Katherine Tuft

Arid Recovery

Predator naivety negatively affects reintroduction success, and this threat is exacerbated when prey encounters predators with which they have had no evolutionary experience. While methods have been developed to inculcate fear into such predator-naïve individuals, none have been uniformly successful. Exposing ontogenetically- and evolutionary-naïve...

Monitoring trends in animal populations in arid regions is challenging due to remoteness and low population densities. However, detecting species' tracks or sign is an effective survey technique for monitoring population trends across large spatial and temporal scales. In this study, we developed a simulation framework to evaluate the performance o...

Feral-proof fencing plays a fundamental role in many wildlife conservation programs. The gradual deterioration of metal infrastructure (such as fencing) through contact with a corrosive soil environment is a complex and global issue. This paper aims to classify and map areas of low, moderate and high soil corrosivity risk along fence boundaries in...

Similar to many Australian mammal species, the kowari (Dasyuroides byrnei), a marsupial 'micro-carnivore' restricted to the gibber plains of central Australia, persists under the threat of extinction. The kowari has experienced a significant contraction from its historical range and is now extinct in the Northern Territory, with scattered populatio...

Fire drives animal population dynamics across many ecosystems. Yet, we still lack an understanding of how most species recover from fire and the effects of fire severity and patchiness on recovery processes. This information is crucial for fire‐mediated biodiversity conservation, particularly as fire regimes change globally. We conducted an experim...

ContextInvasive predators are a key threat to biodiversity worldwide. In Australia, feral cats are likely to be responsible for many extinctions of native mammal species in the south and centre of the continent. AimsHere we examine the effect of feral cats on native rodent populations in the second of two translocation experiments. Methods In a wil...

Understanding the conditions under which small native Australian mammals can persist in the presence of introduced predators remains a key challenge to conservation ecologists. Bettong‐specific one‐way gates were used at a predator‐free reserve in South Australia to allow the burrowing bettong (Bettongia lesueur ) – a small potoroid, listed as ‘vul...

The 'Compassionate Conservation' movement is gaining momentum through its promotion of 'ethical' conservation practices based on self-proclaimed principles of 'first-do-no-harm' and 'individuals matter'. We argue that the tenets of 'Compassionate Conservation' are ideological-that is, they are not scientifically proven to improve conservation outco...

Compassionate conservation focuses on 4 tenets: first, do no harm; individuals matter; inclusivity of individual animals; and peaceful coexistence between humans and animals. Recently, compassionate conservation has been promoted as an alternative to conventional conservation philosophy. We believe examples presented by compassionate conservationis...

Conservation scientists and practitioners usually focus on understanding and managing individual threats to biodiversity. However, threats may interact, making management outcomes unpredictable. Here, we investigated whether interactions between fire regimes and introduced livestock affect the conservation goal of population recovery for small mamm...

Maintaining mammal populations on havens – whether they are naturally occurring or translocated – has helped to prevent further mammal extinctions, and consolidated protection for other species. These havens fall under the management of many organisations, ranging from local councils, community groups and small private organisations to large non-go...

Many Australian mammal species are highly susceptible to predation by introduced cats and foxes. At least 34 Australian endemic mammal species have been made extinct since 1788, about 10% of Australia's terrestrial fauna, and predation by cats and foxes was a major contribution to most of those extinctions. Maintaining mammal populations on havens...

Monitoring programmes are intended to inform effective biodiversity conservation and management (Legge et al. 2018). Well‐designed programmes can establish baseline conditions, determine trends in threatened species populations, quantify the effects of management, and provide warning of ecosystem changes (Magurran et al. 2010). For these reasons, b...

Decision triggers are defined thresholds in the status of monitored variables that indicate when to undertake management, and avoid undesirable ecosystem change. Decision triggers are frequently recommended to conservation practitioners as a tool to facilitate evidence-based management practices, but there has been limited attention paid to how pra...

