The secret life of possums: Data loggers reveal the movement ecology of an arboreal mammal

Abstract

Understanding animal movement patterns is fundamental to ecology, as it allows inference about species? habitat preferences and their niches. Such knowledge also underpins our ability to predict how animals may respond to environmental change, including habitat loss and modification. Data-logging devices such as GPS trackers and accelerometers are rapidly becoming cheaper and smaller, allowing movement at fine scales to be recorded on a broad range of animal species. We examined movement patterns of an arboreal mammal (bobuck, Trichosurus cunninghami) in a highly fragmented forest ecosystem. The GPS data showed males travelled greater distances than females in linear roadside strip habitats,..