Data from: Apex predator suppression is linked to restructuring of ecosystems via multiple ecological pathways

Removal of apex predators can drive ecological regime shifts owing to
compensatory positive and negative population level responses by organisms
at lower trophic levels. Despite evidence that apex predators can
influence ecosystems though multiple ecological pathways, most studies
investigating apex predators’ effects on ecosystems have considered just
one pathway in isolation. Here, we provide evidence that lethal control of
an apex predator, the dingo (Canis dingo), drives shifts in the structure
of Australia’s tropical-savannah ecosystems. We compared mammal
assemblages and understorey structure at seven paired-sites. Each site
comprised an area where people poisoned dingoes and an area without dingo
control. The effects of dingo control on mammals scaled with body size.
Where dingoes were poisoned, we found greater activity of herbivorous
macropods and feral cats, a mesopredator, but sparser understorey
vegetation and lower abundances of native rodents. Our study suggests that
ecological cascades arising from apex predators’ suppressive effects on
herbivores and mesopredators occur simultaneously. Concordant effects of
dingo removal across tropical-savannah, forest and desert biomes suggest
that dingoes once exerted ubiquitous top-down effects across Australia and
provides support for calls that top-down forcing should be considered a
fundamental process governing ecosystem structure.