Failure to Respond to Food Resource Decline Has Catastrophic Consequences for Koalas in a High-Density Population in Southern Australia
| Autor: | Megan L. Taylor, Victoria Dixon, Desley A. Whisson, Alistair Melzer |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2016 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
Male Conservation of Natural Resources Range (biology) Population lcsh:Medicine Woodland Biology Forests 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences Population density Homing Behavior South Australia Animals Ecosystem education lcsh:Science Population Density education.field_of_study Eucalyptus Multidisciplinary National park Ecology 010604 marine biology & hydrobiology lcsh:R Habitat Female lcsh:Q Phascolarctidae Research Article |
| Zdroj: | PLoS ONE, Vol 11, Iss 1, p e0144348 (2016) PLoS ONE |
| ISSN: | 1932-6203 |
| Popis: | Understanding the ability of koalas to respond to changes in their environment is critical for conservation of the species and their habitat. We monitored the behavioural response of koalas to declining food resources in manna gum (Eucalyptus viminalis) woodland at Cape Otway, Victoria, Australia, from September 2011 to November 2013. Over this period, koala population density increased from 10.1 to 18.4 koalas.ha-1. As a result of the high browsing pressure of this population, manna gum canopy condition declined with 71.4% manna gum being completely or highly defoliated in September 2013. Despite declining food resources, radio collared koalas (N = 30) exhibited high fidelity to small ranges (0.4–1.2 ha). When trees became severely defoliated in September 2013, koalas moved relatively short distances from their former ranges (mean predicted change in range centroid = 144 m) and remained in areas of 0.9 to 1.0 ha. This was despite the high connectivity of most manna gum woodland, and close proximity of the study site (< 3 km) to the contiguous mixed forest of the Great Otway National Park. Limited movement had catastrophic consequences for koalas with 71% (15/21) of radio collared koalas dying from starvation or being euthanased due to their poor condition between September and November 2013. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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