Letnic's previous research has shown that suppressing dingo populations can lead to a growth in kangaroo numbers, which has repercussions for the rest of the ecosystem.įor example, high kangaroo populations can lead to overgrazing, which in turn damages the soil, changes the face of the landscape and can jeopardise land conservation.Ī study published last month found the long-term impacts of these changes are so pronounced they are visible from space.īut despite the valuable role they play in the ecosystem, dingoes are not being conserved across Australia - unlike many other native species. "Apex predators' effects can trickle all the way through ecosystems and even extend to plants and soils." "As apex predators, dingoes play a fundamental role in shaping ecosystems by keeping number of herbivores and smaller predators in check," says Prof. He says they play an important role in maintaining the biodiversity and health of the ecosystem. Professor Mike Letnic, senior author of the study and professor of conservation biology, has been researching dingoes and their interaction with the ecosystem for 25 years. "Avoiding baiting in national parks, and during dingoes' annual breeding season, will help protect the population from future hybridisation." "If we're going to aerial bait the dingo population, we should be thinking more carefully about where and when we use this lethal control," she says. The researchers suggest that higher human densities (and in turn, higher domestic dog populations) in southeast Australia are likely playing a key part in this hybridisation.īut the contributing role of aerial baiting - which fractures the dingo pack structure and allows dogs to integrate into the breeding packs - is something that can be addressed. "But areas of the country that used long-term lethal control, like NSW, Victoria and southern Queensland, have higher rates of dog ancestry." In fact, 98 per cent of the animals tested here are pure dingoes. "Dingo populations are more stable and intact in areas that use less lethal control, like western and northern Australia. "The pattern of hybridisation is really stark now that we have the whole country to look at," says Dr Cairns. This landscape-wide form of lethal control involves dropping meat baits filled with the pesticide sodium fluoroacetate (commonly known as 1080) into forests via helicopter or airplane. Most hybridisation is taking place in southeast Australia - and particularly in areas that use long-term lethal control, like aerial baiting. While the study found dingo-dog hybridisation isn't widespread in Australia, it also identified areas across the country with higher traces of dog DNA than the national average. "Only then can we have an open public discussion about finding a balance between dingo control and dingo conservation in the Australian bush." "There is an urgent need to stop using the term 'wild dog' and go back to calling them dingoes," says Mr Brad Nesbitt, an Adjunct Research Fellow at the University of New England and a co-author on the study. This language can contribute to other misunderstandings about dingoes, like being able to judge a dingo's ancestry by the colour of its coat - which can naturally be sandy, black, white, brindle, tan, patchy, or black and tan. The newer paper looked at DNA samples from past studies across Australia, including more than 600 previously unpublished data samples. The study builds on a 2019 paper by the team that found most wild canines in NSW are pure dingoes or dingo-dominant hybrids. "There are rare times when a dog might go bush, but it isn't contributing significantly to the dingo population." "They just aren't established in the wild. "We don't have a feral dog problem in Australia," says Dr Kylie Cairns, a conservation biologist from UNSW Science and lead author of the study.
Of the remaining one per cent, roughly half were dog-dominant hybrids and the other half feral dogs. The team found that 99 per cent of wild canines tested were pure dingoes or dingo-dominant hybrids (that is, a hybrid canine with more than 50 per cent dingo genes). The study, published today in Australian Mammalogy, collates the results from over 5000 DNA samples of wild canines across the country, making it the largest and most comprehensive dingo data set to date.
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