Nanangroe Plantation Plot Network: Arboreal Marsupial Spotlight Survey, Southwest Slopes, NSW, 2013

Brief description

This arboreal marsupials survey data package comprises spotlight surveys conducted every two years along 200 metre fixed transects at each site for 20 minutes per site. Distances along and adjacent to a transect are recorded. If animals are in a tree, tree species and animal height (distance from the ground to the animal) are also recorded. The principle objective of the Nanangroe study is to directly quantify changes in woodland vertebrate assemblages and their relationships with habitat variables when the surrounding landscape matrix is converted from a semi-cleared grazing landscape to a landscape dominated by an exotic softwood plantation (Lindenmayer, DB, Cunningham, RB, MacGregor, C, Tribolet, C & Donnelly, CF 2001, ‘A prospective longitudinal study of landscape matrix effects on fauna in woodland remnants: experimental design and baseline data’, Biological Conservation, vol 101 no 2, p. 160). The study area is located in the Southwest slopes of NSW west of Lake Burrinjuck and includes four exotic Pine Plantations (Nanangroe, Cotway, East Bungongo and Bungongo), as well as private properties adjacent those plantations. Repeated sampling of the vegetation structure and cover and selected vertebrate groups on all sites from 1998 has created a long term dataset. A synopsis of related data packages which have been collected as part of the Nanangroe Plantation Forest Plot Network’s full program is provided at http://www.ltern.org.au/index.php/ltern-plot-networks/nanangroe-plantation.