Shania Watson, a PhD student at the University of Southern Queensland has been provided a grant to assist in her PhD project “Improving the Targeted Supplementation of Nest Boxes through Automated Doors”. The grant will be used to help fund the purchase of nest boxes, automated doors and other necessary equipment.
Introduction
Habitat loss is continuing at an alarming rate globally leaving wildlife without safe spaces to seek shelter or breed. Approximately one million plants and animals are being pushed toward extinction (WWF 2022) from confounding threats, including loss of habitat. To regenerate previously cleared areas, revegetation and assisted natural regeneration are two methods being used to restore habitat for wildlife (Kelly et al. 2021). However, trees often take more than 100 to 200 years to mature and develop hollows (Wormington and Lamb 1999), leaving wildlife without nesting sites for many generations. To reverse the negative impacts of such threats, nest boxes are often installed in regrowth areas to provide nesting sites while trees age and develop hollows (Smith et al. 2015).
Nest boxes as artificial refuges are becoming an increasingly important tool for habitat restoration (Goldingay et al. 2015) where natural habitat has been lost. Nest boxes and artificial refugia are placed in a landscape for the targeted supplementation of resources (e.g. safe nesting sites) for a chosen species or taxa (Isaac et al. 2008). Artificial refugia are often designed to target a particular species or taxa through standard methods such entry size into the refugia, the depth and width of the refugia, its entry position and orientation (Lambrechts et al. 2012, Goldingay et al. 2015, Strain et al. 2021). Depending on the targeted taxa, this might also be the inclusion of chambers, guards around the refuge to inhibit non-target wildlife accessibility or trialling new designs using traditional materials such as plywood (Staugas et al. 2013, Quinn et al. 2015).
Altering nest box designs through traditional methods may improve the success of targeted supplementation by excluding some non-target animals (Goldingay et al. 2015), however it is rare that all are excluded (Goldingay et al. 2020), thus impacting the success of the nest box project (Lindenmayer et al. 2009). Non-target species residing in nest boxes directly impacts the availability of resources for those animals that conservationists are wanting to support (Stojanovic et al. 2021), therefore potentially causing a project to fail.
To inhibit the use of nest boxes by non-target species, researchers have investigated the possibility of training Australian wildlife to use microchip-automated doors (Edwards et al. 2020a, Watson et al. 2021). Microchip-automated doors are devices which unlock when a registered microchip is within reading distance, thus only allowing targeted animals access to nesting resources. Previous studies have shown that numerous Australian taxa can be trained to use these doors both in captivity (Muns et al. 2018, Edwards et al. 2019), and more recently, in the wild (Watson et al. 2021). This technology also has a wide range of potential applications from resource supplementation after devastating bushfires, monitoring wildlife post-reintroduction/translocation (Edwards et al. 2020b) and supplementing resources to threatened species during breeding season to improve young development.
While this initial work has shown the capability of wild animals to use the doors, there is great potential for further research to investigate microchip-automated doors as a long-term conservation tool to improve nest box supplementation. Therefore, the aim of this research is to investigate the ongoing use of these nest boxes by native Australian wildlife such as brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) and glider species (Petaurus spp.) and as proof of concept for threatened species. More specifically, we aim to:
1) Investigate the uptake of microchip-automated nest boxes in comparison to traditional nest boxes,
2) Determine if Australian wildlife will continue to use microchip-automated nest boxes long-term, and
3) Investigate species interactions with the microchip-automated nest boxes, including recording occurrences of predation attempts and breeding success to determine their conservation benefit.
This research will be the first instance of commercially available microchip-automated doors being installed on nest boxes for long term installation. Through this research, we will help understand if microchip-automated doors can be deployed long-term as a valuable conservation tool for the supplementation of safe nesting sites to target species in situ. If successful, microchip-automated doors can be implemented more widely to improve conservation outcomes of nest box projects and threatened species conservation, particularly for reintroduction projects where supplementation may be targeted at specific animals.
Method
To investigate the ongoing use of microchip-automated doors (hereafter, referred to as ‘doors’) on nest boxes, nest boxes will be installed across multiple properties. The University of Southern Queensland will draw upon current partnerships with the Little Liverpool Range Initiative (LLRI) and other community groups to identify suitable properties with known populations of squirrel/sugar gliders (Petaurus spp.) and brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula), to be used as models for threatened species.
Nest boxes will be installed in a paired method, one without a door (control) and the other with a door on trees nearby each other (within 5-28m). Camera traps will be placed facing each nest box to record visitation and interactions with the nest boxes. At each location, habitat variables such as the number of natural tree hollows will also be quantified to account for this during data analysis. Initially, doors will be unlocked to allow all animals to enter and exit, allowing us to record uptake of nest boxes.
After a maximum of six months, animals located within nest boxes and trapped in the surrounding areas will be microchipped and registered to the nearby microchip-automated doors, with the doors now set to open only for the intended, microchipped animals. Nest box use will then continue to be monitored for up to a further 12 months to determine if Australian wildlife continue to use microchip-automated nest boxes long term, and to determine any inter- and intra-species interactions within and surrounding the nest boxes.
The number of wildlife approaching, interacting, or passing through the door will be recorded from camera trap footage. We will also record and discuss the diversity of species that are interacting with the door.
Animal Ethics Approvals are currently approved subject to minor modifications with the University of Southern Queensland’s Animal Ethics Committee. A Research Permit through the Queensland Government’s Department of Environment and Science will be submitted January 2024.