(Use this booklet with the

Habitat Trees poster)

www.moretonbay.qld.gov.au
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Old native trees (eg. gums, rainforest trees and mangroves) with
many hollows, cracks and crevices are called habitat trees.
 DIURNAL (day time)
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Habitat trees provide living places for many other organisms – plants and
animals. Without habitat trees many of our most precious native animals
could not survive.
 Habitat trees are mature to old aged trees which provide
numerous living places (habitats and micro-habitats) for many
kinds of animals and plants. These trees have lots of hollows,
cracks and crevices of various sizes, where animals may live,
breed or shelter. Old and dead trees are an essential part of
all natural native forests.

All natural forests have

a percentage of old
and dead trees

Dead old trees (stags) continue to be good habitat trees. As well

as their existing hollows, trees after death soon acquire new
living places as more cracks develop and the bark becomes
loose. These provide living places for small bats (microbats),
skinks, treefrogs, insects, spiders, slugs and snails. Dead trees
may continue to stand for fifty years and more.

Loose bark on dead trees

provides living places for
many animals

Many kinds of big old native trees are habitat trees. For
example, old rainforest trees provide innumerable living
places for their native animal and plant tenants. Old mangrove
trees, though usually not as tall, are also well endowed with
holes and hollows for wildlife residents. Most habitat trees,
however, are old 'gum trees'. These seasoned trees are the
most important within their ecosystems for maintaining
biodiversity.

4
In farming and grazing districts, people often regard old
trees with dead trunks and limbs as dangerous to their
stock, and fell them. As well, these trees are felled for
firewood, timber, fence posts or rails. Stock seek shelter under
living trees during hot weather and during storms, but rarely
gather under dead trees.
Fallen branches under habitat trees are important living places
for animals such as echidnas, bandicoots and other small
marsupials, geckos, skinks, dragon lizards, goannas and
frogs.

Fallen branches under old trees

are habitat for ground-dwelling animals

Dead trees also have important environmental roles

Old trees in rural areas should be fenced-off. This protects

farm stock from falling branches, and also allows regeneration
of young trees. Barbwire should not be used – it can harm
wildlife. Natural regrowth around old trees protects them, and
soon provides wildlife habitat and shelter-belts for stock.

5
 Frequently, in urban areas, habitat trees and dead old trees
are felled or severely cut back. This is because of fears that
trunks or limbs could fall and kill or injure people or pets;
or damage property.
Because old trees often host colonies of termites (‘white
ants’), people are afraid that these could damage buildings.
Most termite species do not attack timber in buildings.
The few species which attack sound wooden structures are
usually the subterranean kinds that do not build visible nests.
These may travel underground for up to 80 metres. Removal
of a particular tree may have no effect at all in protecting a
building from termites. Tree removal can give a false sense
of security. Proper precautions and regular inspections at the
site of the building are the best protection against termites.

Termites that build arboreal mounds

do not harm sound buildings
6
Because of their great importance to the natural environment,
it is essential to plan to prevent problems that may arise with
habitat trees. We should avoid locating buildings, paths and
tracks near trees that may become dangerous. There are ways
of avoiding dangers posed by old trees, other than the drastic
options of lopping or removal. If a habitat tree is not close to
buildings or places where people frequent, they should be
totally protected.

Habitat trees are an important part of our natural heritage

and are among our most valuable environmental assets.
They are virtually irreplaceable and should be retained
whenever possible.
Every old gum tree becomes a more valuable habitat tree as
it ages. In the future, when we become more aware of the
real value of habitat trees, their presence will significantly
increase the monetary value of a property.

Termites that build large terrestrial mounds eat only grass

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 • Cracks, crevices, notches and hollows. These are habitats
and micro-habitats – breeding sites, shelter, refuge,
and living quarters for a wide range of animals.
In the Moreton Bay region, more than 31 native mammals,
14 reptiles, 6 amphibians and 60 bird species use these
resources. Cymbidium orchids (3 species), now becoming
less common in many areas, also depend on old trees for
the cracks and hollows in which they live.

Native cymbidium Pale-headed Rosella –

orchids need old or many Australian birds
dead trees for habitat breed in hollow limbs
(Photo: N. Male)

• High branches. This is where some birds (eg. the Osprey,

eagles, kites and other raptors) prefer to build their nests.

Many raptors build nests Some raptors build in

in tall, dead trees tall, living trees

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• Dead branches above the canopy. Some birds use these
for roosting, sunning and preening. Good all-round vision
gives protection against sudden approach by predators.
Predators may also use these branches for these reasons,
and to watch for prey. High, dead branches provide
roosting and lookout sites.

