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Research on use of foraging patches has focused on why herbivores visit or quit patches, yet little is known about visits to patches over time. Food quality, as reflected by higher nutritional quality and lower plant defenses, and physical patch characteristics, which offer protection from predators and weather, affect patch use and hence should influence their revisitation. Due to the potentially high costs of moving between patches, fragmented habitats are predicted to complicate foraging decisions of many animals. We aimed to determine how food quality, shelter availability and habitat fragmentation influence tree reuse by a specialist folivore, the koala, in a fragmented agricultural landscape. We GPS-tracked 23 koalas in northern New South Wales, Australia and collated number of revisits, average residence time, and average time-to-return to each tree. We measured tree characteristics including food quality (foliar nitrogen and toxic formylated phloroglucinol compounds, FPCs concentrations), tree size, and tree connectedness. We also modeled the costs of locomotion between trees. Koalas re-visited isolated trees with high leaf nitrogen disproportionately often. They spent longer time in trees with high leaf nitrogen, and in large trees used for shelter. They took longer to return to trees with low leaf nitrogen. Tree connectivity reduced travel costs between patches, being either individual or groups of trees. FPC levels had no detectable effect on patch revisitation. We conclude that food quality and shelter drive koala tree re-visits. Scattered, isolated trees with nutrient-rich leaves are valuable resource patches for koalas despite movement costs to reach them.

Context. Carrion is a high-energy and nutrient-rich resource that attracts a diverse group of vertebrate scavengers. However, despite the carrion pool being highly seasonal in its availability, there is little understanding of how scavengers utilise carcasses across all four seasons. Aim. To assess how season influences carcass-detection times by vertebrate scavengers and their rates of scavenging. Methods. We used remote cameras to monitor vertebrate scavenging at 15 eastern grey kangaroo (Macropus giganteus) carcasses in four consecutive seasons (summer, autumn, winter, and spring; total 58 carcasses) in the Australian Alps. Key results. In total, 745 599 remote-camera images were captured, within which 34 vertebrate species were identified, nine of which were recorded to actively scavenge. Time to first detection of carcasses by vertebrate scavengers was 5.3 and 9.6 times longer during summer (average 144 h) than during spring (average 34 h) and winter (average 24 h) respectively. Rates of vertebrate scavenging were highest in winter and spring, with brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) accounting for 78% of all scavenging events during winter, and ravens (Corvus spp.) accounting for 73% during spring. High rates of carcass use by these mesoscavengers may reflect a scarcity of other food sources, the demands of their breeding season, or a relative absence of scavenging by larger dominant species such as dingoes (Canis dingo) and wedge-tailed eagles (Aquila audax). Conclusions. These findings demonstrate the highly seasonal nature of vertebrate scavenging dynamics in an alpine ecosystem, and that mesoscavengers, not apex scavengers, can dominate the use of carcasses. Implications. Accounting for the effects of season is integral to understanding the way animals utilise carcasses in alpine and other strongly seasonal environments; and for developing further our knowledge of ecosystem processes linked to decomposition.

Sensitivity to predator-related cues and performance of antipredator behaviors are universal among prey species. Rodents exhibit a diverse suite of antipredator behaviors that have been examined in both field and laboratory studies. However, the results from the laboratory have not always translated to the field. While laboratory studies consistently indicate strong fear-inducing effects of cat fur/skin odors, it is unclear whether this occurs in the field with wild rats. To address this issue, we tested the antipredator responses of wild brown rats (Rattus norvegicus) to predatory (domestic cat fur) and nonpredatory (common brushtail possum fur) odor cues in a semi-natural experimental paradigm. Rats were housed in open air enclosures containing two feeding stations. Following several nights of acclimatization, the feeding stations were paired with cat fur, possum fur, or no fur. Rats spent less time at a feeding station that was paired with cat fur. Duration of time spent at feeding stations increased across consecutive test days and across hours within individual test nights, although the rate of increase within nights was lower for cat fur paired stations. This overall increase might reflect habituation of antipredator behaviors, increasing hunger, or loss of cue potency over time. We suggest that wild brown rats recognize and respond to cat fur odor cues, but their behavioral response is highly adaptable and finely tuned to the trade-off between predation risk and starvation that occurs across short temporal scales.

We used two survey methods - citizen science for private land and cameras for protected areas - to map the distribution of dingoes/wild dogs and foxes in NSW. Dingo/wild dog records were mostly confined to the east coast and ranges, with scattered locations in western NSW. This contrasts to the distribution of foxes, in which occupancy was high across most of the state. Data from 200 WildCount camera sites within protected areas also showed marked differences in the distribution of the two canid species. At the scale of the state, dingoes/wild dogs are uncommon, with the greatest concentration being in the north-east of the state, as well as a marked presence in the south-east. Foxes are common and widespread within protected areas, but less common in the north-east of the state. The camera data also indicated that feral cats are widespread within protected areas. The second aim of our study was to examine the WildCount data for behavioural patterns of the canid species. Foxes and dingoes/wild dogs significantly separated within two sub-formations of dry sclerophyll forest based on the Keith (2004) classification of NSW vegetation. From species pairwise interactions at sites, we found only limited evidence for significant interactions, and then only for the co-occurrence of fox-rabbit and fox-swamp wallaby, but no avoidance for any of the predators with each other. Camera records of the time of day of being active showed little effect of the presence of dingoes/wild dogs on the times of activity of foxes, but foxes curtailed the activity times of dingoes/wild dogs. From the analysis of inter-animal times at sites where both canids were recorded, there was little difference between the time since the other species was present. Thus, there was no evidence that dingoes/wild dogs or foxes inhibit the other from being at a site. We concluded that at the landscape level, both vegetation type and land tenure play a role in the interactions between dingoes/wild dogs and foxes. We also concluded that citizen science and cameras are complementary, not alternative techniques, especially as they sample different land tenures, and that cameras in protected areas and occupancy from citizen science have produced higher resolution maps and behaviour patterns than have been previously available. We can confirm that foxes are a ubiquitous threat throughout NSW, whereas dingoes/wild dogs are concentrated into a much smaller area of eastern, particularly north-eastern, NSW.

