Feral animals are significant agents of biotic erosion and they are likely to exacerbate the consequences of landcover disturbance by clearing and grazing. The distribution of feral animal density varies across the continent. In broad terms, the simplest question to ask of the feral animal distribution data is whether there was a significant contrast between the ILZ and ELZ?
The answer to this question was not surprising and is presented in graphical form.
The greatest presence of rabbits (low, moderate and high densities) was found in the ILZ rather than the ELZ. The same can be said for both foxes and pigs.
Conversely, the density of feral cats was evenly distributed between the two landuse zones.
The conclusion that we draw from the graphs is that the highest densities, and thus probable impacts on biodiversity, of rabbits, foxes and pigs are coincident with the most significant landcover disturbance, clearing.