Australian Magpie Whistling Kite

• Large quantities of food for wildlife. Mature, large old

trees provide plentiful food – nectar, pollen, exudate
(sap), fruit, seeds, leaves, wood and litter – for animals of
many kinds; and food for plants such as fungi, algae,
lichens and native orchids.

• Large surface areas of trunks and branches of habitat

trees provide extensive hunting sites for animals which
feed on organisms that live on the bark.

Feeding pattern of White-throated

Red-triangle Slugs on a Treecreeper – feeds on
smooth-barked gum tree bark-living animals

• Large surface areas of leaves. Leaves carry out

photosynthesis (combining water and carbon dioxide
via sunlight to make organic compounds and oxygen) and
transpiration (release of water into the atmosphere).

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 • Canopies create large areas of shade and shelter.
Beneath large old trees soil temperatures and moisture
levels are more stable – providing better habitat for
soil organisms.
• The large amount of carbon dioxide removed from the
atmosphere is stored as wood. Decreasing the amount
of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere helps lower the rate
of global warming.
• Big habitat trees release large amounts of oxygen to
enhance the quality of air we breathe.
• Habitat trees transpire large quantities of water to clean,
moisten and cool the air we breathe.
• A large wide canopy protects the soil from rain wash,
and this, together with bigger quantities of leaf litter,
slows the loss of moisture via evaporation, increasing
infiltration of water into the soil. Streams in forests are
thus more likely to be permanent, and flood peaks lower.
• Litter from large areas of canopy protects and enriches
the soil and provides habitat and food for microorganisms,
worms, snails and slugs, insects, arachnids, frogs
and lizards.
• Deep roots draw nutrients from greater depths, and
transfer these to the soil surface in leaf fall, making
food available to smaller plant species.
• Deep roots keep the watertable low and decrease the
chances of soils becoming waterlogged or saline.
• Hollow tree trunks and limbs are breeding sites for owls,
hawks, and other birds that forage in surrounding fields
for grasshoppers, mice, rats, hares, rabbits and feral cats.
• Birds that nest in hollows (eg. kingfishers, kookaburras,
pardalotes, the Dollarbird, treecreepers and shrike-
thrushes) eat and control a vast array of insects.
• Many species of insectivorous bats (microbats) which
shelter under bark and in hollows and cracks eat great
numbers of insects, such as mosquitoes, moths
and termites.
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• Marsupials (such as possums, gliders, antechinuses and
the Brush-tailed Phascogale) that nest in hollows include
many large insects in their diets. Insects (such as beetles,
grasshoppers, crickets, wood moths and stick insects),
when not controlled by predators, add to problems of
dieback in our native trees.
• Treefrogs, geckos and arboreal (tree-dwelling) skinks,
that shelter and take refuge in cracks, crevices and
hollows of habitat trees, control many insects such as
mosquitoes, flies, moths and termites.

Hollows may occur from low in trunks to high in the branches

• Some large birds (eg. cockatoos and the Powerful Owl)

and large marsupials (eg. possums and the Greater Glider)
need large hollows for nesting and/or shelter.
Large hollows are usually found only in the older trees.
Several hundred years may be required for these large
hollows to develop.

Large hollows take hundreds of years to develop

• Tall old trees, well-adapted for survival in the local

environment, produce seeds for future generations
of these locally-adapted plants.

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 (to protect wildlife, and avoid dangerous falling limbs)

• Fence off isolated habitat trees that may pose a danger

to stock if limbs fall. Old trees (and younger ones) will
remain healthier and live longer if stock do not gather
around and compact the soil, concentrate nutrients,
and damage the bark.

Cattle seeking shelter

has lead to the death
of this lone old native
gum tree, now replaced
by a Camphor Laurel, a
weed that better tolerates
compaction and high
nutrient levels

• Do not fell habitat trees (alive or dead) to use as

fenceposts or firewood. Use younger trees of suitable
species (ideally plantation grown) for these purposes.
Younger local trees need to be retained to replace the old
trees that are eventually lost – even small hollows take
more than 100 years to develop.
• Allow the offspring of habitat trees to regenerate in
surrounding fenced-off areas. When old trees die we lose
their valuable and irreplaceable genetic potential.

• Decrease the fuel load around habitat trees between May

and August (before the fire season). This helps to protect
them from hot fires that could destroy them at other times
of the year.

A burning hollow tree.

