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Jeff Short

Bio: Jeff Short is an academic researcher from Murdoch University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Population & Bettong. The author has an hindex of 33, co-authored 78 publications receiving 3872 citations. Previous affiliations of Jeff Short include Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation & Hunan Agricultural University.


Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Successes in management and reintroduction of other threatened fauna in Australia suggest that effective control of introduced predators and rabbits using the poison 1080, for which many native species have a high tolerance, may provide an effective means of managing mainland reintroductions.

365 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Historically, conservation of mammals has concentrated on protection from hunting and trade, reservation of land as national parks and nature reserves, and faunal surveys to map distribution and abundance, but these approaches have been necessary but insufficient to either stabilize the decline of endangered mammals or to promote their recovery.
Abstract: Fifty percent of all the mammal species to have become extinct worldwide in the past 200 years have been lost from the Australian fauna giving Australia the worst record for mammal conservation of any country or continent. Sixteen species from a mammal fauna of 245 are believed to be extinct, 26 species now occur only as remnant populations occupying <20% of their former ranges. Offshore islands, tropical Australia, and the mesic fringe of the continent have provided refuges where mammal communities have survived relatively intact. The drier interior regions, which include cereal growing areas, intensive and extensive pastoral areas, and the little-used Triodia deserts, have lost many species. Extinctions and declines have not occurred equally throughout the Australian fauna, but have occurred at a disproportionately higher rate among medium-sized ground-dwelling mammals in the weight range 0.035-5.500 kg. Historically, conservation of mammals has concentrated on protection from hunting and trade, reservation of land as national parks and nature reserves, and faunal surveys to map distribution and abundance. These approaches have been necessary but insufficient to either stabilize the decline of endangered mammals or to promote their recovery. The past 20 years have seen many attempts to conserve endangered mammals, either by evading the presumed cause(s) of extinction or decline by translocation to islands, or by managing these causes within reserves by controlling exotic predators, controlling or excluding exotic herbivores, or applying a particular fire pattern or regime. The most significant successes have come with effective control of exotic predators, either by establishing populations of endangered species on predator-free islands or by the intensive use of 1080 poison to control exotic predators at mainland sites.

335 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This study presents the first experimental evidence from mainland Australia that feral cats can have a negative impact on populations of small mammals, and the capture success of reptiles did not appear to be related to changes in predator counts.
Abstract: The hypothesis that predation by feral cats and introduced foxes reduces population sizes of small, native vertebrates was supported by results of a predator-removal experiment at Heirisson Prong, a semi-arid site in Western Australia. The methods of control used against cats and foxes to protect native mammals reintroduced to Heirisson Prong produced three broad ‘predator zones’: a low-cat and low-fox zone, where foxes were eradicated and spotlight counts of cats declined after intensive cat control; a high-cat and low-fox zone where spotlight counts of cats increased three-fold after foxes were controlled; and a zone where numbers of cats and foxes were not manipulated. Small mammals and reptiles were monitored for one year before and three years after predator control began. Captures of small mammals increased in the low-cat and low-fox zone, but where only foxes were controlled captures of small mammals declined by 80%. In the absence of cat and fox control, captures of small mammals were variable over the sampling period, lower than where both cats and foxes were controlled, yet higher than where only foxes were controlled. The capture success of reptiles did not appear to be related to changes in predator counts. This study presents the first experimental evidence from mainland Australia that feral cats can have a negative impact on populations of small mammals.

243 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is suggested that surplus killing by foxes may have been a feature of, and major contributor to, the rapid mainland extinction or contraction in range of many native species in Australia.

196 citations

BookDOI
01 Jan 1987
TL;DR: Caughley and Caughley as discussed by the authors described the environment of the Australian sheep rangelands and the effect of weather on soil moisture and plant growth in the arid zone.
Abstract: Preface 1. Introduction to the sheep rangelands Graeme Caughley 2. The environment of the Australian sheep rangelands Graham Robertson, Jeff Short and Greg Wellard 3. The effect of weather on soil moisture and plant growth in the arid zone Greg Wellard 4. Plant dynamics Graham Robertson 5. The diet of herbivores in the sheep rangelands R. D. Barker 6. Factors affecting food intake of rangelands herbivores Jeff Short 7. The mobility and habitat utilisation of kangaroos David Priddel 8. Kangaroo dynamics Peter Bayliss 9. Condition and recruitment of kangaroos Neil Shepherd 10. Ecological relationships Graeme Caughley 11. Options for management of kangaroos Neil Shepherd and Graeme Caughley Indices.

178 citations


Cited by
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Preface to the Princeton Landmarks in Biology Edition vii Preface xi Symbols used xiii 1.
Abstract: Preface to the Princeton Landmarks in Biology Edition vii Preface xi Symbols Used xiii 1. The Importance of Islands 3 2. Area and Number of Speicies 8 3. Further Explanations of the Area-Diversity Pattern 19 4. The Strategy of Colonization 68 5. Invasibility and the Variable Niche 94 6. Stepping Stones and Biotic Exchange 123 7. Evolutionary Changes Following Colonization 145 8. Prospect 181 Glossary 185 References 193 Index 201

14,171 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The small-population paradigm has not yet contributed significantly to conserving endangered species in the wild because it treats an erect (smallness) as if it were a cause and hence is of scant theoretical interest.
Abstract: Conservation biology has two threads: the small-population paradigm which deals with the erect of smallness on the persistence of a population, and the declining-population paradigm which deals with the cause of smallness and its cure. The processes relevant to the small-population paradigm are amenable to theoretical examination because they generalize across species and are subsumed by an inclusive higher category: stochasticity. In contrast, the processes relevant to the declining-population paradigm are essentially humdrum, being not one but many. So far they have defied tight generalization and hence are of scant theoretical interest. The small-population paradigm has not yet contributed significantly to conserving endangered species in the wild because it treats an erect (smallness) as if it were a cause

2,110 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A unified framework for biological invasions is proposed that reconciles and integrates the key features of the most commonly used invasion frameworks into a single conceptual model that can be applied to all human-mediated invasions.
Abstract: There has been a dramatic growth in research on biological invasions over the past 20 years, but a mature understanding of the field has been hampered because invasion biologists concerned with different taxa and different environments have largely adopted different model frameworks for the invasion process, resulting in a confusing range of concepts, terms and definitions. In this review, we propose a unified framework for biological invasions that reconciles and integrates the key features of the most commonly used invasion frameworks into a single conceptual model that can be applied to all human-mediated invasions. The unified framework combines previous stage-based and barrier models, and provides a terminology and categorisation for populations at different points in the invasion process.

1,795 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The value of animal relocations as a conservation tool could be enhanced through more rigorous testing for the appropriateness of the approach in a given case, the establishment of widely used and generally accepted criteria for judging the success or failure of relocations, and better monitoring after a relocation, as well as better financial accountability.

1,329 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Assessment of food web and functional role frameworks can be used to identify ecological conditions that forecast the potential for unwanted secondary impacts and help safeguard against accidental, adverse effects on native ecosystems.
Abstract: Eradications of invasive species often have striking positive effects on native biota. However, recent research has shown that species removal in isolation can also result in unexpected changes to other ecosystem components. These secondary effects will become more likely as numbers of interacting invaders increase in ecosystems, and as exotics in late stages of invasion eliminate native species and replace their functional roles. Food web and functional role frameworks can be used to identify ecological conditions that forecast the potential for unwanted secondary impacts. Integration of eradication into a holistic process of assessment and restoration will help safeguard against accidental, adverse effects on native ecosystems.

1,063 citations