Non-volant mammals of the southern Carnarvon Basin, Western Australia

WA Museum Records and Supplements | Updated 7 years ago

ABSTRACT – We sampled non-volant mammals on 63 quadrats chosen to represent the geographical extent and diversity of terrestrial environments in the 75 000 km2 Carnarvon Basin study area.

One monotreme, three macropod, one honey possum, ten dasyurid, four rodent and nine introduced species were recorded extant on the quadrats. Analysis revealed that patterns in the species composition of the small indigenous mammal assemblages were related to gradients in climate and soil texture.

The original mammal fauna of the study area was reconstructed from available sub-fossil, historic and contemporary records. Twenty-three of the original 48 indigenous species are now extinct there, a decline that commenced well before the advent of foxes.