Many habitat trees
are lost in hot fires

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• Retain or replant groups and corridors of local native trees
as shade and shelter for stock. These will be more useful
than isolated trees, and less impacted by stock.

• Retain habitat trees and large dead trees near cultivated

paddocks so that hawks, eagles and owls, and other
predators of mice, rats, hares, foxes and pest insects
will use the trees for nesting, roosting and as lookout
sites. These natural predators decrease the need for costly
and environmentally-damaging pest control measures.

• Retain habitat trees and dead trees within groups of local

native trees. Gliders, possums, phascogales and
insectivorous bats will use hollows in these trees
for shelter and refuge, and control leaf-eating insects
in surrounding trees. Native predatory animals, including
predatory insects, help prevent the onset of dieback in our
native forests, caused partly by leaf-eating insects.

• In parks and reserves, use wildlife-friendly fencing to

fence-off habitat trees and dead trees that pose a
danger to people if trunks or limbs fall. Signage can
provide information about the significance of these trees
and their importance to native animals.

• Locate tracks and paths (for bikes and walking) away from
habitat trees and old dead trees.

• In parks and reserves, retain or restore areas of natural

vegetation around and under habitat trees. Animals, some
of which are natural predators of insects and other
organisms that damage trees, need native vines,
understorey shrubs and groundcovers. These predatory
animals aid the survival of old trees.

Silkpod and Monkey

Rope vines flower when
few other plants do.
Their nectar is food for
native wasps that control
gumleaf-eating and
wood-eating grubs

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 Most native birds and other animals do not live in
cleared and mown open spaces. However, many exotic
animals do – Sparrows, Starlings, Indian Mynas,
Spotted Turtledoves and feral pigeons. These areas
also favour open-area and edge-living native birds,
such as Australian Magpies, Butcherbirds, Noisy
Miners, and Masked Lapwings. Some of these birds
can become aggressive towards smaller birds, and
sometimes towards humans.

Common (pest) Starlings Common Mynas use

use tree hollows and spoil tree hollows

• Re-route existing tracks and paths (for bikes and walking)

away from habitat trees so that people are not led into
‘danger’ areas. This may be costly, but hundreds of years
of growth have gone into producing these critical natural
resources. Planted replacement trees are not the answer.
What price do we put on the survival of our unique
Australian fauna which depend on habitat trees?

• Locate tables, barbeques and playground equipment

under open shelter sheds, or around local native trees
planted specifically for the purpose, rather than near
habitat trees which may pose dangers of falling branches.

• Use no mulch near trunks of trees, and no excavation,

concrete or bitumen within the dripline.

• Design urban development layouts to ensure natural areas

with significant numbers of habitat trees and dead trees
are retained as part of common land or in public reserves.

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• Parking facilities should be designed so that vehicles are
separated from habitat trees by landscaped areas of local
native groundcovers and shrubs.

Good park design (at Andy Williams Park, Cedar Creek)

to protect the habitat tree, the parked vehicles, and people

• On building blocks, locate houses and other buildings

well away from habitat trees and retain these trees in safer
places such as in back corners of large yards.

Habitat trees and wildlife This habitat tree needed

can be doomed by poorly- pruning to make it
planned development safe for pedestrians –
because the path was
poorly sited

• Realise that the chances of branches falling and

hitting people are less than the chances of being
struck by vehicles (especially if the above precautions
are observed).

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 1. Do everything possible to save habitat trees from
destruction. The removal of a habitat tree (or parts of it)
should be only as the very last resort.
2. Install nest boxes suitable for a range of native animals.
For further information and plans for building nest boxes,
see council’s multi-award winning book, Living With The
Environment in the Pine Rivers Shire.

Bat box Glider box

Suitable nest boxes can be useful for wildlife that use hollows

The provision of nest boxes never compensates for the

destruction of old trees. Nest boxes never fully replace the
variety of natural hollows and the diverse micro-environments
in habitat trees.

3. Engage a professional apiarist or pest controller to remove

feral honeybees from hollows in trees or artificial
nest boxes. These bees displace our native animals.
Feral honeybees (which are not native to Australia) also
make it more difficult to control the spread of introduced
bee diseases that greatly affect commercial and hobby
honeybee colonies.

A swarm of honeybees Tree hollow with

waiting to steal a home honeybees
from native animals

Feral honeybees take habitat from native animals

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 Before and after

With habitat tree Without habitat tree

How has this affected wildlife here?

