Does a top‐predator provide an endangered rodent with refuge from an invasive mesopredator?

By Mike Letnic, M. Crowther, F. Koch. 2009

114 citations recorded by the source corpus.

In arid environments, ecological refuges are often conceptualised as places where animal species can persist through drought owing to the localised persistence of moisture and nutrients. The mesopredator release hypothesis (MRH) predicts that reduced abundance of top‐order predators results in an increase in the abundance of smaller predators (mesopredators) and consequently has detrimental impacts on the prey of the smaller predators. Thus according to the MRH, the existence of larger predators may provide prey with refuge from predation. In this study, we investigated how the abundance of an endangered rodent Notomys fuscus is affected by Australia's largest predator, the dingo Canis lupus dingo, introduced mesopredators, introduced herbivores, kangaroos and rainfall. Our surveys showed that N. fuscus was more abundant where dingoes occurred. Generalised linear modelling showed that N. fuscus abundance was associated positively with dingo activity and long‐term annual rainfall and negatively with red fox Vulpes vulpes activity. Our results were consistent with the hypothesis that areas with higher rainfall and dingoes provide N. fuscus with refuge from drought and predation by invasive red foxes, respectively. Top‐order predators, such as dingoes, could have an important functional role in broad‐scale biodiversity conservation programmes by reducing the impacts of mesopredators.

Subfields: Ecology, Nature and Landscape Conservation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/cdbd4a45e01e4359c6d8c786c69e73002bd93c3a

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Ecology

1. P. Fleming
2. G. Ballard
3. B. Allen
4. Mike Letnic
5. F. Koch
6. M. Crowther
7. J. Cupples
8. G. Story

In Nature and Landscape Conservation

1. P. Fleming
2. G. Ballard
3. B. Allen
4. Mike Letnic
5. M. Crowther
6. J. Cupples
7. G. Story
8. M. Hayward

Citations in the corpus

• As clear as mud: A critical review of evidence for the ecological roles of Australian dingoes (2013, methodology): “…(individuals exposed) h Index data untransformed h 2 counts at 1 site once h Measured demographic and behavioural responses of prey 25 Letnic et al., 2009a (a subset of Letnic et al., 2009b) Dingoes’ role in protecting dusky hopping-mice from predation by foxes and cats (arid) h Spatial…”
• Large carnivore impacts are context-dependent (2017, background): “There is some evidence that predation threat and impacts of mesocarnivores upon native rodents, such as Notomys fuscus, are lower in the presence of dingoes (Letnic et al. 2009a; Letnic and Dworjanyn 2011).”
• Can we save large carnivores without losing large carnivore science (2017, background): “…areas separated by predator-proof fences are commonly used to highlight the greater amount of biodiversity present on the side of the fence with a greater number of dingoes (e.g. Letnic et al., 2009; Fillios et al., 2010; Letnic and Koch, 2010; Brawata and Neeman, 2011; Gordon et al., 2017a).”
• Interactions between a Top Order Predator and Exotic Mesopredators in the Australian Rangelands (2012, background): “Dingoes are thought to exclude foxes from resource points such as carcasses during drought [44], and fox abundance has also been found to be higher in areas where dingoes are absent or controlled [30, 34, 43, 46].”
• Seven considerations about dingoes as biodiversity engineers: the socioecological niches of dogs in Australia (2012, methodology): “The mechanism required to generate faunal biodiversity benefits from positive dingo management, as argued by Letnic et al. (2009a, 2009b, 2011) and Johnson et al. (2007), is essentially a top-down process.”
• Dietary overlap and prey selectivity among sympatric carnivores: could dingoes suppress foxes through competition for prey? (2011, methodology): “…exists between the abundances of dingoes and foxes (Letnic et al. 2011; Newsome et al. 2001) and positive relationships exist between the presence of dingoes and the persistence and abundances of native rodents and ground-dwelling marsupials (Johnson et al. 2007; Letnic et al. 2009a, 2009b).”
• Are dingoes a trophic regulator in arid Australia? A comparison of mammal communities on either side of the dingo fence (2010, background): “However, few field studies have investigated the interactions between dingoes, herbivores, mesopredators and their prey in arid Australia (Newsome et al. 2001; Letnic et al. 2009).”