Tracey Kreplins

Wild dog management and trophic interactions in landscape-scale cell fencing.

Dingoes are the largest mammalian predator in mainland Australia, but their ecological role is contested. For viable commercial grazing, exclusion fences and lethal techniques are employed to control dingo populations in rangelands. This project was conducted in Western Australia's Southern Rangelands, using 24months of field surveys to investigate the effects of landscape-scale exclusion cell fencing on biodiversity across six study sites that represented three fence levels. In Study 1, the impact of exclusion fencing on dingo Activity Index and density (number of dingoes per km2) was evaluated through camera trapping and identification of individual dingoes. Fence levels and activity of different prey species had a significant influence on dingo Activity Index. While fence level did not affect dingo density (p=0.79), there was a general increase in density toward the later trap sessions across sites. Study 2examined the occupancy and activity patterns of dingoes and feral cats as a test of the Mesopredator Release Hypothesis (MRH). Fence level had a strong negative association with dingo occupancy probability, and temporal activity of dingoes varied across fence levels (p<0.05). There was a weak positive association of fence level with feral cat occupancy probability, and feral cat occupancy was more influenced by environmental factors than intraguild interaction. Temporal activity patterns of feral cats showed no variation by fence level. Study 3 examined small mammal and reptile species diversity and community composition. Although species diversity did not show significant variation, there was a significant dissimilarity (R=0.05, p<0.001) in community composition between sites. Fence level, feral cat and livestock activity indices, and percentage ground cover contributed significantly to the small vertebrate community assemblage. Lastly, Study 4 compared methods used to monitor dingoes and co-existing species. My research contributes to understanding the ecological dynamics of dingoes and the implications of dingo management on biodiversity.