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The Role of Odour in Australian Mammalian Predator/Prey Interactions

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The Role of Odour in Australian Mammalian Predator/Prey Interactions The role of odour in Australian mammalian predator/prey interactions Benjamin Gallard Russell B.Sc. A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences University of New South Wales Sydney NSW Australia December 2005 Originality Statement ‘I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and to the best of my knowledge it contains no materials previously published or written by another person, or substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at UNSW or any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in the thesis. Any contributions made to the research by others, with whom I have worked at UNSW or elsewhere, is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis. I also declare that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project’s design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged.’ Signed …………………………………………………. Abstract i Abstract Odour plays an important role in many predator/prey interactions. In the northern hemisphere, many mammalian prey species have been shown to respond to predator odours. It is also widely assumed that mammalian predators utilise odours to locate their prey. This thesis explores the importance of odour in Australian mammalian predator/prey interactions. Responses of native Australian species to the faecal odour of two predators; the native tiger quoll Dasyurus maculatus and the introduced red fox Vulpes vulpes, were evaluated through live-trapping and focussed behavioural studies of captive animals. Tiger quoll responses to prey olfactory cues were investigated in a captive experiment. Native rodents (bush rats Rattus fuscipes, swamp rats R. lutreolus and eastern chestnut mice Pseudomys gracilicaudatus) equally avoided traps scented with either quoll or fox faeces, and in captive experiments, bush rats and swamp rats reduced their average speed in response to both predator odours. Of the marsupial species, northern brown bandicoots Isoodon macrourus and common brushtail possums Trichosurus vulpecula were captured more frequently in quoll-scented traps than unscented traps or fox- scented traps, while captures of brown antechinus Antechinus stuarttii, long-nosed bandicoots Perameles nasuta and southern brown bandicoot I. obesulus were unaffected by the either predator odour. In captive experiments, brown antechinus, long-nosed and northern brown bandicoots decreased their foraging in response to both predator odours, and spent less time in areas scented with quoll faeces. Tiger quolls didn’t appear to detect odour sources from a distance of >65 cm, but they did follow Abstract ii scent trails and spent more time in areas scented with the urine and faeces of potential prey. Chemical analysis revealed no common components in fox and quoll odour which prey species could be responding to. Therefore, these native species have evolved to respond to fox odour since foxes were introduced to Australia 130 years ago. The stronger response of native rodents to fox odour may be a legacy of their co-evolution with canid predators prior to entering Australia. A better understanding of how odour is utilised in Australian predator/prey interactions may lead to a greater ability to protect Australia’s unique mammalian fauna from introduced predators. Acknowledgements iii Acknowledgements There are a great many people I need to thank for helping me to be able to finish this thesis. But I’ll start at the beginning. Karen Firestone was the person who originally convinced me I should do a PhD, and for that I am extremely grateful. Chris Dickman suggested that Peter Banks would be the ideal person to supervise this thesis, and that he was likely to be appointed to the position at UNSW vacated by my honours supervisor Mike Augee. When that did occur, Barry Fox also recommended Peter as an ideal supervisor for what I wanted to do, and recommended myself as a potential PhD student to Peter. I would like to thank both Chris and Barry for helping to facilitate the beginning of my PhD journey. To my supervisor Peter Banks, what can I say; thank you for putting up with me for all this time. You took on a boofy blokey naïve young kid as a PhD student all those years ago, when you were fresh off the plane from Finland, before you had even settled in to your new position. I hope I haven’t been too much of a burden. You’ve always been there with help and advice, and put up with my many questions, arguments, quirks and foibles. I couldn’t have done it without you and am tremendously