Weathering the perfect storm: mitigating the post-fire impacts of invasive predators on small desert vertebrates

野火耗尽了许多本土脊椎动物的食物和庇护所资源，使它们更容易受到红狐和野猫等侵入性捕食者的捕食。该项目聚焦于澳大利亚中部易起火的刺杉草原，首先确定了在火灾后环境中为本地物种提供保护的特定避难栖息地的作用，然后提出了一个创新的实验计划，以量化和减轻捕食影响。这一结果将激发人们对捕食者-猎物理论的新思考，并在预计未来将经历更多野火的环境中，为如何保护大陆内陆丰富的生物资源提供指导。

Wildfires deplete food and shelter resources for many native vertebrates, exposing them to increased predation from invasive predators such as the red fox and feral cat. Focusing on the fire-prone spinifex grasslands of central Australia, this project firstly identifies the role of specific refuge habitats that provide native species with protection in the post-fire environment, and then proposes an innovative experimental program to quantify and mitigate predation-impacts. The results will stimulate new thinking about predator-prey theory and, in an environment predicted to experience more wildfires in future, provide guidance about how to protect the rich biotic resources of the continental interior.