Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2023L01713:body:0:p24
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2023L01713
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 137505–140272

become the refuge population. This highlights how variable the occurrence of water mouse populations may be in tropical locations and emphasises the potential importance of impacted areas as future refuge locations to support the stabilisation and recovery of this species.
Detrimental actions in areas supporting recovery are likely to interfere with the long-term persistence of the water mouse.

3.5                  Shelter and breeding
In tidal areas, the water mouse constructs or excavates a long-term multi-generational mud or peat structure for shelter and rest, for breeding, and for protection from predation. This long-term shelter – which can be a tunnel system in a bank, a mud-packed hollow tree or stump, or a complex structure often referred to as a 'nest' or 'nest mound' – is a critical and stable resource for the water mouse.
The water mouse can use a variety of natural environmental features as scaffolding to create or stabilise mud shelters including:
    * A supralittoral bank (Van Dyck & Durbidge 1992; Van Dyck 1996; Van Dyck & Gynther 2003; Gynther 2011; Kaluza 2013; Kaluza 2018),
    * Hollow trunks and limbs of grey mangrove (Van Dyck & Gynther 2003; Gynther 2011; Kaluza 2013),
    * Hollow trunks of broad-leaved paperbark or swamp she-oak (Van Dyck & Gynther 2003),
    * Hollow dead tree trunks, stumps, or limbs (Van Dyck & Gynther 2003; Gynther 2011),
    * The base of live trees or shrubs (Van Dyck & Durbidge 1992; Kaluza 2013),
    * Slender roots and trunks of mangroves (Kaluza 2013),
    * Buttress roots of spurred mangrove, small-flowered orange mangrove or large-leafed orange mangrove (Magnusson et al. 1976; Ball et al. 2004),
    * Underground roots of grey mangrove or river mangrove (Van Dyck & Gynther 2003),
    * Underground roots of broad-leaved paperbark, swamp she-oak, or groundsel bush (Baccharis halimifolia) (Van Dyck & Gynther 2003; Gynther 2011; Kaluza 2013).

Figure 7: Examples of water mouse mud shelters at the hollow base of a tree.
Sources: © Ian Gynther (top left @ Kauri Creek; bottom left & bottom right @ Maroochy River in 2011), © Janina Kaluza (top centre @ Eurimbulla National Park in 2016) and © Melissa Bruton (top right @ Maroochy Wetlands Sanctuary in 2022).
Figure 8: Examples of water mouse mud shelters at the base of live and dead trees and in tree roots.

Sources: © Steve Van Dyck via Ian Gynther (top left) and © Ashley Rummell (all other images @ Maroochy River).
Figure 9: Example of a supralittoral bank (top left) and water mouse mud shelters in banks (top right, bottom).
Sources: © Melissa Bruton (top left @ Maroochy Wetlands Sanctuary), © Ashley Rummell (top right @ Maroochy Wetlands Sanctuary) and © Ian Gynther (bottom @ Bribie Island).
Figure 10: Examples of water