appreciative of your support. I’d also like to thank Ross McMutrie for his help and support over the years, in his role as postgraduate coordinator here at the School of BEES. This thesis would not have been possible without people supplying me with plenty of carnivore urine and faeces. So I definitely need to send a big vote of thanks to Brad Walker and Chad Staples from Featherdale Wildlife Park, for helping me to collect tiger quoll urine and faeces, Steve Henry at the CSIRO sustainable ecosystems unit for collecting fox faeces for me, and Roy Bladen for collecting fox bladders filled with urine from animals he shot in western NSW. This thesis received constructive criticisms from a number of people, which definitely led to an improvement in its quality. Obviously, the comments from my supervisor Acknowledgements iv Peter Banks were invaluable. I would also like to thank Trent Penman for rapidly reading and reviewing every chapter, and getting them back to me within days (and sometimes hours) of me sending them to him. Similarly, I would like to thank Bruce Mitchell who quickly and thoroughly scrutinized the first four chapters, before being overwhelmed by the birth of his second child Hamish. The following people also provided insights into various chapters in the thesis; Barry Fox, Nelika Hughes, Jennifer Kelley, Adam Munn, Alan Russell, Diane Russell, and Jonathan Russell. A number of people made my time conducting field work easier and more enjoyable and I would like to thank the following volunteers: Callum Juniper, Megan Lenardon, Amy Plunkett-Cole, Alan Russell, Tim Chapman, Jeremy Green, Rachel Miller, George Madani, Leanne Van Der Weyde, Michael Whitehead, Suzi Lewis, Raquel Melendez, Brian Hawkins, Dan Ramp, Matt Hayward, Ben Macdonald, Bruce Mitchell, Nelika Hughes, Jamie Russell, and Jonathan Russell. I would also like to thank Jan Nedved, Jeff Vaughn, Mark Russell and Diane Russell for their help with the captive experiments conducted at Cowan. Thanks to all of the Friday night pub crew for helping me to relax and unwind at the Royal at the end of the week, while still providing entertaining insights, both biological and otherwise. Particularly I’d like to thank the regulars: the originals, Troy Gaston, Sharon Longford, Stephanie Moore and Matty Hayward; the next generation, Dustin Marshall, Jon Evans, and Jen Kelley; and those of us who remain, Keyne Munro, Stephen Bonser, Tom Mullaney, Jason Everett, Nelika Hughes, Candida Barclay and Frank Hemmings. And thanks to Macca, Wombat, Horatio, Dodge and Scooter for providing the geographers’ point of view during many nights at the Unibar over a few schooners. I’d also like to thank the various members of the Banks’ Lab for putting up with me over the years. I’d particularly like to thank Fiona Powell, Nelika Hughes, Bruce Mitchell, Candida Barclay, Tania Rose (and Adam Munn), Jenna Bytheway, and Rochelle Basham for listening to my ramblings, giving me advice, coping with the mess created in my corner of the lab, and dealing with the odour from my staple diet of Irish Breakfast Tea, green cordial, vegemite toast and jaffles. Thanks guys. Acknowledgements v Finally, my family has had to put up with a lot from me over the course of this PhD for which I need to thank them. They’ve dealt with the good times and bad, the anger and depression, the overriding exhaustion, they’ve allowed me to borrow and swap cars when I’ve needed to, and dealt with the backyard being covered in Elliot traps in various states of cleaning, and finding plastic bags filled with scats in the garage fridge. Despite this, my brothers; Jamie, Mark and Jonathan have all helped me to conduct my experiments, and have endlessly kept my spirits up with their banter and camaraderie that only brothers can share. My parents; Alan and Diane have also helped me to both conduct experiments and read all that I have written. Their love and support, encouragement and acceptance of what I have needed to do has never wavered, and without them I have no doubt that I would not have been able to finish this thesis. I am eternally grateful for everything they have done for and given to me, and love them very much. And I also have to thank God, for giving us this amazing complex world we live in, which I spend every day being amazed by, where even urine and faeces are fascinating enough to base an entire PhD thesis around. Table of Contents vi Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................i Acknowledgements....................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents...........................................................................................................vi List of
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