Charles Darwin University Introduced cats Felis catus eating a continental fauna inventory and traits of Australian mammal species killed Woolley, Leigh Ann; Geyle, Hayley M.; Murphy, Brett P.; Legge, Sarah M.; Palmer, Russell; Dickman, Christopher R.; Augusteyn, John; Comer, Sarah; Doherty, Tim S.; Eager, Charlie; Edwards, Glenn; Harley, Dan K.P.; Leiper, Ian; McDonald, Peter J.; McGregor, Hugh W.; Moseby, Katherine E.; Myers, Cecilia; Read, John L.; Riley, Joanna; Stokeld, Danielle; Turpin, Jeff M.; Woinarski, John C.Z. Published in: Mammal Review DOI: 10.1111/mam.12167 Published: 01/10/2019 Document Version Peer reviewed version Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Woolley, L. A., Geyle, H. M., Murphy, B. P., Legge, S. M., Palmer, R., Dickman, C. R., Augusteyn, J., Comer, S., Doherty, T. S., Eager, C., Edwards, G., Harley, D. K. P., Leiper, I., McDonald, P. J., McGregor, H. W., Moseby, K. E., Myers, C., Read, J. L., Riley, J., ... Woinarski, J. C. Z. (2019). Introduced cats Felis catus eating a continental fauna: inventory and traits of Australian mammal species killed. Mammal Review, 49(4), 354-368. https://doi.org/10.1111/mam.12167 General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 30. Sep. 2021 Page 1 of 42 Mammal Review 1 Introduced cats Felis catus eating a continental fauna: inventory and traits of Australian 2 mammal species killed 3 4 Leigh-Ann WOOLLEY* NESP Threatened Species Recovery Hub, Research Institute for the Environment and 5 Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University, Casuarina, NT 0909, Australia. Email: [email protected] 6 Hayley M. GEYLE NESP Threatened Species Recovery Hub, Research Institute for the Environment and 7 Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University, Casuarina, NT 0909, Australia. Email: [email protected] 8 Brett P. MURPHY NESP Threatened Species Recovery Hub, Research Institute for the Environment and 9 Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University, Casuarina, NT 0909, Australia. Email: [email protected] 10 Sarah M. LEGGE NESP Threatened Species Recovery Hub, Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, 11 University of Queensland, St Lucia, Qld 4072, Australia; Fenner School of Environment and Society, The 12 Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2602, Australia. Email: [email protected] 13 Russell PALMER Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, Locked Bag 104, Bentley Delivery 14 Centre, WA 6983, Australia. Email: [email protected] 15 Christopher R. DICKMAN NESP Threatened Species Recovery Hub, Desert Ecology Research Group, School of Life 16 and Environmental Sciences A08, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. Email: 17 [email protected] 18 John AUGUSTEYN Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, PO Box 3130, Red Hill, Qld 4701, Australia. Email: 19 [email protected] 20 Sarah COMER Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, South Coast Region, Albany, WA 6330, 21 Australia. Email: [email protected] 22 Tim S. DOHERTY Deakin University, Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life and Environmental Sciences 23 (Burwood Campus), Geelong, Vic 3220, Australia. Email: [email protected] 24 Charlie EAGER Arkaba Conservancy, Flinders Ranges, SA 5434, Australia. Email: [email protected] 25 Glenn EDWARDS Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Alice Springs, NT 0871, Australia. Email: 26 [email protected] 27 Dan K.P. HARLEY Wildlife Conservation and Science Department, Zoos Victoria, PO Box 248, Healesville, Vic 28 3777, Australia. Email: [email protected] 1 Mammal Review Page 2 of 42 29 Ian LEIPER NESP Threatened Species Recovery Hub, Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods, 30 Charles Darwin University, Casuarina, NT 0909, Australia. Email: [email protected] 31 Peter J. MCDONALD Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Alice Springs, NT 0871, Australia. 32 Email: [email protected] 33 Hugh W. MCGREGOR NESP Threatened Species Recovery Hub, School of Biological Sciences, University of 34 Tasmania, Private Bag 55, Hobart, Tas 7001, Australia. Email: [email protected] 35 Katherine E. MOSEBY University of New South Wales, Kensington, NSW 2052, Australia. Email: 36 [email protected] 37 Cecilia MYERS Dunkeld Pastoral Co Pty Ltd, P.O. Box 50, Dunkeld, Vic 3294, Australia. Email: 38 [email protected] 39 John L. READ School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia. 40 Email: [email protected] 41 Joanna RILEY School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, 24 Tyndall Ave, Bristol BS8 1TQ, United 42 Kingdom. Email: [email protected] 43 Danielle STOKELD Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Berrimah, NT 