COMPARATIVE RESPONSES OF 5 ARBOREAL MARSUPIALS TO TROPICAL FOREST FRAGMENTATION

Examined fragmentation of tropical rainforests in NE Queensland which has led to a strong gradient in mammal extinction proneness. Most vulnerable were lemuroid ringtail possums Hemibelideus lemuroides, which declined by >97% in abundance in forest fragments and secondary regrowth. Herbert River ringtail possums Pseudocheirus herbertensis and Lumholtz's tree-kangaroos Dendrolagus lumholtzi exhibited negative but intermediate responses to fragmentation, whereas coppery brushtail possum Trichosurus vulpecula and green ringtail P. archeri possums were least affected, relative to populations in unfragmented rainforest. A multiple-regression model incorporating log10 fragment area and 2 measures of fragment isolation explained 82% of the variation in arboreal species richness in 10 fragments ranging from 1.4-590 ha. "Corridors' of secondary vegetation helped ameliorate effects of fragmentation for some species. The most useful indicator of extinction proneness was the relative abundance of a species in forest regrowth appeared to depend upon their denning requirements, diet and degree of arboreality. -from Author