title: Mesopredator suppression by an apex predator alleviates the risk of predation perceived by small prey.
abstract: Predators can impact their prey via consumptive effects that occur through direct killing, and via non-consumptive effects that arise when the behaviour and phenotypes of prey shift in response to the risk of predation. Although predators' consumptive effects can have cascading population-level effects on species at lower trophic levels there is less evidence that predators' non-consumptive effects propagate through ecosystems. Here we provide evidence that suppression of abundance and activity of a mesopredator (the feral cat) by an apex predator (the dingo) has positive effects on both abundance and foraging efficiency of a desert rodent. Then by manipulating predators' access to food patches we further the idea that apex predators provide small prey with refuge from predation by showing that rodents increased their habitat breadth and use of 'risky' food patches where an apex predator was common but mesopredators rare. Our study suggests that apex predators' suppressive effects on mesopredators extend to alleviate both mesopredators' consumptive and non-consumptive effects on prey.
authors: Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, University of Western Sydney, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia Centre for Ecosystem Science, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia cgor6229@hotmail.com c.gordon@uws.edu.au.
authors: Christopher E
authors: CE
authors: Gordon
authors: Centre for Ecosystem Science, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
authors: Anna
authors: A
authors: Feit
authors: Centre for Ecosystem Science, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
authors: Jennifer
authors: J
authors: Grüber
authors: Centre for Ecosystem Science, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
authors: Mike
authors: M
authors: Letnic
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001315:Australia; D002415:Cats / Q000502:physiology*; D017753:Ecosystem; D020387:Food Chain; D005589:Foxes / Q000502:physiology*; D060434:Herbivory; D051189:Murinae / Q000502:physiology*; D011157:Population Dynamics; D011235:Predatory Behavior; D019596:Wolves
keywords: Notomys fuscus; giving up density; indirect effect; landscape of fear; non-lethal effect; trophic cascade
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