Category: Fieldwork

Is the Fire & Fragmentation Project honeymoon period over?

31/5/2017

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Evidence for

Evidence against

Having carefully balanced the evidence, we conclude that the honeymoon period lives on.

Last week the Fire & Fragmentation Project team ventured out to the heathy woodland between Dartmoor and Edenhope to set up their second round of camera traps. This work is part of Zahlia and Lauren's studies into the effects of fire and fragmentation on mammals. They are currently going through the photos from their first round of camera trapping, and will compile their favourites soon. Please stay tuned.

Thanks to Sarah, Lauren and Zahlia for providing all the evidence.

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Conservation of the threatened brush-tailed phascogale in a degraded landscape

14/5/2017

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Brush-tailed phascogale. © Jerry Alexander

Degraded woodland in Central Victoria. © Cara Mansfield

A phascogale being wrangled. © Cara Mansfield

Cat Nield weighing an animal. © Cara Mansfield

Habitat loss and degradation have contributed significantly to the decline of many species worldwide. To address this loss, we first require a comprehensive understanding of habitat requirements and resource-use patterns of the species under threat.

In our new paper, we aimed to quantify variation in the habitat of a the threatened brush-tailed phascogale (Phascogale tapoatafa tapoatafa), by measuring several physical characteristics of trees and ground cover. We surveyed phascogales in Central Victoria over a 13-year period from 2000 to 2012, and measured habitat variables characterising tree communities, ground cover and coarse woody debris.

The highest overall animal abundance was at sites characterised by red stringybark, red box, grey box and broad-leaved and narrow-leaved peppermints. At these sites, red stringybark and grey box trees were of small diameter and tended to have small hollows.

Our study has provided new information concerning spatial patterns of phascogale abundance and resource use within a forested area that has been subjected to multiple disturbances. Currently, the composition and age structure of tree communities and ground habitats are a response to severe disturbance due to past mining and harvesting activities.

Successful conservation of this threatened species could be enhanced through active management of this forest to maintain the ongoing supply of nesting hollows and foraging resources.

Mansfield, C., Arnold, A., Bell, T.L. & York, A. (in press). Habitat characteristics and resource use of a threatened arboreal marsupial in a degraded landscape: the brush-tailed phascogale (Phascogale tapoatafa tapoatafa) in central Victoria, Australia. Wildlife Research. DOI

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Congratulations to Sarah McColl-Gausden on completing an epic fieldwork campaign!

5/5/2017

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Sarah has recently finished the fieldwork component of her Masters project in the Otway Ranges.

She has been measuring the three-dimensional structure of vegetation at the long-term monitoring sites and collecting fuel hazard information. The next step is to explore how the flammability of different forest types changes over time using these data.

Thanks to all of the amazing volunteers (around 25 of them!) who have helped out in the field over the last eight months.

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Our first (of many) western Victorian (and eastern South Australian) road trip

9/12/2016

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Our ARC Linkage project officially begins in 2017, and Holly, Julian, Matt and Alan took a road trip this week to scope out the study area. The ultimate aim of the project is to conserve biodiversity in fire-prone fragmented landscapes by addressing two key knowledge gaps: the combined effects of fire and fragmentation on animal movement, and the implications of current and future fire regimes for animal populations.

We'll be embarking on an busy field program from mid February to May and are seeking volunteers to join week-long trips involving:

setting up sites
Elliott-trapping small mammals
setting up camera traps
funnel-trapping reptiles
pitfall-trapping invertebrates
measuring vegetation

Please contact Holly if you're interested or would like further information.

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Bushfire and Biodiversity - class of 2016

11/5/2016

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Nineteen students took our two-week intensive Masters subject "Bushfire and Biodiversity" as part of the Master of Forest Ecosystem Science and Master of Environment.

The course covers the effects of fire on many aspects of biodiversity and ecological processes, and involves a three-day field trip to the Otway Ranges. Students were free to design their own field exercise in groups using a pre-defined canvas - an area near Anglesea burnt by planned fire in autumn 2015. Three groups chose to explore the effects of fire severity on plant species diversity and one group focused on birds.

Despite the intensive fieldwork, we managed to find time in the evening for table tennis and snap tournaments.

Please contact us for more information about what the subject involves.

Many thanks to Julio and Alan for photos.

