Designing better monitoring programs: Lessons from the brush-tailed rabbit-rat

We analysed existing data on the threatened brush-tailed rabbit-rat (Conilurus penicillatus) from the Tiwi Islands in northern Australia to estimate the occupancy (or the proportion of the total area occupied) and detectability (the probability of detecting the species in an area where it is present) of this threatened species. We found that detectability is strongly seasonal and significantly influenced by environmental factors such as canopy height and cover, distance to nearest watercourse, fire history and vegetative cover.