Does tree hollow volume influence use by small arboreal mammals?

William Terry; Ross L. Goldingay

doi:10.1071/AM24039

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

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Does tree hollow volume influence use by small arboreal mammals?

William Terry ^A ^* and Ross L. Goldingay ^A

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Faculty of Science and Engineering, Southern Cross University, PO Box 157, Lismore, NSW 2480, Australia. Email: ross.goldingay@scu.edu.au

^* Correspondence to: wterry@outlook.com.au

Handling Editor: Stuart Cairns

Australian Mammalogy 47, AM24039 https://doi.org/10.1071/AM24039

Submitted: 7 November 2024 Accepted: 4 March 2025 Published: 27 March 2025

© 2025 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of the Australian Mammal Society. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

Identifying the specific tree hollow requirements of hollow dependent fauna is central to managing these shelter resources, as well as determining where habitat restoration is required. We installed pairs of carved tree hollows of different cavity volume at 14 sites to investigate whether preferences were shown by the brush-tailed phascogale (Phascogale tapoatafa), inland sugar glider (Petaurus notatus) and agile antechinus (Antechinus agilis). Small (1500 cm³) cavities should be of sufficient size to support non-breeding individuals, whereas large (9000 cm³) cavities should be required for breeding. Camera traps showed that the probability of visitation was highly seasonal but did not differ between hollow types for any species. Despite a high probability of visitation per week by all species (0.45–0.75, in summer), inspection of the hollows showed that few were occupied. Two phascogale nests were observed in large hollows and one in a small hollow. Nesting sugar gliders were seen in two large hollows and a nest was seen in another. No antechinus nests were recorded. Low occupancy of artificial hollows relative to high visitation, and compared with the results of other studies, is attributed to abundant natural hollows within our study area. Management of nest box programs requires careful planning that should include an evaluation of the existing tree hollow resource prior to any intervention.

Keywords: arboreal, artificial tree hollow, glider, nest boxes, occupancy modelling, phascogale, tree cavity, tree hollow.

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