HOME-RANGE OF THE SWAMP WALLABY, WALLABIA BICOLOR

Home range in the swamp wallaby, Wallabia bicolor (Marsupialia: Macrop odoidea) was examined using radio-tracking in a 150-ha remnant of mixe d eucalypt forest at Healesville, Victoria. Three methods were used to calculate home-range size: minimum convex polygons, fourier transform MAP(0.95) and MAP(0.50) estimation, and harmonic mean 50% isopleths a nd 95% isopleths. The minimum convex polygon method produced the large st estimate of home-range area (16.01 +/- 2.45 ha). Each method requir ed a different number of fixes before home-range area estimates reache d an asymptote. These data showed that W. bicolor have small, overlapp ing home ranges and that the shape of the home range varied between in dividuals. Home-range area was larger than previously reported for thi s species, and there was no significant difference between the sexes i n home-range size.