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Behaviour and Ecology of an Apex Predator, the Dingo Canis Lupus Dingo, and an Introduced Mesopredator, the Feral Cat Felis Catus

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ResearchOnline@JCU This file is part of the following reference: Brook, Leila Amy (2013) Predator guild interactions in northern Australia: behaviour and ecology of an apex predator, the dingo Canis lupus dingo, and an introduced mesopredator, the feral cat Felis catus. PhD thesis, James Cook University. Access to this file is available from: http://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/36291/ The author has certified to JCU that they have made a reasonable effort to gain permission and acknowledge the owner of any third party copyright material included in this document. If you believe that this is not the case, please contact [email protected] and quote http://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/36291/ Predator guild interactions in northern Australia: behaviour and ecology of an apex predator, the dingo Canis lupus dingo, and an introduced mesopredator, the feral cat Felis catus Thesis submitted by Leila Amy Brook BSc (Hons) University of Melbourne December 2013 for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the School of Marine and Tropical Biology James Cook University i ii Top: Dingo Canis lupus dingo on Marion Downs Sanctuary in the Kimberley, Western Australia Bottom: Feral cat Felis catus on Holroyd River Station, Cape York Peninsula, Queensland iii iv Acknowledgments I am very grateful to have worked on such a ripper of a project during my PhD. I feel lucky to have been able to pursue an interesting field of research in a way which is all- absorbing, and to still find it fascinating at the end. Studying large, free-ranging predators in remote areas across northern Australia was a challenge but an enjoying one, from the thrill of getting hands-on during trapping, to learning to set realistic fieldwork expectations! The only downside of working in such magnificent examples of tropical savanna is that other places now pale in comparison. I have a lot of appreciation for all the fantastic people who facilitated this project and contributed support along the way. I must first thank my supervisors Chris Johnson, Euan Ritchie and Lin Schwarzkopf. I am grateful to have worked with such a knowledgeable and diverse team during my PhD. Chris, thanks for taking me on for this project. Your rich insights into the role of the dingo, your inspired scientific thinking and thoughtful comments supported me throughout my candidature. Euan, thanks for your constant positive attitude and knowledge not only of dingoes, predator ecology and field research but of all things savanna. You have passed on a love for the north and a quite serious birdwatching obsession. Thank you Lin for your support in the later years of my project, for the reassuring discussions, practical advice and guidance on chapters and analysis. I would also like to thank Jenny Martin, who with Euan, introduced me to many of the great things about Townsville and provided encouragement before and during my candidature. Every chapter of this thesis involves research conducted on properties owned by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, who not only permitted me to work on their sanctuaries, but provided much in-kind support, knowledge, time and hospitality during my fieldwork. Thanks to Sarah Legge (Mornington), John Kanowski, Jill MacNicol (Piccaninny Plains), Peter and Pam Hensler (Mt Zero-Taravale), Mick Blackman (Brooklyn) and all the staff and volunteers that assisted with my project in the Kimberley. I am very grateful to the property owners or managers who allowed me to run surveys on their properties: Darcy and Raylee Byrnes of Holroyd River station, James and Elaine Spreadborough of Spoonbill station, Evan, Kim and Phil Acton of Millungera station and Brian Furber of Hidden Valley. I thank the Department of Defence for permission to work on defence land, and I particularly appreciate the help of Allan McManus who facilitated approvals for my research on both the Townsville and Mount Stuart Field Training Areas. A special thanks to the lovely Laura Mitchell, who worked as a research assistant on the dingo project in my first year. In addition to sharing the joys of learning about camera trapping and dingo lures, you taught me many valuable field skills and made the early field trips a barrel of laughs. Hugh McGregor helped immensely, taking time to introduce me to the details of feral cat trapping and GPS telemetry, sharing his cat wisdom, spending long nights processing dingoes and kindly sharing some of his hard-earned data. v Damian Morrant has been a great go-to guy for all things dingo. Thanks for the many enthusiastic discussions on all aspects of dingo research, for teaching me the tricks of trapping and especially