Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/20416
Title: As clear as mud: A critical review of evidence for the ecological roles of Australian dingoes
Contributor(s): Allen, Benjamin (author); Fleming, Peter  (author); Allen, Lee R (author); Engeman, Richard M (author); Ballard, Guy  (author); Leung, Luke K P (author)
Publication Date: 2013
DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2012.12.004
Handle Link: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/20416
Abstract: Top-predators have been reported to have an important role in structuring food webs and maintaining ecological processes for the benefit of biodiversity at lower trophic levels. This is thought to be achieved through their suppressive effects on sympatric mesopredators and prey. Great scientific and public interest surrounds the potential use of top-predators as biodiversity conservation tools, and it can often be difficult to separate what we think we know and what we really know about their ecological utility. Not all the claims made about the ecological roles of top-predators can be substantiated by current evidence. We review the methodology underpinning empirical data on the ecological roles of Australian dingoes ('Canis lupus dingo' and hybrids) to provide a comprehensive and objective benchmark for knowledge of the ecological roles of Australia’s largest terrestrial predator. From a wide variety of methodological flaws, sampling bias, and experimental design constraints inherent to 38 of the 40 field studies we assessed, we demonstrate that there is presently unreliable and inconclusive evidence for dingoes’ role as a biodiversity regulator. We also discuss the widespread (both taxonomically and geographically) and direct negative effects of dingoes to native fauna, and the few robust studies investigating their positive roles. In light of the highly variable and context-specific impacts of dingoes on faunal biodiversity and the inconclusive state of the literature, we strongly caution against the positive management of dingoes in the absence of a supporting evidence-base for such action.
Publication Type: Journal Article
Source of Publication: Biological Conservation, v.159, p. 158-174
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Place of Publication: Netherlands
ISSN: 1873-2917
0006-3207
Fields of Research (FoR) 2008: 060801 Animal Behaviour
Fields of Research (FoR) 2020: 310901 Animal behaviour
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2008: 960501 Ecosystem Assessment and Management at Regional or Larger Scales
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020: 180403 Assessment and management of Antarctic and Southern Ocean ecosystems
Peer Reviewed: Yes
HERDC Category Description: C1 Refereed Article in a Scholarly Journal
Appears in Collections:Journal Article

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