Context: Many Australian mammal species are highly susceptible to predation by introduced domestic cats (Felis catus) and European red foxes (Vulpes vulpes). These predators have caused many extinctions and have driven large distributional and population declines for many more species. The serendipitous occurrence of, and deliberate translocations...

Landscape attributes often shape the spatial genetic structure of species. As the maintenance of genetic connectivity is increasingly a conservation priority, the identification of landscape features that influence connectivity can inform targeted management strategies. The northern quoll (Dasyurus hallucatus) is a carnivorous marsupial that has ex...

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 persi...

Mammalian species in northern Australia are declining. The resources that many species from this region require to persist in the landscape remain poorly understood. We examined habitat selection and diet of the scaly-tailed possum (Wyulda squamicaudata, hereafter called Wyulda) in the northwest Kimberley, Western Australia, in relation to variatio...

Estimating population size is crucial for managing populations of threatened species. In the Top End of northern Australia, populations of northern quolls (Dasyurus hallucatus), already affected by livestock grazing, inappropriate burning regimes and predation, have collapsed following the spread of the toxic cane toad (Rhinella marina). Cane toads...

Camera traps are being increasingly used in biological surveys. One of the most common uses of camera trap data is the generation of species inventories and estimations of species richness. Many authors have advocated for increased camera trap-nights (long deployment times or more cameras in an array) to detect rare or wide-ranging species. However...

The spread of the toxic cane toad Rhinella marina threatens populations of the endangered northern quoll Dasyurus hallucatus. We identified quoll populations at risk from toad invasion in the central Kimberley and explored whether free ranging quolls would consume ‘toad-aversion’ baits that induce aversions to live toads. A long-term study in Kakad...

Fire regimes are changing throughout the world. Changed fire patterns across northern Australian savannas have been proposed as a factor contributing to recent declines of small- and medium-sized mammals. Despite this, few studies have examined the mechanisms that underpin how species use habitat in fire-affected landscapes. We determined the habit...

Introduction: Recent studies at sites in northern Australia have reported severe and rapid decline of several native mammal species, notwithstanding an environmental context (small human population size, limited habitat loss, substantial reservation extent) that should provide relative conservation security. All of the more speciose taxonomic group...

Introduction: Recent studies at sites in northern Australia have reported severe and rapid decline of several native mammal species, notwithstanding an environmental context (small human population size, limited habitat loss, substantial reservation extent) that should provide relative conservation security. All of the more speciose taxonomic group...

Context Changes in abundance following fire are commonly reported for vertebrate species, but the mechanisms causing these changes are rarely tested. Currently, many species of small mammals are declining in the savannas of northern Australia. These declines have been linked to intense and frequent fires in the late dry season; however, why such fi...

Small mammal species are declining across northern Australia. Predation by feral cats Felis sylvestris catus is one hypothesised cause. Most evidence of cat impacts on native prey comes from islands, where cat densities are often high, but cats typically occur at low densities on mainland Australia.We conducted a field experiment to measure the eff...

We have developed a technique to identify individual northern quolls (Dasyurus hallucatus) from their spot patterns using photographs taken by remote infrared cameras. We suggest a method for bait placement and camera set-up to optimise the identification of individual quolls. We compared two methods, which differed in the placement of the bait and...

Context. Fire and grazing have complex and interacting impacts on food resources available to endangered herbivores and can potentially be manipulated as part of conservation strategies. Aims. We examined the interacting impacts of fire and grazing on the food resources available to a colony of endangered brush-tailed rock-wallabies (Petrogale peni...

Predators can have non-lethal effects on prey by causing animals to restrict their foraging in order to avoid predation risk. These effects can be of conservation concern when an introduced predator constrains the foraging behaviour of a threatened species, and therefore its access to resources. We examined the spatial response of foraging in endan...

Detailed data on diet and diet selection helps to predict how species will respond to changes in their environment. We measured the diet of brush-tailed rock-wallabies (Petrogale penicillata) using microscopic examination of plant cuticle fragments in faeces over two years from three populations across New South Wales: Warrumbungles in the central...