Impacts of removing badgers on localised counts of hedgehogs

37Citations
Citations of this article
123Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

Abstract

Experimental evidence of the interactions among mammalian predators that eat or compete with one another is rare, due to the ethical and logistical challenges of managing wild populations in a controlled and replicated way. Here, we report on the opportunistic use of a replicated and controlled culling experiment (the Randomised Badger Culling Trial) to investigate the relationship between two sympatric predators: European badgers Meles meles and western European hedgehogs Erinaceus europaeus. In areas of preferred habitat (amenity grassland), counts of hedgehogs more than doubled over a 5-year period from the start of badger culling (from 0.9 ha-1 pre-cull to 2.4 ha -1 post-cull), whereas hedgehog counts did not change where there was no badger culling (0.3-0.3 hedgehogs ha-1). This trial provides experimental evidence for mesopredator release as an outcome of management of a top predator. © 2014 Trewby et al.

References Powered by Scopus

The ecology and evolution of intraguild predation: potential competitors that eat each other

1819Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Mesopredator release and avifaunal extinctions in a fragmented system

1299Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Predator interactions, mesopredator release and biodiversity conservation

1003Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Cited by Powered by Scopus

Factors affecting hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) attraction to rural villages in arable landscapes

66Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Reduced occupancy of hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) in rural England and Wales: The influence of habitat and an asymmetric intra-guild predator

57Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Quantifying the long-term decline of the West European hedgehog in England by subsampling citizen-science datasets

42Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Trewby, I. D., Young, R., McDonald, R. A., Wilson, G. J., Davison, J., Walker, N., … Delahay, R. J. (2014). Impacts of removing badgers on localised counts of hedgehogs. PLoS ONE, 9(4). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0095477

Readers' Seniority

Tooltip

PhD / Post grad / Masters / Doc 30

56%

Researcher 20

37%

Professor / Associate Prof. 3

6%

Lecturer / Post doc 1

2%

Readers' Discipline

Tooltip

Agricultural and Biological Sciences 51

64%

Environmental Science 21

26%

Veterinary Science and Veterinary Medic... 4

5%

Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Bi... 4

5%

Article Metrics

Tooltip
Mentions
News Mentions: 8
References: 2
Social Media
Shares, Likes & Comments: 88

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free