Distribution of the long-footed potoroo (Potorous longipes) and the spot-tailed quoll (Dasyurus maculatus) in the Goolengook Forest, East Gippsland, Victoria
W. K. Elsner A , A. T. Mitchell A E and J. A. Fitzsimons B C D
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Department of Sustainability and Environment, PO Box 260, Orbost, Vic. 3888, Australia.
B Victorian Environmental Assessment Council, 8 Nicholson Street, East Melbourne, Vic. 3002, Australia.
C School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, Vic. 3125, Australia.
D Current address: The Nature Conservancy, Suite 3-04, 60 Leicester Street, Carlton, Vic. 3053, Australia.
E Corresponding author. Email: tony.mitchell@dse.vic.gov.au
Australian Mammalogy 34(1) 100-107 https://doi.org/10.1071/AM11026
Submitted: 21 June 2011 Accepted: 20 September 2011 Published: 5 December 2011
Abstract
A survey to assess the distribution of two endangered marsupial species, the long-footed potoroo (Potorous longipes) and the spot-tailed quoll (Dasyurus maculatus) in the south and east of the Goolengook Forest Management Block was conducted in September and October 2006. Survey techniques consisted of hair-tubing, camera surveillance, collecting scat of target species and predators, and searching for activity and tracks of the target species. Eleven sites were surveyed. Twenty-eight records of long-footed potoroo were confirmed at nine of the sites, while one spot-tailed quoll record was confirmed from one of the sites. A record of the long-footed potoroo in the eastern Blackwatch Creek catchment extended, by several kilometres, the boundary of the known East Gippsland distribution at the time of the survey. Long-footed potoroos are distributed widely within the study area and are likely to form part of a contiguous population that extends across the Goolengook Forest and into adjacent forest.
Additional keywords: digital surveillance cameras, endangered marsupials, hair-tubes, scat analysis.
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