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Published (Version of record)CC BY V4.0, Open Access
Published (Version of record)CC BY V4.0, Open
Journal article
Are Urban Populations of a Gliding Mammal Vulnerable to Decline?
Animals (Basel), Vol.13(13), 2098
24/06/2023
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Abstract
Small populations are at high risk of extinction, and they are likely to need management intervention. Successful management, however, relies on sufficient long-term demographic data in order to determine whether apparent declines are natural fluctuations or the product of threatening processes. In this study, we monitored a small urban population of squirrel gliders (Petaurus norfolcensis) in Queensland, Australia, over a 16 year period. A reference population in a larger forest patch was also studied in order to investigate whether its demographic trends were similar. Using mark-recapture data to generate estimates of apparent survival and population size, we found evidence of a decline within the small population but not in the reference population over the monitoring period. We suggest that the influence of multiple factors may have led to the decline, but, ultimately, that the genetic condition of the small population may be responsible. Understanding demographic trends is an important context for management interventions of small populations, although causes of decline need to be identified for successful management. The squirrel glider provides a useful case study for small urban populations and particularly for arboreal mammals.
Details
- Title
- Are Urban Populations of a Gliding Mammal Vulnerable to Decline?
- Creators
- Anita J. Marks - Southern Cross UniversityRoss L. Goldingay - Southern Cross University
- Publication Details
- Animals (Basel), Vol.13(13), 2098
- Publisher
- MDPI
- Grant note
- Research in the period 2015–2020 was supported by Urbex Pty Ltd. Research during 2004–2008 was supported by Brisbane City Council.
- Identifiers
- 991013125925902368
- Copyright
- © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Science and Engineering; Science
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article