Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00195:reg:3:p9
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00195
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 3 (pt 9/11)
Character Range: 37709–40737

dealbata, and M. leucadendra. Despite this food availability within riparian corridors there are a number of disadvantages that include:
    * The occurrence and spread of rainforest resulting in medium to long-term loss of habitat.
    * Potentially higher predation due to increased exposure to predators such as pythons and owls.
    * The lower number of individuals of each tree species (even though tree species diversity is high), increasing competition for food and dens due to the smaller area available.
    * The denser canopy cover from rainforest species and acacias such as Acacia flavescens, which is abundant in disturbed habitat (such as along corridor edges) and favours Krefft's Gliders (Jackson, 2000d).
    * The lower recruitment of food and den species due to denser canopy cover and competition from rain-forest species and weeds.
    * The lower overall availability of dens.
Therefore, on balance, the long-term persistence of Mahogany Gliders within corridors appears questionable, even in areas with fairly wide corridors. Consequently, corridors may be viewed as areas that allow movement between 2 larger fragments of habitat (Jackson, 2000d), rather than as refugia.
Despite the disadvantages and limitations of corridors as habitat, their continued existence and maintenance is critical to the future survival of Mahogany Glider subpopulations. Therefore, areas of suitable habitat that contribute to priority wildlife corridors (Map 3) should also be considered as habitat critical to the survival of the species.

3.7                 Important subpopulations
Ten subpopulations have been identified and mapped that include (Jackson et al., 2018a; 2020; Map 3):
    * Five primary subpopulations in areas that each contain remnant vegetation with more than 8,000 ha that may contain minimum viable populations of at least 800 animals (Jackson, 1999).
    * Three secondary subpopulations in areas with a higher degree of fragmentation so the glider is at greater risk of local extinction (Jackson, 1999).
    * Two smaller subpopulations identified at the driest limits of the species' range, where unconfirmed sightings have been made and suitable habitat occurs which suggests they may occur there (Jackson et al., 2020).
The 5 primary subpopulations each have relatively good internal habitat connectivity with an average of 60 recorded sightings per subpopulation. The subpopulations are isolated from each other by cleared habitat that exceeds 100 m. The identified primary subpopulations (Jackson et al., 2018a; 2020), from north to south, are:
1)        Girramay – North of Meunga Creek, habitat becomes greatly fragmented, and habitat represented on the foothills of Mount Carruchan and the Cardwell Range is only narrow and dissected by pine plantations.
2)        Cardwell Lowlands – Extends south from Cardwell and the Elphinstone Range to the Cardwell Gap, Mt Cudmore, where habitat is largely restricted to the foothills of the Cardwell Range.
3)        Broadwater – Extends from Mt