Factors Affecting Flora Conservation - Victorian Environmental ...

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Taxa are listed as 'notable' if they conform to
either of the following criteria.
* The taxon is considered to be threatened
in Victoria and is in the lUCN
categories of rare, indeterminate,
insufficiently known, or restricted
colonial breeding or rtwsting sites.
* It is threatened regionally.
Species categorised as indeterminate have
been allocated to significant or notable
depending on the importance of the study
area for the species (for example, if only old
records exist, the species may wartant a
notable classification).
A full list of taxa considered significant or
notable in the study area is presented in
Appendix VI, together with: an assessment of
their distribution and abundance in Australia,
in Victoria, and in the study area; their
conservation status in Australia and Victoria;
and the population trend since European
settlement in Victoria. Appendix VI also
provides definitions of the lUCN threatenedspecies
categories.
birds, arboreal mammals, and reptUes (Edgar
1983). Habitat destmction in the form of
clearing, or timber-harvesting, is likely to
have deleterious effects on the avaUability of
nest sites and food.
Records of tiger quolls are scattered widely
throughout the Cenfral Highlands; however,
very few are within conservation reserves.
There are few records subsequent to 1970.
Leadbeaters possum (Gymnobelideus
leadbeateri)
In 1960, Leadbeaters possum was listed as
'probably extinct'. At this fime, only five
specimens had been collected, all before
1910; three came from the Bass River area,
one from Tynong on the edge of the
Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp, and one from Mount
WUls 250 km north-east of Bass River. As
Significant Taxa - Mammals
Tiger quoll (Dasyurus maculatus)
The tiger quoll is the largest marsupial
carnivore surviving on the Australian
mainland. It is limited to eastern Australia,
and the distribution at the time of European
settlement approximated the region receiving
a mean annual rainfall in excess of 600 mm
(Mansergh 1984). In Victoria this was
concentrated on the Great Dividing Range
and included 60% of the State. Since
European settlement the range has contracted
by about half. Changes in abundance are
more diftlcult to assess; however, many early
accounts (including that of Wheelwright)
considered the species to be rare. A
combination of habitat destmction,
widespread trapping and poisoning, and
possible competition for f(xxi with foxes and
feral cats, has probably caused the decline in
this species (Mansergh 1984), which is now
classified as vulnerable in Victoria.
Little is known of its biology, but it makes
nests in hollow logs and trees, and is an
opportunistic predator on a range of
terrestrial and arlwreal species including
i:
Leadbeaters possum
virtually all of the forest had been cleared
from the first two localities, and numerous
searches in all three had failed to locate any
more animals, its survival was considered
unlikely.
In 1961, however, Leadbeaters possum was
rediscovered at Tommy's Bend near
MarysviUe in the Central Highlands