanilling Landcare Zone [to do the research] so we could provide advice to farmers on what sort of tree planting they could do that might benefit the species,” Dr Short says.

Generally regarded as confined to the Wandoo (Eucalyptus wandoo) vegetation, the group found the species to be more broadly distributed than was previously thought.

“[We found that] the species occurred in lowland habitat in York gum (Eucalyptus loxophleba) and a lot of that habitat was along riverine corridors or around lake margins.

Much of this habitat exists on private agricultural land.

“Unfortunately a lot of that habitat is increasingly affected by salinity and many of the mature trees with hollows for nesting are now dead or dying. A lot of that habitat will probably become less suitable over time, so it’s on a continued downward trajectory over the longer term,” he says.

However, increased awareness by farmers and the community has led to action on conservation efforts.

“Part of the problem is that in the Wheatbelt there are small areas of habitat which are fragmented and separated,” Dr Short says.

Whilst numbers of the species appear to be on a slow decline, Dr Short says populations in the Wheatbelt seem stable thanks to conservation efforts.

“The positive side is that a lot of farmers are much more aware and willing to construct corridors to allow crossing between habitats…that’s facilitating movement of phascogales between the remnants,” he says.

“Many farmers are doing a lot more to plant or replant trees along fence lines.”

Dr Short says whilst too small themselves to support a population, movement between the remnants often provides adequate habitat.

“It’s on a continued downward trajectory over the longer term but the phascogale does seem secure in what remains in the Wandoo belt. So even though that’s even a very small fraction of its former range, it seems reasonably secure there.”

http://www.sciencewa.net.au/3765.html