Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2023L01713:body:0:p26
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2023L01713
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 142602–145375

tracks or runways (Burnham 2000).
Permanent shelters contain several internal chambers that are accessed via tunnels leading from elliptical entry holes; these are smooth around the margin and often linked by tracks of fresh mud-daubing on the outside of the shelter (Van Dyck & Gynther 2003; Kaluza 2019; Gynther 2021 pers. comm.). Tunnels within mounds can extend as far as 0.9 m below ground level (Magnusson et al. 1976; Van Dyck & Gynther 2003) and 20 m horizontally within earthen banks (Van Dyck 1996).
Figure 13: Entry holes into water mouse mud shelters associated with hollow mangrove trees.
Source: © Ian Gynther (left @ Poona in the Great Sandy Strait in 2012; right @ Maroochy River in 2011).
The location and type of permanent shelter structure that is constructed depends on the availability of environmental features, wave action and tidal range, adjacency to the mangrove zone with its highly productive food resources, and available water-free foraging period in tidal areas (Van Dyck 1996; Van Dyck & Gynther 2003, Kaluza 2018). Shelters along the southern Queensland coast usually occur on or just above the highest tide mark (Van Dyck & Durbidge 1992; Van Dyck & Gynther 2003; Russell & Hale 2009; Kaluza 2013; 2018) or within the regularly flooded mangrove zone where hollow trees enable protection from inundation (Ian Gynther 2021 pers. comm.). Confirmed water mouse shelters along the Mackay coast are all within the mangrove zone (Ball 2004). In the Great Sandy Strait, shelters are generally not located on open saltpans dominated by beaded samphire (Sarcocornia quinqueflora) or where wide expanses of saltpan occur between supralittoral and mangrove communities (Burnham 2000).
Constructed shelters require constant attention using mud-daubing – mud carried and manipulated in the mouth – to enlarge them and to repair water erosion and other damage (Van Dyck 1996; Van Dyck & Gynther 2003; Ball 2004; Gynther 2011; Kaluza 2013; Kaluza 2019).
Figure 14: Water mouse mud shelter maintenance and repair: fresh mud tracks on top of a mound (top left), repaired damage to the side of a mound (top right), and mud spoil at the entry from internal maintenance (bottom).
Sources: © Ian Gynther (top left @ Donnybrook in the Pumicestone Passage; bottom left @ west K'gari/Fraser Island in 2016; bottom right @ Bribie Island in 2009) and © Steve Van Dyck via Ian Gynther (top right @ Bribie Island).
Endoscope probing into the nest chambers of permanent shelters at Myora on Minjerribah/North Stradbroke Island recorded up to eight individuals of all ages and sexes, but with no more than one adult male (Van Dyck 1996). An average of two occupants was recorded in permanent shelters monitored with cameras along the Maroochy River (Kaluza et al. 2016).