Dollarbird Green Treefrog

Owlet Nightjar Squirrel Glider

Just a few more of the animals that need hollows

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 In Australia, many of our most important habitat trees are
trees that we know generally as ‘gum trees’.

‘Gum trees’ are the trees which typify Australia. They have
been called the ‘essence of Australia’. Gum trees are the most
successful and widespread group of trees in this country.
These native trees occur in almost every terrestrial ecosystem
in Australia, usually as the dominant vegetation. Their survival
is, therefore, crucial to the continued existence of most native
animals, and to our Australian landscape character.
In total, gum trees number about 1,000 different species when
we include all of the different kinds of eucalypts, corymbias,
lophostemons, angophoras and syncarpias. If we include
other trees in the Myrtaceae family, such as melaleucas,
acmenas, syzygiums, waterhousias and tristaniopsis, the list
is even greater.

More than 700 species of eucalypts are endemic to (found

only in) Australia. Only about 12 species of Eucalyptus occur
naturally outside Australia. However, just two species do not
occur naturally in Australia. Only one eucalypt species occurs
naturally in the Northern Hemisphere.
In other countries, as in Australia, introduced plants often
become weeds. Many gum tree species therefore, taken to
other lands, are now feral pests.

Botanists have, over time, split the genus Eucalyptus into

other genera. Corymbia (bloodwoods and their close relatives)
is an example. In the future, further splitting will probably
continue as we learn more about gum tree genetics.
However, most people can generally recognise trees that we
call ‘gum trees’.
To recognise the various kinds of gum trees, we look at
features such as their bark, flowers, fruit (gumnuts), leaves,
growth habit, and so on. A most obvious identification feature
is the bark.

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The bark of gum trees varies with the species, age of the tree,
its environment, the season, etc. Some gum-tree groups that
can be identified by bark characteristics include:

Spotted gums and

smooth-barked
apple-gums – bark is
smooth with dimples
and spots.

Gum-barks – bark is
mostly smooth with
some peeling ribbons.

Half-barks – lower
bark is rough and
the upper smooth.

Bloodwoods – the bark

is flaky or tile-like.

Ironbarks – hard rough

bark, vertically (mostly)
furrowed.

Box-barks – bark has

vertical grooves about a
centimetre apart; horizontal
grooves less-obvious.

Stringybarks – bark of
stringy fibres that can be
pulled away in long pieces.

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 The natural plant communities in which gum trees live are
extremely biodiverse – they support high numbers and a wide
variety of native fauna and flora.
Some evidence of the high productivity of gum trees:
• Most gum trees produce an abundance of nectar or pollen,
or both. This is why Australia is the centre of the world’s
honeyeaters (nectar-feeders) and lorikeets (nectar-
pollen-feeders).

Scarlet Honeyeater Rainbow Lorikeet

• In natural gum tree ecosystems, honey production

by honeybees is equal to or greater than that of the most
productive honey-producing regions on earth.

Apiary of European A boxed hive of Native

Honeybees Stingless Bees

• Because of their copious nectar and/or pollen production,

gum trees attract large numbers of insects by day
(diurnally) and by night (nocturnally).

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• Many insect species feed on the leaves, bark, wood,
flowers and fruit of gum trees.

• The large numbers of insects attracted by gum trees

provide food for many other groups of animals such as
other insects, treefrogs, skinks, geckos, birds, gliders and
possums, microbats, etc.

• Gum trees provide food for large numbers of megabats

(flying foxes and blossom bats). In fact, many eucalypts
produce a high nectar flow between 10pm and 2am –
evidence of their evolution with flying foxes.

Flying foxes at
Days Road, Highvale

• The leaves of particular kinds of gum trees are eaten,

almost exclusively, by Greater Gliders and Koalas.

Koala

Greater Glider
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 • Gum trees often support numbers of mistletoes.
All mistletoes in Australia are native plants. Mistletoes are
semi-parasites – they use water and minerals from the
tree but, being green, photosynthesise and make their
own organic compounds. Mistletoes normally do not kill
the host tree.

Mistletoe flower and Scarlet Jezebel butterfly

• Mistletoes provide food (nectar, pollen, fruit and leaves)

and breeding sites for many animals (eg. butterflies, other
insects and their larvae, birds, fruit bats and possums).
Fallen mistletoe leaves provide extremely fertile mulch for
the plants and animals below.
• Mature and old gum trees (including dead ones), more
so than any other group of trees, provide for the animals
that need hollows in which to sleep, breed or take refuge.

