Continental patterns in the diet of a top predator: Australia's dingo

作者：Tim S. Doherty, Naomi E. Davis, Chris R. Dickman, David M. Forsyth, Mike Letnic, Dale G. Nimmo, Russell Palmer, Euan G. Ritchie, Joe Benshemesh, Glenn P. Edwards, Jenny Lawrence, Linda F. Lumsden, Charlie Pascoe, Andy Sharp, Danielle Stokeld, Cecilia Myers, Georgeanna L. Story, Paul G. Story, Barbara Triggs, Mark Venosta, Mike Wysong, Thomas M. Newsome · 发表于：Mammal Review · 年份：2018 · DOI：10.1111/mam.12139 · 被引用次数：84 · 研究领域：Wildlife Ecology and Conservation、Ecology and biodiversity studies、Rangeland and Wildlife Management

Abstract Conserving large carnivores is controversial because they can threaten wildlife, human safety, and livestock production. Since large carnivores often have large ranges, effective management requires knowledge of how their ecology and functional roles vary biogeographically. We examine continental‐scale patterns in the diet of the dingo – Australia's largest terrestrial mammalian predator. We describe and quantify how dingo dietary composition and diversity vary with environmental productivity and across five bioclimatic zones: arid, semi‐arid, tropical, sub‐tropical, and temperate. Based on 73 published and unpublished data sets from throughout the continent, we used multivariate linear modelling to assess regional trends in the occurrence of nine food groups (arthropods, birds, reptiles, European rabbits Oryctolagus cuniculus , medium‐sized [25–125 kg] and large [169–825 kg] exotic ungulates [including livestock], and other small [<0.5 kg], medium‐sized [0.5–6.9 kg] and large [≥7 kg] mammals) in dingo diets. We also assessed regional patterns in the dietary occurrence of livestock and the relationship between dietary occurrence of rabbits and small, medium‐sized and large mammals. Dingoes eat at least 229 vertebrate species (66% mammals, 22% birds, 11% reptiles, and 1% other taxa). Dietary composition varied across bioclimatic zones, with dingo diets in the arid and semi‐arid zones (low‐productivity sites) having the highest occurrence of arthropods, reptiles, birds...