The characters that inhabit Australia's southern temperate forests are no less fussy about where they live. Accommodating their special needs is one of the tasks making forest management so difficult. The need for an improved approach to the retention of hollow-bearing trees is highlighted by Phil Gibbons in a chapter of Ecology and sustainability of southern temperate ecosystems, a new book that draws together nine papers about forest management. Gibbons wrote the chapter while completing a Masters degree at the Australian National University. It is one of four in the book to address the impact of timber harvesting on native wildlife.
Hollows provide habitats for many animals.
In Australia alone, some 400 vertebrate species use them. Gibbons, who now works with the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service, says timber harvesting in natural forests represents a potential threat to hollow-dependent fauna. Studies have shown that their populations may be reduced or eliminated when some or all hollow-bearing trees are removed. Logging cycles or rotation lengths are also typically shorter than the period required for trees to form hollows suitable for wildlife. A number of factors affect this suitability, Gibbons says.