{"id":3289,"date":"2023-10-18T17:48:50","date_gmt":"2023-10-18T07:48:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?p=3289"},"modified":"2023-10-14T17:50:35","modified_gmt":"2023-10-14T07:50:35","slug":"artificial-habitat-structures-for-wildlife-conservation-use-with-caution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?p=3289","title":{"rendered":"<strong>Artificial habitat structures for wildlife conservation: use with caution<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>An increase in the use of artificial habitat structures for wildlife species under threat from habitat loss or disturbance is not without risk according to the results of a study published recently in the journal <em>Austral Ecology.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Co-author Tenaya Duncan, a Conservation and Wildlife Biology PhD student at Western Australia\u2019s Murdoch University, said artificial structures could be a double-edged sword unless their use was backed by sound ecological science that considered the design, construction, and positioning of the structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMany of the world\u2019s natural environments have been irreparably modified and damaged, so species have lost critical habitat components they need to survive. Increasingly conservationists and developers seek to supplement these destroyed components with artificial habitat structures that are now used in marine, freshwater and terrestrial environments,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Duncan and her fellow PhD student researchers from Deakin University and the University of Western Australia, found that unless appropriate controls were implemented artificial structures could lead to an increase in predation, as well as exposure to fatal environmental conditions, disease, the spread of invasive species<em>,<\/em> and even a decline in genetic diversity. They can also be embraced as a \u2018greenwashing mechanism\u2019 so unsustainable practices appear to be more environmentally responsible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhile these structures can certainly have positive conservation outcomes and help the recovery of populations, they need to be carefully planned with appropriate knowledge of the critical features animals use to bask, hibernate, reproduce and take refuge from environmental stressors and predators,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition to the appropriate design, construction, and positioning of artificial habitat structures in the landscape the study also found it was essential that wildlife population conservation was properly supported and monitored over the long-term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf done badly, artificial structures may actually facilitate further impingement on natural areas and habitat destruction. Importantly we also mustn\u2019t lose sight of the underlying threats that are causing species decline in the first place. Artificial habitats generally don\u2019t address these underlying threats, and once destroyed, natural habitats take a long time to recover \u2013 if they\u2019re able to recover at all,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anne Layton-Bennett<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u2018The risks and rewards of using artificial habitat structures for wildlife conservation\u2019 is available at doi.org\/10.1111\/aec.13376&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An increase in the use of artificial habitat structures for wildlife species under threat from habitat loss or disturbance is not without risk according to the results of a study published recently in the journal Austral Ecology. Co-author Tenaya Duncan, a Conservation and Wildlife Biology PhD student at Western Australia\u2019s Murdoch University, said artificial structures [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2580,1048,2584,2583,2581,2578,2582,2577,2579],"class_list":["post-3289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-artificial-habitat","tag-biodiversity","tag-conservation-challenges","tag-ecological-science","tag-environmental-impact","tag-habitat-restoration","tag-sustainable-practices","tag-wildlife-conservation","tag-wildlife-management"],"rise-blocks_total_comments":0,"rise-blocks_categories":[{"term_id":5,"name":"News","slug":"news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":5,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":407,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":5,"category_count":407,"category_description":"","cat_name":"News","category_nicename":"news","category_parent":0}],"rise-blocks_excerpt":"An increase in the use of artificial habitat structures for wildlife species under threat from habitat loss or disturbance is not without risk according to the results of a study published recently in the journal Austral Ecology. Co-author Tenaya Duncan, a Conservation and Wildlife Biology PhD student at Western Australia\u2019s Murdoch University, said artificial structures could be a double-edged sword..","blog_post_layout_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":"","full":""},"categories_names":{"5":{"name":"News","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?cat=5"}},"tags_names":{"2580":{"name":"Artificial Habitat","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=artificial-habitat"},"1048":{"name":"biodiversity","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=biodiversity"},"2584":{"name":"Conservation Challenges","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=conservation-challenges"},"2583":{"name":"Ecological Science","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=ecological-science"},"2581":{"name":"Environmental Impact","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=environmental-impact"},"2578":{"name":"Habitat Restoration","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=habitat-restoration"},"2582":{"name":"Sustainable Practices","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=sustainable-practices"},"2577":{"name":"Wildlife Conservation","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=wildlife-conservation"},"2579":{"name":"Wildlife Management","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=wildlife-management"}},"comments_number":"0","wpmagazine_modules_lite_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":"","cvmm-medium":"","cvmm-medium-plus":"","cvmm-portrait":"","cvmm-medium-square":"","cvmm-large":"","cvmm-small":"","full":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3289"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3289\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3290,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3289\/revisions\/3290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}