Efforts to control Australia's dingo populations to protect livestock may not be having negative effects on other prey species.

Some studies have suggested that controlling populations of top predators, such as the dingo (Canis lupus dingo), can indirectly cause declines in some prey species further down the food chain. Benjamin Allen at the University of Queensland in Gatton, Australia, and his colleagues laid poisoned bait for dingoes at several large study sites across the country. They found that prey populations in areas where dingoes were killed were similar to, or greater than, those in areas with no culling. Over the long-term, prey population sizes fluctuated independently of predator control levels.

This may be because the amount of dingo culling was not high enough to affect the animal's populations, the authors say, concluding that current dingo control practices probably do not need to be changed.

Front. Zool. 11, 56 (2014)