The researchers found that vegetation inside the fence — that is, areas without dingoes — had poorer long-term growth than vegetation in areas with dingoes.
“Dingoes indirectly affect vegetation by controlling numbers of kangaroos and small mammals,” said Professor Mike Letnic, senior author of the study and researcher at UNSW’s Centre for Ecosystem Science.
“When dingoes are removed, kangaroo numbers increase, which can lead to overgrazing.
“This has follow-on effects to the entire ecosystem.”
The Dingo Fence — which spans across parts of Queensland, NSW and South Australia — was built in the 1880s to keep dingoes away from livestock.
At 5600 kilometres long, it’s one of the longest structures in the world.
Up until now, most dingo research has been site-based or conducted using drone imagery.
But NASA and the United States Geological Survey’s Landsat program — which has been taking continuous images of the area since 1988 — has made landscape-wide analysis possible.
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