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Response to commentary by Woinarski (Critical-weight-range marsupials in northern Australia are declining: a commentary on Fisher et al. (2014) ‘The current decline of tropical marsupials in Australia: is history repeating?’)
journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-21, 23:55 authored by Fisher, DO, Christopher JohnsonChristopher Johnson, Lawes, MJ, Fritz, SA, McCallum, H, Blomberg, SP, VanDerWal, J, Abbott, B, Anke Frank, Legge, S, Letnic, M, Thomas, CR, Fisher, A, Gordon, IJ, Kutt, AThe recent commentary by Woinarski (2014, Global Ecology and Biogeography, doi: 10.1111/geb.12165) disagreed with our conclusions on the correlates of decline in the marsupials of tropical Australia (Fisher et al., 2014, Global Ecology and Biogeography, 23, 181–190). We compared traits of species that were associated with range decline in southern and northern Australia. We found that habitat structure, climate and body size were correlated with range decline. In the north, declines of marsupials were most severe in savanna with moderate rainfall. In the south, the ranges of species in open habitat with very low rainfall have declined most. Also, the association between range decline and body mass differed between north and south: this is the main concern of Woinarski, who further disagreed with our choice of the Tropic of Capricorn as a boundary between north and south, our omission of rodents, how to treat timing of extinctions, and our inference that cats are major drivers of decline. We address these concerns in this response.
Funding
Australian Research Council
Australian Wildlife Conservancy
History
Publication title
Global Ecology and BiogeographyVolume
24Pagination
123-125ISSN
1466-822XDepartment/School
School of Natural SciencesPublisher
Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.Place of publication
United KingdomRepository Status
- Restricted