Register      Login
Wildlife Research Wildlife Research Society
Ecology, management and conservation in natural and modified habitats
Shopping Cart: ( empty )
You are here: Home > Journals > WR > WR24209
RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)
Contents Vol 52(8)

A mouse that rocks: camera trapping shows that mound assessment criteria do not reliably predict pebble mouse (Pseudomys chapmani) activity

Renée C. Firman https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9428-7388 A * , Rachelle E. Buckley A , William De Angelis A and Dustin R. Rubenstein B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Centre for Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.

B Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA.

* Correspondence to: renee.firman@uwa.edu.au

Handling Editor: Peter Brown

Wildlife Research 52, WR24209 https://doi.org/10.1071/WR24209
Submitted: 20 December 2024  Accepted: 22 July 2025  Published: 13 August 2025

© 2025 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

Context

The western pebble mound mouse (Pseudomys chapmani) is an understudied Australian rodent that tunnels in rocky substrate to excavate a complex subterranean burrow system that is topped with a ‘fortress style’ pebble mound. Most of the species’ current distribution occurs in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, which is a hub of anthropogenic disturbance, primarily because of iron-ore mining. In 1996, a scoring system based on external mound features was developed to allow for quick assessment of whether a mound was ‘active’ or not. However, we identified that the investigation that developed the scoring system had several shortcomings, including a lack of a test of repeatability across investigators and minimal trapping effort to validate the criteria. Because this scoring system has been applied to ‘determine’ presence or absence of this species in environmental surveys, there are concerns about the accuracy of population data that have informed the management of this species.

Aims

The aim of our investigation was to provide a rigorous assessment of the established western pebble mouse mound scoring system.

Methods

We obtained independent mound activity scores from three investigators and intensively camera trapped western pebble mouse mounds during their most active period of the year.

Key results

Our analyses produced four key results: (1) western pebble mouse activity is highly variable across mounds; (2) activity scores derived from using the mound assessment criteria were not reproducible among investigators; (3) there was a lack of congruency in mound status (active or not active) as determined by the mound activity scores (predicted activity) and camera detections (actual activity); and (4) mounds that had higher predicted activity scores tended to have a greater number of camera detections.

Conclusions

Our investigation demonstrates that the use of external mound structures to determine western pebble mouse activity is not reliable. We show that high variation in activity across mounds is likely to be a population trait and suggest that mounds with low or no activity are critical resources, either to be occupied by locally dispersing females or as temporary respites for males that move transiently across the landscape.

Implications

We provide recommendations on how to adequately assess western pebble mouse activity, the application of which will be important in defining the current and future conservation status of this important Pilbara ecoengineer.

Keywords: Australian rodent, ecological index, Karijini National Park, mound assessment, pebble mound, Pilbara region, Pseudomys chapmani, species presence, western pebble mouse.

References

Anstee SD (1996) Use of external mound structures as indicators of the presence of the pebble-mound mouse, Pseudomys chapmani, in mound systems. Wildlife Research 23, 429-434.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Anstee SD, Roberts JD, O’Shea JE (1997) Social structure and patterns of movement of the western pebble-mound mouse, Pseudomys chapmani, at Marandoo, Western Australia. Wildlife Research 24, 295-305.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Baker AM, Gynther IC (Eds) (2023) ‘Strahan’s mammals of Australia.’ (Reed New Holland Publishers: Sydney, NSW, Australia)

Breed B, Ford F (2007) ‘Native mice and rats.’ (CSIRO Publishing: Melbourne, Vic., Australia)

Browne E, Driessen MM, Ross R, Roach M, Carver S (2021) Environmental suitability of bare-nosed wombat burrows for Sarcoptes scabiei. International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife 16, 37-47.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |

Davidson AD, Lightfoot DC (2008) Burrowing rodents increase landscape heterogeneity in a desert grassland. Journal of Arid Environments 72(7), 1133-1145.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Dickman CR (1999) Rodent-ecosystem relationships: a review. In ‘Ecologically based management of rodent pests’. (Eds GR Singleton, H Leirs, LA Hinds, Z Zhang) pp. 113–133. (Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research: Canberra, ACT, Australia)

