Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2023L01713:body:0:p19
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2023L01713
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 123849–126909

hydrological flows (tidal and/or freshwater), and
    * Ample food resources on a damp substrate (see Section 3.6), and
    * Suitable mud substrate and/or scaffolding (e.g. mangrove roots or hollows, supralittoral bank) on – or slightly above – the high-water mark for permanent shelter construction or burrowing and maintenance (see Section 3.5), and
    * Protected locations for shelters (e.g. protected from frequent submergence, erosive waves and/or water flows; trampling, rooting, dismantling; fire), and
    * Vegetation cover between shelter and feeding grounds, or
    * The capacity to develop these attributes in the future via targeted intervention (e.g. coastal remediation, invasive animal control, habitat supplementation) and/or natural processes (e.g. vegetation regeneration, hollow development).
Habitat information is sourced from McDougall (1944), Redhead & McKean (1975), Magnusson et al. (1976), Dwyer et al (1979), Van Dyck et al. (1992; 2013), Van Dyck (1994; 1996; 1997), Hitchcock (1998), Burnham (2000), Woinarski et al. (2000), Van Dyck & Gynther (2003), Ball (2004; 2013), Gynther & Janetzki (2008; 2013), Russell & Hale (2009), Gynther (2011), Kaluza (2013), Kaluza & Bolzenius (2015); Kaluza et al. (2016), Kaluza (2016b; 2016c; 2018; 2019) and Ball & Mitchell (2018).
A captive water mouse maintained its body weight with no access to free water for eight weeks (Van Dyck 1996), suggesting access to freshwater for drinking may not be a habitat requirement for this species. There is some indication that a neutral soil acidity value may be important (Kaluza 2021 pers. comm.).
In tidal areas, the water mouse requires a combination of easy access to the productive mangrove zone for food resources and protection from inundation and wave action for critical shelters (Van Dyck 1996; Van Dyck & Gynther 2003; Russel & Hale 2009; Kaluza 2018).
On-ground assessments are required to confirm areas of potential water mouse habitat across its modelled distribution (Map 1).
The water mouse is a widespread but elusive species. A clear understanding about its local habitat requirements is yet to be developed for most of its modelled distribution.
Specific habitat: southern Queensland coast (Gold Coast to Gladstone)
Water mouse habitat is well understood along the southern Queensland coast due to targeted detection surveys in the majority of areas that may support habitat (Van Dyck 1996; Burnham 2000; Van Dyck & Gynther 2003; Gynther 2011; Kaluza 2013; 2016a; 2016b; 2016c; 2016d; 2016e; 2016g; 2018).
Water mouse habitat in this region primarily consists of intertidal mangrove forests with adjacent saltmarsh communities (marine couch grasslands, sedgelands, reed beds and/or chenopod shrublands) with or without a wetland forest in the supratidal area. There are records from forests of grey mangrove (Avicenna marina), large-leafed orange mangrove (Bruguiera gymnorhiza), river mangrove (Aegiceras corniculatum), milky mangrove (Excoecaria agallocha), spotted mangrove (Rhizophora stylosa), spurred (or yellow) mangrove