| Abstrakt: |
The Black-flanked Rock-wallaby Petrogale lateralis lateralis is difficult to trap consistently on Barrow Island because of the prevalence of Common Brushtail Possums Trichosurus vulpecula and Golden Bandicoots Isoodon auratus in and near its shelter habitat. Three possible methods of monitoring were trialed: daytime searching, spotlighting and dusk watching. Daytime searching produced the best results, although numbers seen were low and varied between searches. In November 2004, 37 rock-wallabies were sighted during the first search of each 'site' and in August 2005, 43 were sighted. Repeated counts will be needed to demonstrate whether daytime searching could be used as a standard monitoring method. No estimate of the total population was possible, but it is clearly very small, consistent with previous research showing unprecedented low levels of genetic variation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
