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Critical‐weight‐range marsupials in northern A ustralia are declining: a commentary on F isher et al . (2014) ‘The current decline of tropical marsupials in A ustralia: is history repeating?’
Author(s) -
Woinarski J. C. Z.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
global ecology and biogeography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.164
H-Index - 152
eISSN - 1466-8238
pISSN - 1466-822X
DOI - 10.1111/geb.12165
Subject(s) - marsupial , ecology , mammal , extinction (optical mineralogy) , range (aeronautics) , predation , biology , zoology , paleontology , materials science , composite material
Many mammal species are declining in parts of A ustralia's tropical savannas, for reasons that are not yet well defined. A recent paper ( F isher et al ., 2014, G lobal E cology and B iogeography , 23 , 181–190) suggested that the primary cause is predation by feral cats, with the main evidence presented being a purported over‐representation of small species amongst the marsupials that have contracted in range (‘small body size signifies high current extinction risk’). However, a review here of the information presented in that paper shows that no marsupial species smaller than 100 g has shown range contraction in northern A ustralia, and that most (15 of 17) declines are of species in the ‘critical weight range’ (35 g to 5.5 kg).