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo at tree hollow opening

Australia has a greater percentage of hollow-nesting

animals than does any other continent. The following lists
give an idea of the ecological services that habitat trees may
be performing.

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 MARSUpIALS

COMMON NAME SCIENTIFIC NAME COMMENTS

* = introduced pest species

+ = native species from elsewhere in Australia, now established in SE Qld
Greater Glider Petauroides volans Needs large hollow

Yellow-bellied Petaurus australis Needs large hollow

Glider
Squirrel Glider Petaurus Hollow with small
norfolcensis opening needed
Sugar Glider Petaurus breviceps Hollow with small
opening needed
Feather-tailed Glider Acrobates Hollow with small
pygmaeus opening needed
Eastern Pygmy Cercartetus nanus Small hollow
Possum needed
Ringtail Possum Pseudocheirus May build drey
peregrinus (nest) in large
hollow
Mountain Brushtail Trichosurus caninus Needs large hollow
Possum
Common Brushtail Trichosurus Needs large hollow
Possum vulpecula
Spotted-tailed Dasyurus Probably extinct in
Quoll maculatus Pine Rivers
Brush-tailed Phascogale Needs large hollow
Phascogale tapoatafa with small entrance
Yellow-footed Antechinus flavipes Occasionally
Antechinus uses tree hollow
Brown Antechinus Antechinus stuartii Occasionally
uses tree hollow
Common Sminthopsis murina Occasionally
Dunnart uses tree hollow

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 MICROBATS

COMMON NAME SCIENTIFIC NAME COMMENTS

Yellow-bellied Bat Saccolaimus

flaviventris
Beccari’s Mormopterus
Freetail-bat beccarii

Little Northern Mormopterus

Freetail-bat loriae

White-striped Nyctinomus
Freetail-bat australis

Gould’s Chalinolobus
Wattled Bat gouldii

Chocolate Chalinolobus
Wattled Bat morio

Hoary Chalinolobus
Wattled Bat nigrogriseus Microbats may
live singly in small
Northern Scotorepens
cracks and crevices
Broad-nosed Bat greyi
or in large hollows
Eastern Nyctophilus as a communal
Long-eared Bat bifax roosting site,
depending on
Lesser Nynctophilus the species, the
Long-eared Bat geoffroyi season, or weather.
Gould’s Nyctophilus
Long-eared Bat gouldii

Eastern False Falsistrellus

Pipistrelle tasmaniensis

Large-footed Myotis Myotis adversus

Greater Scoteanax rueppellii

Broad-nosed Bat
Eastern Scotorepens orion
Broad-nosed Bat
Eastern Vespadelus pumilus
Forest Bat
Little Vespadelus
Forest Bat vulturnus

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 BIRDS

COMMON NAME SCIENTIFIC NAME COMMENTS

Brown Falcon Falco berigora Uses tree hollow

occasionally
Australian Kestrel Falco cenchroides Usually a hollow in
a dead tree
Australian Hobby Falco longipennis Uses tree hollow
occasionally
Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus Often uses tree
hollow
Cotton Pygmy- Nettapus Often in high
Goose coromandelianus hollow in tree
near water
Australian Chenonetta jubata Hollow often at
Wood Duck considerable height
Grey Teal Anas gibberifrons Often uses
tree hollow
Chestnut Teal Anas castanea Hollow high in
mangrove tree
*Mallard Anus platyrhynchos Uses tree hollow,
displaces natives
Pacific Black Duck Anus superciliosa Often uses
tree hollow
*Feral Pigeon Columbia livia Uses tree hollow –
displaces natives
Red-tailed Black- Calyptorhynchus Needs large hollow
Cockatoo banksii
Glossy Black- Calyptorhynchus Needs large hollow
Cockatoo lathami

Yellow-tailed Black- Calyptorhynchus Needs large hollow

Cockatoo latirostris
+Little Corella Cacatua pastinator Recently arrived in
region from inland
+Long-billed Corella Cacatua tenuirostris Recently arrived –
Victorian escapees
Cockatiel Nymphicus Sometimes in region.
hollandicus Usually dead tree
Sulphur-crested Cacatua galerita Needs large hollow
Cockatoo

