The use of hair tubes in detecting irruptive arid-zone rodents
Helen Crisp A B D , Reece Pedler C and Katherine Moseby A BA Arid Recovery, PO Box 147, Roxby Downs, SA 5725, Australia.
B The University of Adelaide, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia.
C Natural Resources – SA Arid Lands, PO Box 78, Port Augusta, SA 5700, Australia.
D Corresponding author. Email: helen.crisp@australianwildlife.org
Australian Mammalogy 40(2) 230-233 https://doi.org/10.1071/AM15025
Submitted: 3 December 2013 Accepted: 21 September 2017 Published: 26 October 2017
Abstract
Populations of many arid-zone rodents are known to fluctuate dramatically in response to the boom–bust cycles of the dynamic landscapes in which they occur. This constrains their study, particularly efforts to determine the location and functioning of important refuge areas. The nationally vulnerable plains mouse (Pseudomys australis) undergoes dramatic population changes in response to rainfall and associated resource abundance. At low population density during resource shortages, the species can be present yet undetectable by conventional trapping methods. We piloted the use of hair tubes as an alternative to trapping, trialling designs effective in detecting P. australis. Baited 25-mm- or 32-mm-diameter × 200-mm-long tubes with double-sided cloth tape in the entrance were effective in collecting P. australis hair. Each of the 21 detections of the species’ presence through hair tubes was confirmed using other methods. Hair tubes effectively detected the species, including during times when Elliott trapping yielded low capture rates and observational techniques failed to detect them. Hair tubes may present a time- and cost-efficient tool for determining the presence of P. australis and other cryptic small mammals in remote arid landscapes.
Additional keywords: arid zone, Elliott traps, hair tubes, rodent.
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