Monitoring the use of road-crossing structures by arboreal marsupials: Insights gained from motion-triggered cameras and passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags

Published source details Soanes K., Vesk P.A. & Van Der Ree R. (2015) Monitoring the use of road-crossing structures by arboreal marsupials: Insights gained from motion-triggered cameras and passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags. Wildlife Research, 42, 241-256.
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This study is summarised as evidence for the following.

	Action	Category
	Install pole crossings for gliders/flying squirrels Action Link
	Install rope bridges between canopies Action Link

Install pole crossings for gliders/flying squirrels

A replicated study in 2012–2014 at 15 sites along a highway though eucalyptus forest in Victoria, Australia (Soanes et al. 2015) found that squirrel gliders Petaurus norfolcensis and sugar gliders Petaurus breviceps used glider poles to cross the road. Remote cameras detected 842 road crossings by squirrel gliders and 258 by sugar gliders using glider poles. The study was conducted in two sections of the Hume Freeway, located 200 km apart. In 2007–2009, fifteen pole crossings (≤5 poles/site) were erected spanning roads of 56–382 m wide. Poles were 13–18 m tall, 40–50 cm diameter and made of hardwood timber. A timber cross-beam (10 cm × 10 cm × 2.4 m) was fixed horizontally 0.5 m from the top of each pole (oriented parallel to the road edge). The number and height of poles used in each array varied with gap width and the height of roadside trees. Wildlife crossings were monitored from between April and June 2012 to February 2013, using motion-triggered cameras.

(Summarised by: Ricardo Rocha)
Install rope bridges between canopies

A replicated study in 2012–2014 at five sites along a highway through eucalyptus forest in Victoria, Australia (Soanes et al. 2015; an expansion of Soanes et al. 2013) found that canopy rope bridges were used by four species of arboreal marsupial to cross the road. Remote cameras detected 455 crossings of canopy bridges by squirrel gliders Petaurus norfolcensis, 229 by common brushtail possums Trichosurus vulpecula, 386 by common ringtail possums Pseudocheirus peregrinus and two by brush-tailed phascogales Phascogale tapoatafa. The study was conducted along two sections of the Hume Freeway, located 200 km apart. In 2007–2009, four 60–85-m-long canopy bridges, made of 15-mm-diameter rope woven into a flat net, 50 cm wide, were erected. They were 6 m above the road. A fifth bridge, 170 m long, was erected at ≥4 m high. Wildlife crossings were monitored between June 2012 and February 2013, using motion-triggered cameras.

(Summarised by: Ricardo Rocha)