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Occupancy of the invasive feral cat varies with habitat complexity
Citation
Hohnen, R and Tuft, K and McGregor, HW and Legge, S and Radford, IJ and Johnson, CN, Occupancy of the invasive feral cat varies with habitat complexity, PLoS One, 11, (9) Article e0152520. ISSN 1932-6203 (2016) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Copyright 2016 The Authors Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
DOI: doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0152520
Abstract
The domestic cat (Felis catus) is an invasive exotic in many locations around the world and is thought to be a key factor driving recent mammal declines across northern Australia. Many mammal species native to this region now persist only in areas with high topographic complexity, provided by features such as gorges or escarpments. Do mammals persist in these habitats because cats occupy them less, or despite high cat occupancy? We show that occupancy of feral cats was lower in mammal-rich habitats of high topographic complexity. These results support the idea that predation pressure by feral cats is a factor contributing to the collapse of mammal communities across northern Australia. Managing impacts of feral cats is a global conservation challenge. Conservation actions such as choosing sites for small mammal reintroductions may be more successful if variation in cat occupancy with landscape features is taken into account.
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Article |
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Keywords: | predation, wildlife conservation |
Research Division: | Environmental Sciences |
Research Group: | Environmental management |
Research Field: | Wildlife and habitat management |
Objective Division: | Environmental Management |
Objective Group: | Terrestrial systems and management |
Objective Field: | Terrestrial biodiversity |
UTAS Author: | Hohnen, R (Dr Rosemary Hohnen) |
UTAS Author: | McGregor, HW (Dr Helen McGregor) |
UTAS Author: | Johnson, CN (Professor Christopher Johnson) |
ID Code: | 112319 |
Year Published: | 2016 |
Funding Support: | Australian Research Council (LP100100033) |
Web of Science® Times Cited: | 40 |
Deposited By: | Zoology |
Deposited On: | 2016-11-03 |
Last Modified: | 2021-08-13 |
Downloads: | 177 View Download Statistics |
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