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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 36(8)

The long-term effects of logging for woodchips on small mammal populations

Daniel Lunney A B E , Alison Matthews A C , Peggy Eby A and Angela M. Penn D
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water NSW, PO Box 1967, Hurstville, NSW 2220, Australia.

B School of Biosciences and Biotechnology, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia.

C Institute for Land, Water and Society, Charles Sturt University, PO Box 789, Albury, NSW 2640, Australia.

D BEES, University of NSW, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.

E Corresponding author. Email: dan.lunney@environment.nsw.gov.au

Wildlife Research 36(8) 691-701 https://doi.org/10.1071/WR08028
Submitted: 19 February 2008  Accepted: 12 November 2009   Published: 16 December 2009

Abstract

Context. Long-term studies are internationally recognised as an essential component of achieving ecologically sustainable forest management with respect to fauna.

Aims. This study aimed to assess longer-term responses of small mammals to logging by returning in 1998 to our 1980–83 study sites in south-eastern New South Wales, Australia.

Methods. Three age-classes of forest were surveyed: unlogged; 18–19-year-old regrowth; and 26–34-year-old regrowth.

Key results. Rattus fuscipes remained affected by logging, and there were significantly fewer R. fuscipes males in logged, north-west-facing sites than at other sites, although the effect was less pronounced in 1998 than in 1980–83. Antechinus agilis females were significantly less numerous in south-east-facing, unlogged forest. This was not expected from the 1980–83 results. Antechinus swainsonii, which had disappeared following a fire in 1980, had returned to the forest by 1998. A. swainsonii females showed a significant preference for south-east-facing slopes and this relationship was consistent between logged and unlogged forest. No members of Mus musculus or Sminthopsis leucopus, which were present in 1980–83, were caught in 1998.

Conclusions. As in the 1980s study, the responses of small mammal species to logging history were varied and species specific.

Implications. In our study area, we predict that sustained logging for woodchips will continue to deplete its populations of small mammals. This adds to the case for a more robust and sustained approach to researching and managing our forest fauna.


Acknowledgements

We wish to thank Anne Breckwoldt, Bill O’Shea and Ayesha Penny (now Seymour) for their participation in the field work, Cherylin Bray for data entry, and Mathew Crowther, Irina Dunn, Chris Moon, three referees, and the editor, Andrea Taylor, for comments on the ms. The research was carried out under an approved protocol (960701/02) from the Animal Ethics Committee of Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water NSW.


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