Hybridisation between wild and domestic canids is a global conservation and management issue. In Australia, dingoes are a distinct lineage of wild-living canid with a controversial domestication status. They are mainland Australia’s apex terrestrial predator. There is ongoing concern that the identity of dingoes has been threatened from breeding with domestic dogs, and that feral dogs have established populations in rural Australia. We collate the results of microsatellite DNA testing from 5039 wild canids to explore patterns of domestic dog ancestry in dingoes and observations of feral domestic dogs across the continent. Only 31 feral dogs were detected, challenging the perception that feral dogs are widespread in Australia. First generation dingo × dog hybrids were similarly rare, with only 27 individuals identified. Spatial patterns of genetic ancestry across Australia identified that dingo populations in northern, western and central Australia were largely free from domestic dog introgression. Our findings challenge the perception that dingoes are virtually extinct in the wild and that feral dogs are common. A shift in terminology from wild dog to dingo would better reflect the identity of these wild canids and allow more nuanced debate about the balance between conservation and management of dingoes in Australia.

Cryptococcosis caused by yeasts of the Cryptococcus gattii species complex is an increasingly important mycological disease in humans and other mammals. In Australia, cases of C. gattii-related cryptococcosis are more prevalent in the koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) compared to humans and other animals, likely due to the close association that both C. gattii and koalas have with Eucalyptus species. This provides a cogent opportunity to investigate the epidemiology of spontaneous C. gattii infections in a free-living mammalian host, thereby offering insights into similar infections in humans. This study aimed to establish a link between nasal colonisation by C. gattii in free-ranging koalas and the tree hollows of Eucalyptus species, the key environmental source of the pathogen. We (i) detected and genotyped C. gattii from nine out of 169 free-ranging koalas and representative tree hollows within their home range in the Liverpool Plains, New South Wales, and (ii) examined potential environmental predictors of nasal colonisation in koalas and the presence of C. gattii in tree hollows. Phylogenetic analyses based on multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) revealed that the koalas were most likely colonised by the most abundant C. gattii genotypes found in the Eucalyptus species, or closely related genotypes. Importantly, the likelihood of the presence of C. gattii in tree hollows was correlated with increasing hollow size.

Kicking powerfully and accurately is essential in soccer, and players who kick proficiently with both feet are highly sought after. Assessing performance in youth players is often confounded by more physically developed players outperforming their smaller peers. To alleviate such bias, we present a testing protocol and normative data developed with an elite Brazilian soccer academy that controls for players’ age and size to assess kick performance with both feet. We measured kick speed and kick accuracy of 178 players and recorded their age (10–20 years), height, and mass. Combining age, height, and mass into an age and size index (ASI), we developed equations describing the relationship between ASI and performance. To determine the underlying predictors of performance, we also measured sprint ability and soccer-specific motor control of each foot with ball dribbling tasks. Kicking speed with the dominant foot was predicted by ASI, sprint speed, and motor control of the nondominant foot, while kicking speed with the nondominant foot was predicted by ASI and motor control of the nondominant foot. Kick accuracy with each foot was predicted by ASI and motor control of the corresponding foot. To improve kicking performance, we suggest training programs focus on motor control.

Public opposition has shaped management of wild animals in Australia, but public interest in dingo control has been minimal. We hypothesised that this is due to lack of awareness of dingo management practices, in part because using the term “wild dogs” to describe management renders “dingoes” invisible, framing the issue as one of control of introduced pests rather than control of an iconic Australian animal. We distributed an online questionnaire survey to the Australian public (N = 811) to measure how the public perceived dingoes and their management, how these views compared with other animals managed as pests in Australia, and whether the term “wild dogs” has shaped views and knowledge of dingo management. Most respondents (84.6%) considered dingoes to be native to Australia and there was low approval of lethal control methods, except when justification was provided (e.g., to protect livestock or endangered native species). Only 19.1% were aware that “wild dog” management included dingoes, and attitudes towards “wild dogs” were more negative than those towards dingoes. If public awareness about dingo management increases, pressure from the public may result and shape future management actions, including restricting the use of lethal control practices like poison baiting on public lands. As such, public attitudes should be incorporated into decision-making, and appropriate communication strategies need to be employed to prevent backlash.

The impact of hybridisation between dingoes and domestic dogs, and the subsequent introgression of domestic dog genes into dingo populations, remains a topic of significant impact. It has been claimed, but with little evidence or logical argumentation, that dingoes with significant dog introgression have different effects on agriculture and ecosystems than dingoes with no dog introgression. Introgression is a natural process in evolution, occurring in many species, although this is sometimes human assisted. Canid species in particular show high levels of introgression, due to their genetic and phylogenetic similarities, and human persecution creates scenarios encouraging hybridisation. Dingoes are no exception and demonstrate high levels of introgression of domestic dog genes, particularly in the temperate areas of south-eastern Australia. The available evidence shows that this introgression has minimal effects on the functional morphology of the dingo skull. There is also some preliminary evidence that introgression has not had a major impact on dingo reproductive biology. Studies on the impacts of dingoes on arid, tropical and temperate ecosystems, where levels of introgression vary greatly, all show consistent positive impacts of dingoes, regardless of the amount of domestic dog genes within the dingo population, on these ecosystems. Hence, hybridisation and resultant introgression from domestic dog genes appear to have little effect on aspects of the functional morphology or ecological role of the dingo. Accordingly, introgression does not diminish the conservation status of the dingo.

Understanding human attitudes toward wildlife management is critical to implementing effective conservation action and policy. Understanding the factors that shape public attitudes toward different wildlife management actions is limited, however, which can result in unpredictable public responses to interventions. We drew on comparisons between residents of 2 countries on separate continents to explore differences in attitudes toward wildlife management and determine factors important in shaping these attitudes. We surveyed representative publics via market research panels in Australia (n = 881 respondents) and the United States (n = 1287). We applied a social-identity approach and demography to identify factors that explained variance between responses about wildlife management. We compared responses between countries overall and within subgroups of respondents who strongly identified as environmentalists, animal rights activists, wildlife conservation advocates, and farmers. We created aggregate scores for the management-related response items per respondent and used regression analyses to identify the relative importance of country, identity, age, and gender in explaining variance between responses. These factors accounted for 15.3% of variance among responses. Australians overall were generally more accepting of lethal wildlife management actions than U.S. respondents. Differences in national attitudes reflected differences between United States and Australian wildlife management and policy, highlighting the importance of understanding social attitudes in shaping conservation policy. Identifying as a farmer followed by identifying as an animal rights activist most shaped attitudes toward wildlife management. Identity-related conflicts could be initiated or exacerbated by conservation interventions that fail to consider identity-related processes.Exploración de la Nacionalidad y la Identidad Social para Explicar las Actitudes hacia las Acciones de Conservación en los Estados Unidos y en Australia Resumen El entendimiento de las actitudes humanas hacia el manejo de fauna es muy importante para la implementación efectiva de las acciones y las políticas de conservación. Sin embargo, la comprensión de los factores que forman las actitudes públicas hacia las diferentes acciones de manejo de fauna es limitada, lo que puede resultar en respuestas públicas impredecibles ante las intervenciones. Trabajamos con comparaciones entre residentes de dos países en continentes distintos para explorar las diferencias en actitudes hacia el manejo de fauna y para determinar los factores importantes que intervienen en la formación de estas actitudes. Encuestamos a ciudadanos representativos por medio de paneles de estudios de mercado en Australia (n = 881 respondientes) y en los Estados Unidos (n = 1287). Aplicamos una estrategia de identidad social y demografía para identificar los factores que explican la varianza entre las respuestas al manejo de fauna. Comparamos las respuestas entre ambos países en general y entre subgrupos de respondientes que se identificaron fervientemente como ambientalistas, activistas por los derechos de los animales, defensores de la conservación de fauna y agricultores. Creamos puntajes agregados por respondiente para las respuestas relacionadas al manejo y usamos análisis de regresión para identificar la importancia relativa del país, la identidad, la edad y el género para la explicación de la varianza entre las respuestas. Estos factores explicaron el 15.3% de la varianza entre las respuestas. Como generalidad, los australianos tuvieron una mayor aceptación de las acciones de manejo letal de fauna que los respondientes estadunidenses. Las diferencias en las actitudes nacionales reflejaron las diferencias entre las políticas y el manejo de fauna en los Estados Unidos y en Australia, lo que resalta la importancia del entendimiento de las actitudes sociales en la formación de políticas de conservación. La identidad que más influencia tuvo sobre las actitudes hacia el manejo de fauna fue la de agricultor, seguido de activista por los derechos de los animales. Los conflictos relacionados con la identidad podrían ser iniciados o agudizados por las intervenciones de conservación que omiten considerar los procesos relacionados con la identidad.了解人类对野生动物管理的态度对于实施有效的保护行动和政策至关重要。然而, 由于目前关于公众对不同野生动物管理行动态度的影响因素认识有限, 可能导致公众对干预措施做出不可预测的反应。本研究通过比较不同大陆上两个国家的居民来探讨他们对野生动物管理的不同态度, 并确定形成这些态度的重要因素。我们通过市场调查团队对澳大利亚 (881 名受访者) 和美国 (1287 名受访者) 的公众代表进行了调研, 并利用社会认同法和人口统计学, 找出解释受访者对野生动物管理做出不同反应的影响因素。我们比较了两个国家受访者的总体反应, 以及被明显认为是环保主义者、动物权利活动者、野生动物保护倡导者和农民的子群体的反应。我们计算了每个受访者的回应管理相关问题的总得分, 并使用回归分析来确定国家、身份、年龄和性别在解释不同反应的差异中的相对重要性。而这些因素可以解释不同的反应之间 15.3% 的差异。澳大利亚居民总体上比美国受访者更能接受致死性的野生动物管理措施。国家之间的保护态度差异反映了美国和澳大利亚野生动物管理和政策的差异, 强调了理解社会态度对制定保护政策的重要性。对野生动物管理态度影响最大的身份是农民, 其次是动物权利活动者。而不考虑身份相关过程的保护干预措施可能会引发或加剧身份相关的冲突。 【翻译: 胡怡思; 审校: 聂永刚】.

Hybridisation resulting from human-driven shifts in species ranges is a global conservation concern. In Australia, hybridisation between dingoes (Canis dingo) and domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) has been identified as an extinction threat to the dingo, and is thought to be particularly widespread in south-eastern Australia. Here, we investigated the extent of hybridisation between dingoes and dogs in a sample of 783 wild-caught canids from eastern New South Wales, using an established 23-microsatellite test. We then mapped the distribution of these samples and identified three areas that are geographic hotspots of high dingo genetic ancestry using geospatial analysis. Between 9 and 23% of the wild canids that we sampled were classified as only having or likely to have only dingo ancestry. Only 0.6% of the wild canids we sampled were classified as having no dingo ancestry. Introgression from domestic dogs into the southeastern dingo gene pool has been extensive, with 76–88% of sampled dingoes carrying some dog ancestry. Spatial analyses revealed several geographic hotspots of high dingo genetic ancestry within north-eastern New South Wales (NSW) where there was a higher than expected prevalence of dingoes with no domestic dog ancestry. A key finding of our study is the observation of several regions where dingoes were largely free of admixture from dogs. There is an ongoing need for evidence-based strategies to reduce human-driven hybridisation by identifying and maintaining natural barriers to reproduction or limiting opportunities for wild-domesticate hybridisation. Globally, legislators and land managers may need to consider less restrictive species definitions to conserve endangered or ecologically significant taxa.

Chlamydiosis, caused by Chlamydia pecorum, is regarded as an important threat to koala populations. Across the koala's geographical range, disease severity associated with C. pecorum infection varies, with pathogen diversity and strain pathogenicity being likely important factors. To examine C. pecorum diversity on a sub-population level a Multi-Locus Sequence Typing (MLST) scheme, containing the housekeeping genes; gatA, oppA_3, hflX, gidA, enoA, hemN and fumC, was used to type strains from two sub-populations of koalas from the Liverpool Plains, NSW, Australia, with different disease expressions. Typing of samples from 2015 to 2017, revealed a significant association between sequence type ST 69 and clinical disease and a significant difference in sequence type frequencies between sub-populations. Sequence type ST 69 has previously been identified in both subclinical and clinically diseased koalas indicating that these markers alone are not illustrative of pathogenicity. However, recent emergence of this sequence type in a naïve population may explain the differing disease expressions. Sequence types ST 73 and ST 69 have been described in koalas across a broad geographic range, indicating multiple introduction events and/or a limited veracity of the MLST loci to explore fine scale epidemiological investigations, particularly those examining the interface between pathogenic strain and disease outcome.

Public attitudes are important in shaping wildlife management decisions. However, publics are not homogeneous, and conflicting perceptions and attitudes often create barriers to achieving conservation outcomes. Here we use a social identity approach to analyze public acceptance of different options for managing four animals in Australia (kangaroos, wild horses, dingoes, and red foxes). We conducted an online survey (N = 793) of adult residents of Australia. Analyses indicate 11.4% of respondents strongly identified as animal rights activists, 19.0% as wildlife conservationists, and 19.2% as farmers. Using the Potential for Conflict Index and permutational multivariate analysis of variance, we found that on average, all identity groups supported nonlethal management for all species and reintroduction or maintenance of dingoes to suppress kangaroos and red foxes. All identity groups except farmers were generally unsupportive of lethal control, but there was less consensus among responses within groups compared with support for nonlethal methods. Results suggest that policies which prioritize nonlethal management over lethal control (where effective) will be less controversial than those that use lethal management. Likewise, incorporating predator conservation into ecosystem restoration seems well supported across constituencies typically interested in wildlife conservation.

Land clearing for agriculture results in fragmented landscapes with diminished resources for wildlife. Habitat loss and fragmentation are widespread problems; however, their impacts are rarely assessed simultaneously at multiple spatial and temporal scales. We used a focal site, multiscale design to examine how landscape characteristics that affect the probability of koala Phascolarctos cinereus presence varies over multiple spatial and temporal scales in a fragmented rural landscape in north-western New South Wales, Australia. We modelled the effect of variables representing landscape characteristics at three spatial extents – transect, patch and site – over three seasonal periods (mid-spring, late-spring and midsummer). Koala activity level (as determined by faecal pellets) varied between surveys, and identifies short-term seasonal changes in habitat use. Koala presence had the strongest association with patch scale variables (habitat suitability, soil fertility and patch area). Temporal variation in the effect of tree and landscape characteristics on koala presence highlights the limitations of surveys at a single point in time, and emphasizes that further research is needed to advance our understanding of what drives temporal variation in koala habitat use at multiple spatial scales. Our results show that to arrest declining koala populations in rural agricultural landscapes, conservation and management plans must consider landscape scale processes over a variety of time scales, and engage stakeholders across multiple properties and tenures, to conserve both disturbed and suitable habitat on private land.

