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Interactions between two naturalised invasive predators in Australia: are feral cats suppressed by dingoes?

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Abstract

Top-predators can play important roles in terrestrial food webs, fuelling speculation that top-predators might be used as biocontrol tools against invasive mesopredators. Feral cats are believed to be largely responsible for the current declines of native fauna across tropical northern Australia, where substantial beef cattle production occurs. Dingoes are known to impact cattle production there and are predicted to impact native fauna also. However, dingoes are forecasted to curtail the impacts of cats and reverse native fauna declines. We review (1) empirical studies investigating the relationships between dingoes and cats, and dingo control and cats, (2) records of cat remains in dingo diets, and (3) historical records of lethal dingo control using 1080-poisoned baits across Australia between 1999 and 2008 to show how two naturalised invasive species can interact in dynamic agro-ecological landscapes. From the 35 studies assessed, most reported no detectable relationship between dingoes and cats; negative or positive relationships were seldom detected. Dingoes do not appear to exclude cats beyond fine scales, but may alter cat activity periods under certain conditions. Cat remains were found in only 0.63 % of over 31,000 dingo diet records. Lethal dingo control occurs (in varying degrees) across about two-thirds of Australia and does not appear to substantially influence dingo-cat relationships. We conclude that the presently available data provides little evidence that bolstering dingo populations will reduce the impacts of cats. Much more work is needed to identify situations where top-predators might be used as effective biocontrol tools against invasive mesopredators in agro-ecological systems.

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Acknowledgments

Helpful comments and discussion on earlier drafts of the manuscript were provided by Joe Scanlan, Ken Rose, Malcolm Kennedy, Matt Gentle, Matt Hayward, Peter Fleming, Sarah Legge and Tony Pople. Barry Davies, Emily Lewis, Glenn Edwards, Helen Neave, Ken Rose, Kevin Strong, Peter Bird, Peter Fleming and Tim Seers provided access to and/or verification of 1080 baiting records and distribution. This research was undertaken as part of work supported by the Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre.

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  1. Benjamin L. Allen

    Present address: Robert Wicks Pest Animal Research Centre, Biosecurity Queensland, Toowoomba, QLD, 4350, Australia

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  1. School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, The University of Queensland, Gatton, QLD, 4343, Australia

    Benjamin L. Allen & Luke K.-P. Leung

  2. Robert Wicks Pest Animal Research Centre, Biosecurity Queensland, Toowoomba, QLD, 4350, Australia

    Lee R. Allen

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Allen, B.L., Allen, L.R. & Leung, L.KP. Interactions between two naturalised invasive predators in Australia: are feral cats suppressed by dingoes?. Biol Invasions 17, 761–776 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-014-0767-1

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