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The Conversation

Benjamin Allen

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Wildlife ecologist, University of Southern Queensland

I've been involved with wildlife management and research since I was a child, and have been employed in the private and public sectors primarily as a dingo ecologist, conservationist and manager for over 10 years. I am a Vice-chancellors Research Fellow at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ), an adjunct lecturer with the University of Queensland (UQ), and am the Vice-president of the Australasian Wildlife Management Society (AWMS). I investigate practical solutions to a variety of complex dingo management problems around Australia and internationally, often in livestock grazing systems and peri-urban areas.

Current research areas include:
 Ecology and management of wild dogs in peri-urban areas
 Ecology of watermice in mangrove communities
 Ecology and management of dingoes on Fraser Island
 Vertebrate biocontrol of feral goats on tropical offshore islands
 Eradication of vertebrate pests and reintroduction of threatened fauna on conservation-fenced livestock production lands
 Ecology and management of stray dogs and their diseases in rural and remote indigenous communities across Australia and southeast Asia

I have a keen interest in dingoes generally, and have published a wide variety of journal articles, book chapters, technical reports and education materials on dingo conservation, control and management.

Experience

  • 2015–present
    Vice-chancellors Research Fellow, University of Southern Queensland, Institute for Agriculture and the Environment
  • 2005–2015
    Dingo ecologist, University of Queensland

Education

  • 2015 
    The University of Queensland, Doctor of Philosophy - Dingo ecology
  • 2005 
    The University of Queensland, Applied Science - Wildlife Biology

Publications

  • 2016
    Insects for breakfast and whales for dinner: the diet and body condition of dingoes on Fraser Island (K‘gari), Scientific Reports
  • 2016
    Diet of dingoes and other wild dogs in peri-urban areas of north-eastern Australia, Scientific Reports
  • 2016
    The distribution and density of water mice (Xeromys myoides) in the Maroochy River of southeast Queensland, Australia, PLOS ONE
  • 2016
    Guardian dogs protect sheep by guarding sheep, not by establishing territories and excluding predators, Animal Production Science
  • 2016
    From den to dust: longevity of three dingoes (Canis lupus dingo) on Fraser Island (K'gari), Australian Mammalogy
  • 2015
    Balancing dingo conservation with human safety on Fraser Island: the numerical and demographic effects of humane destruction of dingoes, Australasian Journal of Environmental Management
  • 2015
    Top-predator control-induced trophic cascades: an alternative hypothesis to the conclusion of Colman et al. (2014), Proceedings of the Royal Society B
  • 2015
    More buck for less bang: reconciling competing wildlife management interests in agricultural food webs, Food Webs
  • 2015
    Dingoes are a major causal factor for the decline and distribution of sheep in Australia, Australian Veterinary Journal
  • 2014
    Interactions between two naturalised invasive predators in Australia: are feral cats suppressed by dingoes?, Biological Invasions
  • 2014
    Management of wild canids in Australia: free-ranging dogs and red foxes, Carnivores in Australia: past, present and future
  • 2014
    Reply to the criticism by Johnson et al. (2014) on the report by Allen et al. (2013), Frontiers in Zoology
  • 2014
    The (non)effects of lethal population control on the diet of Australian dingoes, PLOS ONE
  • 2014
    Sympatric prey responses to lethal top-predator control: predator manipulation experiments, Frontiers in Zoology
  • 2014
    Does lethal control of top-predators release mesopredators? A re-evaluation of three Australian case studies, Ecological Management and Restoration
  • 2013
    Dingoes at the doorstep: preliminary data on the ecology of dingoes in urban areas, Landscape and Urban Planning
  • 2013
    As clear as mud: a critical review of evidence for the ecological roles of Australian dingoes, Biological Conservation
  • 2013
    Cautionary considerations for positive dingo management: a response to the Johnson and Ritchie critique of Fleming et al. (2012) , Australian Mammalogy
  • 2013
    The influence of dingoes on sheep distribution in Australia, Australian Veterinary Journal
  • 2013
    Intraguild relationships between sympatric predators exposed to lethal control: predator manipulation experiments, Frontiers in Zoology
  • 2013
    The short-term effects of a routine poisoning campaign on the movement behaviour and detectability of a social top-predator, Environmental Science and Pollution Research
  • 2012
    The effects of lethal control on the conservation values of Canis lupus dingo, Wolves: Biology, behavior, and conservation
  • 2012
    Scat happens: spatiotemporal fluctuation in dingo scat collection rates, Australian Journal of Zoology
  • 2012
    Do desert dingoes drink daily? Visitation rates at remote waterpoints in the Strzelecki Desert, Australian Mammalogy
  • 2012
    Assessing predation risk to threatened fauna from their prevalence in predator scats: dingoes and rodents in arid Australia, PLoS ONE
  • 2012
    Seven considerations about dingoes as biodiversity engineers: the socio-ecological niches of dogs in Australia, Australian Mammalogy
  • 2012
    Reintroducing the dingo: the risk of dingo predation to threatened vertebrates of Western New South Wales, Wildlife Research
  • 2012
    Top-predators as biodiversity regulators: contemporary issues affecting knowledge and management of dingoes in Australia, Biodiversity enrichment in a diverse world
  • 2011
    Additional records of small mammals in northern South Australia, Australian Mammalogy
  • 2011
    Wild dogma II: The role and implications of wild dogma for wild dog management in Australia, Current Zoology
  • 2011
    Wild dogma I: An examination of recent “evidence” for dingo regulation of invasive mesopredator release in Australia, Current Zoology
  • 2011
    A comment on the distribution of historical and contemporary livestock grazing across Australia: Implications for using dingoes for biodiversity conservation, Ecological Management and Restoration
  • 2010
    Did dingo control cause the elimination of kowaris through mesopredator release effects? A response to Wallach and O’Neill (2009), Animal Biodiversity and Conservation
  • 2010
    Skin and bone: Observations of dingo scavenging during a chronic food shortage, Australian Mammalogy

Professional Memberships

  • National Wild Dog Management Advisory Group (2008-2012)
  • Australasian Wildlife Management Society (2008-Present; Vice-president)
  • Ecological Society of America (2014-Present)
  • Food Webs (2014-Present; Editorial Board)