Interactions between a Top Order Predator and Exotic Mesopredators in the Australian Rangelands
By K. Moseby, H. Neilly, John L. Read, H. Crisp. 2012
127 citations recorded by the source corpus.
An increase in mesopredators caused by the removal of top-order predators can have significant implications for threatened wildlife. Recent evidence suggests that Australia’s top-order predator, the dingo, may suppress the introduced cat and red fox. We tested this relationship by reintroducing 7 foxes and 6 feral cats into a 37 km2 fenced paddock in arid South Australia inhabited by a male and female dingo. GPS datalogger collars recorded locations of all experimental animals every 2 hours. Interactions between species, mortality rates, and postmortems were used to determine the mechanisms of any suppression. Dingoes killed all 7 foxes within 17 days of their introduction and no pre-death interactions were recorded. All 6 feral cats died between 20 and 103 days after release and dingoes were implicated in the deaths of at least 3 cats. Dingoes typically stayed with fox and cat carcasses for several hours after death and/or returned several times in ensuing days. There was no evidence of intraguild predation, interference competition was the dominant mechanism of suppression. Our results support anecdotal evidence that dingoes may suppress exotic mesopredators, particularly foxes. We outline further research required to determine if this suppression translates into a net benefit for threatened prey species.
Subfields: Ecology, Genetics, Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/896ee1bec1914bb57af0a6c2e7f1ee7bae7ac3e7
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Citations in the corpus
- As clear as mud: A critical review of evidence for the ecological roles of Australian dingoes (2013, background): “Some studies were conducted within a 10 km2 area (e.g. Lundie-Jenkins et al., 1993; Moseby et al., 2006), within fenced enclosures (i.e. Moseby et al., 2012) or on small offshore islands (i.e. Allen et al., 1998), while others sampled within combined treatment areas in excess of 22,000 km2 (i.e.…”
- FORUM: Ecologists need robust survey designs, sampling and analytical methods (2015, background): “H&M highlighted that practitioners have already begun this kind of critical research at Arid Recovery in South Australia (Moseby et al. 2012) and at Rangelands Restoration in Western Australia (Dunlop & Morris 2009).”
- Cats (Felis catus) are more abundant and are the dominant predator of woylies (Bettongia penicillata) after sustained fox (Vulpes vulpes) control (2015, background): “The interactions betweenmammalian predators andhow these influence the effectiveness of control programs and conservation outcomes are currently a focus of research in Australia (Glen and Dickman 2005; Johnson et al. 2007;Dickman et al. 2009; Ritchie and Johnson 2009; Letnic et al. 2009, 2012;Wallac”