Assessing spatial PVA models of arboreal marsupials using significance tests and Bayesian statistics

Abstract

The predictions of stochastic metapopulation models of four species of arboreal marsupial were compared to field data on patch occupancy. The species examined were the greater glider Petauroides volans, the mountain brushtail possum Trichosurus caninus, the ringtail possum Pseudocheirus peregrinus and the yellow-bellied glider Petaurus australis. The models were developed for a system of 39 eucalypt patches in southeastern Australia, embedded within an exotic plantation of radiata pine Pinus radiata. Additionally, two alternative (null) models were developed for each species: one in which it was assumed that there was no impact of fragmentation; and a second that only modeled local populatio..