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Mammalian top-predators can have positive, negative and negligible effects on economic, environmental and social values, which vary spatially and temporally. Harnessing ‘pros’ while mitigating ‘cons’ of top-predators remains a key management challenge, particularly outside reserves in agro-ecosystems. In this study, long-term (1972–2008) and broad-scale (250,000km 2 ) datasets were used to...
The roles and functions of top predators have in recent years been an important yet controversial field of biodiversity conservation research. Interrelationships between sympatric species within complex systems can pose enormous challenges for designing studies that gain clear understanding of specific relationships and processes. Teasing out the nature of the relationships is made far more difficult,...
Manipulative experiments are rarely possible with large predatory mammals. However, field manipulations of predatory arthropods are common and could provide general insights into top-predator impacts. For example, observational studies suggest that conserving dingoes might indirectly benefit Australian small mammal populations. This is consistent with the effects of praying mantids in eastern U.S...
Among the many different ways in which large carnivores interact with other organisms, predation and competition are those most studied and investigated. Studies on these topics have led to the creation of well-known models and theories (e.g. Lotka-Volterra's prey-predator equations, Paine's keystone species concept, or mesopredator release theory) used to explain ecosystem structure and food web...
Allen and colleagues contend that the study designs used to test for indirect effects of large carnivores on lower trophic levels are limited insomuch as they “rely on weak inference when valuing the roles of large carnivores in ecosystems.” Based upon their review of gray wolf and dingo studies, they conclude “that evidence for the ecological roles” (i.e., top-down effect) of these species is “equivocal...
Trophic cascades have been assigned an exaggerated even mythic status by some ecologists, but they are only one type of pathway in a complicated food web. The human mind is drawn to patterns like the proverbial ‘moth to the flame’. The distinctive checkerboard pattern of alternating +−+−+ changes in populations on adjacent trophic levels in a trophic cascade is no exception. Unfortunately, this pattern...
The assumptions ecologists make both influence and constrain their conclusions. Too often these assumptions are not explored or validated rigorously enough. The purpose of this paper is to critically review seven trophic cascade assumptions frequently used in the current literature and to identify whether their conclusions are compatible with results from loop analysis. Assumptions center upon food...
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