[pp.21-30]

Evaluation of Conservation Corridors Created in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area by Assessing Small Mammal Assemblage

Hayashi NOMURA, Hiromi KOBORI and John WINTER （Musashi Institute of Technology / James Cook University, Australia）

Abstract:
The relationship among small mammal assemblages, site age and vegetation structure was assessed along three conservation corridors that were created to link national parks in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area of North Queensland, Australia. Seventeen restored rainforest sites were classified into six site-types according to their planting age, which ranged from 0 to 12 years, and 14 sites of native tropical forests were selected as reference sites. A total of 774 individuals of 11 species of rodents and marsupials were recorded at 31 study sites through the use of live-traps. The species composition of the mammals at sites that had been restored for at least seven years was similar to that of the reference sites of native forests. This finding indicates that conservation corridors facilitate the persistence of small mammal populations and their migration among isolated and fragmented forests. Restored sites required 11 years for their vegetation structure to become similar to that of reference sites, although the species composition of mammal became similar to that of reference sites in 7 years. Occurrences of Uromy caudimaculatus, a forest species, were positively correlated to site age, whereas occurrences of two grassland species–Rattus sordidus and Melomys burtoni—were significantly negatively correlated to site age. Our results suggest that restored forest corridors function for small mammals that prefer forest habitat before the vegetation structure is fully mature.

Key Word:
small mammals, tropical rainforest, restoration, conservation corridor, vegetation structure

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