Lead Investigator: Dr Michael Franklin (WSU)

Co-Investigators: Professor Uffe Nielsen (WSU)

Project Summary: Tree hollows are essential habitat resources used by fauna in woody ecosystems globally. In addition to extensive historical and ongoing clearing, human use of woodlands has left remnants with structurally modified tree assemblages, including reductions in large hollow-bearing trees. However, little is known about contemporary tree hollow resources for arboreal vertebrates in fragmented, peri-urban woodlands.

The aims of the project are to 1) obtain estimates of the density of hollow-bearing trees with different sized hollows to assess contemporary resource levels for key arboreal vertebrates, and 2) quantify the effect of tree size on the probability and number of hollows in temperate peri-urban woodlands. This collaborative project involves a team of WSU PhD candidates and research staff from WSU and DCCEEW.

Tree size will be assessed using diameter at breast height (DBH), and systematic searches will be conducted for hollows, in the Cumberland Plain Woodland Research and Monitoring Plot Network . Outcomes will include the development of an integrated management approach to support hollow-dependent fauna in these systems.