Palmer Bryony J, Valentine Leonie E, Lohr Cheryl A, Daskalova Gergana N, Hobbs Richard J
School of Biological Sciences University of Western Australia Crawley WA Australia.
Biodiversity Conservation Science Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions Kensington WA Australia.
Ecol Evol. 2021 Mar 2;11(6):2596-2615. doi: 10.1002/ece3.7218. eCollection 2021 Mar.
Digging and burrowing mammals modify soil resources, creating shelter for other animals and influencing vegetation and soil biota. The use of conservation translocations to reinstate the ecosystem functions of digging and burrowing mammals is becoming more common. However, in an increasingly altered world, the roles of translocated populations, and their importance for other species, may be different. Boodies (), a commonly translocated species in Australia, construct extensive warrens, but how their warrens affect soil properties and vegetation communities is unknown. We investigated soil properties, vegetation communities, and novel ecosystem elements (specifically non-native flora and fauna) on boodie warrens at three translocation sites widely distributed across the species' former range. We found that soil moisture and most soil nutrients were higher, and soil compaction was lower, on warrens in all sites and habitat types. In contrast, there were few substantial changes to vegetation species richness, cover, composition, or productivity. In one habitat type, the cover of shrubs less than 1 m tall was greater on warrens than control plots. At the two sites where non-native plants were present, their cover was greater, and they were more commonly found on boodie warrens compared to control plots. Fourteen species of native mammals and reptiles were recorded using the warrens, but, where they occurred, the scat of the non-native rabbit () was also more abundant on the warrens. Together, our results suggest that translocated boodie populations may be benefiting both native and non-native flora and fauna. Translocated boodies, through the construction of their warrens, substantially alter the sites where they are released, but this does not always reflect their historic ecosystem roles.
挖掘和穴居哺乳动物会改变土壤资源，为其他动物创造栖息地，并影响植被和土壤生物群。利用保护迁移来恢复挖掘和穴居哺乳动物的生态系统功能正变得越来越普遍。然而，在一个变化日益加剧的世界里，迁移种群的作用及其对其他物种的重要性可能有所不同。鬃狮袋鼠（Boodies）是澳大利亚一种常见的迁移物种，会建造广阔的洞穴，但它们的洞穴如何影响土壤性质和植被群落尚不清楚。我们在广泛分布于该物种先前分布范围内的三个迁移地点，对鬃狮袋鼠洞穴的土壤性质、植被群落和新型生态系统元素（特别是非本地动植物）进行了调查。我们发现，在所有地点和栖息地类型的洞穴中，土壤湿度和大多数土壤养分较高，土壤压实度较低。相比之下，植被物种丰富度、覆盖度、组成或生产力几乎没有实质性变化。在一种栖息地类型中，洞穴上高度小于1米的灌木覆盖度比对照地块更大。在有非本地植物的两个地点，它们的覆盖度更大，与对照地块相比，在鬃狮袋鼠洞穴上更常见。记录到有14种本地哺乳动物和爬行动物使用这些洞穴，但在有它们出现的地方，洞穴上非本地兔子（European rabbit）的粪便也更丰富。总体而言，我们的结果表明，迁移的鬃狮袋鼠种群可能使本地和非本地动植物都受益。迁移的鬃狮袋鼠通过建造洞穴，极大地改变了它们被放归的地点，但这并不总是反映它们历史上的生态系统作用。
