Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Leadbeater Possum Threats & Solutions Map - Coggle Diagram
Leadbeater Possum
Threats & Solutions Map
CLIMATE CHANGE & EXTREME WEATHER
RISING TEMPERATURES AND LOWER RAINFALL
Changes in forest composition & structure
Tree species change, meaning less hollow-bearing trees grow.
Understorey density and food resources become more scarce.
Drier climate
Plants cannot produce enough food for the Leadebeater's possums.
Leadbeater's possums forage on the ground.
More susceptiblke to predators in the lowlands, such as wild cats.
BUSHFIRES
Loss of hollow-bearing trees
Reduced regeneration or slower growth of trees and ecosystem
Reduced shelter.
Food scarcity (sap, bark, insects etc.).
Direct mortality of Leadbeater's possums
CURRENT MEASURES
National Recovery Plan
Prescribed burning and protection of old trees.
Ensuring forest patches which are more resilient are maintained well.
POLLUTION & ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION
URBAN POLLUTION
Noise and light pollution
Disrupts the Leadbeater's possum's habitat and nocturnal tendencies.
Air pollution from motorists
INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION
Soil degradation
Logging machinery physically ruins soil porosity.
Degrades soil quality and potential for growth.
Industial runoff pollutes soil with waste chemicals
Soil erosion.
Endangers plants and water that make up its habitat.
Food scarcity.
Water pollution.
Sediment runoff from construction harms swamp forest habitats.
Noise and light pollution
Nearby development during the day disrupts nocturnal behaviour.
CURRENT MEASURES
Forest restoration plans
Reduce damage from logging operations including sediment runoff, soil compaction and understory disturbance.
Lower-impact harvest techniques.
Leaving buffer zones near waterways.
Ongoing monitoring and research
Identifies and quantifies degradation to develop better protection methods.
DETERIORATING HABITAT
Ongoing eucalypt dieback, partciularly the lowland swamp forest habitat at Yellingbo and in nearby areas.
Caused by altered hydrology of the Cockatoo Creek floodplain.
Caused by a lack of appropriate disturbance regime to promote natural regeneration of eucalypts and Melaleuca and Leptospermum midstorey (Harley 2016; Greet et al. 2020).
More open forest structure.
Floodplain at Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve does not currently provide suitable habitat for foraging and movement by lowland Leadbeater’s possums.
HABITAT LOSS & FRAGMENTATION
DEFORESTATION
Clearfell logging of mountain ash forests to harvest timber for infrastructure
Removes hollow-bearing trees used by Leadbeater's possums for nesting.
HABITAT DETERIORATION
Loss of hollow bearing trees without replacement hollows
Old-growing ash forest has slow regeneration, taking 120-190 years to form natural hollows suitable for habitaiton.
Quality decline of eucalypt dieback
The Hydrology of the Cockatoo Creek floodplain has been altered, leading to a more open forest structure and fragmentation of Leaddbeater's possum colonies.
CURRENT MEASURES
Nest Box Program
Custom nest boxes in Central Highlands of Victoria and Yellingbo to supplement hollow-bearing trees.
INVASIVE SPECIES & COMPETITION
PREDATION BY CATS AND FOXES
Reduces already endangered and low Leadbeater's possum's population
HABITAT DISTURBANCE
Possums become more vulnerable to predators as they are displaced and may need to find fodd from other sources.
GREATER COMPETITION FOR FOOD AND NESTING SITES
Less habitat forest for other species (eg. sugar gliders) resulting in greater competition for survival and safety.
CURRENT MEASURES
Nest Box Program
Installed in secure locations to make habitats safer.