Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00270:body:0:p32
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00270
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 87525–90585

on the composition of the captive diet for this species.
Leadbeater's possum readily uses artificially supplied foods but food availability is not considered generally to be a key limiting factor (LPAG 2014b). Supplementation is unlikely to have any appreciable benefit other than at a local level in association with specific management actions.

Implications for conservation management
    * The energetic costs of foraging relative to the dispersion and nutritive value of available food resources indicate that small fragments and linear strips are less suitable habitat than larger blocks of continuous habitat.
    * Food availability may be a limiting factor after major disturbance. There may be some scope for increasing the likelihood of retaining or increasing colony persistence or increasing productivity, or increasing the likelihood of translocation success, using food supplementation. However, this is likely to be practical and applicable only at local scale and for particularly susceptible or important colonies.

Priority research needs to enhance management
    * Further research would be useful to evaluate where habitat manipulation could be used to increase future food resources, and to assess its cost-effectiveness.
    * Apply new approaches to improve our understanding of the composition of Leadbeater's possum diet in particular forest types, age classes and across seasons.

3.6                 Social structure
Leadbeater's possums live in small matriarchal communal social groups ('colonies') of 2–12 (but currently more typically 3–4) individuals, with colonies normally including only one reproductively active female and male plus young or sub-adult and adult offspring (Smith 1984b; Lindenmayer and Meggs 1996; Harley 2005; Harley and Lill 2007). In high quality habitat, colonies occupy actively defended territories of 1–3 ha (Smith 1984b; Harley 2005), that contain multiple den sites (Lindenmayer and Meggs 1996; Harley 2004b). A radio tracking study in 1990 to 1991 recorded individuals moving on average 135 m between den sites, with one long distance movement between dens of 600 m recorded (Lindenmayer and Meggs 1996; Lindenmayer et al. 2017). In the absence of disturbance, colonies have long-term site fidelity (Lindenmayer et al. 2013b; D. Harley, unpublished data). Social structures and home range characteristics are less well known for colonies in spatially heterogeneous landscapes, notably where contrasting nesting and foraging habitats abut.
In montane ash forests, limited data suggest female dispersal is greater than male dispersal (Smith 1984b) and females (and probably any dispersing individuals) are subject to higher rates of mortality. In lowland swamp forest, males and females disperse similar distances (females – mean 407 m, range 125–1080 m, n = 23; males – mean 495 m, range 105–1460 m, n = 33) (Harley 2005). Dispersal into established colonies is more common than new colony formation in unoccupied habitat (Harley 2005). Dispersal is strongly tied to the onset of reproduction, and