Compilation and traits of Australian bird species killed by cats

Woinarski, J. C. Z.; Woolley, Leigh‐Ann; Garnett, Stephen T.; Legge, Sarah; Murphy, Brett P.; Lawes, Michael J.; Comer, Sarah; Dickman, Chris R.; Doherty, Tim S.; Edwards, Glenn; Nankivill, A; Palmer, Russell; Paton, David C.

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2017.09.017

Cited by 42 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…This is because we cannot completely discount factors that may be unrelated to the creation of the safe haven. However, the impacts that introduced predators can have on birds is well‐established (Woinarski et al , ) and the spatial distance between sites in the different treatments is unlikely to have caused any major long‐term environmental differences between the two areas. Additionally, the northwestern sites (which remained outside of the safe haven) tended to be more species rich prior to the fence construction and less so after, suggesting that any more general differences between sites within and without the safe haven were more than counterbalanced by the removal of cat and fox predation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Additionally, a number of small mammals were in the process of being reintroduced to the safe haven over the study period, also affecting prey availability. Either way, there is now little doubt about the involvement of cats in the extinction and decline of many bird species (Woinarski et al , ). Within that context, and given the results provided here, it is likely that cats have negatively impacted occupancy by many bird species at Mt Gibson.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A site longitude covariate was included in the modeling to account for some of the possible effects of this bias (i.e. Goijman et al ); however, we consider any confounding factors unlikely to be as important as the main treatment effect, given that introduced foxes and cats are known to be major predators of the Australian avifauna (Dickman ; Woinarski et al ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The impact of a fox‐ and cat‐free safe haven on the bird fauna of remnant vegetation in southwestern Australia

Smith

Ruykys

Palmer

et al. 2020

Restoration Ecology

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Introduced predators are a serious threat to Australian vertebrates. However, the consequences of predation for an area's avifauna have rarely been quantified. We took advantage of the establishment of a 7,832 ha fox‐ and cat‐free safe haven at Mt Gibson, in Western Australia, to assess the consequences of excluding introduced mammal predators on the bird fauna. Bird surveys were conducted over 6 years, before and after the establishment of the introduced predator‐free safe haven. After 3 years, half the sites were enclosed by the fence that excluded introduced predators, while the remainder of sites remained outside the fence and were exposed to fox and cat activity. The sites were stratified by four major vegetation types. A total of 91 bird species were variously detectable with the survey approach, but were typically more detectable during morning surveys. Site occupancy varied considerably among species, but overall, occupancy by all species was most likely to be either not impacted or positively impacted by the safe haven. The most notable change was that avifaunal richness appeared to increase in woodland and shrubland habitats within, as compared to outside, the safe haven. We conclude that: (1) the safe haven had an overall positive impact on bird occupancy; and (2) there were no consistent trends with respect to the kinds of species whose occupancy was positively impacted, beyond them all being small‐ to medium‐sized birds and mostly insectivorous. However, these conclusions must be tempered by the poor detection probability of many species.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The impact of a fox‐ and cat‐free safe haven on the bird fauna of remnant vegetation in southwestern Australia

Smith

Ruykys

Palmer

et al. 2020

Restoration Ecology

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“…Their greatest impact has been felt by mammals (Radford, Woinarski, Legge, Baseler, & Bentley, ), however, they have also had a massive impact on birds (Woinarski et al, ). Seventy‐one out of Australia's 117 listed bird species (61%) are recognized to be predated by either cats (Woinarski et al, ). Cats especially pose a significant threat to Australia's birds, with evidence suggesting that they kill some 400 million birds every year (Woinarski, Murphy, et al, ), many of which are threatened taxa (Woinarski, Woolley, et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Seventy‐one out of Australia's 117 listed bird species (61%) are recognized to be predated by either cats (Woinarski et al, ). Cats especially pose a significant threat to Australia's birds, with evidence suggesting that they kill some 400 million birds every year (Woinarski, Murphy, et al, ), many of which are threatened taxa (Woinarski, Woolley, et al, ). For many Australian bird species, ongoing predator control is essential to prevent further declines and avoid extinction.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Australian birds could benefit from predator exclusion fencing

Ringma

Barnes

Bode

2020

Conservat Sci and Prac

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The use of predator exclusion fencing is widely recognized as one of the most effective mechanisms for protecting threatened fauna from introduced or overabundant predators. It is now used throughout the world to protect avian fauna. In Australia, where predator exclusion fencing is used extensively to protect threatened mammals, such fences for threatened avifauna are surprisingly sparse. In this perspective we demonstrate that (a) the use of predator exclusion fences for avifauna is popular in other countries with similar conservation problems, (b) a large number of Australian avian species could benefit from dedicated predator exclusion fences, and (c) despite legitimate concerns, if well designed, predator exclusion fences can pose little risk to threatened birds or are outweighed by the potential benefits. We believe wider use of predator exclusion fencing to protect Australian threatened birds could be highly beneficial and should be more regularly considered as a management action by conservation practitioners.

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Water availability drives aboveground biomass and bird richness in forest restoration plantings to achieve carbon and biodiversity cobenefits

Hagger

Wilson

England

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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To combat global warming and biodiversity loss, we require effective forest restoration that encourages recovery of species diversity and ecosystem function to deliver essential ecosystem services, such as biomass accumulation. Further, understanding how and where to undertake restoration to achieve carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation would provide an opportunity to finance ecosystem restoration under carbon markets. We surveyed 30 native mixed‐species plantings in subtropical forests and woodlands in Australia and used structural equation modeling to determine vegetation, soil, and climate variables most likely driving aboveground biomass accrual and bird richness and investigate the relationships between plant diversity, aboveground biomass accrual, and bird diversity. We focussed on woodland and forest‐dependent birds, and functional groups at risk of decline (insectivorous, understorey‐nesting, and small‐bodied birds). We found that mean moisture availability strongly limits aboveground biomass accrual and bird richness in restoration plantings, indicating potential synergies in choosing sites for carbon and biodiversity purposes. Counter to theory, woody plant richness was a poor direct predictor of aboveground biomass accrual, but was indirectly related via significant, positive effects of stand density. We also found no direct relationship between aboveground biomass accrual and bird richness, likely because of the strong effects of moisture availability on both variables. Instead, moisture availability and patch size strongly and positively influenced the richness of woodland and forest‐dependent birds. For understorey‐nesting birds, however, shrub cover and patch size predicted richness. Stand age or area of native vegetation surrounding the patch did not influence bird richness. Our results suggest that in subtropical biomes, planting larger patches to higher densities, ideally using a diversity of trees and shrubs (characteristics of ecological plantings) in more mesic locations will enhance the provision of carbon and biodiversity cobenefits. Further, ecological plantings will aid the rapid recovery of woodland and forest bird richness, with comparable aboveground biomass accrual to less diverse forestry plantations.

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Compilation and traits of Australian bird species killed by cats

Cited by 42 publications

References 36 publications

The impact of a fox‐ and cat‐free safe haven on the bird fauna of remnant vegetation in southwestern Australia

The impact of a fox‐ and cat‐free safe haven on the bird fauna of remnant vegetation in southwestern Australia

Australian birds could benefit from predator exclusion fencing

Water availability drives aboveground biomass and bird richness in forest restoration plantings to achieve carbon and biodiversity cobenefits

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