Using performance to predict the survival of threatened mammals (2018-2021)
Abstract
Half of Australia‿s endemic land mammal species are threatened or extinct. In tropical Australia, ongoing declines are caused by feral cats, which exploit fire-simplified landscapes. This project will use a new mechanistic approach to quantify how the performance of cats and dingoes interacts with habitat complexity to drive population loss of prey species‿namely, how the density of obstacles and refuges contributes to prey escape. This project will discover how rocky and savanna habitat structure affect the survival of threatened mammals hunted by cats and dingoes. It will provide a globally customisable model, and inform management of an important Indigenous Protected Area.
