Landscape management of fire and grazing regimes alters the fine-scale habitat utilisation by feral cats.

ABSTRACT: Intensification of fires and grazing by large herbivores has caused population declines in small vertebrates in many ecosystems worldwide. Impacts are rarely direct, and usually appear driven via indirect pathways, such as changes to predator-prey dynamics. Fire events and grazing may improve habitat and/or hunting success for the predators of small mammals, however, such impacts have not been documented. To test for such an interaction, we investigated fine-scale habitat selection by feral cats in relation to fire, grazing and small-mammal abundance. Our study was conducted in north-western Australia, where small mammal populations are sensitive to changes in fire and grazing management. We deployed GPS collars on 32 cats in landscapes with contrasting fire and grazing treatments. Fine-sc

SUBMITTER: McGregor HW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4198095 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature