Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00270:body:0:p31
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00270
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 84656–87794

supporting significant local populations. Habitat critical to the survival of the species should not be destroyed or modified and be appropriately managed to support long-term recovery of the species. Actions that have indirect impacts on habitat critical to survival should be avoided, as should any actions that compromise the species' survival across all life stages.

3.5                 Diet

3.5.1             Foraging and diet
Leadbeater's possums mostly forage on the trunks and major branches of eucalypts and midstorey (or sub-canopy) shrubs. The majority of the diet comprises exudates. These include carbohydrate-rich secretions (lerp and honeydew) produced by hemipteran insects, and manna, gum and sap exuded by some species of trees (mostly smooth-barked eucalypts) and shrubs (including Acacia, Leptospermum and Melaleuca), sometimes from and due to incisions made by the possums themselves in trunks and branches (Smith 1980; Harley 2005). The nutritional value of plant exudates may vary significantly between different plant species and tree ages, and between different forest types, suggesting that food resource availability may be highly heterogeneous in these forest ecosystems (Lindenmayer et al. 1994a). The importance of exudates in the diet indicates that a major factor in determining habitat suitability is the occurrence, abundance and age of particular plant species that provide relatively abundant exudates. Other than exudates, arboreal arthropods (including beetles, spiders and, particularly, large tree crickets) comprise a significant component of the diet, and make up much of the protein intake (Smith 1980; Smith 1984a; Harley 2005). Eucalypt nectar and pollen are also taken occasionally (Smith 1984a).
Leadbeater's possums typically forage singly and diffusely around communally-shared den sites (a 'central place forager') (Smith 1980; Harley 2005). Energetic costs of foraging may be high (Smith et al. 1982), such that linear strips of habitat may be unsuitable because individuals would have to forage over longer distances than in home ranges of a similar area in continuous habitat in montane ash forest (Lindenmayer et al. 1993b). Energetic costs of foraging are probably reduced where there is a near continuous cover of foliage in tall midstorey shrubs or eucalypt regrowth, allowing economical travel across this vegetation layer for this non-gliding species.

3.5.2             Food supplementation
Supplementary food has successfully been provided to Leadbeater's possums as part of management initiatives at Yellingbo, Lake Mountain, Yarra Ranges National Park and translocation sites at Wallaby Creek and Tolmie. The majority of supplementary feeding has been associated with translocations of the species to unoccupied habitat. Healesville Sanctuary have prepared the supplementary food in these studies, based on the composition of the captive diet for this species.
Leadbeater's possum readily uses artificially supplied foods but food availability is not considered generally to be a key limiting factor (LPAG 2014b). Supplementation is unlikely to have any appreciable benefit