Large Predators
Large Predators: Ecology, Conservation, and Human Coexistence
Large predators occupy some of the most influential positions in the world's ecosystems. Wolves, lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars, pumas, bears, hyenas, wild dogs, sharks, killer whales and crocodilians can affect not only the animals they kill but also the behavior and distribution of prey, competition among other predators, vegetation, scavenger communities and, in some circumstances, broader ecosystem processes. Their ecological importance makes the decline or recovery of large predators a significant issue in biodiversity conservation.
Research also demonstrates that the ecological effects of predators are rarely simple or universal. The influence of an apex predator depends upon prey abundance, habitat, climate, competition, human activity and the characteristics of the surrounding ecosystem. Studies of wolves, African carnivore guilds, large cats and marine predators show that predator-prey relationships must therefore be understood within the larger ecological and human systems in which they occur.
Ecological Roles of Large Predators
Large predators can regulate prey directly through predation and indirectly by influencing where prey travel, feed and reproduce. They may also suppress or compete with smaller predators, provide carcasses for scavengers and influence the movement of nutrients through ecosystems.
These relationships can extend far beyond a single predator and its prey. Changes involving predators may affect herbivores, vegetation, smaller carnivores, scavengers and other organisms. Some research has even connected predator-driven ecological processes with soil nutrients, wetland structure and carbon storage.
At the same time, the label "apex predator" does not mean that every large predator exercises the same degree of top-down control. Ecological roles vary greatly among species and environments. Some sharks, for example, may function more as mesopredators than as dominant apex predators, while crocodilians can act simultaneously as predators, scavengers and habitat engineers.
Predator-Prey Relationships and Trophic Cascades
One of the most important questions in large-predator ecology concerns trophic cascades: chains of ecological effects that begin with predators and extend through prey populations to vegetation and other parts of an ecosystem.
Yellowstone National Park has become one of the best-known examples. Research following wolf restoration has examined relationships among wolves, elk, bison, bears, coyotes, browsing pressure, willows and aspen. Some studies have found substantial vegetation changes consistent with predator-driven trophic cascades, while others caution that climate, prey movements, habitat conditions and other ecological factors also contribute to the observed changes.
This debate illustrates a broader principle. Predator restoration does not necessarily return an ecosystem to an earlier condition, and correlations following the return or disappearance of predators do not by themselves establish causation. Strong evidence requires demonstrating the mechanisms linking predators, prey and subsequent ecological changes.
Wolves, Lions and Multi-Predator Systems
Wolves provide some of the most extensively studied examples of large-carnivore ecology. Research examines prey selection, kill rates, pack behavior, scavenging, seasonal changes, interactions with bears and other predators, and the effects of human hunting and disturbance. Wolf studies also demonstrate how terrain, snow, vegetation and prey migration can determine where and when predation occurs.
African ecosystems contain especially diverse communities of large predators. Lions, spotted hyenas, leopards, cheetahs and African wild dogs frequently share landscapes and prey. Their relationships involve direct killing, competition for carcasses, avoidance, changes in daily activity and differences in preferred prey.
Dominant predators can suppress some competitors while having comparatively small effects on others. Cheetahs and wild dogs, for example, may respond differently to the presence of lions. Habitat complexity and differences in activity patterns can allow several predator species to coexist within the same ecosystem.
Tigers, Leopards, Jaguars and Other Large Cats
Large cats illustrate the importance of prey availability and connected habitat. Tiger abundance is closely associated with the availability of natural prey, making prey restoration an essential component of tiger conservation. Tigers, leopards and dholes may also divide habitat or activity periods in ways that allow them to coexist.
Jaguars require extensive landscapes and can persist outside strictly protected wilderness when sufficient habitat, prey and connectivity remain. Research from the Americas emphasizes the importance of preventing habitat fragmentation and retaliatory killing while maintaining corridors between populations.
Leopards are particularly adaptable and can survive in agricultural and densely populated regions. Their proximity to humans, however, creates recurring conflicts involving livestock and occasionally human safety. Studies suggest that livestock-management practices, preservation of wild prey and careful management of conflict animals may be more effective than simply relocating individual predators.
Snow leopards face a different combination of challenges associated with high-altitude environments. Their conservation depends upon mountain habitat, populations of natural prey, landscape connectivity and the ability of predators, livestock and pastoral communities to share the same landscapes. Climate change may further alter the future distribution of both snow leopards and their prey.
Pumas and mountain lions similarly demonstrate the importance of large connected landscapes. Roads, urban development and other barriers can isolate populations, increase mortality and reduce genetic exchange even where apparently suitable habitat remains.
Human-Wildlife Conflict and Coexistence
Humans have become one of the dominant forces shaping the ecology of large predators. Roads, settlements, agriculture, livestock grazing, hunting, recreation and habitat conversion can change predator movements, prey behavior and interactions among species.
Livestock depredation is among the most persistent sources of conflict. Wolves, lions, leopards, bears, hyenas and other carnivores may kill domestic animals, producing economic losses and sometimes leading to retaliatory killing. Research indicates that conflict is influenced not merely by predator abundance but by husbandry practices, natural prey availability, landscape structure and local social conditions.
Human presence can also create unexpected ecological effects. Some prey animals use areas near people as refuges because predators avoid human activity more strongly than their prey do. In other cases livestock alter predator movements or provide an additional food source capable of changing relationships among competing carnivores.
Successful coexistence consequently involves more than managing animal behavior. Governance, local livelihoods, conservation costs, cultural attitudes, institutions and perceptions of fairness can determine whether communities tolerate large predators.
Habitat, Connectivity and Conservation
Large predators generally require extensive territories, making them especially vulnerable to habitat fragmentation. Protected areas alone may be insufficient when animals routinely cross their boundaries or when hunting, development and livestock production occur immediately outside them.
Maintaining ecological connectivity allows predators to move between habitat patches, find mates and preserve genetic diversity. Corridors are therefore important in conservation strategies for species including tigers, jaguars, pumas, wolves and other wide-ranging carnivores.
Prey conservation is equally important. A protected predator population cannot remain viable indefinitely if its natural prey disappears. Prey depletion can reduce predator abundance, enlarge territories, increase dependence on livestock and undermine conservation even within formally protected areas.
Climate change adds another dimension. Changing temperature, precipitation, vegetation and water availability may redistribute predators and their prey, potentially altering habitat suitability and increasing interactions with humans.
Sharks, Killer Whales and Crocodilians
Large marine and aquatic predators demonstrate that top-down ecological processes are not restricted to terrestrial ecosystems. Sharks, killer whales, crocodiles and alligators interact with prey and competitors across marine, coastal, river and wetland environments.
Killer whales can alter the distribution and behavior of other predators. Their arrival in areas used by white sharks, for example, can displace sharks and redistribute predation pressure on seals. Killer-whale populations themselves can also be strongly affected by the abundance of preferred prey such as salmon.
Research on sharks shows both the potential importance and the complexity of marine trophic cascades. The disappearance of large sharks can coincide with changes among seals, smaller sharks and prey species, but researchers caution against assuming a simple predator-driven cascade without demonstrating the individual ecological links.
