Predictable effects of agricultural development on the long-term availability of hollows for animals: observations from the Western Australian wheatbelt

Abstract

Australia lacks primary excavators of eucalypts (excluding wood-boring insects), and animals using hollows in trees for shelter or nesting are dependent on hollows created by termites (for processes of termite invasion of eucalypts, and hollow formation, see Mackowski 1984; Perry et al. 1985). The abundance of hollows of various sizes has been used to explain why Australia has the largest number of obligate hole-nesting birds, especially the parrots (Saunders et al. 1982). The importance of tree hollows to many small mammals is also well documented (e.g., Mackowski 1984; Dickman 1991). Once the hollowed tree has fallen, it represents an important shelter and bolt hole site for small mammals (e.g., Friend 1990; Abensperg-Traun 1991; Dickman 1991). Logs also provide many invertebrates (e.g., cockroaches, beetles, spiders, isopods) and lizards with shelter, breeding and feeding sites. However, the importance of this habitat for these species has not been documented.