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 +Galah Cacatua roseicapilla Arrived in region
50+ years ago
Coxen’s Fig-Parrot Cyclopsitta Rare & endangered
diophthalma coxini
Rainbow Lorikeet Trichoglossus Hollow usually in
haematodus smooth-barked tree
Scaly-breasted Trichoglossus Narrow deep hollow
Lorikeet chlorolepidotus high in tree
Little Lorikeet Glossopsitta pusilla Often in gum near
water, low or high
King Parrot Alisterus scapularis Usually a deep
hollow
Crimson Rosella Platycercus elegans Low to high in dead
or live tree
Pale-headed Platycercus adscitus Often small hollow
Rosella in high tree
Powerful Owl Ninox strenua Needs large
hollow
Southern Ninox boobook Usually in a small
Boobook Owl hollow, low to high
Barking Owl Ninox connivens Wide shallow
hollow in gum
Sooty Owl Tyto tenebricosa Wide shallow
hollow in tall gum
Barn Owl Tyto alba Deep, wide hollow
in large tree
Masked Owl Tyto Deep large hollow
novaehollandiae in large tree
Australian Aegotheles cristatus High to very low
Owlet-nightjar openings
Forest Kingfisher Todiramphus Sometimes
mackeayii uses tree hollow
Collared Kingfisher Todiramphus Sometimes
chloris uses tree hollow
Sacred Kingfisher Todiramphus Sometimes
sanctus uses tree hollow
Blue-winged Dacelo leachii Sometimes
Kookaburra uses tree hollow
Laughing Dacelo Sometimes
Kookaburra novaeguineae uses tree hollow

26
Dollarbird Eurystomus Uses hollow
orientalis high in tall tree
Scarlet Robin Petroica multicolour Sometimes uses
tree hollow
Grey Shrike-thrush Colluricincla Sometimes uses
harmonica tree hollow
Buff-rumped Acanthiza Occasionally uses
Thornbill reguloides tree hollow
Brown Treecreeper Climacteris Uses deep
picumnus narrow hollow
White-throated Climacteris Uses deep
Treecreeper leucophaeus narrow hollow
Red-browed Climacteris Uses deep
Treecreeper erythrops narrow hollow
Striated Pardalote Pardalotus striatus Long narrow hollow
in horizontal limb
White-breasted Artamus Sometimes
Woodswallow leucorynchus uses tree hollow
Masked Artamus personatus Sometimes
Woodswallow uses tree hollow
Dusky Woodswallow Artamus Sometimes
cyanopterus uses tree hollow
Little Woodswallow Artamus minor Sometimes
uses tree hollow
Welcome Swallow Hirundo neoxena Sometimes uses
wall of open hollow
Tree Martin Hirundo nigricans Usually many nests
high in dead limb
Fairy Martin Hirundo ariel Sometimes
builds in large
open tree cavity

Bassian Thrush Zoothera lunulate Sometimes

uses hollow
at end of stump

Russet-tailed Zoothera heinei Sometimes uses

Thrush hollow at end of
stump
*House Sparrow Passer domesticus Sometimes uses
hollow – displaces
natives

27
 *Common Starling Sturnus vulgaris Uses tree hollow –
displaces natives
*Common Myna Acridotheres tristis Uses, but spoils,
hollows – displaces
natives

REpTILES

COMMON NAME SCIENTIFIC NAME COMMENTS

Dtella Gehyra dubia Crack, crevice or

small hollow
Robust Velvet Gecko Oedura robusta Crack, crevice or
small hollow
Wall Skink Cryptoblepharus Crack, crevice or
virgatus small hollow
Pink-tailed Skink Cyclodomorphus Crack, crevice or
gerrardii fairly small hollow
Tree Skink Egernia striolata Crack, crevice or
fairly small hollow
Bar-sided Skink Eulamprus tenuis Crack, crevice or
small hollow
Southern Hypsilurus spinipes Occasionally
Angle-headed uses rainforest
Dragon tree hollow

Bearded Dragon Pogona barbata Occasionally uses

hollow
Lace Monitor Varanus varius Large hollow
at any height
Spotted Python Antaresia maculosa Large hollow
at any height
Carpet Python Morelia spilota Large hollow
at any height
Brown Tree Snake Boiga irregularis Fairly large hollow;
lays eggs in hollow
Common Tree Snake Dendrelaphis Small to fairly
punctulata large hollow
Stephen’s Hoplocephalus Small to fairly
Banded Snake stephensii large hollow

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 AMpHIBIANS

COMMON NAME SCIENTIFIC NAME COMMENTS

Green Treefrog Litoria caerulea Usually a moist

hollow at any height
Laughing Treefrog Litoria tyleri Usually a moist
hollow high in tree
Emerald-spotted Litoria peronii Usually a moist
Treefrog hollow high in tree
Naked Treefrog Litoria rubella In moist crack or
crevice
Bleeting Treefrog Litoria dentata In moist crack or
crevice

INVERTEBRATES
A huge number and variety of invertebrates live in cracks,
crevices and knot holes of trunks and limbs; under loose bark;
in hollows – in the rotten wood and in droppings of other
animals on the floor of hollows; on walls of hollows, and in
holes, cracks and crevices within the walls of hollows. Many
invertebrates eat the bark and wood. Microhabitats may occur
from ground level to high in the habitat tree.

