摘要 : Browsing by red-necked pademelons (Thylogale thetis, a marsupial) was examined on shoots of rain forest plants in areas of rain forest-grassland interface (3 sites) on the Lamington Plateau of SE Queensland, Australia. Two transec... 展开 Browsing by red-necked pademelons (Thylogale thetis, a marsupial) was examined on shoots of rain forest plants in areas of rain forest-grassland interface (3 sites) on the Lamington Plateau of SE Queensland, Australia. Two transects 128 m long wereset up at each site across the rain forest-grassland interface, and quadrats marked out at 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and 64 m from the forest edge into the grassland and the forest. All the shoots in one transect were excluded from pademelon browsing by setting upmesh cages over the quadrats. pademelon browsing of terminal shoots of 9 species (3 vines, 4 trees and 2 shrubs, which were freshly picked and placed in each quadrat, as analogues of seedlings) was compared in assessments made on each of 6 field trips of 13-17 days each, in 1996-97. The effects of 5 factors (plant species, site, distance from forest edge, habitat (grassland or forest) and time (trip) at 2 levels of exposure (caged or uncaged)) were also compared. Among the uncaged shoots, 98% showed signs of damage compared with 18% of the caged shoots. In general, shoot predation was higher in the grassland than in the forest, and decreased with increasing distance away from the forest edge in both habitats. The 3 vine species were more heavily browsed than all other species. The results indicate that browsing by pademelons is likely to influence regeneration near forest edges through direct death of seedlings as a result of predation and through altered competitive interactions resulting from selective herbivory. This effect, however, would be lower on seedlings within the forest habitat and would also reduce as seedlings establish themselves further from the forest edge into grassland habitat. 收起