Ecological Impacts of Feral Horses in Grassy Woodland and Open-Forest Gorge Country in a Temperate-Subtropical Wilderness

Abstract

In temperate southeastern Australian national parks, feral horses occupy a unique ecological niche as the largest bodied, most mobile ungulate grazer with a suite of flexible physiological, behavioural and morphological traits that have enabled them to thrive under a wide range of ecological conditions (Beever 2003 p. 282). As Australian plants and soils have not evolved in the presence of ungulate disturbance, there is concern that feral horses pose a risk to native habitats and wildlife. This thesis takes a multi-faceted approach to improve the understanding of the connections between feral horse grazing and trampling, successional changes in plant communities, ecosystem function and resilience, and the potential for horses to displace marsupial grazers as the dominant herbivore regulating primary production.