Examples: snails and slugs; moths and their larvae; beetles

and their larvae; bugs and their nymphs; crickets; wood-
hoppers; termites; ants; native solitary bees and stingless
bees; wasps; flies and their larvae; lice; spiders; scorpions;
centipedes; millipedes.

A Common Ringtail Possum

(Photo: Alan & Stacey Franks, Hollow Log Homes)

29
 An old local native habitat tree, even when left on its own after
clearing, still supports infinitely more wildlife than a hundred
similar-sized old imported trees. However, old native trees
surrounded by other parts of the natural forest – understorey
shrubs, climbers, groundcovers and grasses – support even
more wildlife. Here, a habitat tree maintains its health for
much longer.

Old gum habitat This old gum at Samford

tree with many
hollows, and some
understorey species
has died (killed, probably
by sheltering stock), but
the epiphytic native fig lives
on and could survive for
many hundreds of years
if allowed to

30
Habitat trees provide many places where other plants and
animals can live. These habitats and their residents include:

SOME HABITATS SOME HABITAT RESIDENTS

Within twigs Diurnally-active: Lorikeets; rosellas;

and leaves of honeyeaters; whistlers; gerygones;
the canopy thornbills; weebills; pardalotes;
mistletoebirds. Butterflies & larvae; cicadas;
crickets & hoppers; stick insects; mantises;
many ants.

Nocturnally-active: Fruit bats; Koalas;

possums; gliders; phascogales. Moths
& larvae; bladder cicadas; katydids;
some ants.

Nocturnally &/or diurnally-active: Beetles

& larvae; sawfly wasps & larvae; praying
mantises; stick insects; tree crickets;
leaf-hoppers; true bugs. Spiders. Slugs.
Tree snakes; pythons.

Trunks and Diurnally-active: Tree creepers; sittellas;

branches magpies; magpie larks; hawks. Lace
Monitors; skinks; geckos. Snakes. Many
ants. Algae; moss; lichens; orchids;
mistletoes.

Nocturnally-active: Owls; frogmouths;

Owlet Nightjar. Geckos. Moths; beetles;
some ants; bugs. Spiders. Slugs.

Nocturnally &/or diurnally-active:

Beetles & larvae; moth larvae; bugs;
bark-hoppers.

On the ground Diurnally-active: Dragon lizards; goannas;

within the drip snakes; skinks; geckos. Many ants; ant lions
line; in grasses (lacewings); ground mantises; grasshoppers;
and shrubs; on crickets. Grasses; mosses; lichens.
and in fallen
logs; etc Nocturnally-active: Echidna; bandicoots;
Yellow-footed Antechinus; Common Dunnart;
Common Planigale; Rufous Bettong;
Pale Field Rat (native). Nightjars; quail;
fairy wrens. Geckos. Snakes. Treefrogs;
sedgefrogs; marshfrogs; gunguns; froglets;
broodfrogs. Snails & slugs.

31
 SOME HABITATS SOME HABITAT RESIDENTS
(Cont.) (Cont.)

On the ground Many ants; termites; crickets;

within the drip cockroaches (native); grasshoppers.
line; in grasses Scorpions; centipedes; spiders.
and shrubs; on and Amphipods.
in fallen logs; etc
Nocturnally &/or diurnally-active:
Termites; cicada nymphs; moth larvae;
beetles & larvae; true bugs. Worms.
Useful bacteria. Fungi.

Each habitat in, on and around a habitat tree is made

up of smaller micro-habitats. Within each of these, the
environment is more restricted and constant (a micro-
environment). Habitat trees provide multitudes of these
smaller places where other organisms can live. Some
micro-habitats and their residents include:
SOME
SOME MICRO-HABITAT RESIDENTS
MICRO-HABITATS

On the leaves Sawfly larvae; cup-moth larvae.

Under the leaves Leaf-roller moth larvae; indentation scale

insects; black tree ants. Leaf-curl spiders.

Within the leaves Leaf-miner insects; some wasp larvae.

