Journal
CONSERVATION BIOLOGY
Volume 31, Issue 5, Pages 1029-1038Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/cobi.12922
Keywords
invasive alien species; population viability; predator exclusion fence; spatial optimization; translocation
Funding
- National Environment Research Program (NERP) Environmental Decisions Hub
- Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions, Australian Research Council
- ARC Future Fellowships
- ARC DECRA [DE130100572]
- Australian Research Council [DE130100572] Funding Source: Australian Research Council
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Conservation fences are an increasingly common management action, particularly for species threatened by invasive predators. However, unlike many conservation actions, fence networks are expanding in an unsystematic manner, generally as a reaction to local funding opportunities or threats. We conducted a gap analysis of Australia's large predator-exclusion fence network by examining translocation of Australian mammals relative to their extinction risk. To address gaps identified in species representation, we devised a systematic prioritization method for expanding the conservation fence network that explicitly incorporated population viability analysis and minimized expected species' extinctions. The approach was applied to New South Wales, Australia, where the state government intends to expand the existing conservation fence network. Existing protection of species in fenced areas was highly uneven; 67% of predator-sensitive species were unrepresented in the fence network. Our systematic prioritization yielded substantial efficiencies in that it reduced expected number of species extinctions up to 17 times more effectively than ad hoc approaches. The outcome illustrates the importance of governance in coordinating management action when multiple projects have similar objectives and rely on systematic methods rather than expanding networks opportunistically.
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