Diet of dingoes and cats in central Australia: does trophic competition underpin a rare mammal refuge?
We investigated the hypothesis that trophic competition between a top predator and a smaller predator can create refuge from predation for small mammalian prey, using the dingo (Canis lupus dingo) and feral cat (Felis catus) in the MacDonnell Ranges of dryland Australia as a case study. We analyzed...
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American Society of Mammalogists
2018
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyy083 |
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ftbioone:10.1093/jmammal/gyy083 2024-06-02T08:05:02+00:00 Diet of dingoes and cats in central Australia: does trophic competition underpin a rare mammal refuge? Peter J. McDonald Jayne Brim-Box Catherine E. M. Nano David W. Macdonald Chris R. Dickman Peter J. McDonald Jayne Brim-Box Catherine E. M. Nano David W. Macdonald Chris R. Dickman world 2018-07-20 text/HTML https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyy083 en eng American Society of Mammalogists doi:10.1093/jmammal/gyy083 All rights reserved. https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyy083 Text 2018 ftbioone https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyy083 2024-05-07T00:55:29Z We investigated the hypothesis that trophic competition between a top predator and a smaller predator can create refuge from predation for small mammalian prey, using the dingo (Canis lupus dingo) and feral cat (Felis catus) in the MacDonnell Ranges of dryland Australia as a case study. We analyzed the diets of the 2 predator species for evidence of potential competition. There was no evidence of exploitation competition between the 2 carnivores— cats consumed mostly small mammals and particularly larger rodents, whereas the diet of dingoes was dominated by 1 species of large macropod. There was also no evidence of a shift in diet of cats, as their diets in refuges and non-refuges were highly overlapping. Consistent with interference competition, cats were the third most frequently consumed mammal species by dingoes. Although predation by dingoes could limit densities of cats across the MacDonnell Ranges, this alone does not explain why the most rugged habitats in the region are a refuge for rare mammals. We conclude that habitat complexity most likely underpins the refuge and that possible effects of dingo predation on the cat population would be of secondary importance. Text Canis lupus BioOne Online Journals Journal of Mammalogy 99 5 1120 1127 |
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description |
We investigated the hypothesis that trophic competition between a top predator and a smaller predator can create refuge from predation for small mammalian prey, using the dingo (Canis lupus dingo) and feral cat (Felis catus) in the MacDonnell Ranges of dryland Australia as a case study. We analyzed the diets of the 2 predator species for evidence of potential competition. There was no evidence of exploitation competition between the 2 carnivores— cats consumed mostly small mammals and particularly larger rodents, whereas the diet of dingoes was dominated by 1 species of large macropod. There was also no evidence of a shift in diet of cats, as their diets in refuges and non-refuges were highly overlapping. Consistent with interference competition, cats were the third most frequently consumed mammal species by dingoes. Although predation by dingoes could limit densities of cats across the MacDonnell Ranges, this alone does not explain why the most rugged habitats in the region are a refuge for rare mammals. We conclude that habitat complexity most likely underpins the refuge and that possible effects of dingo predation on the cat population would be of secondary importance. |
author2 |
Peter J. McDonald Jayne Brim-Box Catherine E. M. Nano David W. Macdonald Chris R. Dickman |
format |
Text |
author |
Peter J. McDonald Jayne Brim-Box Catherine E. M. Nano David W. Macdonald Chris R. Dickman |
spellingShingle |
Peter J. McDonald Jayne Brim-Box Catherine E. M. Nano David W. Macdonald Chris R. Dickman Diet of dingoes and cats in central Australia: does trophic competition underpin a rare mammal refuge? |
author_facet |
Peter J. McDonald Jayne Brim-Box Catherine E. M. Nano David W. Macdonald Chris R. Dickman |
author_sort |
Peter J. McDonald |
title |
Diet of dingoes and cats in central Australia: does trophic competition underpin a rare mammal refuge? |
title_short |
Diet of dingoes and cats in central Australia: does trophic competition underpin a rare mammal refuge? |
title_full |
Diet of dingoes and cats in central Australia: does trophic competition underpin a rare mammal refuge? |
title_fullStr |
Diet of dingoes and cats in central Australia: does trophic competition underpin a rare mammal refuge? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Diet of dingoes and cats in central Australia: does trophic competition underpin a rare mammal refuge? |
title_sort |
diet of dingoes and cats in central australia: does trophic competition underpin a rare mammal refuge? |
publisher |
American Society of Mammalogists |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyy083 |
op_coverage |
world |
genre |
Canis lupus |
genre_facet |
Canis lupus |
op_source |
https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyy083 |
op_relation |
doi:10.1093/jmammal/gyy083 |
op_rights |
All rights reserved. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyy083 |
container_title |
Journal of Mammalogy |
container_volume |
99 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
1120 |
op_container_end_page |
1127 |
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1800749772791873536 |