Golden bandicoot raw tracking data

In 2010, vulnerable golden bandicoots (Isoodon auratus) were translocated
from Barrow Island, Western Australia, to a predator-free
enclosure on the Matuwa Indigenous Protected Area.
Golden bandicoots were once widespread throughout a variety of
arid and semi-arid habitats of central and northern Australia.
Like many small to medium-sized marsupials, the species has severely
declined since colonisation and has been reduced to only four
remnant natural populations. Between 2010 and 2020 the
reintroduced population of golden bandicoots on Matuwa was monitored via
capture mark-recapture data collection which was used in spatially
explicit capture-recapture analysis to monitor their abundance
over time. In 2014, we used VHF transmitters to examine the home
range and habitat selection of 20 golden bandicoots in the
enclosure over a six-week period. We used compositional analysis to
compare the use of four habitat types. Golden bandicoot abundance in
the enclosure slowly increased between 2010 and 2014 and has
since plateaued at approximately one quarter of the density
observed in the founding population on Barrow Island. The population
may have plateaued because some bandicoots escape through the
fence. Golden bandicoots used habitats dominated by scattered
shrubland over spinifex grass more than expected given the habitat’s
availability. Nocturnal foraging range was influenced by sex and trapping
location, whereas diurnal refuge habitat was consistent across sex and
trapping location. Our work suggests that diurnal refuge habitat
may be an important factor for the success of proposed translocations
of golden bandicoots.