ANOVA F-values for reptile abundance, species richness, diversity and evenness, and individual species abundances showing responses to vegetation type, fire age and the interaction of vegetation type and fire age.

<p>Significant values are in bold (* <i>P</i><0.5, ** <i>P</i><0.01). Letters beside significant values indicate results from post-hoc Tukey HSD tests for vegetation type (B = banksia, M = melaleuca) and fire age category (O = old, >16 YSLF; Y = young, <11 YSLF).</p

GAM relationships for reptile abundance and and the abundance of <i>C. buchanni</i> with time since last fire, reptile species number, and the abundance of <i>M. obscura</i> and <i>M. greyii</i> with vegetation cover, and <i>M. greyii</i> with sqrt-transformed litter depth.

<p>Adjusted r² values are plotted for all relationships. Values for the abundance of reptiles and species number are rescaled values based on the standardised sqrt-transformed abundance/species number per 10 trap nights.</p

NMDS ordination (Sorensen distance measure) on the assemblage of reptiles.

<p>a) NMDS ordination of 21 reptile species at 30 sites of differing habitat (melaleuca vs banksia) and fire age (old versus young). The ordination is in two dimensions (stress = 0.193), with axis 1 and 2 cumulatively representing 75% variance (r² = 0.441 and 0.310 respectively). b) Correlations of species and habitat variables (r²>0.2) with NMDS ordination.</p

Fauna survey sites in the remnant vegetation extent surrounding Perth, Western Australia.

<p>Fauna survey sites in the remnant vegetation extent surrounding Perth, Western Australia.</p

ANOVA F-values for plant taxa number, microhabitat variables and vertical vegetation density showing responses to vegetation type, fire age and the interaction of vegetation type and fire age.

<p>Significant values are indicated (* <i>P</i><0.5, ** <i>P</i><0.01) and values approaching significance are identified (∧ 0.06><i>P</i>≥0.05). Letters beside significant values indicate results from post-hoc Tukey HSD tests for vegetation type (B = banksia, M = melaleuca) and fire age category (O = old, >16 YSLF; Y = young, <11 YSLF).</p

GAM relationships for the abundance of <i>C. adelaidensis</i> with time since last fire and bareground cover, and <i>M. obscura</i> with time since last fire in banksia woodlands.

<p>Adjusted r² values are plotted for all relationships. Values for the abundance of reptiles are the rescaled values based on the standardised sqrt-transformed abundance per 10 trap nights.</p

Significant differences in reptile species number and reptile abundances for habitat and fire age categories.

<p>Mean (per 10 trap nights ±95%CI) a) reptile species number b) reptile abundance and c) – e) selected individual species abundances between banksia and melaleuca habitats and f) abundance of <i>Menetia greyii</i> in old and young fire age categories.</p

Top-ranking generalised additive models (GAM) for reptile response variables with time since last fire (YSLF) and microhabitat variables within each vegetation type.

<p>Only the models with a ΔAICc<2 and an adjusted r²>0.10 are shown. Variables detected for each model are indicated with an ‘X’. Microhabitat variables include: YSLF = years since last fire, Veg = vegetation cover and Bare = bareground cover.</p

GAM relationships between time since last fire and five microhabitat variables within each vegetation type.

<p>Adjusted r² values are plotted for all relationships. Values for microhabitat variables have been rescaled.</p

Demographic and genetic viability of a medium-sized ground-dwelling mammal in a fire prone, rapidly urbanizing landscape

<div><p>The rapid and large-scale urbanization of peri-urban areas poses major and complex challenges for wildlife conservation. We used population viability analysis (PVA) to evaluate the influence of urban encroachment, fire, and fauna crossing structures, with and without accounting for inbreeding effects, on the metapopulation viability of a medium-sized ground-dwelling mammal, the southern brown bandicoot (<i>Isoodon obesulus</i>), in the rapidly expanding city of Perth, Australia. We surveyed two metapopulations over one and a half years, and parameterized the PVA models using largely field-collected data. The models revealed that spatial isolation imposed by housing and road encroachment has major impacts on <i>I</i>. <i>obesulus</i>. Although the species is known to persist in small metapopulations at moderate levels of habitat fragmentation, the models indicate that these populations become highly vulnerable to demographic decline, genetic deterioration, and local extinction under increasing habitat connectivity loss. Isolated metapopulations were also predicted to be highly sensitive to fire, with large-scale fires having greater negative impacts on population abundance than small-scale ones. To reduce the risk of decline and local extirpation of <i>I</i>. <i>obesulus</i> and other small- to medium-sized ground-dwelling mammals in urbanizing, fire prone landscapes, we recommend that remnant vegetation and vegetated, structurally-complex corridors between habitat patches be retained. Well-designed road underpasses can be effective to connect habitat patches and reduce the probability of inbreeding and genetic differentiation; however, adjustment of fire management practices to limit the size of unplanned fires and ensure the retention of long unburnt vegetation will also be required to ensure persistence. Our study supports the evidence that in rapidly urbanizing landscapes, a pro-active conservation approach is required that manages species at the metapopulation level and that prioritizes metapopulations and habitat with greater long-term probability of persistence and conservation capacity, respectively. This strategy may help us prevent future declines and local extirpations, and currently relatively common species from becoming rare.</p></div