The population ecology of the brush-tailed possum, Trichosurus vulpecula (Kerr) in Tasmania

Selected characteristics of possum populations occuring in different habitats were examined in a live-trapping study conducted in the commercial hardwood forests of southern Tasmania between August 1976 and September 1979. All habitats originated following the destruction of mature forest by fire. They were selected so as to represent the different stages of regeneration in the post-fire succession from bare ground to forest of Eucalyptus spp. with a rainforest understorey at 60 to 80 years after the fire. Three aspects of the populations were considered: breeding, population dynamics, and growth in body size.