for volunteering your time and efforts on one of the most challenging field trips ever! A huge thanks to Angus McNab for your untiring help on the trapping field trip. I never would have seen so many fantastic birds and reptiles, or been willing to go spotlighting in our few non-working hours if you hadn't been there! I'm very grateful to Devi Hermsen, who spent several months helping on the dingo project and worked on several field trips. Your enthusiasm and great work made the trips much easier and lots of fun. I couldn't have achieved all the remote camera field work without the help of many great volunteers, in particular a big thanks to Kate Stookey, Susan Campbell, Paul Mitrovski, Frank Bird, Mika Trombini, Teigan Allan, Emily Hynes, Katrin Schmidt, Delphi Ward, Karen Glynn, Jen Leech and Gus McNab for coming on the long camera survey trips. I apologise especially to those who had to sweat it out in the hazmat suits or be exposed to particularly vile dingo attractants! I am grateful to Julie Fedorniak, Sue Reilly, Ross Barrett, Rob Gegg and Janice Cran at JCU for helping me prepare for field trips with a huge amount of gear, vehicles and OHS logistics. Felicity Smout, Sarah Gill, Maria Bellei and the Aachilpa Vet Clinic provided veterinary advice and training which I greatly appreciate. Thanks to the Centre for Tropical Biodiversity and Climate Change (CTBCC), in particular Yvette Williams, for welcoming me to ATSIP when the Mammal lab dwindled to one, and for inviting me to lab retreats and meetings. I am also grateful to the JCU Herpetology lab for support and feedback during my time in Townsville, and to the members of the Deakin University Burwood ecology lab, which became my new uni base when I moved to Melbourne. I asked a lot of analysis questions during my candidature and am very grateful for the support and guidance I received. Thanks to Dale Nimmo, Shane Blowes, Justin Perry, Brett Abbott, Jeremy VanDerWal, Ross Alford, James Moloney, Sally Keith, Sean Connolly, Ben Phillips, Matt Symonds and Barbara Anderson. I'm also very grateful to Kerrie Mengersen, Jessie Wells and Tom Prowse for taking the time to help me with analyses that didn't make the final cut. I thank Simon Benhamou, Roger Powell, Hawthorne Beyer, Clément Calenge, Kamil Bartoń, Bram van Moorter and Eric Vander Wal for patient, informative responses to questions asked over email regarding R scripts and analysis techniques. I received helpful advice on dingoes and feral cats when I was first designing my research from Lee Allen, Brad Purcell, Malcolm Kennedy, Alex Diment, Mark Goullet, Dave Algar, Damian Byrne, Mike Johnston, Russell Palmer and James Speed. Thanks to Alex Kutt, who provided the opportunity to analyse and publish dingo dietary analysis, which provided a primer for my own diet studies. I really appreciate the many discussions and support from fellow students, particularly Brooke Bateman, April Reside, Shane Blowes, Takahiro Shimada, Shannon Troy (UTAS), Stewart MacDonald, Tammy Inkster, Collin Storlie, John Llewellyn, Mat Vickers, Anita vi Heim and Rickard Abom. Thanks to the friends and housemates, especially Véronique Mocellin, who made Townsville home and a great place to live. I am extremely grateful to my parents Geoff and Theresa Brook, who instilled in me a love and respect for nature and animals in particular. You have always provided unconditional support and encouragement to pursue the things in life that I love and believe worthwhile. A huge thank you to my wonderful friend Morag Stewart, who provided so much wisdom, laughter and support in long-distance phone calls throughout my candidature. Sharing the PhD journey with you has been an emotional life-saver! The greatest thanks go to Sam Loy, who moved to Townsville, gave me love and support in many ways through the ups and downs, and inadvertently learnt a great deal about dingoes, cats and the challenges of fieldwork and analysis. Thank you for tolerating my science nerdiness and keeping me 'sane'. I couldn't have done it without you. vii viii Statement on contributions of others Research Funding Australian Research Council Discovery grant DP0877398: New thinking on the relationship of dingo ecology to biodiversity conservation and sustainable cattle production Australian Research Council Linkage grant LP100100033: Mammal declines in northern Australia: science for conservation and recovery James Cook University (JCU) In-kind support Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University Stipend Australian Postgraduate Award JCU Graduate Research Scheme PhD write-up grant Supervision (and editorial assistance) Professor Christopher N Johnson, University of Tasmania (UTAS) Dr Euan G Ritchie, Deakin University Professor Lin Schwarzkopf, JCU Statistical and analytical support Dr Jeremy VanDerWal, JCU (Chapter 2-3) Dr Brooke Bateman, University of Wisconsin - Madison
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