Crocodilians can influence ecosystems in additional ways. Besides functioning as predators and scavengers, alligators can physically modify wetlands by creating ponds that provide refuges and concentrated nutrient-rich habitats for fish, plants and invertebrates.
Rewilding, Recovery and the Future of Large Predators
The recovery of large predators in portions of North America and Europe demonstrates that carnivores can sometimes return even to landscapes containing substantial human populations. This challenges the assumption that large predators can survive only in remote wilderness.
Rewilding and predator restoration can potentially restore lost ecological interactions, but successful restoration requires more than releasing animals. Suitable prey, connected habitat, public acceptance, effective institutions and long-term management are necessary if recovering populations are to persist.
Predator restoration also cannot be expected to recreate past ecosystems automatically. Landscapes may have changed during the predators' absence, new species interactions may have developed and human pressures may now dominate ecological processes that were once controlled primarily by wildlife.
Conclusion
Large predators are important not simply because they occupy the upper levels of food webs but because their relationships extend throughout ecological communities. Their predation, competition, movements and responses to humans can influence prey populations, other predators, vegetation, scavengers, nutrients and habitat structure.
The accumulated research also cautions against reducing these relationships to a simple formula in which the presence of an apex predator automatically produces a healthy ecosystem. Predator effects vary with species, habitat, prey, competitors, climate and human activity.
Conserving large predators therefore requires an ecosystem approach. Protecting predators must be combined with maintaining prey populations, habitat and landscape connectivity while reducing conflict with the people who share those landscapes. The long-term future of many large predators will depend increasingly upon whether conservation can move beyond separating people and wildlife toward creating landscapes in which both can persist.
Large Predators — General Ecology and Conservation
1. Human Disturbance Thresholds Determine the Ecological Role of an Apex Predator | Shlomo Preiss-Bloom et al. | Scientific Reports | 2025-10-28
Shows that human disturbance can determine whether wolves retain enough ecological influence to regulate prey and competing mesopredators.
2. The Ecological Impacts of Large-Carnivore Recovery in North America | Christopher C. Wilmers et al. | Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics | 2025
Reviews the recovery of wolves, pumas, black bears, and grizzly bears in North America and emphasizes that their ecological effects vary greatly among landscapes.
3. A Global Assessment of Large Terrestrial Carnivore Kill Rates | Research team | Peer-Reviewed Research / PMC | 2025
Compares how frequently large carnivores kill prey and explores how body size, prey size, social behavior, and hunting strategy influence predator energetics.
4. A Worldwide Perspective on Large Carnivore Attacks on Humans | Vincenzo Penteriani et al. | PLOS Biology | 2023
Uses a global database of attacks to compare risks from large felids, bears, wolves, coyotes, and other large terrestrial carnivores.
5. A Synthesis of Priorities, Patterns, and Gaps in Large Carnivore Connectivity Research | Research team | Frontiers in Conservation Science | 2023
Examines how landscape connectivity research is being used to protect wide-ranging carnivores threatened by habitat fragmentation.
6. Fostering Coexistence Between People and Large Carnivores | Research team | Frontiers in Conservation Science | 2021
Argues that successful coexistence requires attention not only to predator behavior but also governance, livelihoods, local institutions, equity, and conservation costs.
7. Effects of Human Disturbance on Terrestrial Apex Predators | Research team | Diversity | 2021
Reviews how roads, recreation, settlements, agriculture, hunting, and other human activities influence large apex predators across terrestrial ecosystems.
8. Effects of Human-Induced Prey Depletion on Large Carnivores in Protected Areas | Research team | Ecological Applications | 2019
Finds that prey depletion can reduce carnivore densities and change territory size even inside areas nominally protected for wildlife.
9. Ecological Attributes of Carnivore-Livestock Conflict | Research team | Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution | 2019
Reviews hundreds of carnivore-livestock conflict cases involving wolves, leopards, lions, hyenas, tigers, bears, cheetahs, lynx, and other predators.
10. Rewilding the World's Large Carnivores | Christopher Wolf and William J. Ripple | Royal Society Open Science | 2018
Identifies large areas where threatened carnivores might potentially be restored and discusses the ecological and social obstacles to large-scale carnivore rewilding.
11. Carnivore Conservation Needs Evidence-Based Livestock Protection | Research team | PLOS Biology | 2018
Reviews livestock-protection interventions and argues that carnivore management programs should be judged using stronger experimental evidence.
12. Finding Space for Large Carnivores | José Vicente López-Bao, Jeremy Bruskotter and Guillaume Chapron | Nature Ecology & Evolution | 2017-04-20
Challenges the assumption that large predators can survive only in wilderness and argues for conservation within human-dominated landscapes.
13. Paws Without Claws? Ecological Effects of Large Carnivores in Anthropogenic Landscapes | Dries P. J. Kuijper et al. | Proceedings of the Royal Society B | 2016
Examines how roads, agriculture, hunting, settlements, and other human activities can weaken or redirect the ecological effects normally attributed to large carnivores.
14. Prey Depletion as a Threat to the World's Large Carnivores | Christopher Wolf and William J. Ripple | Royal Society Open Science | 2016
Shows that protecting carnivores alone may be insufficient when populations of the wild animals they depend upon for food are disappearing.
15. Status and Ecological Effects of the World's Largest Carnivores | William J. Ripple et al. | Science | 2014-01-10
A landmark global review argues that declines of the world's largest carnivores can alter prey, mesopredators, vegetation, disease dynamics, scavenger communities, carbon storage, and other ecosystem processes.
Wolves, Elk, and Trophic Cascades
16. Wolf Management | National Park Service | Yellowstone National Park | 2026
Describes long-term monitoring of wolf predation, elk movements, kill sites, hunting behavior, and the ecological consequences of wolf recovery.
17. An Ecologically Significant Trophic Cascade in Yellowstone | Luke E. Painter et al. | Forest Ecology and Management | 2026
Defends evidence that restoration of Yellowstone's large-carnivore guild contributed substantially to renewed recruitment of young aspen.
18. Wolf Ecology | National Park Service | Yellowstone National Park | 2025
Provides an overview of Yellowstone wolf biology, prey selection, pack behavior, genetics, scavenger relationships, and ecological interactions.
19. History of Wolf Management | National Park Service | Yellowstone National Park | 2025
Traces wolf eradication and restoration while explaining interactions among wolves, elk, bison, bears, cougars, coyotes, and human hunters.
20. Cycles and Processes: Predators, Prey and Trophic Cascades | National Park Service | Yellowstone National Park | 2025
Provides a nuanced explanation of Yellowstone trophic cascades and the debate over how much vegetation recovery can specifically be attributed to wolves.
21. The Strength of the Yellowstone Trophic Cascade After Wolf Reintroduction | Research team | Global Ecology and Conservation | 2025
Quantifies changes in willow growth following wolf restoration and evaluates the strength of the proposed predator-driven trophic cascade.
22. Wolves and Their Prey All Fear the Human “Super Predator” | Dries P. J. Kuijper et al. | Current Biology | 2025
Experimental evidence indicates that both wolves and their prey can respond especially strongly to cues indicating the presence of humans.
