FORAGING BEHAVIOR AND HABITAT USE OF THE FEATHERTAIL GLIDER (ACROBATES PYGMAEUS) AT WARATAH CREEK, NEW-SOUTH-WALES

Observations were made of the foraging behaviour of the feathertail gl ider (Acrobates pygmaeus) at Waratah Creek in south-eastern New South Wales (NSW). Gliders were observed on 164 occasions, including 42 obse rvations of feeding, 41. observations of moving along a substrate and 68 observations of gliding to a tree, an understorey plant or to the g round. On the remaining occasions, gliders were lost from view before any information was recorded. Most (91%) feeding observations occurred in live eucalypts. When feeding in eucalypts, 61% of observations wer e of gliders searching under loose shedding bark and 32% were of glide rs engaged in foliage gleaning. Foraging amongst loose bark is suggest ed to represent feeding on honeydew and arthropods while foliage glean ing is indicative of gliders engaged in feeding on manna, honeydew, le rps and arthropods. Nectar feeding was uncommon and only 3% of trees i n which gliders were observed were flowering. In contrast, 42% of thes e trees showed signs of recent bark shed. Two observations were of gli ders foraging on the ground, suggesting that arthropods may also be ca ptured there. Comparison of the frequency of use of different tree spe cies with the abundance of those species showed a highly significant p reference for E. fastigata, while other species were used in proportio n to their abundance. Analysis also showed that gliders used trees in the smallest of three size classes (< 40 cm diameter at breast height) less often than expected on the basis of the abundance of these trees . Overall, gliders used the six different habitat types in the study a rea in proportion to their abundance but showed significant seasonal d ifferences in the use of these habitats. These results permit consider ation of the management requirements of the feathertail glider in the timber production forests of NSW. It is concluded that the requirement s of this species are catered for by existing management prescriptions .