Experimental Evaluation of Koala Scat Persistence and Detectability with Implications for Pellet-Based Fauna Census

Table 1

Condition of scats at Week 1 and Week 12 in the different treatments.

	Treatments	Week 1								Week 12
		Intact	Fibrous	Surface eaten	Part eaten	Mass of fibre	Melted	Buried		Part eaten	Half eaten	Fibrous	Melted
Scat number	Plot	𝟐𝟕𝟎^∗	𝟏𝟕𝟎^∗	𝟑𝟐^∗	𝟔𝟑^∗	𝟏^∗	0	7		𝟐𝟐𝟎^∗	𝟏𝟏𝟒^∗	𝟐𝟓^∗	0
	Rained plots	𝟏𝟑𝟐^∗	𝟏𝟐𝟗^∗	𝟒𝟒^∗	𝟏𝟏𝟑^∗	𝟏𝟖^∗	5	0		𝟏𝟔𝟓^∗	𝟏𝟏𝟖^∗	𝟏𝟗^∗	0
	Caps	𝟐𝟏𝟕^∗	𝟕𝟐^∗	𝟐𝟕^∗	𝟗𝟑^∗	𝟒^∗	1	9		𝟐𝟒𝟏^∗	𝟏𝟏𝟏^∗	𝟑^∗	4
	Bags	𝟐𝟕𝟐^∗	𝟏𝟖𝟑^∗	𝟔^∗	𝟏𝟒^∗	𝟐^∗	1	0		𝟒𝟓𝟒^∗	𝟐𝟑^∗	𝟏^∗	1
	Test statistics	32.1	17.6	14.3	43.1	14.3	6.2	7.5		88.6	44.9	16.5	2.0
	P values	<0.001	0.001	0.002	<0.001	0.002	0.102	0.057		<0.001	<0.001	0.001	0.570
Percentage	Plot	56.3	22.3	6.7	13.1	0.2	0	1.5		61.3	31.8	7.0	0
	Rained plots	29.9	29.3	10.0	25.6	4.1	1.1	0.0		54.6	39.1	6.3	0
	Caps	51.3	17.0	6.4	22.0	0.9	0.2	2.1		67.1	30.9	0.8	1.1
	Bags	56.9	38.3	1.3	2.9	0.4	0.2	0.0		94.8	4.8	0.2	0.2

Scat number: in bold, results are significantly different across treatments, Kruskal-Wallis tests (df = 3): **P ≤ 0.001, *P < 0.01.
Condition of scats are classified as (1) intact: the scat was complete; (2) surface eaten: the scat presented a rough surface; (3) partly eaten: parts of the scat were missing; (4) half eaten: at least half of the scat had disappeared; (5) fibrous: the inner matrix had disappeared, only fibers remained visible, but the scat shape remained present; (6) mass of fiber: scats constituted of a shapeless mass of fiber. Rare states of scats were (7) scats “melted” to a shapeless entity or (8) partially buried by invertebrates.