UTAS researcher Dr Matthew Fielding finds quolls and Tasmanian devils needed for ecosystem balance

But as the adored state icon's population continues to decline, introduced species and other scavengers are filling the void.

For Dr Matthew Fielding, it's a warning sign for conservationists, and the message is clear: removing native species risks disrupting Tasmania's delicate ecosystem.

As part of his PhD at the University of Tasmania, Dr Fielding spent several years studying the decline of quoll and Tasmanian devil populations on Flinders and King Island in the Bass Strait.

He said previous studies into shrinking devil populations provided a jumping off point.

"It made me think: what happens when they're completely removed from the ecosystem, what happens if we see them completely go extinct in Tasmania?" he said.

The loss of native quoll and devil species across the Bass Strait islands provided a perfect space to test the question.

With backing from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Dr Fielding's study produced some surprising results.

"What we found was a significant increase in the scavenging behaviour of these remaining scavengers, which are mostly native forest ravens and feral cats," he said.

"We saw that cats actually scavenge at least half of the carcasses that we placed out there in the environment, which is pretty incredible."

Dr Fielding said without the threat of devils encroaching on their food source, feral cats became more dominant.

READ MORE: Celebrity gardener Jamie Durie plans $70m hotel in state's North-West

However, he said there were two potentially negative impacts looming over the results.

"The first is that while the ravens and cats scavenge more on these carcasses - because they had greater access - the carcasses remained for longer in the environment," he said.

Tasmania has a well-documented problem with roadkill and animal carcasses. But a little known part of the story is the role native wildlife play in reducing the amount of dead animals.

This is where Tasmanian devils and quolls step in. Despite their small size, the native carnivores are surprisingly adept at consuming the entire carcass of a dead animal.

It provides an important ecological function, and one that feral cats and ravens are unable to fulfil.

Without the devil or the quoll, Dr Fielding said, half-picked carcasses would persist in the environment.

But he said the second negative impact was slightly more complicated.

On the one hand, as feral cats and ravens became more dominant, there was a chance they would begin to hunt small native bird species, which could in turn reduce native populations.

On the other hand, it could mean the cats and ravens may become reliant on carcasses for food.

Left unchecked, this could create a higher chance of carrion-borne diseases spreading among scavengers.

READ MORE: Farewell Ian Macpherson, a tennis legend and a gentleman

Carnivore loss could have dire consequences for small prey species.

For Dr Fielding, it's a compelling argument for conserving Australia's diverse and unique mammalian carnivores such as the devil, which has experienced declining populations over the past few decades due to devil facial tumour disease and habitat loss.

"What would happen if we put Tasmanian devils or quolls back onto the Bass Strait islands to restore that ecological function that they played on those islands?" he said.

Although there are no certain answers yet, the research is promising that reintroduced native species will restore the ecological balance.

But like so many environmental issues, the answer isn't straightforward, and will require careful planning and execution.

"There is an argument that you could be introducing another product. So a lot of forethought needs to go into the management before we start doing something like that," he said.

"But it's pretty obvious that what we're doing now isn't really working and ideally we could restore habitat that's been lost - but we need new ways of thinking about how we might approach native species management."

READ MORE: Two people rescued after attempting to drive through floodwater in Longford

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: