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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 56(6)

Ecology of the rare but irruptive Pilliga mouse (Pseudomys pilligaensis). I. Population fluctuation and breeding season

Hideyuki Tokushima A B C , Stuart W. Green A and Peter J. Jarman A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Ecosystem Management, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia.

B Present address: 3-1-41-705 Hino, Kounan-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 234-0051, Japan.

C Corresponding author. Email: pilligaensis@yahoo.co.jp

Australian Journal of Zoology 56(6) 363-373 https://doi.org/10.1071/ZO08042
Submitted: 28 April 2008  Accepted: 16 January 2009   Published: 13 March 2009

Abstract

During a 4-year study in the Pilliga Scrub, trappable densities of the Pilliga mouse, Pseudomys pilligaensis (Muridae), were low before a wildfire in November 1997, higher in late 1999 and February 2000 (5–30 mice ha−1) and very high (up to 83 mice ha−1) in April 2000; however, the densities fell sharply by July 2000, remaining low (0–5 mice ha−1) until trapping ended in October 2001. Site-specific densities and their fluctuations differed among the four trapping sites, although fluctuations were broadly synchronised by the irruption peak. Within-site distribution changed as density fluctuated, from sparse to almost ubiquitous and back to sparse, and within-grid pre-irruption distributions did not predict those after the irruption. After the population decline, mice virtually disappeared from three of the four sites. The species’ breeding season spanned at least October–April; some females bred repeatedly within a season. Prolonged good rains soon after the wildfire may have facilitated the irruption. The study suggested that P. pilligaensis is distributed in disjunct patches of (refuge) habitat within its range except when environmental conditions are favourable, and that it is able to irrupt and become briefly ubiquitous before suddenly declining to a low density and sparse distribution. We suggest approaches for monitoring of this rare species.


Acknowledgements

We thank Mr Peter Brookhouse (NSW NPWS, Coonabarabran) for providing his fire-history data in the Pilliga Scrub and Dr Murray Efford (University of Otago) for giving us access to DENSITY 4.2.2, for using it to model densities from our data, and for discussing the model outputs so patiently.


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