0828, Australia. Email: 44 [email protected] 45 Jeff M. TURPIN Department of Terrestrial Zoology, Western Australian Museum, 49 Kew Street, Welshpool, WA 46 6106, Australia. Email: [email protected] 47 John C.Z. WOINARSKI NESP Threatened Species Recovery Hub, Research Institute for the Environment and 48 Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University, Casuarina, NT 0909, Australia. Email: [email protected] 49 50 * Correspondence author 51 Keywords: Australia, conservation, critical weight range, diet, Felis catus, feral cats, invasive predator 52 53 54 55 2 Page 3 of 42 Mammal Review 56 ABSTRACT 57 1. Mammals comprise the bulk of the diet of free-ranging domestic cats Felis catus (defined as 58 including outdoor pet cats, strays, and feral cats) in most parts of their global range. In 59 Australia, predation by introduced feral cats has been implicated in the extinction of many 60 mammal species, and in the ongoing decline of many extant species. 61 2. Here, we collate a wide range of records of predation by cats (including feral and pet cats) 62 on Australian mammals and model traits of extant, terrestrial, native mammal species 63 associated with the relative likelihood of cat predation. We explicitly seek to overcome 64 biases in such a continental-scale compilation by excluding possible carrion records for 65 larger species and accounting for differences in the distribution and abundance of potential 66 prey species, as well as study effort throughout each species’ range. 67 3. For non-volant species, the relative likelihood of predation by cats was greatest for species 68 in an intermediate weight range (peaking at ca. 400 g), in lower rainfall areas and not 69 dwelling in rocky habitats. Previous studies have shown the greatest rates of decline and 70 extinction in Australian mammals to be associated with these traits. As such, we provide the 71 first continental-scale link between mammal decline and cat predation through quantitative 72 analysis. 73 4. Our compilation of cat predation records for most extant native terrestrial mammal species 74 (151 species, or 52% of the Australian species’ complement) is substantially greater than 75 previously reported (88 species) and includes 50 species listed as threatened by the IUCN or 76 under Australian legislation (57% of Australia’s 87 threatened terrestrial mammal species). 77 We identify the Australian mammal species most likely to be threatened by predation by 78 cats (mulgaras Dasycercus spp., kowari Dasyuroides byrnei, many smaller dasyurids and 79 medium-sized to large rodents, among others) and hence most likely to benefit from 80 enhanced mitigation of cat impacts, such as translocations to predator-free islands, the 81 establishment of predator-proof fenced exclosures, and broad-scale poison baiting. 3 Mammal Review Page 4 of 42 82 83 84 Running head: Australian mammals killed by cats 85 Submitted: 29 January 2019 86 Returned for revision: 28 February 2019 87 Revision accepted: 13 June 2019 88 Editor: DR 4 Page 5 of 42 Mammal Review 89 INTRODUCTION 90 Introduced species often disrupt and challenge the conservation of biodiversity where they invade 91 (Simberloff et al. 2013). Many species associated with humans have spread widely throughout the 92 world, and some of these species constitute major threats to biodiversity in many locations where 93 they have been introduced (Gurevitch & Padilla 2004). Where free-ranging domestic cats Felis catus 94 (defined as including outdoor pet cats, strays, and feral cats) have been introduced, they have had a 95 substantial impact on wildlife (Pimentel et al. 2005, Loss et al. 2013, Doherty et al. 2016), particularly 96 on island-endemic vertebrates (Burbidge & Manly 2002, Medina et al. 2011, Woinarski et al. 2017a, 97 Woinarski et al. 2017b), due at least in part to prey naiveté in the presence of an evolutionarily novel 98 predator (Banks & Dickman 2007, McEvoy et al. 2008). The impact of cats on continental 99 biodiversity is generally less well-established (Loss & Marra 2017). 100 101 Since their introduction following European settlement of Australia in 1788, cats have spread 102 pervasively. Cats now occupy the entire continent and many islands, including all islands larger than 103 400 km2, except Dirk Hartog Island where cats were recently eradicated (Abbott et al. 2014, Legge et 104 al. 2017). Relative to other continents, the impacts of cats on Australian wildlife are especially 105 pronounced (Doherty et al. 2016, Woinarski et al. 2018): cats have been implicated in the decline 106 and extinction of many Australian species, particularly mammals (Johnson 2006, Woinarski et al.