Here we describe the analyses conducted for the conducted for the article Macpherson et al. (in prep) Down the rabbit hole: den use by a reintroduced mesopredator reveals how invasive species structures can facilitate establishment.
Recovery efforts for threatened species are increasingly using reintroduction as a tool to reverse biodiversity loss, with habitat suitability being a crucial driver in their outcomes. Where suitable habitat is not known - which is often the case when species are extirpated from their former range - post-release movement and habitat selection by founders can be used to identify important habitat features and thereby inform future reintroductions. Microhabitat features used for sheltering, such as dens, can be critical for survival post-release.
We conducted habitat assessments on diurnal dens used by reintroduced eastern quolls (Dasyurus viverrinus) at a conservation-fenced haven to identify habitat features that might be important to their establishment. Interestingly, the majority of founders denned in abandoned rabbit warrens, suggesting the importance of such refugia for shelter and rearing offspring. Further, nearly half of these dens were being actively used by eastern quolls when assessed 5–7 years after they initially used them, demonstrating the longevity of warrens in the landscape.
Status-quo ecosystem restoration includes the destruction of warrens because they were created by exotic species, and therefore not part of the reference-state ecosystem. Rather than being destroyed, once rabbits are controlled, such legacy structures can be used to facilitate native species’ recovery due to the value of shelter features for establishment.
This repository follows an organised structure for clarity and reproducibility:
archive\: superseded datasets and workflowsinput\: raw and reference datasets (e.g., tables, spatial files)output\: results from analyses (e.g., tables, plots, maps)metadata\: API key, citation, and licence files.gitattributes: repository-specific Git settings.gitignore: files to exclude from version controlanalyses.Rmd: R Markdown with analysis workflowsproject.Rproj: RStudio project file for consistent setupREADME.md: project overview and usage guidetutorial.html: rendered summary of analyses and results
Unless otherwise stated, all code in this repository is licensed under the MIT License. We kindly ask that you cite the relevant publication(s) or this repos if you reuse or adapt our code.