Journal article
Cat Gets Its Tern: A case study of predation on a threatened coastal seabird
Animals, Vol.9(7)
2019
Abstract
Domestic cats have a cosmopolitan distribution, commonly residing in urban, suburban and peri-urban environments that are also critical for biodiversity conservation. This study describes the impact of a desexed, free-roaming cat on the behavior of a threatened coastal seabird, the Australian Fairy Tern, Sternula nereis nereis, in Mandurah, south-western Australia. Wildlife cameras and direct observations of cat incursions into the tern colony at night, decapitated carcasses of adult terns, dead, injured or missing tern chicks, and cat tracks and scats around the colony provided strong evidence of cat predation, which led to an initial change in nesting behavior and, ultimately, colony abandonment and the reproductive failure of 111 nests. The death of six breeding terns from the population was a considerable loss for this threatened species and had the potential to limit population growth. This study highlights the significant negative impacts of free-roaming cats on wildlife and the need for monitoring and controlling cats at sites managed for species conservation. It also provides strong evidence against the practice of trap-neuter-release programs and demonstrates that desexed cats can continue to negatively impact wildlife post-release directly through predation, but also indirectly through fundamental changes in prey behavior and a reduction in parental care.
Details
- Title
- Cat Gets Its Tern: A case study of predation on a threatened coastal seabird
- Authors/Creators
- C.N. Greenwell (Author/Creator) - Murdoch UniversityM.C. Calver (Author/Creator) - Murdoch UniversityN.R. Loneragan (Author/Creator) - Murdoch University
- Publication Details
- Animals, Vol.9(7)
- Publisher
- MDPI
- Identifiers
- 991005540634207891
- Copyright
- © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
- Murdoch Affiliation
- School of Environmental and Conservation Sciences
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:
Source: InCites
Metrics
37 File views/ downloads
72 Record Views
InCites Highlights
These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output
- Citation topics
- 3 Agriculture, Environment & Ecology
- 3.35 Zoology & Animal Ecology
- 3.35.274 Wildlife Ecology
- Web Of Science research areas
- Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
- Veterinary Sciences
- Zoology
- ESI research areas
- Plant & Animal Science