biology

White-footed dunnart

White-footed dunnart is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand White-footed dunnart rather than just read about it. In short: The white-footed dunnart (Sminthopsis leucopus) is a marsupial that occurs on Tasmania and mainland Australia. It occurs along the coast and in inner Gippsland and Alpine areas up to 400 metres near Narbethong.

Key takeaways

White-footed dunnart belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect White-footed dunnart to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of White-footed dunnart from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The white-footed dunnart (Sminthopsis leucopus) is a marsupial that occurs on Tasmania and mainland Australia. It occurs along the coast and in inner Gippsland and Alpine areas up to 400 metres near Narbethong. In southern New South Wales, the white-footed dunnart is known to occur at elevations at least as high as 1000 metres. The length from snout to tail tip is 14–20 cm (5.5–7.9 in) of which head and body are 7–11 cm (2.8–4.3 in) and the tail 7–9 cm (2.8–3.5 in) long. They weigh 19–27 g (0.67–0.95 oz).

Habitat The average rainfall of its habitat is between 60–100 cm (24–39 in) per year. Unlike the fat-tailed dunnart, this species requires forest and woodland cover of more than 50% of any square metre of heath understory or mid-story plant species. Other habitats include coastal tussock grasslands, sedgeland and wet heath. This dunnart has an individual range of about 120 square metres for both sexes, although this varies greatly among males, with some males acquiring territories of up to 1200 square metres. Male territories often overlap those of females.

Breeding and social organisation The white-footed dunnarts mate in summer. The female white-footed dunnart will give birth in September or October, and up to ten joeys may be delivered. After eight weeks old, the young will exit their mothers pouch, continue nursing for a month, then disperse.

Diet The feeding habit of this 20–30 g species is similar to that of other dasyurids; it is an opportunistic feeder. Diet consists of invertebrates and reptiles of between 1 and 18 mm in length.

Subspecies An unnamed subspecies of white-footed dunnart was recently found in northern Queensland. However, it has been named endangered due to its population scarcity.

References

Further reading Groves, C. P. (2005). Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 35. ISBN 0-801-88221-4. OCLC 62265494. Menkhorst, Peter W. (1995). Mammals of Victoria. Oxford Press. pp. 64–65. ISBN 978-0-19-553733-8. Lavery, Tyrone (13 July 2022). "White-footed dunnarts (Sminthopsis leucopus) in Queensland's Wet Tropics, with the description of a new subspecies". Australian Mammalogy. 45: 1.

External links Mammals of Tasmania – white-footed dunnart Archived 2008-10-12 at the Wayback Machine White-footed dunnart Pictures and facts about the white-footed dunnart

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with White-footed dunnart

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what White-footed dunnart claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to White-footed dunnart before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about White-footed dunnart ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of White-footed dunnart

In research: White-footed dunnart appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses White-footed dunnart in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: White-footed dunnart is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Dasyuromorphs, IUCN Red List least concern species, Mammals described in 1842, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for White-footed dunnart outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study White-footed dunnart in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what White-footed dunnart means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain White-footed dunnart out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is White-footed dunnart in simple terms?

Why does White-footed dunnart matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study White-footed dunnart?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on White-footed dunnart.