Mesopredator Release Theory: Comparing Mesocarnivore Abundance and Prey Choices in an Urban Landscape and Impacts on Prey Populations

Melissa L Karlin
Additional contact information
Melissa L Karlin: Department of Physics and Environmental Sciences, St Mary’s University, USA

International Journal of Environmental Sciences & Natural Resources, 2017, vol. 2, issue 5, 155-161

Abstract: According to the mesocarnivore release theory, when apex carnivores from the landscape the populations of mid- to small-sized carnivores explode and many prey species decline. Apex predators are replaced by smaller mesocarnivores, such as domestic cats (Feliscatus), which should consume smaller prey such as birds, arthropods, and rodents, while larger mesocarnivores, such as Coyotes (Canislatrans), should prey on small mammals such as rodents and rabbits. The purpose of this research was to determine the abundance of mesocarnivores in two urban landscapes, and by determining their prey choices, estimate their impacts on small mammal and bird population abundance in their landscape.

Keywords: earth and environment journals; environment journals; open access environment journals; peer reviewed environmental journals; open access; juniper publishers; ournal of Environmental Sciences; juniper publishers journals; juniper publishers reivew (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://juniperpublishers.com/ijesnr/pdf/IJESNR.MS.ID.555600.pdf (application/pdf)
https://juniperpublishers.com/ijesnr/IJESNR.MS.ID.555600.php (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:adp:ijesnr:v:2:y:2017:i:5:p:155-161

DOI: 10.19080/IJESNR.2017.02.555600

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Environmental Sciences & Natural Resources is currently edited by Sophia Mathis

More articles in International Journal of Environmental Sciences & Natural Resources from Juniper Publishers Inc.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Robert Thomas ().