Livestock guardian dogs establish a landscape of fear for wild predators: implications for the role of guardian dogs in reducing human-wildlife conflict and supporting biodiversity conservation

Livestock guardian dogs (LGDs) are increasingly used to protect livestock from predators, but their effects on the distribution and behaviour of wild predators are mostly unknown. A key question is whether LGDs exclude predators from grazing land, or if predators continue to use areas with LGDs but modify their behaviour in ways that reduce impacts on livestock.
We studied effects of LGDs (Maremma sheepdogs) on distribution and behaviour of red foxes Vulpes vulpes in north-eastern Victoria, Australia. We mapped the activity of LGDs across the study areas using GPS tracking and measured fox activity using remote cameras. We also measured risk-sensitive foraging in foxes to test if they reduced feeding time at sites regularly used by LGDs.
Foxes occurred throughout areas occupied by LGDs, but their probability of detection was negatively related to probability of LGD presence. Foxes extracted fewer food items from experimental food stations in proportion to the intensity of local activit..., For detailed description of the methods, please see our paper: 'Livestock guardian dogs establish a landscape of fear for wild predators: implications for the role of guardian dogs in reducing human-wildlife conflict and suppporting biodiversity conservation', published in Ecological Solutions and Evidence. 
Data was collected on four properties in north-east Victoria, Australia; two were used as experimental sites (Heatherlie and Riversdale) and two were used as controls (Mullenmeah and Wagonbark). The experimental sites ran Maremma sheepdogs, guarding sheep, and the control sites ran livestock without livestock guardian dogs. Each experimental site was paired with its own control site (Riversdale and Wagonbark, 10 km apart; Heatherlie and Mullameah, 45 km apart) due to the fox surveys and experiments taking place in different seasons for each pair of properties; fox activity and behaviour is seasonally highly variable.
GPS tracking collars of two types (Lotek, Havelock North, New Zeal..., , # Livestock guardian dogs establish a landscape of fear for wild predators: implications for the role of guardian dogs in reducing human-wildlife conflict and supporting biodiversity conservation

The data contains four excel files. Two files contain the results of a 6-week wildlife survey on each of two trial/control site pairs (Riversdale/Wagonbark and Heatherlie/Mullenmeah). The wildlife survey results are a record of which species was recorded, with an associated date, time, the camera location it was recorded at, the camera number, the property and whether this was an experimental or control site. These files also contain a separate worksheet with the Maremma detections, as measured by their GPS tracking collars, that fall within 30m of the camera sites during the survey period. Last, they contain a third worksheet with the covariates for each camera site, as used in the analysis in the paper. This includes the isopleth that the camera site falls into, as calculated from the long...