This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Feral cats and foxes now roam across almost all of Australia. These predators are a major reason why many species have been driven to extinction.
In response, conservation groups and authorities have turned to safe havens—islands or large fenced-off areas on land. Well-known havens include Newhaven in the Northern Territory and Faure Island off the coast of Western Australia. After feral cats and foxes are removed, authorities can reintroduce endangered native mammals such as bilbies that can live their lives in the wild, rather than in zoos or captive breeding programs.
Many are now flourishing, such as the brush-tailed bettong and greater bilby. These havens have become a powerful tool to pull many mammal species back from the brink. Unfortunately, our new research shows mainland safe havens don't yet offer strong protection for many other groups of animals, such as frogs, reptiles, fish, birds and invertebrates.
Many species from these groups are similarly threatened by introduced predators as well as other invasive threats, from black rats to deadly fungal infections. This is because safe havens are often set up for mammals and don't protect the range of habitats other animal groups need or exclude their specific threats. We will need to create new safe havens for nonmammal species.
We have pinpointed several priority areas on the mainland where future safe havens could extend protection. To test whether safe havens were protecting other animal groups, we examined the known ranges of 123 species of threatened reptiles, amphibians, birds and invertebrates considered highly susceptible to introduced species. We found only two have populations currently inside existing safe havens—the great desert skink and western swamp tortoise.
Some frog and fish species have specific havens, such as breeding sites fenced off to protect them from feral pigs or other threats. Our research shows few current havens are likely to have suitable habitat for our target species in the future. This means our current network of safe havens isn't enough.
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