Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, South Coast Region, 120 Albany Hwy, Albany, Western Australia, 6330, Australia.
University of Western Australia, Centre of Excellence in Natural Resource Management, 6330, Albany, Western Australia, Australia.
Sci Rep. 2018 Mar 28;8(1):5335. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-23495-z.
The impact of introduced predators is a major factor limiting survivorship and recruitment of many native Australian species. In particular, the feral cat and red fox have been implicated in range reductions and population declines of many conservation dependent species across Australia, including ground-nesting birds and small to medium-sized mammals. The impact of predation by feral cats since their introduction some 200 years ago has altered the structure of native fauna communities and led to the development of landscape-scale threat abatement via baiting programs with the feral cat bait, Eradicat. Demonstrating the effectiveness of broad-scale programs is essential for managers to fine tune delivery and timing of baiting. Efficacy of feral cat baiting at the Fortescue Marsh in the Pilbara, Western Australia was tested using camera traps and occupancy models. There was a significant decrease in probability of site occupancy in baited sites in each of the five years of this study, demonstrating both the effectiveness of aerial baiting for landscape-scale removal of feral cats, and the validity of camera trap monitoring techniques for detecting changes in feral cat occupancy during a five-year baiting program.
引入的捕食者的影响是限制许多澳大利亚本土物种存活和繁殖的主要因素。特别是，在澳大利亚，由于引进的野猫和赤狐的存在，许多依赖保护的物种的范围缩小和数量减少，包括地面筑巢的鸟类和中小型哺乳动物。自 200 年前引入以来，野猫的捕食行为改变了本地动物群落的结构，并通过使用野猫诱饵 Eradicat 进行诱饵计划来减轻景观规模的威胁。对于管理者来说，展示大规模计划的有效性对于微调诱饵的投放和时间至关重要。在西澳大利亚皮尔巴拉的福斯特斯库沼泽（Fortescue Marsh），使用相机陷阱和占有模型测试了野猫诱饵的效果。在这项研究的五年中，每个诱饵地点的地点占有概率都显著下降，这表明空中诱饵在景观尺度上有效去除野猫，以及相机陷阱监测技术在五年诱饵计划中检测野猫占有变化的有效性。
