Australian dingoes have recently been suggested as a tool to aid biodiversity conservation through the reversal or prevention of trophic cascades and mesopredator release. However, at least seven ecological and sociological considerations must be addressed before dog populations are positively managed. 1. Domestication and feralisation of dingoes have resulted in behavioural changes that continue to expose a broad range of native and introduced fauna to predation. 2. Dingoes and other dogs are classic mesopredators, while humans are the apex predator and primary ecosystem engineers in Australia. 3. Anthropogenic landscape changes could prevent modern dingoes from fulfilling their pre-European roles. 4. Dingoes are known to exploit many of the same species they are often presumed to 'protect', predisposing them to present direct risks to many threatened species. 5. The assertion that contemporary dog control facilitates the release of mesopredators disregards the realities of effective dog control, which simultaneously reduces fox and dog abundance and is unlikely to enable increases in fox abundance. 6. The processes affecting threatened fauna are likely a combination of both top-down and bottom-up effects, which will not be solved or reversed by concentrating efforts on managing only predator effects. 7. Most importantly, human social and economic niches are highly variable across the ecosystems where dingoes are present or proposed. Human perceptions will ultimately determine acceptance of positive dingo management. Outside of an adaptive management framework, positively managing dingoes while ignoring these seven considerations is unlikely to succeed in conserving native faunal biodiversity but is likely to have negative effects on ecological, social and economic values.

Adoption of camera trapping as a survey method by wildlife practitioners is increasing at warp speed. The technique is now widely cited in the published scientific literature and it has quickly become an important and widely used method in wildlife research, wildlife monitoring, and citizen science. Camera traps have largely been developed as a tool satisfying the demands of a very large hunting industry in North America. Until recently, the needs of ecologists and wildlife enthusiasts had been second to those in pursuit of hunting trophies, and as such many camera trap models failed the litmus test for fauna surveillance. The magnitude of these limitations has not been adequately recognised by practitioners and has led to the adoption of the technique without full understanding of the constraints of the sampling tool. In this dissertation I aimed to highlight and resolve some of the pitfalls that practitioners face when sampling wildlife using camera traps. I provide a historical context summarising how methods have developed over the last decade and tried to redress some of the ongoing problems identified in the camera trap literature. To this end I provide advice and guidelines to help camera trap practitioners design studies, implement sampling and reporting on their findings. However, the main focus of my research has been to address the differences between camera trap models and brands, the biases of the equipment, the effects of placement and orientation on detection, the challenges of identification and species in photographs, and have instigated the development of computer assisted technologies that will revolutionise how wildlife researchers analyse camera trap image data. I have also used my research to provide constructive design advice to camera trap manufacturers to encourage better designs to suit the needs of wildlife practitioners. Recommendations are provided on what practitioners would consider the features of an ultimate camera trap design that have led to the development of two new models of camera traps, and modifications to existing models.

Classic trophic cascades are state changes in ecosystems initiated by top trophic-level organisms (predators) and transferred via herbivores to a third or lower trophic level of organisms (plants). This research aimed to determine the potential influence of the dingo, Canis familiaris, on changes in vegetation via predation on large macropods. The objectives were to review trophic cascade theory and assess its relevance in temperate and arid Australia, develop new efficient field-based methods for estimating macropod grazing density and herbaceous biomass and determine the influence of macropod grazing and other environmental variables on changes in herbaceous vegetation in a field-based experiment to assess the potential for dingo-driven trophic cascades to occur in temperate Australia.
The wolf–elk–willow model of a trophic cascade in North America provided a case study for a comparison of environmental influences between arid Yellowstone and arid and semiarid south-eastern Australia. It revealed that climate stability and a predictable resource supply sustain strong trophic interactions that are critical to Yellowstone's trophic cascade. In contrast, the renowned variability of the arid Australian climate means that resource availability is unpredictable and unlikely to produce trophic interactions of similar strength to those of Yellowstone. This critical difference means that a dependence on classic trophic cascade theory may risk limiting our understanding of predator–prey–plant interactions in Australia.
A camera-trapping method estimated macropod grazing density indices that initially correlated well with pellet counts (R2 = 0.86) but were less reliable between years, likely due to the variability in pellet deposition rates between plots and kangaroo densities, which are influenced by interannual variability in seasonal conditions. Reliable above-ground herbaceous biomass estimates gained through the Photographic Estimation Technique yielded regression coefficients (R2) of 0.80–0.98 and 0.81–0.97 between estimated and validated biomass samples in temperate-zone and arid-zone sites, respectively.
A grazing exclusion experiment utilised five vegetation surveys of vascular plant taxa to measure composition, cover and biomass of the herbaceous ground layer vegetation in 20 fenced (ungrazed) and unfenced (grazed) plots in two different grassland communities over three years. Environmental variables were recorded and the macropod grazing density quantified. Macropod grazing suppressed biomass increase but did not change species composition, cover, biomass or Shannon–Wiener diversity in either community. Dominant and subdominant species persisted despite seasonal fluctuations and an overall increase in biomass and cover in both treatments and communities. Vegetation responses were more influenced by environmental processes than herbivory in the absence or simulated presence of dingo predation. The cover and biomass changes that occurred due to macropod grazing did not produce compositional changes concordant with a trophic cascade.
Key results from this research show that (1) predation by dingoes can indirectly increase cover and biomass but this does not necessarily lead to a change in state of the vegetation; (2) environmental influences are likely to predominate in south-east Australian ecosystems as the variable climate governs irregular nutrient availability, which potentially limits trophic interactions; (3) effects of predation and herbivory on vegetation are likely to be temporally and spatially constrained due to inconsistent nutrient flow through trophic levels, which inevitably causes insufficient energy for sustained top-down influence; and (4) there is a need to apply precise field experiment methodologies to identify the consistency and effect of trophic interactions and accommodate climate instability in trophic cascade research in Australia.