Firman RC, Rubenstein DR (2025) The thermal benefits of a mound-burrow system in a semi-desert Australian landscape: will this pebble fortress provide refuge from climate change? bioRxiv 2025, 2025.05.14.654155 [Preprint, published 18 May 2025].
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Firman RC, Ottewell KM, Fisher DO, Tedeschi JN (2019) Range-wide genetic structure of a cooperative mouse in a semi-arid zone: evidence for panmixia. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 32, 1014-1026.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |

Fleming PA, Anderson H, Prendergast AS, Bretz MR, Valentine LE, Hardy GES (2014) Is the loss of Australian digging mammals contributing to a deterioration in ecosystem function? Mammal Review 44, 94-108.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Fuller A, Hetem RS, Maloney SK, Mitchell D (2014) Adaptation to heat and water shortage in large, arid-zone mammals. Physiology 29(3), 159-167.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |

Ivan JS, Newkirk ES (2016) CPW Photo Warehouse: a custom database to facilitate archiving, identifying, summarizing and managing photo data collected from camera traps. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 7, 499-504.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Kinlaw A (1999) A review of burrowing by semi-fossorial vertebrates in arid environments. Journal of Arid Environments 41(2), 127-145.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Knuckey C, Heidrich A (2014) Fortescue Metals Group Ltd, Investigator Project. Terrestrial Vertebrate Fauna Assessment. (Fortescue Metals Group: Perth, WA, Australia) Available at https://library.dbca.wa.gov.au/FullTextFiles/925442.pdf

Lacher TE, Jr, Davidson AD, Fleming TH, Gómez-Ruiz EP, McCracken GF, Owen-Smith N, Peres CA, Vander Wall SB (2019) The functional roles of mammals in ecosystems. Journal of Mammalogy 100(3), 942-964.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Majer JD (2014) Mining and biodiversity: are they compatible? In ‘Resource curse or cure? On the sustainability of development in Western Australia.’ (Eds M Brueckner, A Durey, R Mayes, C Pforr) pp. 195–205. (Springer)

Mirzabaev A, Wu J, Evans J, García-Oliva F, Hussein IAG, Iqbal MH, Kimutai J, Knowles T, Meza F, Nedjraoui D, Tena F, Türkeş M, Vázquez RJ, Weltz M (2019) Desertification. In ‘Climate Change and Land: an IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems’. (Eds PR Shukla, J Skea, E Calvo Buendia, V Masson-Delmotte, H-O Pörtner, DC Roberts, P Zhai, R Slade, S Connors, R van Diemen, M Ferrat, E Haughey, S Luz, S Neogi, M Pathak, J Petzold, J Portugal Pereira, P Vyas, E Huntley, K Kissick, M Belkacemi, J Malley) pp. 249–343. (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) doi:10.1017/9781009157988.005

Newkirk ES (2016) CPW Photo Warehouse. (Colorado Parks and Wildlife: Fort Collins, CO, USA) Available at http://cpw.state.co.us/learn/Pages/ResearchMammalSofware.aspx

Sinclair L, Coe NM (2024) Critical mineral strategies in Australia: Industrial upgrading without environmental or social upgrading. Resources Policy 91, 104860.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Southgate R, Johnson KA (2023) Greater bilby. Macrotis lagotis. In ‘Stahan’s mammals of Australia’. (Eds AM Baker, I Gynther) pp. 195–197. (Reed New Holland Publishers: Sydney, NSW, Australia)

Start AN (2023) Western pebble mouse. Pseudomys champani. In ‘Strahan’s mammals of Australia’. (Eds AM Baker, I Gynther) pp. 452–453. (Reed New Holland Publishers: Sydney, NSW, Australia)

Start AN, Anstee SD, Endersby M (2000) A review of the biology and conservation status of the Ngadji, Pseudomys chapmani Kitchener, 1980 (Rodentia: Muridae). CALMScience 3, 125-147.
| Google Scholar |

Walsberg GE (2000) Small mammals in hot deserts: some generalizations revisited. BioScience 50(2), 109-120.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Wickham H (2016) ‘ggplot2: Elegant Graphics for Data Analysis.’ (Springer-Verlag: New York, NY, USA)