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The animal chase continues in 2016

6/1/2016

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Our 2016 fieldwork program has already kicked off with a team of seven visiting the Otways to help Hilman and Natasha measure vegetation structure and trap small mammals.

Hilman is nearing the end of a mammoth effort to deploy camera traps and measure vegetation at 130 long-term monitoring sites spanning foothills forest, forby forest, tall-mixed woodland and heathland. His Masters research examines the influence of time since fire and habitat structure on the functional diversity of ground-dwelling mammals, and will reveal the attributes of prescribed burns that are likely to enhance ecosystem function.

Natasha has recently begun fieldwork for her Masters project which seeks to test species distribution models for mammals in heathland, where several species appear to have become locally extinct or persist in very small numbers. She is using Elliott traps to target small mammals, and plans to create new models of species' current distributions.

Please contact us if you are interested in joining a field trip as a volunteer. Our Otways fieldwork is finishing shortly, but several opportunities are coming up in the Central Highlands.

Many thanks to Matt and Natasha for these photos.

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Fieldwork fun and other spring pursuits

26/11/2015

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Alarmingly, it’s been two months since our last news item, so we’ve put together a collection of photos to illustrate some of our springtime activities.

Many thanks to Julio and Alan for these photos.

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Fieldwork fungi

8/9/2015

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Winter is a little slow on the news front as we wait for the animals to wake up, the roads to dry out and the fire season to begin, but at least the desk-bound months provide an opportunity to ponder the highlights and lowlights of past field seasons.

An unexpected highlight of last autumn was the fungi. None of us have any fungal expertise but we were dazzled by the colours and forms we found all over the Central Highlands.

We’ve put together a slide show of our favourite fungi (or more accurately, of our favourite fungal fruiting bodies). Thanks to Kate Parkins and Julio Nájera-Umaña for these fantastic photos.

We only know the name of one of these species – please let us know if you can help us name the rest.

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Tracking swamp wallabies on Phillip Island

12/5/2015

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Manuela has started looking at human-wildlife interactions and movement of swamp wallabies on Phillip Island as part of her PhD research.

So far, she’s caught 35 wallabies, 14 of which were suitable for equipping with GPS collars. She's particularly interested in how wallabies use space and move between different vegetation patches in human-modified and heterogeneous landscapes such as Phillip Island.

Please contact Manuela for more information on her PhD research.

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Fieldwork misadventures in Victoria's Central Highlands

11/4/2015

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Holly, Matt, Julian and Wibi headed out to the tall wet forest of Victoria's Central Highlands this week.

They finished deploying remote cameras at sites established to better understand how biodiversity varies among patches of different time since fire, and where data are available, fire severity.

They avoided the heavy rain of Tuesday 7th but not the oncoming traffic. Highlights included blue mushrooms and a 20-cm worm. This sounds like the product of hallucinations but they've provided photographic evidence.

Please let us know if you can ID the mushrooms.

Blue mushrooms

Meeting the locals

20 cm was the distance between its eyes

Fire-side gatherings are perfect opportunities for checking your cameras function correctly

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Welcome to

Fire Ecology and

Biodiversity

Is the Fire & Fragmentation Project honeymoon period over?

Evidence for

Evidence against

Conservation of the threatened brush-tailed phascogale in a degraded landscape

Congratulations to Sarah McColl-Gausden on completing an epic fieldwork campaign!

Our first (of many) western Victorian (and eastern South Australian) road trip

Bushfire and Biodiversity - class of 2016

The animal chase continues in 2016

Fieldwork fun and other spring pursuits

Fieldwork fungi

Tracking swamp wallabies on Phillip Island

Fieldwork misadventures in Victoria's Central Highlands

Author

Archives

Categories

Links

Where to find us

University of Melbourne
4 Water Street
Creswick
Victoria 3363

Phone +61 (0)3 5321 4300 or email us

Welcome to Fire Ecology andBiodiversity

Evidence for

Evidence against

Author

Archives

Categories

Links

Where to find usUniversity of Melbourne4 Water StreetCreswickVictoria 3363Phone +61 (0)3 5321 4300 or email us

Welcome to

Fire Ecology and

Biodiversity

Where to find us

University of Melbourne
4 Water Street
Creswick
Victoria 3363

Phone +61 (0)3 5321 4300 or email us