Experimental evidence of competitive release in sympatric carnivores.
Changes in the relative abundance of sympatric carnivores can have far-reaching ecological consequences, including the precipitation of trophic cascades and species declines. While such observations are compelling, experimental evaluations of interactions among carnivores remain scarce and are both logistically and ethically challenging. Carnivores are nonetheless a particular focus of management practices owing to their roles as predators of livestock and as vectors and reservoirs of zoonotic diseases. Here, we provide evidence from a replicated and controlled experiment that culling Eurasian badgers Meles meles for disease control was associated with increases in red fox Vulpes vulpes densities of 1.6-2.3 foxes km-2. This unique experiment demonstrates the importance of intraguild relations in determining species abundance and of assessing the wider consequences of intervention in predator populations.
Trewby
Iain D
ID
Central Science Laboratory, Sand Hutton, York YO41 1LZ, UK. i.trewby@csl.gov.uk
Wilson
Gavin J
GJ
Delahay
Richard J
RJ
Walker
Neil
N
Young
Richard
R
Davison
John
J
Cheeseman
Chris
C
Robertson
Pete A
PA
Gorman
Martyn L
ML
McDonald
Robbie A
RA
D000818:Animals; D003163:Competitive Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D017753:Ecosystem; D005589:Foxes / Q000502:physiology*; D016014:Linear Models; D045969:Mustelidae / Q000502:physiology*; D011156:Population Density