Like the jaguar in the Amazon, the grey wolf in Yellowstone and the sea otter in kelp forests, the northern bettong is a keystone species and without them, forests in northern Queensland would slowly change.

The northern bettong exclusively eats and spreads an underground fungus called truffles, creating nutrients for trees in the forest.

Wildlife ecologist Caitlin Weatherstone said preserving the northern bettong was critical to the wet tropics forests.

"The northern bettong is so important ... it's a real driver of forest health," she said.

When Europeans arrived in Australia more than 200 years ago, the northern bettong lived in tall open forests in a 1000-kilometre-long stretch north along the Great Dividing Range from central Queensland.

Since then the northern bettong population has dropped by 90 per cent.

A study by the Queensland Department of Environment and Science, James Cook University and the WWF shows stark findings on the future of the northern bettong.

The research included three years of fieldwork, where 585 cameras recorded more than 500,000 images of bettongs, their predators and their environment over 90,000 hectares.

Until the five-year study ecologists thought they lived in five locations.

The northern bettong now lives in just two locations; the Lamb Range, inland from Cairns, and Mt Spurgeon, further north, in the Mossman hinterland.

The marsupial has been reduced to live in a 145-square-kilometre area in the forests of Queensland’s tropical mountain ranges west of Cairns.

The northern bettong is classified as endangered but researchers have suggested they should be classified as critically endangered.

The report executive concludes the northern bettong's "meta-population" in the Lamb Range could become extinct within the next 10 years.

The Lamb Range is the northern bettong's most stable population.

James Cook University lecturer Dr Sandra Abell said the team trapped 188 northern bettongs in the Lamb Range and estimated there was a stable population of about 2500.

"The good news is that the tropical bettong is stable in their core habitat," Dr Abell said.

"Nevertheless, actual numbers are likely to be at most 2500, which is much lower than the 5000-10,000 estimated in their original 'endangered' status listing with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature," Dr Abell said.

Researchers found 77 different species of truffles within the faeces, of the northern bettong, meaning they have a valuable role in regenerating forest trees.

Habitat clearing is not the biggest danger to the endangered species.

This time it is cats. Feral cats.

"An increase in juvenile mortality rate, particularly from predation by feral cats, was the greatest threat to the northern bettong’s survival," the study finds.

Poor fire burning techniques and feral pigs digging up grasslands in the tall forest understory were also major problems.

Byron Bay wildlife ecologist Caitlin Weatherstone was one of the principal authors of the five-year study and spent months setting traps and tracking the northern bettong.

She said while it was difficult to find the feral cats, the team’s researchers believe they were the critical threat to the northern bettong.

"Cats are highly intelligent and they are difficult to capture on camera," Ms Weatherstone said.

"They smell humans and they just know not to go near cameras," she said.

However, feral cats were found at 40 per cent of the 11 crucial locations in the three years of field research during the five-year study.

The problem is the small northern bettong, which weighs about one kilogram, is perfect prey for feral cats, she said.

"Cats and dogs just love them this size," the ecologist said.

Cattle and feral pigs were also found at 80 per cent of the study areas.

The pigs can compete for the truffles and the pigs and cattle also have an impact by altering habitat.

Dr Susan Nuske from James Cook University said the role of the northern bettong was irreplaceable in spreading the forest truffles.

"By eating so many unique species, the northern bettong plays an irreplaceable role in spreading truffle fungi," Dr Nuske said.

"This role is not fulfilled by other fungi-eating mammals in the same forest," she said.

"Our analysis suggests that this food web is sensitive to the extinction of mammals like the northern bettong.

"Without northern bettongs, the diversity of truffles could shrink, possibly harming the trees and ecosystem diversity in general."

The researchers recommend a special population of northern bettongs be set aside inside a fenced area, similar to the steps taken to protect the bilby.

"Once the threats to the northern bettong have been substantially addressed, a viable ‘insurance population’ in the form of a captive breeding program - or otherwise - would also be an ideal next step."