23. Lamar Valley — Trophic Cascades | National Park Service | Yellowstone National Park | 2024
Introduces the proposed chain linking wolf recovery, elk abundance and behavior, browsing pressure, and the recovery of woody vegetation.
24. A Shifting Ecological Baseline After Wolf Extirpation | Research team | BioScience | 2024
Argues that ecological research may underestimate the historical importance of wolves when predator-free conditions are unconsciously treated as natural baselines.
25. Investigating Tritrophic Interactions Using Bioenergetic Demographic Models | Research team | Ecology | 2023
Models grass, elk, and wolf populations and predicts that wolf restoration can shift elk from food limitation toward predator limitation.
26. Weak Spatiotemporal Response of Prey to Predation Risk in a Freely Interacting System | Research team | Journal of Animal Ecology | 2019
Finds surprisingly limited spatial avoidance of wolf predation risk by Yellowstone elk despite measurable predator-prey interactions.
27. Yellowstone Wolf Restoration | U.S. Geological Survey | USGS | 2018-06-26
Summarizes decades of research following wolf reintroduction, including disease, pack dynamics, prey encounters, hunting success, and population persistence.
28. Factors Affecting Gray Wolf Encounter Rate With Elk in Yellowstone National Park | Hans Martin et al. | Canadian Journal of Zoology | 2018
Examines how elk density, snow, pack size, territory size, season, and other factors affect the frequency with which wolves encounter prey.
29. Native Prey Distribution and Migration Mediates Wolf Predation on Domestic Livestock | Abigail A. Nelson et al. | Canadian Journal of Zoology / USGS | 2016-06-08
Tests whether livestock attacks increase because wolves follow native prey or because native prey become scarce.
30. Trophic Cascades From Wolves to Alders in Yellowstone | William J. Ripple, Robert L. Beschta and Luke E. Painter | Forest Ecology and Management | 2015-10-15
Examines whether wolf recovery indirectly contributed to renewed recruitment of thinleaf alder along Yellowstone streams.
31. Trophic Cascades by Large Carnivores: A Case for Strong Inference and Mechanism | Research team | Trends in Ecology & Evolution | 2015
Questions whether evidence for large-carnivore trophic cascades is always sufficiently rigorous and proposes stronger tests of the mechanisms connecting predators, herbivores, and vegetation.
32. Linking Anti-Predator Behaviour to Prey Demography Reveals Limited Risk Effects of an Actively Hunting Large Carnivore | Arthur D. Middleton et al. | Ecology Letters | 2013
Finds that elk respond behaviorally to wolves but questions whether those fear effects necessarily translate into major demographic consequences.
33. Elk Migration Patterns and Human Activity Influence Wolf Habitat Use | Abigail A. Nelson et al. | Ecological Applications | 2013
Shows how seasonal elk migration changes wolf movements and potentially influences when wolves encounter livestock.
34. Trophic Cascades in Yellowstone: The First 15 Years After Wolf Reintroduction | William J. Ripple and Robert L. Beschta | Biological Conservation | 2012
Reports declining browsing pressure and increasing growth of young aspen following the restoration of wolves to Yellowstone.
35. Seasonal Patterns of Predation for Gray Wolves in the Multi-Prey System of Yellowstone | Research team | Journal of Animal Ecology | 2012
Demonstrates that wolf prey selection, prey vulnerability, and kill rates change markedly between seasons.
36. Are Wolves Saving Yellowstone's Aspen? | Matthew J. Kauffman, Jedediah F. Brodie and Erik S. Jules | Ecology | 2010
Tests the hypothesis that fear of wolves causes elk to avoid risky areas enough to allow aspen recruitment.
37. Body Size and Predatory Performance in Wolves: Is Bigger Better? | Daniel R. MacNulty et al. | Journal of Animal Ecology | 2009
Finds that larger body size improves some aspects of wolf predation while potentially reducing speed and agility during pursuit.
38. Wolf Presence and Increased Willow Consumption by Yellowstone Elk | Research team | Ecological Applications | 2009
Tests a key prediction of the ecology-of-fear hypothesis and finds that local wolf presence does not necessarily cause elk to consume less willow.
39. Large Predators and Trophic Cascades in Terrestrial Ecosystems of the Western United States | Research team | Biological Conservation | 2009
Compares predator loss and vegetation change across several western U.S. national parks to investigate whether similar trophic cascades occurred.
40. Landscape Heterogeneity Shapes Predation in a Newly Restored Predator-Prey System | Matthew J. Kauffman et al. | Ecology Letters | 2007-06-07
Shows that terrain and vegetation create hunting grounds and prey refuges that strongly affect where wolves successfully kill elk.
41. Predation Risk Affects Reproductive Physiology and Demography of Elk | Scott Creel et al. | Science | 2007
Reports associations between wolf exposure, elk progesterone levels, and subsequent calf recruitment.
42. Foraging and Feeding Ecology of the Gray Wolf: Lessons From Yellowstone National Park | Daniel R. Stahler, Douglas W. Smith and Debra S. Guernsey | Journal of Nutrition | 2006
Reviews wolf prey selection, kill rates, pack feeding, scavenging, and seasonal changes in diet following Yellowstone wolf restoration.
43. Prey Risk Allocation in a Grazing Ecosystem | Research team | Ecological Applications | 2006
Tests how elk change their movement and distribution in response to variable exposure to wolves.
44. Assessment of Prey Vulnerability Through Analysis of Wolf Movements and Kill Sites | Research team | Ecological Applications | 2006
Finds that habitat edges, geothermal areas, meadows, and other landscape characteristics help determine where elk become vulnerable to wolves.
45. Wolves, Elk, Willows, and Trophic Cascades in the Upper Gallatin Range | William J. Ripple and Robert L. Beschta | Forest Ecology and Management | 2005
Examines historical relationships among wolves, elk browsing, and woody vegetation in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
46. Wolves and the Ecology of Fear: Can Predation Risk Structure Ecosystems? | William J. Ripple and Robert L. Beschta | BioScience | 2004
Explores whether fear of wolves can alter elk behavior strongly enough to influence vegetation, riparian habitats, beavers, and wider ecosystem processes.
47. Wolf-Bison Interactions in Yellowstone National Park | Douglas W. Smith et al. | Journal of Mammalogy / USGS | 2000
Documents how Yellowstone wolves gradually learned to prey on bison, particularly vulnerable calves and weakened animals.
African Lions and Predator Guilds
48. Human-Driven Landscapes of Fear for Africa's Largest Terrestrial Predator | Research team | Biological Conservation | 2026
Finds that lions in Kenya's Mara conservancies avoid areas heavily used by cattle even when livestock are temporarily absent.
49. Functional Effects of African Lions on Co-Occurring Carnivores | Research team | Peer-Reviewed Research | 2026
Finds that lion effects on cheetahs, leopards, hyenas, and wild dogs change according to resource abundance and the predator pair involved.
50. Anthropogenic Mortality Risk of Lions Depends on Environmental, Climatic, and Cultural Factors | Research team | Global Ecology and Conservation | 2025
Uses long-term data from Namibia to identify factors affecting where and when lions are most likely to be killed by people.
