I'm seeking papers which describe situations in which predators were perceived by people to pose a greater conservation threat than they actually did, and where subsequent lethal control actually caused ecological problems/disasters (e.g. mesopredator release, enabling prey species to increase and alter vegetation patterns, increased carrion and therefore disease). Thanks.
Hi Damian,
I'm working especially with Canids so I'm bias in my recommended pappers but here is few paper that might give you a start related to those large predators who had a very hard time in North America during European settlement.
Good luck !
Ripple, W. J., E.J. Larsen, R.A. Renkin and D.W. Smith. 2001.Trophic cascades among wolves, elk and aspen on Yellowstone National Park’s northern range. Biological Conservation 102(3):227-234.
Rutledge, L. Y., B. N. White, J. R. Row, and B. R. Patterson. 2012. Intense harvesting of eastern wolves facilitated hybridization with coyotes. Ecology and evolution 2:19–33.
Bruno, J. F., and B. J. Cardinale. 2008. Cascading effects of predator richness. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 6:539–546.
Kellert, S. R., M. Black, C. R. Rush, and A. J. Bath. 1996. Human Culture and Large Carnivore Conservation in North America. Conservation Biology 10:977–990.
Thanks Josée-Anne, that's very helpful. I'm also working with canids (dingoes), so your bias is a good thing for me.
Kate: I'm not the right person to counsel you regarding the second part of your question, but you should know that there is currently some debate regarding the strength of predator-induced trophic cascades in terrestrial ecosystems; see:
Mech L.D. (2012) Is science in danger of sanctifying the wolf? Biological Conservation 150, 143-149.
Also, if you want citations that actually show bias in perception regarding canids (wolves), check out:
Slagle K.M., Bruskotter J.T., Wilson R.S. (2012) The Role of Affect in Public Support and Opposition to Wolf Management. Human Dimensions of Wildlife 17, 44-57.
Bright A.D., Manfredo M.J. (1996) A conceptual model of attitudes toward natural resource issues: A case study of wolf reintroduction. Human Dimensions of Wildlife 1, 1-21.
or the review article:
Bruskotter J.T., Wilson R.S. (2013) Determining where the wild things will be: using psychological theory to find tolerance for large carnivores. Conservation Letters, DOI: 10.1111/conl.12072.
Farmers can have a real bad perception of the role of predators in the control of agricultural rodents. As a result, they use poisons that affect all species. Here are 2 papers where I reported on the destruction of terrestrial carnivore communities:
1. http://alphawildlife.ca/pubs/5%20-%202011%20-Proulx%20paper%20PCESC%20proceedings.pdf
2.
Proulx, G., and N. MacKenzie. 2012. Relative abundance of American badger (Taxidea taxus) and red fox (Vulpes vulpes) in two landscapes with high and low rodenticide poisoning levels. Integrative Zoology 7: 41-47.
I hope it helps.
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