Research overview: mesopredator release following apex felid decline

An overview of how the loss of large cats such as lions, tigers and pumas can unleash smaller predators with cascading consequences for biodiversity. When apex felids decline, the intermediate carnivores they once killed or intimidated can increase in number, expand their activity and intensify predation on shared prey such as ground-nesting birds, small mammals and reptiles. This survey synthesizes case studies and the general theory of mesopredator release, the conditions that strengthen or buffer it, and why released mesopredators sometimes inflict greater prey mortality than the apex predators they replaced. It connects felid conservation to the regulation of whole carnivore guilds and underscores why restoring large cats can restrain damaging mesopredator outbreaks in fragmented and human-altered landscapes.