Response to commentary by Woinarski (Critical-weight-range marsupials in northern Australia are declining: a commentary on Fisher et al. (2014) 'The current decline of tropical marsupials in Australia: is history repeating?')

Abstract

The recent commentary by Woinarski (2014, Global Ecology and Biogeography, doi: 10.1111/geb.12165) disagreed with our conclusions on the correlates of decline in the marsupials of tropical Australia (Fisher etal., 2014, Global Ecology and Biogeography, 23, 181-190). We compared traits of species that were associated with range decline in southern and northern Australia. We found that habitat structure, climate and body size were correlated with range decline. In the north, declines of marsupials were most severe in savanna with moderate rainfall. In the south, the ranges of species in open habitat with very low rainfall have declined most. Also, the association between range decline and body..