Research

Amy Winnard – University of Melbourne Ph D

Amy Winnard is currently doing her Ph D on the habitat requirements of the critically endangered Eastern Barred Bandicoot. Mt Rothwell is Amy’s fourth study site and is of particular interest because heavy grazing by macropods has significantly reduced the grass cover available to the bandicoots for nesting and foraging. Despite the less than favourable habitat conditions, the Eastern Barred Bandicoot population appears to be doing well here. How they have adapted to this habitat is the focus of Amy’s research at Mt Rothwell.

To figure this out she attached 4-g radio-transmitters to the tails of 11 wild-bred Eastern Barred Bandicoots and tracked them day and night until the transmitters fell off. This took between one and five weeks for each bandicoot. At each location where a bandicoot or its nest was found a habitat analysis was conducted. This involved making abundance estimates of various habitat components, such as grass cover, measuring soil compaction and the distance to the nearest tree or coarse woody debris.

Preliminary analysis of the data has shown that bandicoots are travelling large distances (up to 2 km) every night. Many bandicoots are also spending several days in the same nest instead of changing nest location every one to two days. The results of Amy’s research are fundamental for choosing new reintroduction sites and understanding how Eastern Barred Bandicoots can adapt to less than favourable conditions in a predator free environment.