title: Occupancy of the Invasive Feral Cat Varies with Habitat Complexity.
abstract: The domestic cat (Felis catus) is an invasive exotic in many locations around the world and is thought to be a key factor driving recent mammal declines across northern Australia. Many mammal species native to this region now persist only in areas with high topographic complexity, provided by features such as gorges or escarpments. Do mammals persist in these habitats because cats occupy them less, or despite high cat occupancy? We show that occupancy of feral cats was lower in mammal-rich habitats of high topographic complexity. These results support the idea that predation pressure by feral cats is a factor contributing to the collapse of mammal communities across northern Australia. Managing impacts of feral cats is a global conservation challenge. Conservation actions such as choosing sites for small mammal reintroductions may be more successful if variation in cat occupancy with landscape features is taken into account.
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tas, 7001, Australia.|Australian Wildlife Conservancy, Mornington Wildlife Sanctuary, PMB 925, Derby, WA, 6728, Australia.
authors.forename: Rosemary
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hohnen
authors.affiliation: Australian Wildlife Conservancy, Mornington Wildlife Sanctuary, PMB 925, Derby, WA, 6728, Australia.
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tuft
authors.affiliation: Australian Wildlife Conservancy, Mornington Wildlife Sanctuary, PMB 925, Derby, WA, 6728, Australia.
authors.forename: Hugh W
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: McGregor
authors.affiliation: Australian Wildlife Conservancy, Mornington Wildlife Sanctuary, PMB 925, Derby, WA, 6728, Australia.|Threatened Species Recovery Hub, National Environmental Science Program, Charles Darwin University, NT, 0900, Australia.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Legge
authors.affiliation: Western Australian Government, Department of Parks and Wildlife, PO Box 942, Kununurra, WA, 6743, Australia.
authors.forename: Ian J
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Radford
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tas, 7001, Australia.
authors.forename: Christopher N
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Johnson