Do apex predators enable native - non-native coexistence?
Project Member(s): Ramp, D.
Start year: 2016
Summary: Lethal control of non-native wildlife is one of the most common activities for the conservation of biodiversity in Australia. This approach bears high costs and risks, lacks efficacy, and causes significant animal welfare harms. A compassionate alternative may exist: enabling apex predators to limit population irruptions of non-native species. Just as the return of wolves is helping the recovery of the Yellowstone ecosystem, dingoes may help prevent further mammal extinctions in Australia. This project will experimentally test whether the recovery of apex predators can provide an alternative to lethal control that is effective, efficient and ethical.
Publications:
Wallach, AD, Lundgren, E, Batavia, C, Nelson, MP, Yanco, E, Linklater, WL, Carroll, SP, Celermajer, D, Brandis, KJ, Steer, J & Ramp, D 2020, 'When all life counts in conservation', Conservation Biology, vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 997-1007.
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Wooster, E, Wallach, AD & Ramp, D 2019, 'The Wily and Courageous Red Fox: Behavioural Analysis of a Mesopredator at Resource Points Shared by an Apex Predator', Animals, vol. 9, no. 11, pp. 907-907.
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Lundgren, EJ, Ramp, D, Ripple, WJ & Wallach, AD 2018, 'Introduced megafauna are rewilding the Anthropocene', Ecography, vol. 41, no. 6, pp. 857-866.
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Wallach, AD, Bekoff, M, Batavia, C, Nelson, MP & Ramp, D 2018, 'Summoning compassion to address the challenges of conservation', Conservation Biology, vol. 32, no. 6, pp. 1255-1265.
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Wallach, AD, Lundgren, E, Yanco, E & Ramp, D 2017, 'Is the prickly pear a ‘Tzabar’? Diversity and conservation of Israel’s migrant species', Israel Journal of Ecology and Evolution, vol. 63, no. 3-4, pp. 9-22.
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Keywords: Trophic cascades, compassionate conservation, apex predators, dingoes, introduced animals, ecosystem restoration
FOR Codes: Community Ecology, Behavioural Ecology, Wildlife and Habitat Management, Ecosystem Assessment and Management of Sparseland, Permanent Grassland and Arid Zone Environments, Control of Pests, Diseases and Exotic Species at Regional or Larger Scales, Community ecology (excl. invasive species ecology), Assessment and management of terrestrial ecosystems, Control of pests, diseases and exotic species in terrestrial environments