Using camera - Trap data to model habitat use by wombats and cattle in Australian riparian ecosystems

Abstract

Common Wombats (Vombatus ursinus) are an enigmatic south east Australian agricultural riparian species which may improve riparian landscape heterogeneity via their burrowing activity. At the same time they are often accused of causing soil erosion. As populations of wombats in other landscapes are under threat due to habitat disturbance, road mortality and disease, knowledge of the factors determining their distribution and abundance are important for their conservation and management. Since the European colonization of Australia, riparian areas have been utilized by domestic cattle (Bos taurus) usually resulting in a decline in biodiversity. Camera trap data was used to investigate the habitat use by wombats and cattle in Eastern Riverine Forests. The relationship between camera trapping and ecological and meteorological variables was investigated using logistic regression modelling. Wombats and cattle were the most common mammals recorded across all sites with 468 photographs of wombats and 106 of cattle recorded. The meteorological and ecological variables that had a significant effect on the observation of a wombat or a cow were time of day, humidity, lower storey canopy cover and the summer season. This study highlights the usefulness of camera trapping as a tool of conservation and management in an agricultural riparian landscape. © 2013, ALÖKI Kft., Budapest, Hungary.