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Association of common brown froglets, Crinia signifera, with clearcut forest edges in Tasmania, Australia
Sue
Baker A B,
Bonnie
Lauck A B
A
School of Zoology, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 05, Hobart, Tas. 7001, Australia.
B
Equal contribution by both authors.
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Wildlife Research 33(1) 29–34 http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/WR04120
Submitted: 24 November 2004
Accepted: 16 December 2005
Published online: 7 March 2006
Abstract
We examined the response of the common brown froglet, Crinia signifera, to recently clearcut forest edges in Tasmanian wet Eucalyptus obliqua forest. We established transects of pitfall traps crossing coupe edges, within coupes, and within mature forest interiors (riparian and non-riparian) at three study sites. Pitfall captures of C. signifera were greatest at the immediate logged forest edge (which corresponded with a firebreak constructed as part of standard clearfell, burn and sow silvicultural practices in Tasmania). Capture rates were lower in both the coupe interior and the immediate unlogged forest edge and declined to negligible numbers in the unlogged forest interior. Edge penetration was estimated to be generally 50–100 m. We suggest that Tasmania’s current management of wet forest may provide additional habitat for C. signifera by changing the age structure of the forest and providing additional forest edge/firebreak habitat. However, C. signifera is common and disturbance tolerant, and thus these findings should not be extrapolated to other Australian frog species that may be disadvantaged by current logging practices.
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