| Abstract: | Habitat restoration is an integral feature of wildlife conservation. However, funding and opportunities for habitat restoration are limited, and therefore, it is useful for targeted restoration to provide positive outcomes for non‐target species. Here, we investigate the possibility of habitat creation and management benefitting two threatened wetland specialists: the Green and Golden Bell Frog (Litoria aurea) and the Large‐footed Myotis (Myotis macropus). This study involved two components: (i) assessing co‐occurrence patterns of these species in a wetland complex created for the Green and Golden Bell Frog (n = 9) using counts, and (ii) comparing foraging activity of Large‐footed Myotis in wetlands with low and high aquatic vegetation (n = 6 and 7, respectively) using echolocation metres. Since Large‐footed Myotis possesses a unique foraging behaviour of trawling for aquatic prey, we hypothesised that foraging activity of this species would be higher in wetlands with low aquatic vegetation coverage. Additionally, we provide observations of its potential prey items. We identified one created wetland where both species were found in relatively high numbers, and this wetland had a permanent hydrology, was free of the introduced fish Gambusia (Gambusia holbrooki) and had low aquatic vegetation coverage. We also found that Myotis feeding activity was significantly higher in low aquatic vegetation coverage wetlands (x? = 65.72 ± 27.56 SE) compared to high (x? = 0.33 ± 0.33 SE, P = 0.0000). Although this is a preliminary study, it seems likely that Green and Golden Bell Frog and Large‐footed Myotis would gain mutual benefit from wetlands that are constructed to be permanent, that are Gambusia free, low in aquatic vegetation coverage, and are located in close to suitable roosting habitat for Large‐footed Myotis. We encourage adaptive aquatic vegetation removal for Green and Golden Bell frog as this may have benefits for Large‐footed Myotis. The evidence suggests that the former may be a suitable umbrella species for the latter. |