Cryptococcosis, caused by environmental fungi in the Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus gattii species complexes, affects a variety of hosts, including koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus). Cryptococcal antigenemia and nasal colonization are well characterized in captive koalas, but free-ranging populations have not been studied systematically. Free-ranging koalas (181) from the Liverpool Plains region of New South Wales, Australia, were tested for cryptococcal antigenemia (lateral flow immunoassay) and nasal colonization (bird seed agar culture). Results were related to environmental and individual koala characteristics. Eucalypt trees (14) were also randomly tested for the presence of Cryptococcus spp. by bird seed agar culture. In sum, 5.5% (10/181) and 6.6% (12/181) of koalas were positive for antigenemia and nasal colonization, respectively, on at least one occasion. And 64.3% (9/14) of eucalypts were culture-positive for Cryptococcus spp. URA5 restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis identified most isolates as C. gattii VGI, while C. neoformans VNI was only found in one koala and one tree. Colonized koalas were significantly more likely to test positive for antigenemia. No associations between antigenemia or colonization, and external environmental characteristics (the relative abundance of Eucalyptus camaldulensis and season), or individual koala characteristics (body condition, sex, and age), could be established, suggesting that antigenemia and colonization are random outcomes of host-pathogen-environment interactions. The relationship between positive antigenemia status and a relatively high abundance of E. camaldulensis requires further investigation. This study characterizes cryptococcosis in a free-ranging koala population, expands the ecological niche of the C. gattii/C. neoformans species complexes and highlights free-ranging koalas as important sentinels for this disease.

Taxonomy plays an important role in defining biodiversity and shaping conservation efforts. However, the biological species concept is a human construct and organisms that do not abide by ...

In many youth sports, selection into elite training academies is dominated by athletes born earlier in the year. Previous research suggests this is partly due to these athletes being more physically developed than their younger peers. How athletes born later in the year survive in elite academies is less understood. Here, we tested the hypothesis that players born later in the year are more technically skilled than their peers born earlier in the same year. Using 150 youth players (10–19 years of age) from an elite Brazilian soccer academy, we measured each player's date of birth, height, and mass; sprinting ability; dribbling ability; and kicking accuracy and speed. We found most players in this academy were born in the first half of the year, and those born earlier in the year (relatively older) tended to be taller and heavier than those born later in the same year (relatively younger). In addition, relatively older players were faster when sprinting and dribbling the ball in a straight line. Conversely, relatively younger players were more accurate when passing the ball with their nondominant foot, providing some evidence these players were more technically skilled than their older peers of the same age. We suggest skill tests with youth players need to consider relative age and physical size in order to best assess a player's potential.

Achieving conservation goals, such as coexistence between wildlife and humans, requires an evidence‐based understanding of the factors that shape conservation contexts. For addressing conflict between humans and wildlife, this means understanding the barriers and opportunities to changing human behaviors toward wildlife. Here, we develop a Theory of Change (ToC) to promote coexistence between livestock producers and dingoes in Australia. The ToC is based on behavior change principles and interdisciplinary research identifying four key stakeholder groups who may influence dingo management. It employs four overlapping strategies to address these barriers: (a) a media campaign to promote public awareness of dingo management practices, which may result in pressure upon governments to restrict lethal control; (b) promoting more inclusive decision‐making processes, specifically including Aboriginal Australians; (c) monitoring and evaluation of the effects of dingo management on livestock and ecosystems to identify opportunities for nonlethal dingo management; (d) campaign to encourage adoption of nonlethal management methods by livestock producers based on an understanding of sociopsychological factors that shape behaviors. The framework is a tool for conservation advocates and policymakers to implement and monitor change that facilitates both wildlife conservation and thriving rural communities.

Biological invasions can massively disrupt ecosystems, but evolutionary and ecological adjustments may modify the magnitude of that impact through time. Such post-colonisation shifts can change priorities for management. We quantified the abundance of two species of giant monitor lizards, and of the availability of their mammalian prey, across 45 sites distributed across the entire invasion trajectory of the cane toad (Rhinella marina) in Australia. One varanid species (Varanus panoptes from tropical Australia) showed dramatic population collapse with toad invasion, with no sign of recovery at most (but not all) sites that toads had occupied for up to 80 years. In contrast, abundance of the other species (Varanus varius from eastern-coastal Australia) was largely unaffected by toad invasion. That difference might reflect availability of alternative food sources in eastern-coastal areas, perhaps exacerbated by the widespread prior collapse of populations of small mammals across tropical (but not eastern) Australia. According to this hypothesis, the impact of cane toads on apex predators has been exacerbated and prolonged by a scarcity of alternative prey. More generally, multiple anthropogenically-induced changes to natural ecosystems may have synergistic effects, intensifying the impacts beyond that expected from either threat in isolation.

