The impact of Phytophthora dieback on the abundance of the mardo (Antehcinus flavipes leucaogaster) in the jarrah Eucalyptus marginata) forest

The introduced soilborne plant pathogen Phytophthora cinnamomi has caused significant habitat loss and fragmentation throughout Western Australia's jarrah forest (Eucalyptus marginata). However, no detailed study has examined how this could impact on the abundance of small mammals. In this study the abundance of the yellow-footed or mardo (Antehcinus flavipes leucaogaster) (Marsupialia:Dasyuridea) was assessed and compared between P. cinnamomi infested areas to healthy forest areas using a mark, release-recapture technique. A total of six trap sites were established, 4 diseased sites and 2 healthy forest sites. A total of 386 captures were recorded from 80 individuals over 4070 trap nights for a total trap success of 6.9%. A significant (p=0.001) difference in captures was recorded across all sites. A total of 77 number of captures from 23 individuals were recorded at the four dieback sites, while 309 number of captures were recorded from 57 individuals at the two healthy sites. In conclusion, the loss of vegetation structure and floristic diversity caused by this pathogen impacted on mardo significantly and likely to have had a similar impact on other small mammals in the jarrah forest