Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00195:reg:4:p2
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00195
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 4 (pt 2/8)
Character Range: 46139–49170

their effective population size (Jackson, 1998; 1999; Jackson et al., 2020). Therefore, future conservation actions must ensure that the remaining fragments of habitat are managed appropriately to ensure they are large enough to maintain viable populations of gliders and adequately connected to adjacent fragments of habitat. The importance of maintaining large areas of continuous habitat and linking isolated fragments is highlighted by a population viability assessment of this species. This research suggests that an area of up to 8,000 ha containing approximately 800 individuals is needed to maintain a stable population (Jackson, 1999).
The Mahogany Glider is an arboreal species that does not readily come to the ground where they are prone to predation from cats (Felis catus) and dogs (Canis familiaris), or being hit by cars. Gaps in habitat that are greater than the maximum glide distance (based on the height of the trees at the edge of the fragment) result in animals being unable to disperse between patches of adjacent suitable habitat and increasing their genetic isolation (Jackson, 2000c; 2000e). As a result, the remaining Mahogany Glider populations are susceptible to localised decline and extinction due to inbreeding depression, loss of genetic diversity and the fixation of deleterious alleles (Lynch et al., 1995; Lande, 1998; Frankham, 2005; Charlesworth and Willis 2009). Isolated populations are also susceptible to catastrophes, disease, and environmental and demographic stochastity (Bennett, 1990; Simberloff et al., 1992; Lindenmayer & Possingham, 1994).
Only 30% of the remaining Mahogany Glider habitat is located on protected estates such as National Parks (Jackson et al., 2011). There are also only 20 fragments of habitat that contain more than 100 ha of Mahogany Glider habitat, so an active program of corridor establishment and management is required to facilitate the movement of this species throughout its distribution (Jackson et al., 2020).

4.2.2             Inappropriate fire regimes leading to habitat degradation and alteration
The Mahogany Glider does not readily utilise rainforest or mangrove habitat for food or shelter, and actively selects more open habitat where longer glides are favoured. Therefore, changes to the structure and composition of their habitat can have a substantial impact. Throughout the distribution of this species, their habitat is under significant threat from degradation due to the widespread transition to closed forest (where rainforest develops within a sclerophyll community) and sclerophyll thickening (where saplings of local sclerophyllous species form a thick secondary tree layer) due to reduced fire frequency (Harrington & Sanderson, 1994; Jackson et al., 2011; see Map 4). These impacts decrease the connectivity of useful habitat across the Mahogany Gliders distribution and therefore reduce genetic exchange and the dispersal of juvenile animals.
Of the remaining Mixed Open Forest habitat, 45% is considered to be decreasing in its