Generating conservation kernels to select areas to control red fox (Vulpes vulpes): Potential implications for pest management practice in state forests

Summary In Australia, controlling introduced predators across large areas is unlikely to be successful without careful consideration of the predator's ecology, the economics of the control exercise and the distribution of the taxa to be protected from the predator. Inadequate strategic planning in pest control is commonplace and there is a need for better methods for determining where, when and how to control predators. The present paper describes a method (currently being introduced into planning programmes) of using areas of high prey species integrity (conservation kernels) to identify strategically optimal areas for predator control (particularly Red Fox, Vulpes vulpes ), across broad landscapes. These landscapes are selected using a geographical information system and a combination of predictive habitat models and records of threatened species at risk of predation by the Red Fox, to identify sites of biological wealth. We propose this method as a first step in developing a strategic predator control plan.