Shortly after the enactment of restrictions aimed at limiting the spread of COVID-19, various local government and public health authorities around the world reported an increased sighting of rats. Such reports have yet to be empirically validated. Here we combined data from multi-catch rodent stations (providing data on rodent captures), rodent bait stations (providing data on rodent activity) and residents’ complaints to explore the effects of a six week lockdown period on rodent populations within the City of Sydney, Australia. The sampling interval encompassed October 2019 to July 2020 with lockdown defined as the interval from April 1st to May 15th, 2020. Rodent captures and activity (visits to bait stations) were stable prior to lockdown. Captures showed a rapid increase and then decline during the lockdown, while rodent visits to bait stations declined throughout this period. There were no changes in the frequency of complaints during lockdown relative to before and after lockdown. There was a non-directional change in the geographical distribution of indices of rodent abundance suggesting that rodents redistributed in response to resource scarcity. We hypothesize that lockdown measures initially resulted in increased rodent captures due to sudden shortage of human-derived food resources. Rodent visits to bait stations might not show this pattern due to the nature of the binary data collected, namely the presence or absence of a visit. Relocation of bait stations driven by pest management goals may also have affected the detection of any directional spatial effect. We conclude that the onset of COVID-19 may have disrupted commensal rodent populations, with possible implications for the future management of these ubiquitous urban indicator species.

Shortly after the enactment of restrictions aimed at limiting the spread of COVID-19, local governments and public health authorities around the world reported an increased sighting of rats. We combined multi-catch rodent station data, rodent bait stations data, and rodent-related residents’ complaints data to explore the effects that social distancing and lockdown measures might have had on the rodent population within the City of Sydney, Australia. We found that rodent captures, activity, and rodent related residents’ complaints increased during the COVID-19 related lockdown period, followed by a steep decline post-lockdown. We found no changes in the geographical distribution of any of our indices of rodent abundance. We hypothesize that lockdown measures resulted in an increase in rodent activity driven by a reduction in human-derived food resources. This might have increased the mortality rate, triggering a population crash. There is a high chance that the surviving individuals might be rodenticide resistant. It is possible that the onset of COVID-19 might have disrupted commensal rodent populations, with profound implications for the future management of these ubiquitous urban indicator species.

Habitat fragmentation changes landscape patterns and can disrupt many important ecological processes. Movement allows individuals to find resource patches to maintain their fitness and habitat fragmentation can disrupt this process. We explored the ecological impact of habitat fragmentation on movement and space use of a specialist folivore, the koala Phascolarctos cinereus. We GPS tracked koala movements within a fragmented agricultural landscape. We calculated the total distance moved across four months and the number of core patches by each koala. We used four metrics (proximity, functional connectivity, clumpiness, perimeter-to-area fractal dimension) to quantify landscape fragmentation within koala home ranges and determine its effects on movement and space use. Functional connectivity had the greatest effect on individual movement and space use. Decreasing connectivity led to longer and more direct movements by koalas and more core patches within an individual home range. Our study provides insight into the effects of habitat fragmentation on animal movement and space use, which can be used by wildlife managers to plan and manage landscapes more effectively.We conclude that restoring or protecting resource patches to promote greater functional connectivity will reduce the costs associated with the isolation of resource patches for species occupying fragmented landscapes. By providing a quantitative relationship between habitat connectivity and movement and space use costs, our results enable managers to set restoration targets, by identifying the most effective way to provide the functional connectivity minimizing the negative impact on focal species.

Recent studies suggest that apex predators play a pivotal role in maintaining healthy, balanced ecosystems. However, a criticism of studies investigating the ecological role of apex predators is that understanding does not come from manipulative experiments. Here, we use a before-after-control-impact-paired design to test predictions generated from trophic cascade theory (TCT) and mesopredator release hypothesis (MRH) by experimentally introducing dingoes into a 37-km2 paddock and measuring the resultant effects on mammal assemblages. To increase precision of parameter estimates generated by our experiment, we used a Bayesian framework which included prior information recorded from a mensurative study located in a comparable ecosystem that contrasted indices of mammal abundance where dingoes were common and rare. Results of the mensurative study were consistent with TCT and MRH. When using an uninformative prior, results of the experiment showed that dingo addition only had a negative effect on kangaroo activity. Use of an informative prior reduced uncertainty of the posterior mean parameter estimates from the experiment and suggested that red foxes were affected negatively and small mammals and rabbits were affected positively by dingo introduction. However, the prior had a strong influence on the posterior mean effect sizes for small mammals, rabbits and foxes. Opposite polarity of uninformed and prior parameter estimates for rabbits suggests that the prior was incompatible with the uninformed estimates from the manipulative experiment. Our study shows how use of logical informative priors can help to overcome statistical issues associated with low-replication in large-scale experiments, but the strong influence of the prior means that our findings were driven largely by the mensurative study.

Fire is an ecologically important process in many habitats. Increases in the frequency and intensity of wildfires due to anthropogenic activity or future changes in the global climate are suspected to impact heavily on components of the biota in fire-dependent landscapes, but there is almost no knowledge of how changes to fire regimes interact with other stressors such as drying environments. We used livetrapping techniques to investigate the effects of wildfire and drought on the abundance of 3 species of small mammals in coastal woodland in southeastern Australia. We used a generalized linear mixed effects model design to compare 4 years of post-fire trapping results with pre-fire data on both burned and unburned sites. Numbers of all small mammal species were declining due to drought prior to an extensive wildfire. Wildfire significantly exacerbated the decline in abundance of small mammals in the year after fire. A return to wetter climatic conditions was accompanied by a recovery in small mammal numbers, which was faster in unburned sites than burned sites. Our results demonstrate a strong linkage between climatic conditions, fire, and mammal assemblages, and emphasize the need for long-term research to disentangle the interactive effects of these factors on wildlife.

