Habitat Requirements of the Eastern Barred Bandicoot, Perameles gunnii, on Agricultural Land in Tasmania

Abstract

In the Midlands and on the east coast of Tasmania, the eastern barred bandicoot, Perameles gunnii, is restricted to a small number of isolated populations around townships. Comparable sites with similar habitat, rainfall, geology, soil type and topography were observed not to support P. gunnii. We examined four such paired sites around Tasmania, one site in each pair supporting P. gunnii, the other without P. gunnii. Using orthophotos and aerial photographs (scale 1: 5000), various features of the habitat were quantified for all site pairs, which were then compared. In the Midlands and north-west, sites with P. gunnii had significantly greater areas of ground cover, suitable as nests for P. gunnii and as refuges from predators, than did areas without P. gunnii. This association was not observed for the paired sites on the east coast. It is hypothesised that the remnant populations of P. gunnii found in the Midlands reflect the availability of pockets of suitable habitat, in particular the presence of significant ground cover for nesting sites and refugia. This has implications for management of P. gunnii in cleared agricultural land, where weed species may provide the principal cover for bandicoots.