PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Erick J. Lundgren
AU  - Daniel Ramp
AU  - Owen M. Middleton
AU  - Mairin Balisi
AU  - William J. Ripple
AU  - Chris D. Hasselerharm
AU  - Jessica N. Sanchez
AU  - Eamonn I. F. Wooster
AU  - Mystyn Mills
AU  - Arian D. Wallach
TI  - Echoes of the late Pleistocene in a novel trophic cascade between cougars and feral donkeys
AID  - 10.1101/2021.04.13.439662
DP  - 2021 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2021.04.13.439662
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/04/14/2021.04.13.439662.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/04/14/2021.04.13.439662.full
AB  - Introduced large herbivores have partly filled ecological gaps formed in the late Pleistocene, when many of the Earth’s megafauna were driven extinct. However, surviving predators are widely considered unable to influence introduced megafauna, leading them to exert unusually strong herbivory and disturbance-related effects. We report on a behaviorally-mediated trophic cascade between cougars (Puma concolor) and feral donkeys (Equus africanus asinus) at desert wetlands in North America. In response to predation of juveniles, donkeys shifted from nocturnal to almost exclusively diurnal, thereby avoiding peaks in cougar activity. Furthermore, donkeys reduced the time they spent at desert wetlands by 87%: from 5.5 hours a day to 0.7 hours at sites with predation. These shifts in activity were associated with increased activity and richness of other mammal species and reduced disturbance and herbivory-related effects on these ecologically-distinct wetland ecosystems, including 49% fewer trails, 35% less trampled bare ground, and 227% more canopy cover. Cougar predation on introduced donkeys rewires an ancient food web, with diverse implications for modern ecosystems.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.