Establishing foundations: Designing a long-term experiment to evaluate whether nestboxes assist population recovery of an endangered species after fire

The loss of hollow-bearing trees drives population declines of hollow-dependent species. Disturbances such as wildfire can exacerbate these declines. Artificial structures, like nestboxes, are a commonly used management tool that attempt to offset hollow loss. However, the effectiveness of nestboxes as a conservation strategy is rarely tested within an experimental framework. The endangered southern greater glider (Petauroides volans) is an obligate hollow-dependent arboreal marsupial that is highly sensitive to wildfire. Southern greater glider populations experienced high mortality and habitat degradation following the 2019/2020 megafires in south-eastern Australia. We established a long-term, landscape-scale experiment to test whether purpose-built nestboxes could assist the post-fire population recovery of the southern greater glider. We installed a total of 234 nestboxes at sites in East Gippsland (north-eastern Victoria) and Tallaganda (southern New South Wales). We matched nestbox sites to control sites. We undertook spotlighting surveys in both study areas and installed camera traps at a subset of nestboxes. We observed southern greater gliders using nestboxes in both regions, with substantially more observations in Tallaganda. These early results did not indicate a significant difference in the relative abundance of southern greater gliders between nestbox and control sites. In Tallaganda, we found more southern greater gliders in areas of lower fire severity. The longer-term outcomes of our study will inform the use of nestboxes as a tool to assist in the recovery of southern greater gliders following disturbance.

• Publication year

  2025

• Venue

  PLoS ONE

• Publication date

  2025-12-03

• Fields of study

  Biology, Medicine, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0334130PMID 41335558PMCID 12674562
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• Rapid Uptake of Nest Boxes by the Endangered Greater Glider (Petauroides volans)

  2025influential reference
• Adapting to novel fire regimes: Using movement to inform conservation of a threatened arboreal mammal

  2025influential reference
• Australian megafires alter predicted distribution of the southern greater glider (Petauroides volans)

  2024cited by this paper
• The influence of severe wildfire on a threatened arboreal mammal

  2024cited by this paper
• Identifying biodiversity surrogates and management indicator species for tall, WET Forests: A case study of australian arboreal marsupials

  2024cited by this paper
• Quantifying drivers of decline: A case study of long-term changes in arboreal marsupial detections

  2024cited by this paper
• How an unprecedented wildfire shaped tree hollow occurrence and abundance—implications for arboreal fauna

  2024cited by this paper
• Seven urgent actions to prevent the extinction of the critically endangered Leadbeater’s possum (Gymnobelideus leadbeateri)

  2023cited by this paper
• Helping wildlife beat the heat: Testing strategies to improve the thermal performance of nest boxes

  2022influential reference
• Artificial habitat structures for animal conservation: design and implementation, risks and opportunities

  2022cited by this paper
• Density of invasive western honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies in fragmented woodlands indicates potential for large impacts on native species

  2022cited by this paper
• Increasing fire severity negatively affects greater glider density

  2022cited by this paper
• Double-observer distance sampling improves the accuracy of density estimates for a threatened arboreal mammal

  2021cited by this paper
• The influence of spatial patterns in foraging habitat on the abundance and home range size of a vulnerable arboreal marsupial in southeast Australia

  2021cited by this paper
• Responding to the biodiversity impacts of a megafire: A case study from south‐eastern Australia’s Black Summer

  2021influential reference
• Artificial refuges for wildlife conservation: what is the state of the science?

  2021cited by this paper
• Food intake: an overlooked driver of climate change casualties?

  2021cited by this paper
• The 2019/2020 mega-fires exposed Australian ecosystems to an unprecedented extent of high-severity fire

  2021cited by this paper
• performance: An R Package for Assessment, Comparison and Testing of Statistical Models

  2021cited by this paper
• Unprecedented burn area of Australian mega forest fires

  2020influential reference
• Do nest boxes breed the target species or its competitors? A case study of a critically endangered bird

  2020cited by this paper
• The response of arboreal marsupials to long‐term changes in forest disturbance

  2020cited by this paper
• Climate Change Drives Habitat Contraction of a Nocturnal Arboreal Marsupial at Its Physiological Limits

  2020cited by this paper
• Impact of 2019–2020 mega-fires on Australian fauna habitat

  2020cited by this paper
• Editorial: the 2019/20 Black Summer bushfires

  2020influential reference
• Nest box contentions: Are nest boxes used by the species they target?

  2020cited by this paper
• Nest boxes for wildlife in Victoria: An overview of nest box distribution and use

  2020cited by this paper
• A nutritional mechanism underpinning folivore occurrence in disturbed forests

  2019cited by this paper
• ggplot2

  2019cited by this paper
• Pre‐emptive action as a measure for conserving nomadic species

  2018cited by this paper
• Hidden collapse is driven by fire and logging in a socioecological forest ecosystem

  2018cited by this paper
• Nest box design for a changing climate: The value of improved insulation

  2018cited by this paper
• Conservation conundrums and the challenges of managing unexplained declines of multiple species

  2018cited by this paper
• Impacts of salvage logging on biodiversity: a meta-analysis.

