Forest Phenology and Its Effect on Foraging Behavior and Selection of Habitat by the Yellow-Bellied Glider, Petaurus-Australis Shaw

Abstract

The foraging behaviour of the yellow-bellied glider was observed for more than 3 years in south-eastern New South Wales. The use of different substrates by foraging gliders followed an annual cycle which was correlated with the phenological pattern in the forest. Flowering and bark shedding on eucalypts were the characters of tree phenology most useful for predicting the behaviour of foraging animals. Gliders concentrated their foraging efforts on ephemeral food resources, particularly those obtained from under loose bark; this led to a seasonal pattern in the use of tree species and habitats in the study area. The preferred habitat of P. australis is likely to be characterised by a mosaic of tree-species associations, including those which flower in winter. Smooth-barked eucalypts are important because of the diversity of foraging substrates, and hence food resources, which they provide. The patchy distribution of these gliders may be explained by differences in floristic diversity and the complexity of the habitat mosaic.

Forest and woodland stand structural complexity: Its definition and measurement

“…For example, a structural attribute such as dead wood can also be a good indicator of functional attributes such as decomposition and nutrient cycling processes (Franklin et al, 1981). Similarly, compositional attributes, such as species composition and abundance can be indicators of structural attributes such as canopy layering , or of functional attributes such as flowering and bark shedding (Kavanagh, 1987). The division of attributes into three groupings is therefore by no means a clear categorisation.…”

Crossdating and analysis of eucalypt tree rings exhibiting terminal and reverse latewood

“…Due to the limited demand for assimilated nutrients during years of reduced growth an excess may be retained accelerating growth in the following season. For E. obliqua the peak in correlation between preceding summer air temperature and ring width coincides with the period of maximum leaf production (Kavanagh 1987). Reduced leaf production during this period would conceivably increase nutrient storage.…”

Scale Insects under Eucalypt Bark: a Revision of the Australian Genus Phacelococcus Miller (Hemiptera: Coccoidea: Eriococcidae)

“…In Coolangubra State Forest near Bombala in southeastern New South Wales, yellow-bellied gliders have been reported to shred the fibrous bark of E. fastigata, mainly in winter and spring, allegedly to procure beetle larvae (Kavanagh 1987). In the Brindabella Range in the A.C.T., yellow-bellied gliders rip up bark on the trunks of E. fastigata (Fig.…”