Understanding the conditions under which small native Australian mammals can persist in the presence of introduced predators remains a key challenge to conservation ecologists. Bettong‐specific one‐way gates were used at a predator‐free reserve in South Australia to allow the burrowing bettong (Bettongia lesueur) – a small potoroid, listed as ‘vulnerable’ nationally – to disperse out of the reserve. We conducted a field experiment to explore the conditions affecting residence time of bettongs that left the reserve. We monitored bettong and mammalian predator activity outside the fence using track surveys across 18 sites over two seasons. We examined the effect of supplementary feeding as a strategy for increasing residence time, as well as the influence of predator presence and habitat quality, using linear mixed models. Bettong activity was positively associated with supplementary feeding, midstorey vegetation cover and shelter availability. After gates were closed, bettong activity near gates declined to almost zero the following weeks, likely either due to death from predation or due to movement away from the sites. To a small extent, mammalian predators were more likely to be present at sites with high bettong activity. Further research on conditions to support persistence of burrowing bettongs and other small mammals, including understanding minimum necessary predator control effort, is required before successful establishment of populations outside of fences can occur.

中文翻译：

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使用单向闸退出围栏保护区的赌注居民的影响因素

要了解在引入掠食者的存在下澳大利亚本土小型哺乳动物可以生存的条件，这仍然是保护生态学家面临的主要挑战。Bettong专用的单向闸门在南澳大利亚州的无捕食者保护区中使用，以允许挖洞bettong（Bettongia lesueur）–一种小类胡闹动物，在全国范围内被列为“脆弱”类–可以从储备中驱散。我们进行了一项野外实验，以探索影响离开保护区的bettongs停留时间的条件。我们在两个季节内对18个站点进行了跟踪调查，监测围栏外的bettong和哺乳动物捕食者的活动。我们使用线性混合模型研究了补充喂养作为增加居住时间的策略的效果，以及捕食者的存在和栖息地质量的影响。Bettong活动与补充喂养，中层植被覆盖和庇护所的可用性呈正相关。大门关闭后，大门附近的bettong活动在接下来的几周内几乎降为零，这可能是由于掠食者死亡或移动远离地点造成的。在很小的程度上 哺乳动物的捕食者更有可能出现在具有高赌注活动的地点。在成功建立围栏以外的种群之前，需要进一步研究支持挖洞的小动物和其他小型哺乳动物持续存在的条件，包括了解最低限度的捕食者控制工作。