  2018cited by this paper
• The road to oblivion – Quantifying pathways in the decline of large old trees

  2018cited by this paper
• The anatomy of a failed offset

  2017cited by this paper
• Relationships between tree size and occupancy by cavity-dependent arboreal marsupials

  2017cited by this paper
• Comparing the thermal suitability of nest-boxes and tree-hollows for the conservation-management of arboreal marsupials

  2017cited by this paper
• The diversity, distribution and conservation status of the tree‐cavity‐nesting birds of the world

  2017cited by this paper
• Effects of entrance size, tree size and landscape context on nest box occupancy: considerations for management and biodiversity offsets.

  2016cited by this paper
• Do nest boxes in restored woodlands promote the conservation of hollow‐dependent fauna?

  2016cited by this paper
• Temperature variation in nest boxes in eastern Australia

  2015cited by this paper
• R: A language and environment for statistical computing.

  2014cited by this paper
• El calentamiento excesivo puede convertir las cajas-refugio en trampas letales? Could overheating turn bat boxes into death traps?

  2014cited by this paper
• Interacting Factors Driving a Major Loss of Large Trees with Cavities in a Forest Ecosystem

  2012cited by this paper
• Edge effects influence competition dynamics: A case study of four sympatric arboreal marsupials

  2012cited by this paper
• Time-since-fire and inter-fire interval influence hollow availability for fauna in a fire-prone system

  2012cited by this paper
• Characteristics of tree hollows used by Australian arboreal and scansorial mammals

  2011cited by this paper
• The Effects of Wildfire on Mortality and Resources for an Arboreal Marsupial: Resilience to Fire Events but Susceptibility to Fire Regime Change

  2011cited by this paper
• Adapting conservation efforts to face climate change: Modifying nest-site provisioning for lesser kestrels

  2011cited by this paper
• What strategies are effective for perpetuating structures provided by old trees in harvested forests? A case study on trees with hollows in south-eastern Australia

  2010cited by this paper
• Are nest boxes a viable alternative source of cavities for hollow-dependent animals? Long-term monitoring of nest box occupancy, pest use and attrition

  2009cited by this paper
• Use of artificial tree hollows by Australian birds and bats

  2009cited by this paper
• Characteristics of tree hollows used by Australian birds and bats

  2009cited by this paper
• Early Natural History of the Greater Glider, Petauroides Volans (Kerr, 1792)

  2008cited by this paper
• Does hollow occurrence vary with forest type? A case study in wet and dry Eucalyptus obliqua forest

  2008cited by this paper
• Diet of the tiger quoll (Dasyurus maculatus) in south-eastern Australia

  2007cited by this paper
• The value of nest boxes in the research and management of Australian hollow-using arboreal marsupials

  2006cited by this paper
• Salvage Logging, Ecosystem Processes, and Biodiversity Conservation

  2006cited by this paper
• Patch use by the greater glider (Petauroides volans) in a fragmented forest ecosystem. II. Characteristics of den trees and preliminary data on den-use patterns

  2004cited by this paper
• Climatic Change, Wildfire, and Conservation

  2004cited by this paper
• Patch use by the greater glider (Petauroides volans) in a fragmented forest ecosystem. I. Home range size and movements

  2004cited by this paper
• Implications of the large surface area to body mass ratio on the heat balance of the greater glider (Petauroides volans: Marsupialia)

  2004cited by this paper
• The characteristics of six species of living hollow-bearing trees and their importance for arboreal marsupials in the dry sclerophyll forests of southeast Queensland, Australia

  2003cited by this paper
• Tree Hollows and Wildlife Conservation in Australia

  2002cited by this paper
• DECAY AND COLLAPSE OF TREES WITH HOLLOWS IN EASTERN AUSTRALIAN FORESTS: IMPACTS ON ARBOREAL MARSUPIALS

  1997cited by this paper
• Differences in the Biology and Ecology of Arboreal Marsupials in Forests of Southeastern Australia

  1997cited by this paper
• Home Ranges, Time Budgets and Food-tree Use in a High-density Tropical Population of Greater Gliders, Petauroides volans minor (Pseudocheiridae : Marsupialia)

  1996cited by this paper
• The abundance and development of cavities in Eucalyptus trees: a case study in the montane forests of Victoria, southeastern Australia

  1993cited by this paper
• The conservation of arboreal marsupials in the montane ash forests of the Central Highlands of Victoria, South-East Australia: III. The habitat requirements of leadbeater's possum Gymnobelideus leadbeateri and models of the diversity and abundance of arboreal marsupials

  1991cited by this paper
• The conservation of arboreal marsupials in the montane ash forests of the Central Highlands of Victoria, south-east Australia. II: The loss of trees with hollows and its implications for the conservation of leadbeater's possum Gymnobelideus leadbeateri McCoy (Marsupialia: Petauridae)

  1990cited by this paper
• The availability and dimensions of tree hollows that provide nest sites for Cockatoos (Psittaciformes) in Western Australia.

  1982cited by this paper
• Flora of Victoria

  year unknowncited by this paper

• Limitations of the Double-Observer Method for Estimating Population Size: A Case Study on the Southern Greater Glider (Petauroides volans)

  2026influential citation
• Chemical composition of post-fire epicormic foliage affects nutritional quality for folivores

  2026cites this paper
• The Influence of Fire and Foliar Chemical Composition on the Diet of Southern Greater Gliders ( Petauroides volans )

  2026cites this paper