51. Long-Term Demography of Spotted Hyena in a Lion-Depleted but Prey-Rich Ecosystem | Research team | Ecology and Evolution | 2025
Finds high hyena survival where lions have been greatly reduced, offering evidence for competitive release within the large-carnivore guild.
52. Human Procurement of Meat From Lion Kills | Research team | PLOS ONE | 2024
Documents humans taking meat from lion kills and examines this overlooked form of direct competition between people and large predators.
53. Socio-Political and Ecological Fragility of Threatened, Free-Ranging African Lion Populations | Research team | Communications Earth & Environment | 2023
Shows that lion conservation depends on governance, economics, political stability, prey abundance, habitat protection, and other intertwined pressures.
54. Habitat Shifts in Response to Predation Risk Are Constrained by Competition Within a Grazing Guild | Research team | Frontiers in Ethology | 2023
Shows that prey responses to lions, hyenas, cheetahs, and wild dogs depend partly on competition with other herbivores.
55. Spatial Co-Occurrence Patterns of Sympatric Large Carnivores in a Multi-Use African System | Research team | PLOS ONE | 2023
Examines lion, leopard, and African wild dog coexistence across roughly 45,000 square kilometers of Tanzania.
56. Coursing Hyenas and Stalking Lions | Research team | PLOS ONE | 2023
Reveals subtle differences in habitat use and activity that can reduce direct interference between lions and spotted hyenas.
57. Guidelines for Evaluating the Conservation Value of African Lion Translocations | Research team | Frontiers in Conservation Science | 2022
Explains when moving lions can assist recovery and when translocations may instead create conflict, genetic problems, or distractions from habitat protection.
58. Lion Ecology and Survival in Protected Areas of Ethiopia | Gidey Yirga et al. | Mammalian Biology | 2021-09-14
Examines lion distribution, survival, habitat use, and human conflict across important but comparatively understudied Ethiopian populations.
59. A Pan-African Spatial Assessment of Human Conflicts With Lions and Elephants | Research team | Nature Communications | 2021
Maps areas where lions, people, cattle, crops, and expanding human pressures create especially high risks of conflict.
60. Prey Partitioning and Livestock Consumption in the World's Richest Large Carnivore Assemblage | Research team | Current Biology | 2021
Shows how carnivores partition prey by size while livestock subsidies can help sustain unusually diverse predator communities.
61. Temporal Partitioning and Spatiotemporal Avoidance Among Large Carnivores | Research team | PLOS ONE | 2021
Shows how African carnivores alter daily activity patterns in landscapes affected by people and competing predators.
62. Spatial Heterogeneity Facilitates Carnivore Coexistence | Andrew B. Davies et al. | Ecology | 2021
Finds that fine-scale variation in vegetation and landscape structure can provide African wild dogs with refuges from dominant lions.
63. Reactive Anti-Predator Behavioral Strategy Shaped by Predator Characteristics | Research team | PLOS ONE | 2021
Compares prey responses to lions, cheetahs, wild dogs, and spotted hyenas with predator hunting style and effectiveness.
64. Dynamic Interactions Between Apex Predators Reveal Contrasting Seasonal Attraction Patterns | Research team | Ecology and Evolution | 2021
GPS tracking reveals complex seasonal interactions between lions and spotted hyenas around carcasses and waterholes.
65. Environmental Factors Influencing Spotted Hyena and Lion Population Biomass Across Africa | Angharad K. Jones et al. | Ecology and Evolution | 2021
Finds prey size, vegetation, temperature, and precipitation help explain geographic differences in lion and spotted-hyena abundance.
66. Prey Availability and Intraguild Competition Regulate a Modified Large Carnivore Guild | Research team | Peer-Reviewed Research | 2021
Studies leopard and spotted-hyena interactions in Malawi after declines of prey and the disappearance of lions.
67. Effects of Competing Carnivores on Leopard Feeding Behaviour | Research team | Peer-Reviewed Research | 2021
Shows that lions, hyenas, and other leopards can reduce feeding time or alter where leopards remain near kills.
68. Humans Disrupt Access to Prey for Large African Carnivores | Mills and Harris | Peer-Reviewed Research | 2020
Shows that human activity alters prey daily schedules and therefore changes when lions, leopards, and hyenas can encounter prey.
69. Africa's Apex Predator, the Lion, Is Limited by Interference and Exploitative Competition With Humans | Research team | Global Ecology and Conservation | 2019
Treats humans as ecological competitors capable of displacing lions and reducing their ability to function as apex predators.
70. Improving Human-Lion Conflict Research Through Interdisciplinarity | Jacalyn M. Beck et al. | Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution | 2019
Argues that lion conflict cannot be understood without simultaneously considering people, lions, livestock, wild prey, and environmental conditions.
71. Apparent Competition, Lion Predation, and Managed Livestock Grazing | Research team | Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution | 2019
Investigates interactions among cattle, wild ungulates, and lions in Kenya's Ol Pejeta Conservancy.
72. Carnivores, Competition and Genetic Connectivity in the Anthropocene | Research team | Scientific Reports | 2019
Examines how competition among lions, hyenas, cheetahs, and wild dogs interacts with landscape fragmentation and population connectivity.
73. Can Hyena Behaviour Provide Information on Population Trends of Sympatric Carnivores? | Research team | Peer-Reviewed Research | 2019
Uses long-term behavioral changes in Maasai Mara hyenas as indicators of changing lion and hyena populations.
74. Lions, Hyenas and Mobs (Oh My!) | Research team | Current Zoology | 2018
Uses long-term observations to examine when spotted hyenas cooperatively mob lions and whether doing so helps them gain access to carcasses.
75. Spatial and Temporal Avoidance of Risk Within a Large Carnivore Guild | Egil Dröge et al. | Ecology and Evolution | 2017
Compares how wild dogs and cheetahs use space, time, and prey selection to reduce competition with lions and spotted hyenas.
76. The Relationship Between Direct Predation and Antipredator Responses | Research team | Ecology | 2017
Compares behavioral responses of African herbivores to lions, hyenas, cheetahs, and wild dogs with the actual danger posed by each predator.
77. In the Absence of a “Landscape of Fear”: How Lions, Hyenas, and Cheetahs Coexist | Alexandra Swanson et al. | Ecology and Evolution | 2016
Shows that cheetahs can retain access to productive habitat by avoiding lions over very short periods rather than abandoning entire areas.
78. Landscape-Level Movement Patterns by Lions in Western Serengeti | Research team | BMC Ecology | 2016
Compares the influence of prey, habitat, and spotted-hyena competition on lion movement across the Serengeti landscape.
79. To Kill, Stay or Flee: Effects of Lions on Cheetah Habitat and Kill-Site Selection | Research team | PLOS ONE | 2015
Examines how cheetahs balance access to prey-rich hunting areas against the danger of encountering lions.
80. The Lion King and the Hyaena Queen: Large Carnivore Interactions and Coexistence | Research team | Biological Reviews | 2015
Reviews competition, scavenging, kleptoparasitism, and coexistence between two of Africa's dominant predators.