The roles of the 37 species in the family Canidae (the dog family), are of great current interest. The Gray Wolf is the largest canid and their roles in food webs are much researched, as are those of Domestic Dogs, Coyotes and Red Foxes. Much less is known about the other canid species and their ecological roles. Here we describe general food web theory and the potential application of network theory to it; summarise the possible roles of predators in food webs; document the occurrence, diet and presumed functions that canids play in food webs throughout the world; give case studies of four threatened canid species of top, middle and basal trophic positions and six anthropogenically affected species; and identify knowledge limitations and propose research frameworks necessary to establish the roles of canids in food webs. Canids can be top-down drivers of systems or responsive to the availability of resources including suitable prey. They can be affected anthropogenically by habitat change, lethal control and changes to basic resource availability. They can be sustainable yield harvesters of their indigenous prey or passengers in complex ecosystems, and some are prey of larger canids and of other predators. Nevertheless, the roles of most canids are generally poorly studied and described, and some, e.g. Gray Wolves, Coyotes and Australian dingoes, are controversial. We advocate mensurative and experimental research into communities and ecosystems containing canids for a quantitative understanding of their roles in food webs and consequent development of better management strategies for ecosystems.

Wolves are widely regarded as top-down regulators of prey and trophic cascades in North America. Consequent expectations of biodiversity benefits from canid-driven trophic cascades have driven debate around reintroduction plans for dingoes in south-eastern Australia. The biophysical characteristics of Yellowstone National park predispose that environment to trophic cascades but it is not clear that Australia provides a comparative context for dingoes. The wolf-elk-willow trophic cascade in Yellowstone National Park provides a key case study for understanding the broader system controls on trophic interactions. Here, we compare similarities and dissimilarities of the Yellowstone National Park model and the south-eastern Australian environments where dingo reintroductions have been proposed. Both systems feature a canid top predator in an arid environment, so their superficial comparison is seemingly relevant for dingo reintroduction plans. Climate stability however, critically underpins Yellowstone's trophic cascades with regular and predictable resource supply sustaining the strong trophic interactions there. In contrast, the renowned instability of the climate of inland Australia makes resource availability relatively unpredictable. This fundamental difference means that south-eastern Australia is unlikely to sustain trophic interactions of similar strength to those in Yellowstone.

Wild canids are widespread across most of main land Australia. They can have major impacts on livestock production and biodiversity values and often necessitate active management. The impacts of free-ranging dogs and foxes should be managed concurrently, as there is often substantial overlap in their impacts and because most available control methods do not discriminate between the two species. Effective management of the impacts of wild canids requires a strategic approach that is driven by participants and based on specific local issues and available knowledge. Strategic management programs, as undertaken, are a form of adaptive management, in which participants gain knowledge about the problems they are addressing by conducting quasi-experiments. These examine the effects of management actions on dearly defined objectives. Importantly, it is the specific local impacts of wild can ids that define the management objectives in these approaches, not simply the numbers of animals. Adaptive management can be used to suppress or enhance populations of wild canids depending on the managemcr1t objectives; that is, mitigation of damage to livestock and biodiversity, or conservation of dingoes. This chapter discusses a strategic approach to managing the impacts of wild canids. The nature of those impacts, including new density:damage functions, and the specific tools and methods that are available to counter them are also discussed.