Sue Giles   The role of small mammals in regulating trophic relationships in leaf litter assemblages.

In some cases they have also been shown to have flow-on effects on processes such as primary production and nutrient cycling. Most research on this topic has been in aquatic systems, particularly nutrient poor lakes, although some simple terrestrial food chains have also been studied. My research focuses on the interactions between ubiquitous Australian predators, the native bush rat and the brown antechinus, and their invertebrate prey, in complex terrestrial food webs. Questions of ultimate interest are i) what impact if any these predators have on their prey assemblages and ii) is any such effect consistent across different habitat types. If these predators affect their prey in consistent ways, a further question is what, if any, are the implications for "ecosystem processes". A preliminary study explores the relationships of both the predators and invertebrate assemblages with floristics and habitat structure in two distinct forest types (dry sclerophyll and beech). In particular I am interested in whether these distinct floristic groups represent different habitat types for either small mammals or invertebrates, in terms of abundance/biomass and also interactions with structural components. I also explore correlations between predator abundance/biomass and invertebrate abundance and diversity. These studies will generate hypotheses for a large scale predator exclusion experiment.

Back