81. Cheetahs and Wild Dogs Show Contrasting Patterns of Suppression by Lions | Research team | Journal of Animal Ecology | 2014
Finds strong evidence that lions can suppress African wild dogs but considerably weaker population-level effects on cheetahs.
82. Glucocorticoid Stress Responses of Lions in Relationship to Human Land Use | Research team | Conservation Physiology | 2013-07-12
Measures physiological stress in lions living near pastoralist communities and examines how pride composition and proximity to people affect stress.
83. Coexistence of African Lions, Livestock, and People in a Landscape With Variable Human Land Use | Research team | Biological Conservation | 2013
Shows how seasonal movements of people and livestock in southern Kenya can allow surprisingly dense lion populations to persist outside conventional protected areas.
84. Seasonal Diet and Prey Preference of the African Lion | Research team | PLOS ONE | 2013
Examines seasonal changes in lion prey selection and shows how water availability, prey behavior, and drought influence predation.
85. Risk Avoidance in Sympatric Large Carnivores: Reactive or Predictive? | Femke Broekhuis et al. | Journal of Animal Ecology | 2013
Tests whether cheetahs avoid lions and spotted hyenas only when danger is immediate or anticipate areas of future risk.
86. Do Lions Actively Select Prey? | Research team | PLOS ONE | 2011
Investigates whether apparent lion prey preferences reflect deliberate choice or the physical advantages and limitations of lion hunting adaptations.
87. Predator-Prey Size Relationships in an African Large-Mammal Food Web | Research team | Journal of Animal Ecology | 2008
Shows that body size strongly structures prey selection by lions, leopards, cheetahs, wild dogs, and spotted hyenas.
Tigers and Jaguars
88. Diet and Prey Preference of Tigers in and Around Protected Areas | Research team | Peer-Reviewed Research / PMC | 2026
Examines tiger diets and emphasizes that restoring populations of natural prey is fundamental to rebuilding viable tiger populations.
89. Ecological Factors at Fine Spatial Scale Associated With Tiger Habitat Use | Research team | Peer-Reviewed Research / PMC | 2025-03-13
Finds tiger habitat use strongly associated with prey abundance, terrain, water availability, and landscape characteristics.
90. Spatio-Temporal Patterns of Tigers in Response to Prey Species and Human Disturbance | Research team | Peer-Reviewed Research / PMC | 2025-01-29
Uses wildlife monitoring to examine how tigers alter where and when they are active in response to prey and people.
91. Revival of Tigers: Long-Term Trends in Relative Abundance | Research team | Peer-Reviewed Research / PMC | 2025
Uses long-term monitoring to examine tiger recovery and changes in predator abundance between 2009 and 2022.
92. Predicting the Impact of Climate Change on South China Tiger Habitat | Research team | Peer-Reviewed Research / PMC | 2024-08-26
Models how future climate change could alter habitat suitability for one of the world's rarest tiger populations.
93. Preserving the Spots: Jaguar Distribution and Conservation | M. C. Machado-Aguilera et al. | Peer-Reviewed Research / PMC | 2024
Maps jaguar distribution and identifies habitat and landscape factors important for maintaining populations.
94. Connecting Tiger Populations in Nepal | Research team | Peer-Reviewed Research / PMC | 2023
Identifies habitat corridors that could preserve movement and gene flow among Nepal's recovering but spatially separated tiger populations.
95. Density and Habitat Use of One of the Last Jaguar Populations of the Atlantic Forest | Fernando C. C. de Azevedo et al. | Peer-Reviewed Research / PMC | 2022
Examines one of the remaining jaguar strongholds in the heavily fragmented Atlantic Forest.
96. A Review of Two Decades of Conservation Efforts on Tigers, Co-Predators and Prey | Research team | Peer-Reviewed Research / PMC | 2021
Reviews tiger conservation programs while emphasizing habitat loss, prey depletion, poaching, and the wider predator community.
97. Jaguar Density and Tenure in a Critical Conservation Landscape | Rebecca J. Foster et al. | Peer-Reviewed Research / PMC | 2020
Examines jaguar density, residency, mortality, and the importance of preventing retaliatory killing around livestock operations.
98. Jaguar Interactions With Pumas and Prey at the Northern Edge of Their Range | C. E. Gutiérrez-González et al. | Peer-Reviewed Research / PMC | 2017
Studies how jaguars and pumas divide prey and habitat where both large cats coexist near the northern limit of jaguar distribution.
99. Space Use and Movement of a Neotropical Top Predator | Ronaldo G. Morato et al. | PLOS ONE / PMC | 2016
Uses movement data from jaguars across the Americas to investigate home-range requirements and landscape-scale conservation needs.
100. Jaguar Densities Across Human-Dominated Landscapes | Valeria Boron et al. | PLOS ONE / PMC | 2016
Demonstrates that jaguars can persist in agricultural landscapes but that densities vary according to habitat quality and human pressure.
101. A Biodiversity Hotspot Losing Its Top Predator | Agustín Paviolo et al. | Scientific Reports | 2016
Warns that jaguar disappearance from the Atlantic Forest could leave a major biodiversity hotspot without its dominant terrestrial predator.
Leopards, Snow Leopards and Pumas
102. Climate Change and Human Pressure on Snow Leopard Habitat | Research team | Peer-Reviewed Research / PMC | 2025
Projects substantial losses of suitable snow leopard and blue sheep habitat under future climate scenarios.
103. Snow Leopard Conservation Insights From Satellite Collar Data | Research team | Peer-Reviewed Research / PMC | 2025
Uses satellite telemetry to reveal movement patterns, habitat requirements, and conservation needs of free-ranging snow leopards.
104. Prey Selection by Leopards in the Mid-Hill Region | Research team | Peer-Reviewed Research / PMC | 2024-02-05
Examines leopard diets in landscapes where wild prey, livestock, forest cover, and human activity overlap.
105. Snow Leopard Activity Patterns Using Camera Traps | Research team | Peer-Reviewed Research / PMC | 2024
Investigates when snow leopards are active and how activity varies in relation to prey and environmental conditions.
106. Habitat Suitability and Protected Area Coverage for an Expanding Cougar Population | J. A. Christoff et al. | Peer-Reviewed Research / PMC | 2024
Maps potential cougar habitat across Canada and asks whether existing protected areas adequately cover landscapes suitable for expansion.
107. Impact of Climate Change on Distribution of the Common Leopard in Nepal | K. Baral et al. | Heliyon | 2023
Predicts how climate change could shift leopard habitat and potentially alter future interactions between people and leopards.
108. Landscape Use and Co-Occurrence Pattern of Snow Leopard and Other Carnivores | Research team | Peer-Reviewed Research / PMC | 2022
Examines how snow leopards share high-altitude landscapes with other predators, livestock, prey, and people.
109. Dietary Patterns of a Versatile Large Carnivore, the Puma | H. Karandikar et al. | Mammal Review / PMC | 2022
Finds extraordinary dietary flexibility in pumas, with hundreds of prey species documented across their vast geographic range.
110. Leopard Occupancy in the Chure Range of Nepal | Research team | Peer-Reviewed Research / PMC | 2021
Finds leopard presence associated with wild boar, livestock, rugged terrain, and human population density.
