Predation determines the outcome of 10 reintroduction attempts in arid South Australia

Moseby, Katherine E.; Read, John; Paton, David C.; Copley, Peter; Hill, Brydie M.; Crisp, Helen

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2011.08.003

Cited by 255 publications

(243 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Johnson, 2006;Ritchie et al, 2012;Letnic et al, 2013). But such reintroductions continue to fail largely because predators -including dingoes -keep quickly decimating reintroduced mammals (Christensen and Burrows, 1995;Moseby et al, 2011;Bannister, 2014;Armstrong et al, 2015;Bannister et al, 2016). All the dingoes occupying Australia did not prevent the historical establishment and expansion of rabbits, foxes or cats across the continent in the first place, nor did the presence of dingoes prevent the collapse of marsupial communities following the advent of these pests.…”

Section: Alternative Hypotheses Are Seldom Testedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can we save large carnivores without losing large carnivore science?

Allen

Allen²,

Andrén

et al. 2017

Food Webs

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a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f oLarge carnivores are depicted to shape entire ecosystems through top-down processes. Studies describing these processes are often used to support interventionist wildlife management practices, including carnivore reintroduction or lethal control programs. Unfortunately, there is an increasing tendency to ignore, disregard or devalue fundamental principles of the scientific method when communicating the reliability of current evidence for the ecological roles that large carnivores may play, eroding public confidence in large carnivore science and scientists. Here, we discuss six interrelated issues that currently undermine the reliability of the available literature on the ecological roles of large carnivores: (1) the overall paucity of available data, (2) reliability of carnivore population sampling techniques, (3) general disregard for alternative hypotheses to top-down forcing, (4) lack of applied science studies, (5) frequent use of logical fallacies, and (6) generalisation of results from relatively pristine systems to those substantially altered by humans. We first describe how widespread these issues are, and given this, show, for example, that evidence for the roles of wolves (Canis lupus) and dingoes (Canis lupus dingo) in initiating trophic cascades is not as strong as is often claimed. Managers and policy makers should exercise caution when relying on this literature to inform wildlife management decisions. We emphasise the value of manipulative experiments and discuss the role of scientific knowledge in the decision-making process. We hope that the issues we raise here prompt deeper consideration of actual evidence, leading towards an improvement in both the rigour and communication of large carnivore science.

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Section: Alternative Hypotheses Are Seldom Testedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can we save large carnivores without losing large carnivore science?

Allen

Allen²,

Andrén

et al. 2017

Food Webs

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“…Most have used captive breeding as a stage towards attempted reintroduction or other translocation programs, with particular emphasis on release into intensively-managed sites within their former range or to predator-free islands. Some of these programs have been extraordinarily successful, and have been responsible for preventing extinctions (Langford and Burbidge 2001;Moseby et al 2011). There is scope and probably a need for a substantial increase in the use of captive breeding and translocation in conservation management of the current decline of north Australian mammals.…”

Section: Captive Breeding Ex Situ Conservation and Translocationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stemming the tide: progress towards resolving the causes of decline and implementing management responses for the disappearing mammal fauna of northern Australia

Ziembicki¹,

Woinarski²,

Webb³

et al. 2015

Therya

110

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Introduction: Recent studies at sites in northern Australia have reported severe and rapid decline of several native mammal species, notwithstanding an environmental context (small human population size, limited habitat loss, substantial reservation extent) that should provide relative conservation security. All of the more speciose taxonomic groups of mammals in northern Australia have some species for which their conservation status has been assessed as threatened, with 53 % of dasyurid, 47 % of macropod and potoroid, 33 % of bandicoot and bilby, 33 % of possum, 30 % of rodent, and 24 % of bat species being assessed as extinct, threatened or near threatened. However, the geographical extent and timing of declines, and their causes, remain poorly resolved, limiting the application of remedial management actions. Material and methods:Focusing on the tropical savannas of northern Australia, this paper reviews disparate recent and ongoing studies that provide information on population trends across a broader geographic scope than the previously reported sites, and examines the conservation status and trends for mammal groups (bats, macropods) not well sampled in previous monitoring studies. It describes some diverse approaches of studies seeking to document conservation status and trends, and of the factors that may be contributing to observed patterns of decline.170 THERYA Vol.6(1):169-225 DECLINING MAMMALS OF NORTHERN AUSTRALIA Results and Discussion: Current trends and potential causal factors for declines. The studies reported demonstrate that the extent and timing of impacts and threats have been variable across the region, although there is a general gradational pattern of earlier and more severe decline from inland lower rainfall areas to higher rainfall coastal regions. Some small isolated areas appear to have retained their mammal species, as have many islands which remain critical refuges. There is now some compelling evidence that predation by feral cats is implicated in the observed decline, with those impacts likely to be exacerbated by prevailing fire regimes (frequent, extensive and intense fire), by reduction in ground vegetation cover due to livestock and, in some areas, by 'control' of dingoes. However the impacts of dingoes may be complex, and are not yet well resolved in this area. The relative impacts of these individual factors vary spatially (with most severe impacts in higher rainfall and more rugged areas) and between different mammal species, with some species responding idiosyncratically: the most notable example is the rapid decline of the northern quoll (Dasyurus hallucatus) due to poisoning by the introduced cane toad (Rhinella marina), which continues to spread extensively across northern Australia. The impact of disease, if any, remains unresolved. Conservation Management Responses.Recovery of the native mammal fauna may be impossible in some areas. However, there are now examples of rapid recovery following threat management. Priority conservation actions include: enhanced biosecur...

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“…Allen, 2011;Corbett, 2001b;Horsup, 2004;Kerle et al, 1992;Moseby et al, 1998). For example, Moseby et al (2011) reported that one individual dingo in a dingo-controlled area was responsible for the surplus killing of 14 (out of 101) reintroduced burrowing bettongs Bettongia lesueur on the first night after release (detected only by post-mortem evidence on killed animals), the rest succumbing to predation by unidentified predators within a few months. Indeed, many such populations of reintroduced threatened fauna only persist on islands or within reserves fenced to exclude dingoes and other eutherian predators (Moseby et al, 2011;Van Dyck and Strahan, 2008).…”

Section: Dingo Predation Risks To Threatened Faunamentioning

confidence: 99%