TY - JOUR
T1 - An underrated habitat
T2 - Residential gardens support similar mammal assemblages to urban remnant vegetation
AU - Van Helden, Bronte E.
AU - Close, Paul G.
AU - Stewart, Barbara A.
AU - Speldewinde, Peter C.
AU - Comer, Sarah J.
PY - 2020/10
Y1 - 2020/10
N2 - Urban environments offer substantial opportunities for wildlife conservation as they commonly overlap the distribution of native species and comprise structurally complex and diverse habitats. Conservation strategies within urban environments currently focus on enhancing or maintaining natural remnant vegetation despite the variety of smaller greenspaces that are known to support wildlife. Residential gardens in particular comprise a major component of the total greenspace in urban areas and offer numerous resources that can be used by multiple taxa, and may therefore represent an important, yet unrealised opportunity for conservation. In this study we aimed to further the understanding of the potential value of gardens for biodiversity conservation by comparing the diversity, presence, abundance and reproductive activity of mammals in gardens to natural urban bushland remnants. We demonstrate that gardens support a similar diversity of native mammals as urban bushland and that the presence, abundance and reproductive activity for most native mammals was similar in both bushland and gardens. With the exception of domestic pets, the presence and abundance of introduced species was not higher in gardens compared to urban bushland. Our study highlights that the potential role of residential gardens for biodiversity conservation should not be overlooked. Given that novel urban ecosystems will continue to expand, inclusion of gardens in wildlife conservation and management actions is likely to greatly increase our ability to conserve wildlife in urban habitats.
AB - Urban environments offer substantial opportunities for wildlife conservation as they commonly overlap the distribution of native species and comprise structurally complex and diverse habitats. Conservation strategies within urban environments currently focus on enhancing or maintaining natural remnant vegetation despite the variety of smaller greenspaces that are known to support wildlife. Residential gardens in particular comprise a major component of the total greenspace in urban areas and offer numerous resources that can be used by multiple taxa, and may therefore represent an important, yet unrealised opportunity for conservation. In this study we aimed to further the understanding of the potential value of gardens for biodiversity conservation by comparing the diversity, presence, abundance and reproductive activity of mammals in gardens to natural urban bushland remnants. We demonstrate that gardens support a similar diversity of native mammals as urban bushland and that the presence, abundance and reproductive activity for most native mammals was similar in both bushland and gardens. With the exception of domestic pets, the presence and abundance of introduced species was not higher in gardens compared to urban bushland. Our study highlights that the potential role of residential gardens for biodiversity conservation should not be overlooked. Given that novel urban ecosystems will continue to expand, inclusion of gardens in wildlife conservation and management actions is likely to greatly increase our ability to conserve wildlife in urban habitats.
KW - Conservation
KW - Gardens
KW - Mammals
KW - Novel ecosystems
KW - Urban ecology
KW - Urbanization
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85090401475&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108760
DO - 10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108760
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85090401475
SN - 0006-3207
VL - 250
JO - Biological Conservation
JF - Biological Conservation
M1 - 108760
ER -