111. The Impact of Leopards on Livestock Losses | Research team | Peer-Reviewed Research / PMC | 2020-03-26
Explores why livestock become vulnerable to leopard attacks and how husbandry practices could reduce conflict.
112. Minimum Habitat Thresholds Required for Conserving Mountain Lions | Justin A. Dellinger et al. | Peer-Reviewed Research / PMC | 2020
Estimates how much habitat must remain intact for mountain lions to function as effective umbrella species.
113. Cattle Selectivity by Leopards Suggests Ways to Mitigate Human-Carnivore Conflict | Research team | Ecology and Evolution | 2018
Shows that leopards disproportionately select certain cattle, suggesting livestock-management changes could reduce losses.
114. Assessment of Habitat Suitability of the Snow Leopard | Research team | Peer-Reviewed Research / PMC | 2018
Uses habitat modeling to identify landscapes most capable of supporting snow leopards and their prey.
115. Leopard Status, Distribution, and the Research Efforts Across Its Range | Research team | PeerJ | 2016-05-04
Reviews leopard distribution and major threats including habitat fragmentation, prey loss, hunting, poaching, and conflict with humans.
116. Survival and Mortality of Pumas in a Fragmented Urban Landscape | Winston T. Vickers et al. | PLOS ONE / PMC | 2015
Documents how highways, development, isolation, and human-caused mortality threaten pumas in heavily urbanized landscapes.
117. Prey Preferences of the Snow Leopard | Research team | PLOS ONE | 2014
Synthesizes snow leopard diets across Asia and identifies prey species particularly important to maintaining this mountain predator.
118. Models of Regional Habitat Quality and Connectivity for Pumas | Brett G. Dickson et al. | PLOS ONE / PMC | 2013
Uses pumas as a landscape-scale conservation species to identify habitat quality and movement corridors.
119. Genetic Structure of Mountain Lion Populations | Holly B. Ernest et al. | Conservation Genetics / PMC | 2003
Demonstrates that mountain-lion conservation should consider regional genetic structure and landscape connectivity.
Big Cats, Dholes, and Lynx
120. Leopards Rely on Wild Prey in a Human-Dominated Agricultural Landscape | P. H. Suranga Chanaka Kumara et al. | Ecology and Evolution | 2026
Finds Sri Lankan leopards living among tea estates still obtain more than 85 percent of their diet from wild prey.
121. Activity Patterns and Predator-Prey Temporal Overlap in a High Tiger-Density Area | Research team | Ecology and Evolution | 2026
Shows extensive temporal overlap between tigers and deer in Nepal's Bardia National Park.
122. Severe Contraction of Dhole Habitat and Future Climate Refugia Across China | Taifu Huang et al. | Ecology and Evolution | 2026
Projects major changes in suitable dhole habitat under future climate scenarios and identifies possible refugia.
123. Tea for Two: India's Agroforests as Coexistence Landscapes for Dholes and People | Abraham Pious et al. | Ambio | 2026
Finds dholes can persist in tea-growing landscapes while relying predominantly on wild prey and having little direct conflict with people.
124. Human Hunters Are No Substitute for Vanishing Apex Predators | Ying Geng et al. | Journal of Animal Ecology | 2026
Camera-trap data from China suggest human hunting fails to reproduce the ecological functions supplied collectively by natural predators.
125. Feeding Habits of Leopards in Forests Surrounding Kathmandu Valley | Research team | Ecology and Evolution | 2025
DNA analysis finds leopards rely heavily on domestic animals in some highly disturbed portions of the Kathmandu landscape.
126. Distribution Patterns and Ecological Determinants of Suitable Habitat for Dholes in China | Research team | Peer-Reviewed Research | 2025
Identifies climate, elevation, and habitat characteristics associated with remaining potential dhole habitat.
127. Protect the Tibetan Plateau's Rich Felid Diversity | Shang Sheng et al. | Nature Ecology & Evolution | 2025
Highlights the Tibetan Plateau as an important landscape for conserving snow leopards, tigers, and other felids.
128. Mammalian Diversity in Mizoram Revealed by Camera Traps | Research team | Ecology and Evolution | 2025
Documents dholes, clouded leopards, prey species, and other mammals across protected landscapes in northeastern India.
129. Human-Wildlife Conflict in the Bardia-Banke Complex | Umesh Paudel et al. | Ecology and Evolution | 2024
Examines human injuries and deaths involving tigers, leopards, elephants, and other large mammals in western Nepal.
130. Human-Wildlife Conflict at High Altitude | Abhinaya Pathak et al. | Ecology and Evolution | 2024
Analyzes conflict involving common leopards and Himalayan black bears in Nepal's Gaurishankar Conservation Area.
131. Ecological and Intrinsic Drivers of Eurasian Lynx Foraging at a Continental Scale | Research team | Peer-Reviewed Research | 2024
Compares kill intervals and carcass handling by more than 100 GPS-collared lynx across nine European populations.
132. Free-Ranging Livestock Alter the Behavior of North Chinese Leopards and Their Prey | Mingzhang Liu et al. | Integrative Zoology | 2023
Finds cattle can alter leopard and prey behavior while increasing opportunities for livestock depredation.
133. Spatiotemporal Patterns of Human-Wildlife Conflict in Shuklaphanta National Park | Bindu Pant et al. | PLOS ONE | 2023
Documents livestock losses primarily to leopards while comparing other sources of wildlife-related economic damage.
134. Competitive Interactions and Coexistence of Sympatric Flagship Carnivores in Asia | Research team | Integrative Zoology | 2023
Reviews how prey abundance, elevation, vegetation, and habitat structure influence coexistence between tigers and leopards.
135. Contrasting Effects of Human Settlement on Interactions Among Sympatric Apex Carnivores | Research team | Peer-Reviewed Research | 2022
Shows that human settlement can alter co-occurrence among tigers, leopards, and dholes in Bhutan.
136. Human-Wildlife Conflicts in the Mid-Hills of Nepal | Research team | Peer-Reviewed Research | 2021
Finds common leopards and Himalayan black bears responsible for many reported attacks in landscapes outside formal protected areas.
137. Dhole Pack Size Variation: Effects of Prey Availability and Apex Predators | Research team | Ecology and Evolution | 2021
Investigates how prey abundance and competition with tigers affect the size of dhole packs.
138. Landscape Predictors of Human-Leopard Conflicts in the Himalayan Region | Research team | Peer-Reviewed Research | 2020
Maps environmental characteristics associated with more than 1,200 leopard attacks on livestock.
139. Stay Home, Stay Safe: Site Familiarity Reduces Predation Risk | Research team | Journal of Animal Ecology | 2020
Finds that familiarity with local terrain can help roe deer reduce their risk of being killed by lynx.
140. Characterizing Conflict Between Humans and Big Cats | Research team | Peer-Reviewed Systematic Review | 2018
Reviews nearly two decades of research on conflicts involving lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars, and snow leopards.
141. Hunting-Mediated Predator Facilitation and Superadditive Mortality | Research team | Ecology and Evolution | 2018
Finds that roe deer avoiding human hunters may inadvertently increase their exposure to Eurasian lynx.
