The effects of forest clearing and regeneration on the fauna of Wivenhoe Park, south-east Queensland

The effects on terrestrial fauna of clearing, fragmentation and regeneratio n of eucalypt forest and woodland were investigated in a former cattle-graz ing area of south-east Queensland. The abundance of species and higher taxa was compared among four major habitat types: interior of relatively mature forest, interior of earlier stages of regenerating forest, cleared pasture , and abrupt edges between the forest and cleared land. The regenerating si tes were several decades old and consisted mainly of Eucalyptus saplings 3- 6 m high, with a grassy understorey. Numbers of pitfall-trapped invertebrate orders were significantly higher in forest interior and forest edge than in cleared or regenerating sites; num bers of coleopterans were significantly higher in forest interior sites tha n in cleared or regenerating sites; and numbers of isopterans were signific antly higher in both forest interior and forest edge sites than in cleared sites. Total abundance of native non-flying mammals was significantly highe r in forest interior than elsewhere. Other vertebrates apart from birds wer e detected in numbers too low for analysis. Cleared sites supported signifi cantly lower numbers of avian species and Orders, and of total birds, than any other habitat in winter, with a similar but non-significant trend in su mmer. Forest interior sites showed a significantly higher abundance of seve ral avian species than any other habitat, but noisy miners and Torresian cr ows were significantly more abundant in edge sites than in forest interior sites. Sites of low regeneration were chiefly utilised by birds characteris tic of forest edge. Many decades of regeneration would appear to be necessa ry before many forest-dependant species are adequately supported in these a reas.