Search

Urbanization is one of the biggest global threats to biodiversity. However, urban areas can offer opportunities for biodiversity conservation because of the assortment of resources and numerous taxa that occur in these habitats. While the use of gardens by animals is well documented, the ability of native fauna to exclusively use (i.e. reside in) them is largely uninvestigated and therefore constrains our current understanding of their conservation 'value'. We aimed to determine whether individuals of a threatened species can exclusively reside in gardens for several months of their life, and the frequency that novel resources (i.e. non‐natural) are used compared to natural ones. We predicted that individuals captured in gardens would use both bushland and residential habitat, and use natural resources more frequently than novel resources because of the assumption that remnant habitat is more suitable than modified gardens. Using the Critically Endangered western ringtail possum (Pseudocheirus occidentalis) as a case study, we captured 20 individuals in gardens and radio‐tracked them for a period of 95 ± 3.3 days to determine their habitat use. Contrary to our predictions, for the duration of our study individuals exclusively resided within gardens, irrespective of proximity to bushland, and used novel resources more frequently than natural resources for all behaviours. We also found that over half (53%) of all the captured female possums had pouch young, and at the conclusion of the study, male possums were on average 43 g heavier. Our results exemplify that gardens can be of sufficient quality to support individuals, and that these modified habitats should be incorporated into conservation policy in urban landscapes. Given the extensive number of threatened species located within cities globally, our finding that a threatened species can reside exclusively within gardens further highlights the conservation opportunity that residential landscapes and cities offer wildlife. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Remnant natural habitat is assumed critical for supporting threatened animals within urban landscapes because these species generally have specific habitat requirements and typically respond poorly to anthropogenic disturbances. However, evidence that demonstrates some threatened species can occur, persist and even prosper in highly modified areas with seemingly little dependence on remnant vegetation challenges the role remnant vegetation is perceived to play in sustaining threatened species in urban landscapes. In this study, we tested the assumption that the presence of a threatened species in modified areas of an urban environment was dependent on remnant vegetation using the Critically Endangered western ringtail possum (Pseudocheirus occidentalis) as a case study. We predicted that the presence of possums in highly modified habitats would be positively correlated with proximity to remnant vegetation. Using spotlight surveys of 195 transects to determine species occurrence on residential streets, we found that the presence of the western ringtail possum was not related to remnant vegetation within the immediate surrounds, nor the distance from remnant habitats (neither large nor small). Our results promote the suggestion that highly modified habitats in urban landscapes can contribute conservation outcomes and that their potential role in wildlife conservation warrants serious consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recovery plans are the main tool used for restoration of threatened species in Australia, and identification of key threatening processes is an important feature of them. The aim of this study was to identify how climate change can be incorporated into the recovery planning process using a case study of threatened vertebrates in a global biodiversity hotspot, southwestern Australia. Analysis of 79 recovery planning documents for threatened vertebrate species in the region found that prior to the year 2004, climate change was not included as a threatening process. Post 2004, 32 of 54 (59.3%) documents included climate change as a threatening process. Using bioclimatic modelling, 43 of these species were ranked in terms of their potential exposure to climate change, and a gradient of management intervention aimed at mitigating their exposure to climate change was proposed. This intervention gradient ranged from active management actions aimed at species potentially at risk of extinction due to climate change, through to preservation of habitat in species predicted to lose between 0 and 25% of their current population size. It was proposed that as a priority, the recovery documentation of the 20 species predicted to be most at risk and thus needing a high level of management intervention should identify climate change as a key threatening process, and that more comprehensive analyses of climate change vulnerability be undertaken for these species. Such an approach aimed at prioritising climate change mitigation in threatened species would be useful for other regions where it has been predicted that climate change could have a negative impact on biodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]