142. Using Certified Timber Extraction to Benefit Jaguar and Ecosystem Conservation | John Polisar et al. | Peer-Reviewed Research | 2017
Explores whether carefully managed commercial forests can preserve enough habitat and prey to support jaguars outside strict protected areas.
143. Spatiotemporal Interactions Facilitate Large Carnivore Sympatry Across a Resource Gradient | Research team | Peer-Reviewed Research | 2017
Compares how tigers, leopards, and dholes partition space and time across Indian reserves with differing prey abundance.
144. Selective Predation of a Stalking Predator on Ungulate Prey | Research team | PLOS ONE | 2016
Examines how Eurasian lynx select individual ungulates according to species, age, sex, and behavior.
145. Large Impact of Eurasian Lynx Predation on Roe Deer Population Dynamics | Henrik Andrén and Olof Liberg | PLOS ONE | 2015
Finds lynx predation contributed substantially to reduced population growth among Scandinavian roe deer.
146. Patterns of Lynx Predation at the Interface Between Protected Areas and Multi-Use Landscapes | Research team | PLOS ONE | 2015
Tracks hundreds of roe deer and red deer kills to understand lynx predation inside and outside protected landscapes.
147. On a Dhole Trail: Ecological and Anthropogenic Correlates of Habitat Occupancy | Arjun Srivathsa et al. | PLOS ONE | 2014
Maps dhole occupancy across nearly 39,000 square kilometers of India's Western Ghats.
148. Recolonization by Lynx Had Limited Impact on Habitat Selection by Roe Deer | Gustaf Samelius et al. | PLOS ONE | 2013
Finds roe deer showed relatively limited habitat shifts after Eurasian lynx returned to the study landscape.
149. Translocation as a Tool for Mitigating Conflict With Leopards | Vidya Athreya et al. | Conservation Biology | 2011
Finds that relocating conflict leopards in India was followed by increased attacks on humans rather than a reduction in conflict.
150. Climate, Season, and Social Status Modulate the Functional Response of Eurasian Lynx | Erlend B. Nilsen et al. | Journal of Animal Ecology | 2009
Shows that lynx kill rates depend on more than prey density, including climate, season, and whether females have kittens.
151. Tigers and Their Prey: Predicting Carnivore Densities From Prey Abundance | K. Ullas Karanth et al. | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | 2004
Demonstrates a strong functional relationship between prey abundance and tiger density across multiple Indian landscapes.
Bears, Dingoes, Wild Dogs, Multi-Predator Systems and Coexistence
152. Why Well-Fed Orphan Bears Can Die After Release Into the Wild | Guardian environment desk | The Guardian | 2026-08-18
Reports research suggesting that overfeeding and inadequate development of natural survival skills can undermine rehabilitation of orphaned grizzly bears.
153. High-Mountain Carnivore Assemblage and Sustainable Conservation | Research team | Sustainability | 2026
Studies a high-altitude predator community containing snow leopards, wolves, foxes, and other carnivores.
154. Quantifying Large Carnivore Predation Relative to Human Harvest on Moose | Research team | Ecological Applications | 2026
Compares mortality from wolves, brown bears, hunters, vehicles, and natural causes in Scandinavian moose populations.
155. Coexistence With Europe's Carnivores Is Possible | Commentary authors | Mongabay | 2025-04
Discusses the remarkable return of wolves and other large carnivores to densely populated European landscapes.
156. Food Resource Competition Between African Wild Dogs and Larger Predators | Research team | Peer-Reviewed Research / PMC | 2024
Examines competition among African wild dogs, lions, leopards, cheetahs, and other predators sharing the same prey base.
157. Livestock Depredation by Large Carnivores and Human-Wildlife Conflict | Research team | Animals | 2024
Investigates livestock losses in an ecosystem shared by wolves, bears, hyenas, jackals, caracals, and people.
158. Australia's Recently Established Predators Restore Complexity to Food Webs Simplified by Extinction | Research team | Current Biology | 2024
Suggests dingoes and other comparatively recent predators have partly reconstructed ecological interactions lost after Australia's megafaunal extinctions.
159. Landscape of Fear or Landscape of Food? Moose Hunting Triggers an Antipredator Response in Brown Bears | Research team | Ecological Applications | 2023
Shows that brown bears alter habitat use when human hunters enter the landscape even when bears themselves are not being targeted.
160. Irrupting Prey Populations in the Absence of a Mammalian Apex Predator | Research team | The Science of Nature | 2022
Examines how dingo suppression can indirectly alter prey availability and prey selection by large predatory birds.
161. As Predators Return to Sweden's Wild, Ecotourism Looks to Change Mindsets | Mongabay staff | Mongabay | 2020-10
Examines how tourism centered on wolves, bears, and lynx may increase the economic value and public acceptance of recovering predators.
162. Individual Variation in Predatory Behavior, Scavenging and Interactions Between Wolves and Bears | Research team | Diversity | 2020
Shows that wolves and bears interact frequently through carcasses even when direct face-to-face encounters between the predators are uncommon.
163. Are We Coexisting With Carnivores in the American West? | Research team | Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution | 2020
Explores competing definitions of coexistence and the debate between protecting predators in wilderness and sharing human-dominated landscapes with them.
164. The Ecology of Human-Carnivore Coexistence | Research team | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | 2020
Uses four decades of brown-bear data to identify behaviors and demographic mechanisms allowing carnivores to persist near people.
165. Removal of an Apex Predator Initiates a Trophic Cascade Extending to Soil Nutrients | Research team | Proceedings of the Royal Society B | 2017
Finds dingo suppression increases kangaroo abundance and can ultimately alter vegetation, soil carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus.
166. Implications of Harvest on the Boundaries of Protected Areas for Large Carnivores | Research team | PLOS ONE | 2016
Examines how hunting and trapping immediately outside protected areas can affect wide-ranging carnivores and wildlife-viewing opportunities inside parks.
167. Shrub Encroachment Is Linked to Extirpation of an Apex Predator | Research team | Journal of Animal Ecology | 2016
Links dingo removal with changes in mesopredators, rabbits, rodents, seed survival, and increased shrub recruitment.
168. Lethal Control of an Apex Predator Has Cascading Effects on Forest Mammals | Research team | Proceedings of the Royal Society B | 2014
Finds dingo control associated with increases in foxes and herbivores, reduced understory vegetation, and declines of small mammals.
169. Top-Predator Control-Induced Trophic Cascades: An Alternative Hypothesis | Research team | Proceedings of the Royal Society B | 2014
Cautions that correlations attributed to dingo trophic cascades can sometimes also be explained by bottom-up ecological processes.
170. Grizzly Bear Predation Links the Loss of Native Trout to Migratory Elk | Arthur D. Middleton et al. | Proceedings of the Royal Society B | 2013
Shows how declining Yellowstone cutthroat trout may push grizzly bears toward greater predation on elk calves.
171. Top Predators as Biodiversity Regulators: The Dingo as a Case Study | Mike Letnic, Euan G. Ritchie and Christopher R. Dickman | Biological Reviews | 2012
Reviews evidence that dingoes can regulate herbivores and mesopredators and thereby influence Australian biodiversity.
