 |
|
Surprise! On the final day of a 12-week
trapping program, a healthy Tasmanian Devil dropped in to say
“G’day”.
|
 |
|
Helen Stephens (far right) and her supervisors
(from left): Brad Potts (UTas), Sarah Munks (Forest Practices
Authority), Sue Baker (Forestry Tasmania) and Julianne
O’Reilly-Wapstra (UTas).
|
|
Helen Stephens recently
completed the first study of her PhD: “Does aggregated
retention provide suitable habitat for mammal conservation in old
growth forests?” The aim of this study was to monitor
small mammal use of land that had been subjected to different
operational treatments: aggregated retention, clearfell, burn and
sow, and unlogged forest. The study involved an intensive
trapping regime in the Derwent and Huon Districts. Helen
completed four replicates (12 sites) between September 2008 and
March 2009 and during the 12 weeks of trapping she captured over
300 individuals from nine species. The study ended on a positive
note when her volunteers, Christina Borzak (subproject
4.2.8) and Belinda
Browning (subproject 4.2.1) checked the last set of traps on
the final trapping day and found a healthy Tassie Devil!
Helen met with her supervisory team (see photo) on 12 March 2009 to
discuss the analysis of the data and make plans for the next study
due to start in April/May 2009: “Impacts of an alternative
logging practice, aggregated retention, on two native rodents, the
swamp rat (Rattus lutreolus) and long-tailed mouse
(Pseudomys higginsi)”. |
