Cat Gets Its Tern: A Case Study of Predation on a Threatened Coastal Seabird.

Domestic cats have a cosmopolitan distribution, commonly residing in urban, suburban and peri-urban environments that are also critical for biodiversity conservation. This study describes the impact of a desexed, free-roaming cat on the behavior of a threatened coastal seabird, the Australian Fairy Tern, , in Mandurah, south-western Australia. Wildlife cameras and direct observations of cat incursions into the tern colony at night, decapitated carcasses of adult terns, dead, injured or missing tern chicks, and cat tracks and scats around the colony provided strong evidence of cat predation, which led to an initial change in nesting behavior and, ultimately, colony abandonment and the reproductive failure of 111 nests.

Regional differences in the feeding of the ambush predator Neosebastes pandus and comparisons of diets in the Scorpaenidae, Triglidae and Platycephalidae.

This study provides a comprehensive assessment of the dietary composition of the ambush predator Neosebastes pandus and compares the diets of 49 species from 39 studies of three benthic predatory families in the Scorpaeniformes: Scorpaenidae (20 species), Triglidae (19 species) and Platycephalidae (10 species). A total of 275 N. pandus were collected from the west (Rottnest Island) and south (Esperance) coasts of south-western Australia and the percentage frequency and volumetric contribution of the stomach contents identified.