Stop Jumping the Gun: A Call for Evidence‐Based Invasive Predator Management

By T. Doherty, Euan G. Ritchie. 2017

158 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Invasive mammalian predators are major drivers of species extinctions globally. To protect native prey, lethal control is often used with the aim of reducing or exterminating invasive predator populations. The efficacy of this practice, however, is often not considered despite multiple practical and ecological factors that can limit success. Here, we summarize contemporary knowledge regarding the use and challenges of both lethal control and alternative approaches for reducing invasive predator impacts. As the prevailing management approach, we outline four key issues that can compromise the effectiveness of lethal control: release of herbivore and mesopredator populations, disruption of predator social systems, compensatory predator immigration, and ethical concerns. We then discuss the relative merits and limitations of four alternative approaches that may enhance conservation practitioner's ability to effectively manage invasive predators: top‐predator conservation or reintroduction, maintaining habitat complexity, exclusion fencing, and behavioral and evolutionary ecology. Considerable uncertainty remains regarding the effectiveness of management approaches in different environmental contexts. We propose that the deficiencies and uncertainties outlined here can be addressed through a combination of adaptive management, expert elicitation, and cost‐benefit analyses. Improved management of invasive predators requires greater consideration and assessment of the full range of management approaches available.

Subfields: Ecological Modeling, Ecology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/303eae56cd5709fb9bae4e07b3a2a6f4dda3a296

How researchers see this paper

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In Ecological Modeling

1. P. Fleming
2. G. Ballard
3. B. Allen
4. L. Allen
5. L. Boitani
6. H. Andrén
7. J. Linnell
8. A. C. Srbek‐Araujo

In Ecology

1. P. Fleming
2. G. Ballard
3. L. Boitani
4. B. Allen
5. L. Allen
6. J. Linnell
7. P. Haswell
8. L. Mech

Citations in the corpus

• Can we save large carnivores without losing large carnivore science (2017, background): “and others (e.g. Reddiex and Forsyth, 2006; Doherty and Ritchie, 2017) rightly point out that many studies promoting predator control”