172. Human Activity Helps Prey Win the Predator-Prey Space Race | Research team | PLOS ONE | 2011
Shows how prey may exploit areas near people because human activity disproportionately displaces large predators.
Sharks, Killer Whales, and Crocodilians
173. Quantifying the Ecological Role of Crocodiles: A 50-Year Review | Research team | Peer-Reviewed Research / PMC | 2025
Reviews evidence for crocodilians as predators, scavengers, ecosystem engineers, nutrient movers, and regulators of aquatic and terrestrial food webs.
174. Evidence of Cascading Ecosystem Effects Following the Loss of White Sharks | Research team | Frontiers in Marine Science | 2025
Reports ecological changes in False Bay following the disappearance of white sharks, including shifts involving seals, sevengill sharks, and smaller prey.
175. Trophic Cascades and Top-Down Control: Found at Sea | Research team | Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution | 2025
Reviews evidence for predator-driven trophic cascades in marine ecosystems and examines why their strength varies among habitats.
176. Seasonality, Long-Term Trends and Co-Occurrence of Sharks in a Top-Predator Assemblage | Research team | PLOS ONE | 2025
Uses long-term observations to examine how multiple shark species partition habitat and potentially substitute for one another ecologically.
177. What Can We Learn From the Loss of Sharks? | Research team | Trends in Ecology & Evolution | 2025
Discusses how disappearance of white sharks can reorganize marine food webs through increases in mesopredators and changes in prey abundance.
178. Habitat Engineering by an Apex Predator Generates Spatial Trophic Dynamics | Research team | Journal of Animal Ecology | 2025
Finds alligator ponds become increasingly important refuges for fish and alter food-web interactions as Everglades marshes dry.
179. Top Predator Status and Trends: Ecological Implications, Monitoring and Management | Research team | Frontiers in Marine Science | 2024
Reviews the ecological importance, population trends, monitoring methods, and conservation needs of marine top predators.
180. Foraging Behaviour and Ecology of Transient Killer Whales Within a Deep Submarine Canyon | McInnes et al. | PLOS ONE | 2024
Documents killer whales hunting sea lions, seals, dolphins, porpoises, seabirds, and whale calves around Monterey Submarine Canyon.
181. The Effect of Prey Abundance and Fisheries on the Survival of a Marine Apex Predator | Research team | Peer-Reviewed Research / PMC | 2023
Examines how fishing pressure and fluctuations in prey can jointly determine survival prospects for marine apex predators.
182. An Apex Predator Engineers Wetland Food-Web Heterogeneity | Research team | Journal of Animal Ecology | 2023
Shows that American alligators create nutrient-rich ponds that provide habitat and alter plant, invertebrate, and fish communities.
183. Dietary Specialization in Killer Whales Across the North Atlantic | Research team | Journal of Animal Ecology | 2023
Finds remarkable geographic and individual dietary specialization, ranging from fish-eating killer whales to populations consuming seals and other whales.
184. Emerging Insights on Effects of Sharks and Other Top Predators on Coral Reefs | Research team | Peer-Reviewed Research / PMC | 2022
Reviews evidence for shark-driven trophic effects while emphasizing that the ecological roles of reef sharks are more complex than simple apex-predator models suggest.
185. Loss of an Apex Predator in the Wild Induces Physiological and Behavioural Changes in Prey | Research team | Peer-Reviewed Research / PMC | 2022
Provides evidence that predator disappearance can change not only prey abundance and behavior but also their physiological stress responses.
186. Revisiting the Paradigm of Shark-Driven Trophic Cascades in Coral Reef Ecosystems | Research team | Ecology | 2021
Finds limited evidence that reef sharks consistently generate the simple top-down trophic cascades frequently attributed to them.
187. Endangered Predators and Endangered Prey: Seasonal Diet of Southern Resident Killer Whales | Research team | PLOS ONE | 2021
Clarifies seasonal reliance of endangered Southern Resident killer whales on salmon, information critical for evaluating prey limitation.
188. The Ecological Importance of Crocodylians | Research team | Biological Reviews | 2020
Finds that many widely repeated claims about crocodilians as keystone species and ecosystem engineers still need stronger direct evidence.
189. Killer Whales Redistribute White Shark Foraging Pressure on Seals | Research team | Scientific Reports | 2019
Shows that the arrival of killer whales can displace white sharks, dramatically changing where seals experience shark predation.
190. Shark Ecology, the Role of the Apex Predator and Current Conservation Status | Felipe Galván-Magaña et al. | Advances in Marine Biology | 2019
Reviews shark diets and trophic roles while emphasizing that shark species occupy many different positions within marine food webs.
191. The Nutritional Ecology of Marine Apex Predators | Research team | Annual Review of Marine Science | 2019
Argues that understanding marine predators requires examining specific nutrients as well as the total calories contained in prey.
192. Predators Shape Sedimentary Organic Carbon Storage in a Coral Reef Ecosystem | Research team | Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution | 2018
Provides evidence that predator-driven changes in prey behavior can extend beyond population ecology to influence long-term carbon storage in marine sediments.
193. Critical Assessment and Ramifications of a Purported Marine Trophic Cascade | Research team | Scientific Reports / PMC | 2016
Cautions against attributing changes in marine food webs to predator loss without establishing strong evidence for each predator-prey link.
194. Ecosystem Context and Historical Contingency in Apex Predator Recoveries | Research team | Peer-Reviewed Research / PMC | 2016
Explains why restoring an apex predator does not necessarily reverse an ecosystem along the exact path produced by its original disappearance.
195. Spatial Ecology of the American Crocodile in a Tropical Pacific Estuary | Research team | PLOS ONE / PMC | 2016
Uses movement data to examine habitat use by American crocodiles and the spatial requirements of a large semiaquatic apex predator.
196. The Ecological Role of Sharks on Coral Reefs | George Roff et al. | Trends in Ecology & Evolution | 2016
Reviews evidence for reef-shark ecological effects and concludes that many reef sharks function as mesopredators rather than true apex predators.
197. Crossing Latitudes — Long-Distance Tracking of an Apex Predator | Research team | PLOS ONE | 2015
Satellite tracking reveals enormous movements by tiger sharks and demonstrates why conservation of mobile marine predators requires management across political boundaries.
198. Animal-Borne Imaging Reveals the Foraging Behavior of American Alligators | Research team | PLOS ONE | 2014
Crittercam footage reveals previously difficult-to-observe hunting behavior, including differences in attack frequency and success across times of day.
199. White Sharks Scavenging on Whales and Its Potential Role in Shaping Apex-Predator Ecology | Chris Fallows, Austin J. Gallagher and Neil Hammerschlag | PLOS ONE | 2013-04-09
Shows that whale carcasses can provide major feeding opportunities for white sharks and potentially influence migration and social interactions.
200. Linking Killer Whale Survival and Prey Abundance | Research team | Biology Letters / PMC | 2010
Links killer-whale survival to availability of salmon and demonstrates that even apex predators can be strongly limited by prey abundance.
