Road-kills of the eastern barred bandicoot (Perameles gunnii) in Tasmania: an index of abundance

Abstract

The value of road-kill counts in monitoring changes in numbers of the eastern barred bandicoot, Perameles gunnii, was investigated in the Huon Valley, south-eastern Tasmania, by comparing population trends on two trapping grids with trends in road-kills on adjacent segments of highway. Between 1992 and 1996, both the number of P. gunnii on the trapping grids and the number of road-kills on the adjacent highway underwent a significant decline. While our data are preliminary, we suggest that road-kills may provide a useful index of gross, long-term trends in numbers of P. gunni. Such an index could be used to track long-term trends in local populations adjacent to a segment of highway, as in the present study. Alternatively, by considering a highway as a continuous ‘chain’ of such segments, road-kills may provide an index of trends over a larger (i.e. regional) scale.