The red fox in Australia - an exotic predator turned biocontrol agent

摘要

The most important problem regarding mammal conservation in mainland Australia is the low abundance and limited distributions of many species, a legacy of an unprecedented collapse of the mammal fauna on a continental scale that unfolded following European colonisation. Two major hypotheses (not necessarily always mutually exclusive) have been proposed to account for the collapse (l) niche loss damage due to a variety of causes and (2) predation by exotics, in particular by the red fox. This paper provides evidence the supporting the latter cause as a major factor.