Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Large carnivore science: non-experimental studies are useful, but experiments are better

June 16, 2017

We recently described the following six interrelated issues that justify
questioning some of the discourse about the reliability of the literature on the
ecological roles of large carnivores (Allen et al. In press):
1. The overall paucity of available data,
2. The reliability of carnivore population sampling techniques,
3. The general disregard for alternative hypotheses to top-down forcing,
4. The lack of applied science studies,
5. The frequent use of logical fallacies,
6. The generalisation of results from relatively pristine systems to those
substantially altered by humans.

Publication Year 2017
Title Large carnivore science: non-experimental studies are useful, but experiments are better
DOI 10.1016/j.fooweb.2017.06.002
Authors Benjamin L. Allen, Lee R. Allen, Henrik Andrén, Guy Ballard, Luigi Boitani, Richard M. Engeman, Peter J. S. Fleming, Adam T. Ford, Peter M. Haswell, Rafał Kowalczyk, John D. C. Linnell, L. David Mech, Daniel M. Parker
Publication Type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Series Title Food Webs
Index ID 70189224
Record Source USGS Publications Warehouse
USGS Organization Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center