Counting the bodies: Estimating the numbers and spatial variation of Australian reptiles, birds and mammals killed by two invasive mesopredators

Article

Stobo-Wilson, Alyson M., Murphy, Brett P., Legge, Sarah M., Caceres-Escobar, Hernan, Chapple, David G., Crawford, Heather M., Dawson, Stuart J., Dickman, Chris R., Doherty, Tim S., Fleming, Patricia A., Garnett, Stephen T., Gentle, Matthew, Newsome, Thomas M., Palmer, Russell, Rees, Matthew W. Rees, Ritchie, Euan G., Speed, James, Stuart, John-Michae, Suarez-Castro, Andrés F., ..., Woinarsk, John C.Z.. 2022. "Counting the bodies: Estimating the numbers and spatial variation of Australian reptiles, birds and mammals killed by two invasive mesopredators." Diversity and Distributions. 28 (5), pp. 976-991. https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.13497
Article Title

Counting the bodies: Estimating the numbers and spatial variation of Australian reptiles, birds and mammals killed by two invasive mesopredators

ERA Journal ID3225
Article CategoryArticle
AuthorsStobo-Wilson, Alyson M., Murphy, Brett P., Legge, Sarah M., Caceres-Escobar, Hernan, Chapple, David G., Crawford, Heather M., Dawson, Stuart J., Dickman, Chris R., Doherty, Tim S., Fleming, Patricia A., Garnett, Stephen T., Gentle, Matthew, Newsome, Thomas M., Palmer, Russell, Rees, Matthew W. Rees, Ritchie, Euan G., Speed, James, Stuart, John-Michae, Suarez-Castro, Andrés F., Thompson, Eilysh, Tulloch, Ayesha, Turpin, Jeff M. and Woinarsk, John C.Z.
Journal TitleDiversity and Distributions
Journal Citation28 (5), pp. 976-991
Number of Pages976-991
Year2022
PublisherJohn Wiley & Sons
Place of PublicationUnited Kingdom
ISSN1366-9516
1472-4642
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.13497
Web Address (URL)https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ddi.13497
Abstract

Aim
Introduced predators negatively impact biodiversity globally, with insular fauna often most severely affected. Here, we assess spatial variation in the number of terrestrial vertebrates (excluding amphibians) killed by two mammalian mesopredators introduced to Australia, the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and feral cat (Felis catus). We aim to identify prey groups that suffer especially high rates of predation, and regions where losses to foxes and/or cats are most substantial.

Location
Australia.

Methods
We draw information on the spatial variation in tallies of reptiles, birds and mammals killed by cats in Australia from published studies. We derive tallies for fox predation by (i) modelling continental-scale spatial variation in fox density, (ii) modelling spatial variation in the frequency of occurrence of prey groups in fox diet, (iii) analysing the number of prey individuals within dietary samples and (iv) discounting animals taken as carrion. We derive point estimates of the numbers of individuals killed annually by foxes and by cats and map spatial variation in these tallies.

Results
Foxes kill more reptiles, birds and mammals (peaking at 1071 km−2 year−1) than cats (55 km−2 year−1) across most of the unmodified temperate and forested areas of mainland Australia, reflecting the generally higher density of foxes than cats in these environments. However, across most of the continent – mainly the arid central and tropical northern regions (and on most Australian islands) – cats kill more animals than foxes. We estimate that foxes and cats together kill 697 million reptiles annually in Australia, 510 million birds and 1435 million mammals.

Main conclusions
This continental-scale analysis demonstrates that predation by two introduced species takes a substantial and ongoing toll on Australian reptiles, birds and mammals. Continuing population declines and potential extinctions of some of these species threatens to further compound Australia's poor contemporary conservation record.

Keywordsdietary ecology; threatened species; biodiversity conservation; red fox (Vulpes vulpes); predation; mortality; invasive species; invasive mesopredator; domestic cat (Felis catus)
Byline AffiliationsCharles Darwin University
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia
University of Queensland
Australian National University
Monash University
Murdoch University
Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Western Australia
University of Sydney
School of Mathematics, Physics and Computing
Biosecurity Queensland, Australia
Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, Western Australia
University of Melbourne
Deakin University
Alexander von Humboldt Biological Resources Research Institute, Colombia
University of New England
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