Microhabitat use by the long-nosed potoroo, Potorous tridactylus, and six other species of small
mammal was studied in remnant forest vegetation in south-western Victoria, Australia. Throughout
its geographic range, P. tridactylus is consistently associated with dense vegetation in the ground and
shrub strata. However, at a local scale, captures of P. tridactylus were not clearly associated with a
particular floristic group, and were not strongly correlated with any structural feature of the vegetation.
Rather, individuals utilised a range of sites of differing floristic composition and vegetation density.
Dense cover provided diurnal shelter and protection from predators, whereas food resources were most
abundant in adjacent more open areas. The use of vegetation mosaics or ecotones that allow the
inclusion of contrasting microhabitats within an individual home range appears to be characteristic
of potoroids in temperate environments. Such mosaics may result from topographic or edaphic
variation, or from sera1 successional stages in vegetation following disturbance. Of the other small
mammals, the bush rat, Rattus fuscipes, and the brown antechinus, Antechinus stuartii, favoured
floristic groups that provided dense low cover. Captures of the swamp rat, Rattus lutreolus, were
clumped, and centred on several sites along the forest edge on impeded drainage where potential foods
were common. The long-nosed bandicoot, Perameles nasuta, and the southern brown bandicoot, Isoodon obesulus, were uncommon and clear microhabitat preferences were not displayed. The house
mouse, Mus musculus, was of transient occurrence, mostly during autumn, and no obvious habitat
preference was apparent. The quality and availability of microhabitats in remnant vegetation, together
with landscape structure, are important in ensuring the persistence and conservation of small mammals
in fragmented landscapes.
The impact of climate warming on the phenology of ground beetles in the Northern Baikal region