The impact of human activities on Australian wildlife

Abstract

2Increasing human population size and the concomitant expansion of urbanisation 3 significantly impact natural ecosystems and native fauna globally. Successful conservation 4 management relies on precise information on the factors associated with wildlife population 5 decline, which are challenging to acquire from natural populations. Wildlife Rehabilitation 6 Centres (WRC) provide a rich source of this information. However, few researchers have 7 conducted large-scale longitudinal studies, with most focussing on narrow taxonomic ranges, 8 suggesting that WRC-associated data remains an underutilised resource, and may provide a 9 fuller understanding of the anthropogenic threats facing native fauna. 10We analysed admissions and outcomes data from a WRC in Queensland, Australia Zoo 11 Wildlife Hospital, to determine the major factors driving admissions and morbidity of native 12 animals in a region experiencing rapid and prolonged urban expansion. 13We studied 31,626 admissions of 83 different species of native birds, reptiles, 14 amphibians, marsupials and eutherian mammals from 2006 to 2017. While marsupial 15 admissions were highest (41.3%), admissions increased over time for all species and exhibited 16 seasonal variation (highest in Spring to Summer), consistent with known breeding seasons. 17Causes for admission typically associated with human influenced activities were 18 dominant and exhibited the highest mortality rates. Car strikes were the most common reason 19 for admission (34.7%), with dog attacks (9.2%), entanglements (7.2%), and cat attacks (5.3%) 20 also high. Admissions of orphaned young and overt signs of disease were significant at 24.6% 21 and 9.7%, respectively. Mortality rates were highest following dog attacks (72.7%) and car 22 strikes (69.1%) and lowest in orphaned animals (22.1%). 23Our results show that WRC databases offer rich opportunities for wildlife monitoring 24 and provide quantification of the negative impacts of human activities on ecosystem stability 3 25 and wildlife health. The imminent need for urgent, proactive conservation management to 26 ameliorate the negative impacts of human activities on wildlife is clearly evident from our 27 results. 28Introduction 29There is substantive evidence to suggest that anthropogenic factors are having 30 devastating consequences on native fauna, both in Australia [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] and internationally [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26].31 The stability of entire ecosystems is consistently compromised through the process of urban 32 expansion and global population growth, which continue to increase at unprecedented rates 33 [27]. The sustained acceleration in human population growth and resulting expansion in 34 anthropogenic activities appear to be the primary causes of an accelerated increase in extinction 35 rates globally [28][29][30][31][32]. 36Global population growth contributes to the destruction, modification and 37 fragmentation of wildlife habitat, reduced genetic diversity, threats fro...

Characterizing trends in human-wildlife conflicts in the American Midwest using wildlife rehabilitation records

“…While our analysis is most directly applicable to the region where this wildlife rehabilitation facility is located, we believe this technique can be applied in other regions as well. A similar study in Australia found that car strikes, dog and cat attacks, and orphans were also top reasons for admissions, although they additionally found entanglement and disease to be highly prevalent [28].…”

“…Analyses that span longer time periods could also provide insight regarding how causes of morbidity and mortality may fluctuate seasonally-valuable information for epidemiological studies of disease and human-wildlife conflicts [26,27], as well as conservation education efforts. One such study on Australian wildlife found that admissions peaked in the spring and summer during breeding seasons [28].…”

Peer Review #3 of "Fear and stressing in predator–prey ecology: considering the twin stressors of predators and people on mammals (v0.1)"

“…Thus, the fate of many species could depend on accommodating their needs in urban and agricultural habitats (Ives et al, 2016). A recent assessment of data collected at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre in Queensland Zoo, Australia, revealed that pet cat or dog attack, car strike, and entanglement in human-placed objects represented 56.4% of the causes of submission of injured wildlife; mortality rates associated with these traumas were also high, with 61.3% of admitted animals dying from their injuries (Taylor-Brown et al, 2019). These threats may contribute to landscapes of fear, through fear arousal, altered foraging behaviour, posttraumatic stress reactions, and cumulative stress exposures resulting in chronic stress responses.…”

Оновлення таксономічної класифікації мікроорганізмів порядку Chlamydiales

“…Однак ця пропозиція не здобула належної підтримки і наразі таксономічна класифікація має наступний вигляд [11,24,25 Зезекало Виктория Константиновна -асистент кафедры инфекционной патологи, гигиены, санитарии и биобезопасности, Полтавская государственная аграрная академия, ул. Сковороды, 1/3, г. Полтава, 36003, Украина, e-mail: v.zezekalo@gmail.com, ORCID ID: 0000-0003-1430-813X.…”

“…За останні роки кількість представників збільшилася настільки, що це неодноразово призводило до перегляду таксономічної класифікації порядку Chlamydiales [24,25].…”