In addition to feeding on animal remains, many scavengers also function as predators. Carcasses may therefore affect local animal communities by attracting facultative scavengers and increasing predation risk for other species in the vicinity of the carcasses. This risk may be elevated in low productivity environments, especially where humans increase carcass production and where facultative scavengers include invasive species. In June and October 2018, we monitored experimentally placed red kangaroo (Osphranter rufus) carcasses and artificial bird nests in two different habitats in the Simpson Desert, Australia, to identify the nest predators attracted to the carcasses, and to determine how carcasses affect overall and predator-specific nest predation. We modelled our nests to approximate those of the ground nesting little buttonquail (Turnix velox) and the endangered night parrot (Pezoporus occidentalis). Native Corvus spp. and then invasive red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) were the top carcass visitors and nest egg predators. Carcass presence and open habitat increased overall nest predation and fewer artificial parrot nest eggs were depredated compared to those of quail. Open habitat and carcass presence only increased predator-specific nest predation by foxes, but corvid nest predation was highest in June 2018, and for the artificial quail nest types. Foxes were the main predator of eggs from night parrot nests. Our study shows that carcass provisioning by humans may have indirect, deleterious effects on ground nesting birds, and indicates that foxes might pose a greater threat to night parrot populations than previously recognised.

Large carnivores are persecuted globally because they threaten human industries and livelihoods. How this conflict is managed has consequences for the conservation of large carnivores and biodiversity more broadly. Mitigating human-predator conflict should be evidence-based and accommodate people's values while protecting carnivores. Despite much research into human and large-carnivore coexistence strategies, there have been few attempts to document the success of conflict-mitigation strategies on a global scale. We conducted a meta-analysis of global research on conflict mitigation related to large carnivores and humans. We focused on conflicts that arise from the threat large carnivores pose to livestock. We first used structured and unstructured searching to identify replicated studies that used before-after or control-impact design to measure change in livestock loss as a result of implementing a management intervention. We then extracted relevant data from these studies to calculate an overall effect size for each intervention type. Research effort and focus varied among continents and aligned with the histories and cultures that shaped livestock production and attitudes toward carnivores. Livestock guardian animals most effectively reduced livestock losses. Lethal control was the second most effective control, although its success varied the most, and guardian animals and lethal control did not differ significantly. Financial incentives have promoted tolerance of large carnivores in some settings and reduced retaliatory killings. We suggest coexistence strategies be location-specific, incorporate cultural values and environmental conditions, and be designed such that return on financial investment can be evaluated. Improved monitoring of mitigation measures is urgently required to promote effective evidence-based policy.

Arboreal folivores are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of extreme climate change-driven heatwaves and droughts as they rely on leaf moisture to maintain hydration. During these increasingly frequent and intense weather events, leaf water content may not be enough to meet their moisture requirements, potentially leading to large-scale mortality due to dehydration. Water supplementation could be critical for the conservation of these animals. We tested artificial water stations for a threatened arboreal folivore, the koala (Phascolarctos cinereus), as a potential mitigation measure during hot and dry weather in New South Wales, Australia. We provided ground and tree drinkers to koalas and investigated changes in use with season, environmental conditions and foliar moisture. Our study provides first evidence of the regular use of free water by koalas. Koalas used supplemented water extensively throughout the year, even during cooler months. Time spent drinking varied with season and depended on days since last rain and temperature. The more days without rain, the more time koalas spent drinking. When temperature was high, visits to water stations were more frequent, indicating that in hot weather koalas need regular access to free water. Our results suggest that future changes in rainfall regimes and temperature in Australia have the potential to critically affect koala populations. Our conclusions can be applied to many other arboreal folivorous mammals worldwide which rely on leaves for their nutritional and water requirements. Artificial water stations may facilitate the resilience of vulnerable arboreal folivores during heat and drought events and may help mitigate the effects of climate change.

Biodiversity offset schemes are globally popular policy tools for balancing the competing demands of conservation and development. Trading currencies for losses and gains in biodiversity value at development and credit sites are usually based on several vegetation attributes combined to yield a simple score (multimetric), but the score is rarely validated prior to implementation. Inaccurate biodiversity trading currencies are likely to accelerate global biodiversity loss through unrepresentative trades of losses and gains. We tested a model vegetation multimetric (i.e., vegetation structural and compositional attributes) typical of offset trading currencies to determine whether it represented measurable components of compositional and functional biodiversity. Study sites were located in remnant patches of a critically endangered ecological community in western Sydney, Australia, an area representative of global conflicts between conservation and expanding urban development. We sampled ant fauna composition with pitfall traps and enumerated removal by ants of native plant seeds from artificial seed containers (seed depots). Ants are an excellent model taxon because they are strongly associated with habitat complexity, respond rapidly to environmental change, and are functionally important at many trophic levels. The vegetation multimetric did not predict differences in ant community composition or seed removal, despite underlying assumptions that biodiversity trading currencies used in offset schemes represent all components of a site's biodiversity value. This suggests that vegetation multimetrics are inadequate surrogates for total biodiversity value. These findings highlight the urgent need to refine existing offsetting multimetrics to ensure they meet underlying assumptions of surrogacy. Despite the best intentions, offset schemes will never achieve their goal of no net loss of biodiversity values if trades are based on metrics unrepresentative of total biodiversity.

