Remote sensing of trophic cascades: multi‐temporal landsat imagery reveals vegetation change driven by the removal of an apex predator

Fisher, Adrian; Mills, Charlotte H.; Lyons, Mitchell; Cornwell, William K.; Letnic, Mike

doi:10.1007/s10980-021-01206-w

Cited by 30 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Outcompetes the population of relative species that is essential for Amazon molly in gynogenetic reproduction system (sexual parasitism). 2017, Batten et al 2018, Fisher et al 2021. But why should the process stop at prudent exploitation when natural selection should, in principle, favor further increase in exploitation capacity?…”

Section: P Mexicana)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Trophic exploitation and cascades that result from it are indeed widespread in the biosphere (Terborgh et al 2001, Estes et al 2011, Ripple and Beschta 2012, Letnic and Ripple 2017, Batten et al 2018, Fisher et al 2021). But why should the process stop at prudent exploitation when natural selection should, in principle, favor further increase in exploitation capacity?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Why don't all species overexploit?

Vuorinen

Oksanen

et al. 2021

Oikos

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Overexploitation of natural resources is often viewed as a problem characteristic of only the human species. However, any species could evolve a capacity to overexploit its essential resources through natural selection and competition, even to the point of resource collapse. Here, we describe the processes that potentially lead to overexploitation and synthesize what is known about overexploitation limiters in other species. We propose that there are five pathways that counteract the evolutionary drive towards overexploitation and/or mitigate its consequences: top–down trophic control, interference, cost‐efficiency tradeoffs, resource trait evolution, and spatial heterogeneity. These mechanisms constrain the number of exploiters and/or lower the rate of the resource usage at the individual level. We hypothesize that in ecosystems with reasonable functional diversity, coevolution strengthens this limiter network, preventing overexploitation, and thus argue that diversity begets stability via evolution. Violent population cycles in species‐poor northern ecosystems and eruptions of invading alien species are exceptions that confirm this rule, because these ecosystems either lack functional diversity or there has not been enough time for coevolution to play out its stabilizing role. We propose that the overexploitation by our own species could be prevented via a network of socio‐economical limiters that act in an analogous way.

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Section: P Mexicana)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why don't all species overexploit?

Vuorinen

Oksanen

et al. 2021

Oikos

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“…A 2021 study of the Dingo Barrier Fence analysed satellite imagery recorded over a 32-year period and identified changes in vegetation cover dynamics each side the fence line (Fisher et al 2021). The changes were attributed to overgrazing of livestock and explosions in herbivore populations on the inside of the fence line in response to rainfall patterns.…”

Section: The Ecological Role Of the Dingomentioning

confidence: 99%

The Dingo Barrier Fence: Presenting the case to decommission the world’s longest environmental barrier in the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021–2030

Philip¹

2021

BIOLOGIA FUTURA

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The longest environmental barrier in the world is Australia's 5614 km Dingo Barrier Fence. The structure was completed in the 1950s, designed to facilitate the eradication of the country's apex predator and cultural keystone species the dingo (Canis dingo) from sheep (Ovis aries) grazing areas to the south-east of the continent. The fence and its support systems now present an immense obstacle to ecological restoration in Australia's arid zone, preventing traditional management practices, and are hazardous to all terrestrial wildlife in the immediate vicinity. The barrier presents a worst-case scenario for animal-generated seed dispersal patterns over the wider region and limits genetic transfer. Plummeting biodiversity inside the fence line and increasing pressures of climate change have left this region highly vulnerable to ecological collapse. Concurrently, sheep numbers have contracted over 75% in the arid zone since 1991, due to market forces and climate change, while demand for ethically produced goods such as predator-friendly meat production and organic produce is increasing. Decommissioning the Dingo Barrier Fence, moving the stock protection zone south and diversifying land use would not impact significantly on the current livestock production. It offers a sound economic alternative for the region, with the potential for regeneration of 82 million hectares of land, a scale encouraged for inclusion in the global initiative the United Nations Decade for Ecosystem Restoration (2021–2030). This would restore connectivity across the region, including vital access to the waters of the Murray Darling Basin. This would provide mitigation for the effects of climate change, new markets in organic and sustainable industries, and support ecological and cultural renewal.

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“…Johnson [63] contends that these small-scale differences have been resolved by more recent large-scale studies. The most recent of these uses remote sensing [105] and concludes that there is a pronounced depletion of vegetation cover and quality within the fence (south and east) where dingoes are suppressed compared to outside (north and west) for a common arid dune-swale system. They use Morris and Letnic [106] to draw a causal relationship with grazing by red and eastern and western grey kangaroos based on the exclusion of these species from plots and a bold assumption that grazing by rabbits was equivalent inside and outside plots.…”

Section: Dingo Predation Declinementioning

confidence: 99%

The Perils of Being Populous: Control and Conservation of Abundant Kangaroo Species

Croft

Witte²

2021

Animals

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Australia’s first people managed landscapes for kangaroo species as important elements of their diet, accoutrements and ceremony. This developed and persisted for about 65,000 years. The second wave of colonists from the United Kingdom, Ireland and many subsequent countries introduced familiar domesticated livestock and they have imposed their agricultural practices on the same landscapes since 1788. This heralded an ongoing era of management of kangaroos that are perceived as competitors to livestock and unwanted consumers of crops. Even so, a kangaroo image remains the iconic identifier of Australia. Kangaroo management is shrouded in dogma and propaganda and creates a tension along a loose rural–city divide. This divide is further dissected by the promotion of the consumption of kangaroo products as an ecological good marred by valid concerns about hygiene and animal welfare. In the last decade, the fervour to suppress and micro-manage populations of some kangaroo species has mounted. This includes suppression within protected areas that have generally been considered as safe havens. This review explores these tensions between the conservation of iconic and yet abundant wildlife, and conflict with people and the various interfaces at which they meet kangaroos.

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Remote sensing of trophic cascades: multi‐temporal landsat imagery reveals vegetation change driven by the removal of an apex predator

Cited by 30 publications

References 46 publications

Why don't all species overexploit?

Why don't all species overexploit?

The Dingo Barrier Fence: Presenting the case to decommission the world’s longest environmental barrier in the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021–2030

The Perils of Being Populous: Control and Conservation of Abundant Kangaroo Species

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