Bandicoots return to Booderee: initial survival, dispersal, home range and habitat preferences of reintroduced southern brown bandicoots (eastern sub species; Isoodon obesulus obesulus)

Abstract

Context: Reintroductions can be an effective means of re-establishing locally extinct or declining 15 faunal populations. However, incomplete knowledge of variables influencing survival and establishment can limit successful outcomes. Aim: We examined the factors (e.g. sex, body mass, release order) influencing the survival, dispersal, home range and habitat selection of reintroduced southern brown bandicoots (Isoodon obesulus obesulus) into an unfenced, predator-managed environment in south-eastern Australia (Booderee National Park). Methods: Over two weeks in May 2016, six female and five male bandicoots were wild caught in state forest and hard released into the park. Release locations were approximately evenly distributed between three primary vegetation types assessed as suitable habitat: heath, woodland and forest. Bandicoots were radio tracked day and night for four weeks from the initial release date. Key results: No mortality was detected. Males dispersed more than twice as far as females (male 𝑥̅ 704 m, female 𝑥̅ 332 m), but there was no significant sex-bias in home range size. At the landscape- scale, bandicoots preferentially selected home ranges that contained heath and avoided forest. Within home ranges, heath and woodland were both favoured over forest. Conclusions: Post-release dispersal is sex-biased, but more data are required to determine the influence of other predictors such as body mass and release order. Within the release area, bandicoots favoured non-forest vegetation types. Implications: Our study outlines factors influencing the establishment of reintroduced bandicoots. We recommend that future bandicoot reintroductions to Booderee National Park occur within areas of heath and woodland; and that subsequent releases consider the potentially larger spatial requirements and conspecific avoidance among male bandicoots. Our findings contribute new knowledge for improving translocation methodologies of a nationally endangered medium-sized mammal.