Scientists have traditionally collected data on whether a population is increasing, decreasing, or staying the same, but such studies are often limited by geographic scale and time frame. This means that for many species, understanding of trends comes from only part of their ranges at particular periods. Working with citizen scientists has the potential to overcome these limits. Citizen science has the added benefit of exposing citizens to the scientific process and engaging them in management outcomes. We examined a different way of using citizen scientists (instead of data collection). We asked community members to answer a question directly and thus examined whether community wisdom can inform conservation. We reviewed the results of 3 mail-in surveys that asked community members to say whether they thought koala populations were increasing, decreasing, or staying the same. We then compared the survey results with population trends derived from more traditional research. Population trends identified through community wisdom were similar to the trends identified by traditional research. The community wisdom surveys, however, allowed the question to be addressed at much broader geographical scales and time frames. Studies that apply community wisdom have the benefit of engaging a broad section of the community in conservation research and education and therefore in the political process of conserving species.

Australia’s native wild dog, the dingo (Canis dingo), is threatened by hybridization with feral or domestic dogs. In this study we provide the first comprehensive three dimensional geometric morphometric evaluation of cranial shape for dingoes, dogs and their hybrids. We introduce a novel framework to assess whether modularity facilitates, or constrains, cranial shape change in hybridization. Our results show that hybrid and pure dingo morphology overlaps greatly, meaning that hybrids cannot be reliably distinguished from dingoes on the basis of cranial metrics. We find that dingo morphology is resistant, with observed hybrids exhibiting morphology closer to the dingo than to the parent group dog. We also find that that hybridization with dog breeds does not push the dingo cranial morphology towards the wolf phenotype. Disparity and integration analyses on the ten recovered modules provided empirical support for modularity facilitating shape change over short evolutionary time scales. However, our results show that this is may not be the case in hybridization events, which were not influenced by module integration or disparity levels. We conclude that although hybridization events may introduce breed dog DNA to the dingo population, the native cranial morphology, and therefore likely the feeding eco-niche, of the dingo population is resistant to change. Our results have implications for conservation and management of dingoes and, more broadly, for the influence of integration patterns over ecological time scales in relation to selection pressure.

The coastal heathlands of the Royal National Park are impacted by both fire and herbivory by introduced deer, and to date these two factors have been dealt with independently in the management of natural areas. In recent years, there has been increasing recognition for a more integrated approach to manage these two disturbance agents. Fire and its role in Australian heathlands are well known, while impacts from introduced deer and the combined effects of fire and introduced deer are still poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the effects of fire and Javan rusa deer (Cervus timorensis) on both vegetation cover and floristics. The percentage cover of plants at different height layers and the presence/absence of individual species were recorded at sites representing two different burn histories (1993/1994 and 2000/2001) and deer presence or absence. Fire significantly reduced vegetation cover at low (

In the absence of top-down regulation by predators, herbivore populations irrupt. In irrupting populations of large herbivores deaths are frequent and availability of carrion from carcasses is high, potentially subsidising facultative scavengers such as crows and ravens. Increases in facultative scavengers could amplify perceived and real predation risk for small prey. We provisioned large-herbivore carcasses over 2 weeks at three sites (400 ha/site) in the Australian arid zone and monitored detection rates of facultative scavenger birds and low-nesting small passerines at these sites and at three control sites of the same size. We found that provisioning large herbivore carcasses rapidly increased local abundances of scavenging corvids Corvus coronoides and C. bennetti by 50% and decreased relative detection rates of a predation-sensitive small passerine, white-winged fairywren Malurus leucopterus by 50%. White-winged fairywren detection rates were inversely correlated with corvid abundances. Our study indicates that increases in carrion availability associated with herbivore irruptions subsidise facultative scavengers, and thus may indirectly affect co-occurring prey species.

Justification for lethal control in conservation is often presumed to be shaped by human attitudes toward different species and whether these species are regarded as native or introduced to a particular system. Conservation researchers and practitioners attitudes often differ in this regard, so different conservation frameworks have evolved such as traditional compositionalist conservation, ‘new’ functionalist conservation, and compassionate conservation. Yet, there is limited research on how the public perceives and values native versus introduced species and thus how public perceptions align with these different and somewhat conflicting definitions of conservation. We conducted an online public survey (N = 811) in Australia to explore how perceptions of species are related to each other and to the approval of lethal control. We focused on native kangaroos, the long-established dingo, and more recently introduced red foxes and wild horses. Perceptions of species' ‘nativeness’ varied and did not always align with policy definitions or reality, with 18.4% and 17.9% considering horses and foxes, respectively, to be native to Australia. The perception that a species was not native and was a pest were linked, and correlated positively with approval for lethal control. The results reveal the conflicting perceptions of conservation among conservationists, the public, and policy definitions. This highlights the difficulty of developing a set of agreed upon conservation goals which would help promote conservation practices supported by stakeholder values.

Ramon & Cajal research contract from the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (grant number RYC-2015-18932), Van Eeden, Lily M., Eklund, Ann, Miller,Jennifer R. B., López Bao, José Vicente, Chapron, Guillaume, Cejtin, Mikael R., Crowther, Mathew S., Dickman, Christopher R., Frank, Jens, Krofe, Miha, Macdonald, David W., McManus, Jeannine, Meyer, Tara K., Middleton, Arthur D., Newsome, Thomas M., Ripple, William J., Ritchie, Euan G., Schmitz, Oswald J., Stoner, kelly J., Tourani, Mahdieh, Treves, Adrian