Insights into The Dispersal Patterns of Yellow-Footed Rock-wallabies, Petrogale xanthopus.

Abstract

Inter-colony and within-colony dispersal was monitored in a large colony of P. xanthopus (central-western Queensland) for a period of 34 months, utilising radio-telemetry and regular surveys for tagged individuals. Trap shyness limited the collection of information on juvenile wallabies (n=15). Of the 120 wallabies monitored, only one juvenile male was found to undertake inter-colony dispersal (0.8%). Movement of wallabies between groups within the colony was relatively high (29%), with the majority of movement undertaken by males (21%). Evidence was found that suggests a relationship between the timing of inter-group dispersal and the availability of positions within the social hierarchies of adjacent groups. No relationships were found between the timing of inter-group dispersal and population size or levels of resource availability. In a meta-population context, the low levels of inter-colony dispersal detected in this study suggest that colonies in decline will receive little input of individuals from outside sources and that the establishment of new colonies may occur at a low rate.