A comparison of three live trapping surveys to discover what Mammals live on the Tomaree Peninsula, Port Stephens, New South Wales, Australia.
This information gives some insight into population changes over time.
Michael Smith 1992
2210 trap nights
67 locations
206 mammals caught
9.4% success rate
RESULTS
66 Black Rat
51 Yellow-Footed antechinus
42 Brown Antechinus
11 Bush Rat
11 Swamp Rat
9 House Mouse
9 New Holland Mouse
4 Brushtail Possum
3 Northern Brown Bandicoot.
The best trapping results (70% success) were in pockets of bush that had not been burnt in memory, adjacent to houses.
The worst results (0%) were in areas burnt in the last 12 months.
Foxes were common. Feral cats were rarely seen. Echidnas seem abundant from road kills.
Kemper, C.M. 1990.
17537 trap nights
1 location
445 mammals caught
1.1 to 9.4% success rate
RESULTS
184 New Holland Mouse
138 House Mouse
93 Brown Antechinus
15 Black Rat
14 Swamp Rat
1 Sugar glider
Elliott "A" traps only were used in this survey. Traps were set monthly for 4 years and left out on a number of nights.
Thus the same animals were caught and re-caught to see the long term effect on population numbers. From Kemper, C.M. (1990). Small mammals and habitat disturbance -Nelson Bay and Smiths Lake. Aust. Wildl. Res 17 195-206.
Keith and Calaby 1968.
772 trap nights
10 locations
119 mammals caught
15% success rate
84 New Holland Mouse
12 Black Rat
8 Swamp Rat
7 House mouse
8 Brown Antechinus
As well 2 Ringtail possums were seen (no Brushtail possums). Some squirrel gliders and a wallaby were also seen. Feral cats were common.
It was thought that the New Holland Mouse was abundant because of the vigourous regeneration of certain plant species after fire provided ideal conditions for this seed-eating species.
"The future of the mouse in the area is insecure because its habitat is threatened by industrial and urban development", from "The New Holland Mouse in the Port Stephens District, N.S.W.", by K. Keith and J.H. Calaby C.S.I.R.O wildlife research 1968.
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