The short-term effects of a routine poisoning campaign on the movements and detectability of a social top-predator

• Published in: Environmental Science and Pollution Research
• Main Authors: Allen, Benjamin L., Engeman, Richard M., Leung, Luke K–P.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2013
• Subjects: Research Article; Canis lupus
• Online Access: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3906561; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24043505; https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-013-2118-7

Top-predators can be important components of resilient ecosystems, but they are still controlled in many places to mitigate a variety of economic, environmental and/or social impacts. Lethal control is often achieved through the broad-scale application of poisoned baits. Understanding the direct and indirect effects of such lethal control on subsequent movements and behaviour of survivors is an important pre-requisite for interpreting the efficacy and ecological outcomes of top-predator control. In this study, we use GPS tracking collars to investigate the fine-scale and short-term movements of dingoes (Canis lupus dingo and other wild dogs) in response to a routine poison-baiting program as an example of how a common, social top-predator can respond (behaviourally) to moderate levels of population reduction. We found no consistent control-induced differences in home range size or location, daily distance travelled, speed of travel, temporal activity patterns or road/trail usage for the seven surviving dingoes we monitored immediately before and after a typical lethal control event. These data suggest that the spatial behaviour of surviving dingoes was not altered in ways likely to affect their detectability, and if control-induced changes in dingoes' ecological function did occur, these may not be related to altered spatial behaviour or movement patterns.