Australia – Applied ecology and conservation research group

Authors: Bronwyn A Hradsky, Craig Mildwaters, Euan G Ritchie, Fiona Christie, and Julian Di Stefano

Published in: Journal of Mammalogy (early view)

Abstract

Fire shapes biome distribution and community composition worldwide, and is extensively used as a management tool in flammable landscapes. There is growing concern, however, that fire could increase the vulnerability of native fauna to invasive predators.

We developed a conceptual model of the ways in which fire could influence predator–prey dynamics.

Using a before–after, control–impact experiment, we then investigated the short-term effects of a prescribed fire on 2 globally significant invasive mesopredators (red fox, Vulpes vulpes, and feral cat, Felis catus) and their native mammalian prey in a fire-prone forest of southeastern Australia. We deployed motion-sensing cameras to assess species occurrence, collected predator scats to quantify diet and prey choice, and measured vegetation cover before and after fire. We examined the effects of the fire at the scale of the burn block (1,190 ha), and compared burned forest to unburned refuges.

Pre-fire, invasive predators and large native herbivores were more likely to occur at sites with an open understory, whereas the occurrence of most small- and medium-sized native mammals was positively associated with understory cover. Fire reduced understory cover by more than 80%, and resulted in a 5-fold increase in the occurrence of invasive predators. Concurrently, relative consumption of medium-sized native mammals by foxes doubled, and selection of long-nosed bandicoots (Perameles nasuta) and short-beaked echidnas (Tachyglossus aculeatus) by foxes increased. Occurrence of bush rats (Rattus fuscipes) declined. It was unclear if fire also affected the occurrence of bandicoots or echidnas, as changes coincided with normal seasonal variations.

Overall, prescribed fire promoted invasive predators, while disadvantaging their medium-sized native mammalian prey. Further replication and longer-term experiments are needed before these findings can be generalized. Nonetheless, such interactions could pose a serious threat to vulnerable species such as critical weight range mammals. Integrated invasive predator and fire management are recommended to improve biodiversity conservation in flammable ecosystems.

Hradsky BA, Mildwaters C, Ritchie EG, Christie F, Di Stefano J (2017) Responses of invasive predators and native prey to a prescribed forest fire, Journal of Mammalogy PDF DOI

Abstract

Using the rock-specialist agamid Ctenophorus caudicinctus as a model, we test hypothesized biogeographical dispersal corridors for lizards in the Australian arid zone (across the western sand deserts), and assess how these dispersal routes have shaped phylogeographical structuring in arid and semi-arid Australia.

We sequenced a c. 1400 bp fragment of mtDNA (ND2) for 134 individuals of C. caudicinctus as well as a subset of each of the mtDNA clades for five nuclear loci (BDNF, BACH1, GAPD, NTF3, and PRLR). We used phylogenetic methods to assess biogeographical patterns within C. caudicinctus, including relaxed molecular clock analyses to estimate divergence times. Ecological niche modelling (Maxent) was employed to estimate the current distribution of suitable climatic envelopes for each lineage.

Phylogenetic analyses identified two deeply divergent mtDNA clades within C. caudicinctus – an eastern and western clade – separated by the Western Australian sand deserts. However, divergences pre-date the Pleistocene sand deserts. Phylogenetic analyses of the nuclear DNA data sets generally support major mtDNA clades, suggesting past connections between the western C. c. caudicinctus populations in far eastern Pilbara (EP) and the lineages to the east of the sand deserts. Ecological niche modelling supports the continued suitability of climatic conditions between the Central Ranges and the far EP for C. c. graafi.

Estimates of lineage ages provide evidence of divergence between eastern and western clades during the Miocene with subsequent secondary contact during the Pliocene. Our results suggest that this secondary contact occurred via dispersal between the Central Ranges and the far EP, rather than the more southerly Giles Corridor. These events precede the origins of the western sand deserts and divergence patterns instead appear associated with Miocene and Pliocene climate change.

Melville J, Haines ML, Hale J, Chapple S, Ritchie EG (2016) Concordance in phylogeography and ecological niche modelling identify dispersal corridors for reptiles in arid Australia. Journal of Biogeography PDF DOI