New research reveals Australia鈥檚 rapid red fox invasion
One of Australia鈥檚 most devastating invasive predators took just 60 years to colonise the whole continent, according to new research from Curtin University and the University of 亚洲色吧 that offers vital clues to preventing future extinctions of native animals from foxes.
Credit: Zoe Jackson.
By reconstructing the invasion patterns of foxes in Australia using computational models and historic sightings of foxes published in newspaper articles, the paper, published in , has uncovered critical data needed to disentangle the role of foxes in the demise of Australia鈥檚 native animals.
Lead author Dr Sean Tomlinson, from Curtin鈥檚 School of Molecular and Life Sciences, said researchers used hundreds of first sighting records and thousands of model simulations to reconstruct the arrival and spread of the fast and fierce hunters.
鈥淓uropean red foxes and domestic cats brought to Australia by European colonists kill about 300 million native animals in Australia every year and remain the major driver of past and current extinctions,鈥 Dr Tomlinson said.
鈥淥ur detailed reconstructions show that foxes filled their potential distribution in Australia in just 60 years, providing new historical and temporal data needed to quantify past losses of fauna and help avert future extinctions.鈥
Australia鈥檚 fox population is about 1.7 million and the Invasive Species Council estimates as many as 16 mammals have become extinct mainly or partly because of foxes.
Dr Tomlinson said foxes were deliberately introduced to multiple locations in Victoria in about 1870 for the sport of fox hunting.
鈥淥ur modelling indicates that foxes quickly expanded their distribution throughout the southeastern corner of Australia between 1870 and 1895, before rapidly spreading in northerly and westerly directions. By 1900, it is likely that foxes had occupied all available habitat in the south-eastern region of Australia,鈥 Dr Tomlinson said.
鈥淔ox colonisation across the northwest of Australia was the final phase of colonisation, with the distribution of foxes being completely infilled in 1940.鈥
Senior author Associate Professor Damien Fordham, from the University of 亚洲色吧鈥檚 Environment Institute, said the new research promises to help better explain past losses of biodiversity, providing critical information needed to avert future extinctions of Australia's unique fauna.
鈥淥ur high-resolution reconstructions of fox invasion of Australia pinpoint areas that could have provided native wildlife with sanctuaries from foxes due to later invasions or lower predator densities,鈥 Associate Professor Fordham said.
鈥淲e hope the findings will offer a useful framework for mapping the spread of other invasive species, including cats, potentially helping curb Australia's worrying decline in native wildlife.鈥
The research also involved collaborators from the University of Melbourne and University of Copenhagen鈥檚 GLOBE Institute, as part of an Australian Research Council Discovery Project.
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Media contact:
Associate Professor Damien Fordham, Deputy Director of The Environment Institute, School of Biological Sciences, University of 亚洲色吧. Phone: +61 0477 303 470, Email: damien.fordham@adelaide.edu.au
Dr Sean Tomlinson, School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University Phone: +61 0427 978 391, Email: sean.tomlinson@curtin.edu.au
Johnny von Einem, Senior Media Officer, University of 亚洲色吧. Phone: +61 0481 688 436, Email: johnny.voneinem@adelaide.edu.au