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Using log piles to assess reptile habitat development in Donaghy’s Corridor

One criterion for measuring restoration project success is the successful establishment of different microhabitats within the restoration area. An important microhabitat for many species is coarse woody debris (CWD), often one of the last microhabitats to develop naturally. To measure utilisation of restored rainforest habitats by CWD-dependant reptiles, we laid out 24 log piles in a 20 year old restored tropical wildlife corridor, sampling the piles after six and 12 months. Four rainforest-dependant skink species were recorded at multiple sites along with one rainforest-dependant frog and one exotic toad, suggesting restored habitat is suitable for a range of forest-dependent species, in addition to the success of log piles as a CWD analogue.

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