Patterns of grazing on coastal dune systems by insular populations of two species of macropod

Abstract

A study of grazing patterns on a coastal dune system on South Stradbroke Island, Queensland, by two species of wallaby was undertaken. Utilisation of sand spinifex (Spinifex sericeus) by agile wallabies (Macropus agilis) and swamp wallabies (Wallabia bicolor) was highly variable between different sites on the dune system. Although wallaby activity on secondary dune strata was significantly higher than on the primary dune, this was not reflected statistically in spinifex grazing levels. However, spinifex stolons on the toe of the primary dune were heavily grazed. Grazing levels on dune systems on the island were negatively associated with the width of the frontal dune and the relative area of open forest vegetation adjacent to the dune system.