On the bark Tree creepers; sittellas. Assassin bugs;

stink bugs; tree hoppers; termites.

Under the bark Huntsman spiders; tree crickets; ants.

Treefrogs. Geckos; skinks. Micro-bats.

Within the bark Moth larvae; termites.

In cracks & crevices Native cockroaches. Spiders. Microbats.

Within the wood Wood moth larvae; longicorn beetle

larvae; wasp larvae; termites.

In leaf litter Amphipods. Scorpions; centipedes;

spiders. Native cockroaches; beetles;
termites.

In tree hollows Treefrogs. Gliders; possums;

phascogales. Owlet nightjars; owls;
parrots. Micro-bats.

In fallen Dragon lizards; goannas; skinks; geckos;

branch hollows snakes. Frogs. Termites.
32
 The Robust Velvet Gecko ambushes arthropods
on tree trunks and under bark

Entrance to native stingless bees’ nest in tree hollow

Lichens growing on persistent bark

Epiphytic orchids on rainforest tree trunk

33
 Food webs are the feeding relationships (or diagrams of these)
within a community of organisms.
Nearly all food webs begin with plants (producers) which use
the sun’s energy (light) to combine water and carbon dioxide
to make (photosynthesise) carbohydrates (sugars). Plants
also make organic compounds, such as proteins, lipids (fats
and oils), sugars and vitamins. In making organic substances,
plants use water and minerals from the soil.
When organisms feed (we call these consumers), organic
compounds are passed along food chains within the food
web. Herbivores eat plant matter, carnivores eat animals.
Omnivores eat plants and animals. Organisms (living things)
may compete for food. They may be competitors for other
resources, such as space, mates, shelter, etc. They may also
control the numbers of other organisms.
All food webs end with decomposers (bacteria and fungi),
which break down the remains of dead organisms and return
the nutrients to the environment. All food webs are linked to
and overlap with other food webs.
All the living things (organisms), interacting in a particular
area, together with their shared environment is called an
ecosystem. All ecosystems are interconnected as a part of the
biosphere – all the ecosystems on earth. The area where an
ecosystem merges with an adjacent one is called an ectone.
Ectones are usually more diverse than other parts
of ecosystems.
Habitat trees are part of the ecosystem in which they occur
but, because each one provides for and assists the survival
of so many other organisms, they may be considered as an
ecosystem in their own right.

34
 (much simplified)
Arrows from feeder to food.

Leaves Flowers Fruit

Stick insects Rosellas

Caterpillars Lorikeets

Native bees
Gliders

Wasps Rainbow
Bee-eater

Crows Goshawks

Pythons

Bacteria and fungi consume all organisms that die

35
 (much simplified)
Arrows from feeder to food.

Inner wood Sap wood Outer bark Algae

(dead) (living) (dead) (on bark)

Termites Wood grubs Termites Red-triangle

Slugs

Treecreepers

Willie
Wagtails Phascogales

Butcherbirds

Tree snakes

Kookaburras Pythons

Bacteria and fungi consume all organisms that die

36
 (much simplified)
Arrows from feeder to food.

Grass leaves Leaf litter, fallen Fallen seeds

twigs & branches

Caterpillars Cockroaches Termites Ants

(native)

Echidnas

Marshfrogs Beetles Caterpillars

Wolf spiders
Wasps

Antechinuses Scorpions Snakes

Bacteria and fungi consume all organisms that die

37
 A local authority north of Moreton Bay region recently looked
at removing a large tree containing twenty-two hollows.
Officers of that council contacted Alan and Stacey Franks
of Hollow Log Homes and asked for a quote for the cost of
building 22 nest boxes to replace the 22 hollows that would
be lost when the tree was removed.
To the cost of the 22 nest boxes, Mr and Mrs Franks added the
cost of maintaining them (every 5 years) and replacing them
(every 10 years), and multiplied the total by the estimated life
expectancy of the tree (200 – 300 years). The total cost was
$2.2million.
The tree was retained.

Nest box with Pale-headed Rosella

38
300 years of service to our wildlife – 300 to go?

Sugar Glider Spotted-tailed Quoll

Yellow-bellied Glider Australian Wood Ducks

Some other animals that use hollows

39
This brochure is printed on Dalton ENVI 50/50 Recycled paper.

Sunshine
Coast

Bribie
Island

Caboolture
Somerset
Region MORETON BAY
REGION
Redcliffe Moreton Bay

Strathpine
Port of
Brisbane

Brisbane

North
Stradbroke
Island
MORETON BAY
REGION