Home ranges of sympatric red-necked wallabies, red-bellied pademelons and common brushtail possums in a temperate eucalypt forestry environment.

Abstract

We investigated home ranges of sympatric red-necked (or Bennett’s) wallabies Macropus rufogriseus rufogriseus, red-bellied pademelons Thylogale billardierii and common brushtail possums Trichosurus vulpecula fuliginosus within a forestry environment in north-west Tasmania. Six indiviuals of each species were radio-tracked between 7 and 11 months. Nocturnal and diurnal data were used to estimate Minimum Convex Polygon (MCP) home range, 95% fixed-Kernel (KE) home range and 50% KE core area. Home ranges (mean ± s.e.) were as follows: M. r. rufogriseus MCP = 61 ± 12 ha, KE = 41 ± 3 ha; T. billardierii MCP = 22 ± 5 ha, KE = 16 ± 3 ha; and Tr. v. fuliginosus MCP = 39 ± 8 ha, KE = 17 ± 3 ha. M. r. rufogriseus had larger MCP home ranges than T. billardierii (P < 0.05), and larger KE home ranges and core areas than both T. billardierii and Tr. v. fuliginosus (P < 0.05), which reflected their larger body mass. Inter-sexual comparisons within the sexually dimorphic macropods showed that M. r. rufogriseus males had significantly larger MCP and KE home ranges and core areas than females (P < 0.05), and T. billardierii males tended to have a larger KE home ranges than females (P = 0.08). No inter-sexual difference in home range size was detected for Tr. v. fuliginosus.