Comparison of Numbers of Rattus-Fuscipes Living in Cool Temperate Rain-Forests and Dry Sclerophyll Forests

Abstract

Replicated sampling regimes were used to assess the numbers of Rattus fuscipes in cool temperate rainforests and dry sclerophyll forests, on Gloucester Tops, N.S.W. R. fuscipes was significantly more abundant in the rainforest habitat than in the sclerophyll habitat, and this result was consistent under a number of different sampling regimes. Numbers changed significantly between April 1978 and March 1980, but the patterns of change were similar in each habitat. Fire and logging contributed to the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of the Gloucester Tops, and the cool temperate rainforests appeared to be more protected from disturbance than the dry sclerophyll forests. The cool temperate rainforests may be important refuges for populations of R. fuscipes, and may provide recruits for areas of sclerophyll forest the populations of which have been reduced by logging or fire.