Supporting Information
Table S1. Summary of wombat GPS collars deployed in the Snowy Mountains, 2008-2009.
Winter Collar
Sex
season number
2008
2009
Date
deployed
Scheduled GPS
Total
drop-off
duration fixes*
Winter
fixes*
(nights)
(n)
(n)
356
Fate of collar
8
F
11/03/08
28/02/09
309
1142
Retrieved above ground
9
F
5/04/08
28/02/09
26
70
11
M
6/04/08
28/02/09
189
266
151
Retrieved above ground
14
M
30/04/08
28/02/09
271
730
253
Retrieved from burrow
12
F
1/05/08
28/02/09
1
F
20/10/08
30/09/09
10
M
21/10/08
30/09/09
2
F
21/10/08
30/09/09
57
104
Retrieved from burrow
3
M
22/10/08
30/09/09
71
293
Retrieved from burrow
13
F
22/10/08
30/09/09
59
328
Retrieved above ground
4
M
25/10/08
30/09/09
61
37
Retrieved from burrow
5
M
25/10/08
30/09/09
284
1719
Retrieved above ground
Failed VHF signal
346
1824
381
Retrieved above ground
In burrow (not retrieved)
148
Retrieved above ground
Winter Collar
Sex
season number
6
M
Date
deployed
5/03/09
Scheduled GPS
Total
drop-off
duration fixes*
30/09/09
(nights)
(n)
47^
264
Winter
fixes*
Fate of collar
(n)
Failed release
* Number of high-quality fixes with HDOP <5; ^ GPS data downloaded before release.
Table S2. GPS collar performance and data quality for individual male (M) and female (F) wombats.
2008
F8
duration (days)
F9
2009
M 14
M 11
F1
F2
F 13
M3
M4
M5
M6*
309
26
275
189
346
57
59
71
61
284
48
1456
90
871
329
2235
135
379
364
40
2006
322
284
20
195
86
338
23
57
58
31
281
48
# nights without fixes
25
6
80
103
8
34
2
13
30
3
0
# fixes / night
5.1
4.5
4.5
3.8
6.6
5.9
6.7
6.3
1.3
7.1
6.7
% fixes with 3 satellites
51.2
71.1
40.0
55.3
48.0
57.0
49.1
43.1
10.0
36.8
50.6
% fixes with 4 satellites
29.6
24.4
28.7
23.7
25.6
29.6
24.5
29.9
17.5
24.5
25.5
% fixes with 5 satellites
11.5
3.3
15.2
11.6
13.5
8.9
13.7
15.1
15.0
18.5
12.7
% fixes with 6 satellites
4.8
1.1
10.6
7.0
8.0
2.2
9.0
7.4
15.0
10.6
7.8
% fixes with 7+ satellites
2.9
0.0
5.6
2.4
4.9
2.2
3.7
4.4
42.5
9.6
3.4
HDOP mean
4.0
4.2
3.3
3.6
3.6
4.2
3.4
3.8
2.0
3.2
3.6
% fixes HDOP  5 (poor)
22.0
22.2
16.4
17.3
19.3
23.7
14.2
20.6
2.5
14.9
19.3
% fixes HDOP < 5 (good)
78.0
77.8
83.6
82.7
80.7
76.3
85.8
79.4
97.5
85.1
80.7
# fixes
# nights with fixes
* part data retrieved from collar – ongoing (not released)
HDOP, horizontal dilution of precision
Table S3. Seasonal site fidelity of wombats between winter and non-winter periods.
Wombat
HR95w,n-w
HR95n-w,w
HR50w,n-w
HR50n-w,w
Centroid shift (m)
F1
0.95
0.89
0.61
0.34
58.4
F8
0.86
0.57
0.36
0.31
75.6
M5
0.99
0.62
0.65
0.32
59.7
M11
0.63
0.74
0.71
0.39
670.3
M14
0.98
0.49
0.68
0.14
135.1
HRw,n-w is the proportion of the winter home range area that is overlapped by the non-winter home range area (and vice versa for HRnw,w)
for the total (95%) and core (50%) kernel home range areas.
Centroid shift is the distance between the mean centre of locations in winter and the mean centre of locations in non-winter.
Table S4. Comparison of studies of common wombat home range.
Study
Location,
Tracking methods
Number of
Tracking
Number of
Home
Home range size (ha)
elevation
used in HR
wombats for
duration /
locations/ fixes
range
mean (min – max)
calculation
HR estimates
wombat
used
method
Buccleuch
Radiotracking,
6 (from 9
4 - 5 nights
continuous paths MCP
State Forest,
radio-location of
tracked)
2 - 61 days
and locations
850-975 m
burrows
Cape Portland,
Observations,
2
 330 minutes
continuous paths MCP
<100 m
radiotracking
observation time
and sightings
Buchan &
Yetholme,
Spool tracking,
7 (spool)
1 - 2 days
 30
MCP
6.1 – 9.7
Goldney (1998)
1100-1200 m
radiotracking,
3 (rt)
(spool)
3 - 9 days
146 - 286
MCP
2.0 – 8.3
radio-location of
(spool)
12 - 50
burrows
12 - 50 days
MCP
27.9 (4.8 – 82.5)
Kernel
36.5 (5.7 – 104.3)
Harmonic
17.7 (7.8 – 32.0)
McIlroy (1973)
Taylor (1993)
Skerratt et al.
Padilpa, 200 m
(2004)
Green (2005)
Snowy
radio-location of
5 - 6 nights
burrows
31 days
Spool tracking,
Snow tracking
11
9
5 - 9 days
33 - 54
Mountains,
4.7 – 23.2
8.3 – 13.3
1540-1880 m
Evans (2008)
This study
Riamukka
Radiotracking,
16 (from 18
State Forest,
radio-location of
tracked)
1300 m
burrows
Snowy
GPS tracking
Mountains,
11 (from 13
collars)
up to 42 nights
 60
mean
26 - 346 nights
67 - 1824 (all)
MCP
57 - 338 (subset) Kernel^
190.4 (18.9 – 1195.4)
172.1 (11.5 – 867.3)
1570-1800 m
^Kernel home range based on datasets using subsample of 1 fix/ day, with a minimum of 50 fixes. This excludes four wombats (i.e. n
= 7).
References
Buchan, A. & Goldney, D. (1998). The common wombat Vombatus ursinus in a fragmented landscape. In Wombats: 251-61. Wells,
R.T & Pridmore, P.A. (Eds.). Chipping Norton: Surrey Beatty & Sons.
Evans, M.C. (2008). Home range, burrow-use and activity patterns in common wombats (Vombatus ursinus). Wildlife Research 35,
455-62.
Green, K. (2005). Winter home range and foraging of common wombats (Vombatus ursinus) in patchily burnt subalpine areas of the
Snowy Mountains, Australia. Wildlife Research 32, 525-9.
McIlroy, J.C. (1973). Aspects of the ecology of the common wombat, Vombatus ursinus (Shaw, 1800). PhD thesis, Australian
National University.
Skerratt, L.F., Skerratt, J.H.L., Banks, S., Martin, R. & Handasyde, K. (2004). Aspects of the ecology of common wombats (Vombatus
ursinus) at high density on pastoral land in Victoria. Australian Journal of Zoology 52, 303-30.
Taylor, R.J. (1993). Observations on the behaviour and ecology of the common wombat Vombatus ursinus in northeast Tasmania.
Australian Mammalogy 16, 1-7.