Prey selection and dietary flexibility of three species of mammalian predator during an irruption of non-cyclic prey Spencer, Emma E., Newsome, Thomas and Dickman, Christopher R. 2017, Prey selection and dietary flexibility of three species of mammalian predator during an irruption of non-cyclic prey, Royal Society open science, vol. 4, no. 9, pp. 1-11, doi: 10.1098/rsos.170317. Attached Files Name Description MIMEType Size Downloads newsome-preyselection-2017.pdf Published version application/pdf 682.31KB 93 Title Prey selection and dietary flexibility of three species of mammalian predator during an irruption of non-cyclic prey Author(s) Spencer, Emma E. Newsome, Thomas orcid.org/0000-0003-3457-3256 Dickman, Christopher R. Journal name Royal Society open science Volume number 4 Issue number 9 Article ID 170317 Start page 1 End page 11 Total pages 11 Publisher Royal Society Publishing Place of publication London, Eng. Publication date 2017-09 ISSN 2054-5703 Keyword(s) dietary shifts dingo feral cat prey irruptions prey selection red fox Summary Predators often display dietary shifts in response to fluctuating prey in cyclic systems, but little is known about predator diets in systems that experience non-cyclic prey irruptions. We tracked dietary shifts by feral cats (Felis catus), red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and dingoes (Canis dingo) through a non-cyclic irruption of small mammalian prey in the Simpson Desert, central Australia. We predicted that all three predators would alter their diets to varying degrees as small mammals declined post irruption, and to test our predictions we live-trapped small mammals through the irruption event and collected scats to track predator diets. Red foxes and dingoes included a broader variety of prey in their diets as small mammals declined. Feral cats did not exhibit a similar dietary shift, but did show variable use and selectivity of small mammal species through the irruption cycle. Results were largely consistent with prior studies that highlighted the opportunistic feeding habits of the red fox and dingo. They also, however, showed that feral cats may exhibit less dietary flexibility in response to small mammal irruptions, emphasizing the importance of tracking predator diets before, during and after irruption events. Language eng DOI 10.1098/rsos.170317 Field of Research 060806 Animal Physiological Ecology 050211 Wildlife and Habitat Management HERDC Research category C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal ERA Research output type C Journal article Copyright notice ©2017, The Authors Free to Read? Yes Use Rights Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30103834 Document type: Journal Article Collections: Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment School of Life and Environmental Sciences Open Access Collection Related Links Link Description Connect to Elements publication management system Go to link with your DU access privileges   Connect to published version Go to link with your DU access privileges     Unless expressly stated otherwise, the copyright for items in DRO is owned by the author, with all rights reserved. Every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that permission has been obtained for items included in DRO. If you believe that your rights have been infringed by this repository, please contact drosupport@deakin.edu.au. Versions Version Filter Type Fri, 27 Oct 2017, 17:55:59 EST Sat, 28 Oct 2017, 04:02:22 EST Sat, 28 Oct 2017, 05:21:41 EST Tue, 31 Oct 2017, 13:28:23 EST Tue, 31 Oct 2017, 13:31:02 EST Sat, 04 Nov 2017, 01:32:19 EST Fri, 05 Jan 2018, 11:09:45 EST Fri, 07 Sep 2018, 17:54:09 EST Filtered Full Citation counts:   Cited 16 times in TR Web of Science Cited 17 times in Scopus Search Google Scholar Access Statistics: 108 Abstract Views, 94 File Downloads  -  Detailed Statistics Created: Fri, 27 Oct 2017, 17:55:59 EST