Smith Kiarrah J, Evans Maldwyn J, Gordon Iain J, Pierson Jennifer C, Stratford Simon, Manning Adrian D
Fenner School of Environment and Society, The Australian National University, Acton, ACT 2601 Australia.
Department of Ecosystem Studies, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
Biodivers Conserv. 2023;32(1):203-225. doi: 10.1007/s10531-022-02495-6. Epub 2022 Nov 12.
In response to the ongoing decline of fauna worldwide, there has been growing interest in the rewilding of whole ecosystems outside of fenced sanctuaries or offshore islands. This interest will inevitably result in attempts to restore species where eliminating threats from predators and competitors is extremely challenging or impossible, or reintroductions of predators that will increase predation risk for extant prey (i.e., coexistence conservation). We propose 'Mini Safe Havens' (MSHs) as a potential tool for managing these threats. Mini Safe Havens are refuges that are permanently permeable to the focal species; allowing the emigration of individuals while maintaining gene flow through the boundary. Crucial to the effectiveness of the approach is the ongoing maintenance and monitoring required to preserve a low-to-zero risk of key threats within the MSH; facilitating in-situ learning and adaptation by focal species to these threats, at a rate and intensity of exposure determined by the animals themselves. We trialled the MSH approach for a pilot reintroduction of the Australian native New Holland mouse (), in the context of a trophic rewilding project to address potential naïveté to a reintroduced native mammalian predator. We found that mice released into a MSH maintained their weight and continued to use the release site beyond 17 months (525 days) post-release. In contrast, individuals in temporary soft-release enclosures tended to lose weight and became undetectable approximately 1-month post-release. We discuss the broad applicability of MSHs for population recovery and reintroductions 'beyond-the-fence' and recommend avenues for further refinement of the approach.
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10531-022-02495-6.
鉴于全球范围内动物群数量持续下降，人们对围栏保护区或近海岛屿之外的整个生态系统进行野化的兴趣与日俱增。这种兴趣不可避免地会导致在消除捕食者和竞争者威胁极具挑战性或根本无法实现的情况下尝试恢复物种，或者重新引入会增加现存猎物被捕食风险的捕食者（即共存保护）。我们提出“迷你安全避难所”（MSHs）作为应对这些威胁的潜在工具。迷你安全避难所是对目标物种永久开放的庇护所；允许个体迁出，同时通过边界维持基因流动。该方法有效性的关键在于持续维护和监测，以保持迷你安全避难所内关键威胁的风险处于低至零水平；促进目标物种以动物自身决定的暴露速率和强度就地学习并适应这些威胁。在一个营养野化项目的背景下，我们对澳大利亚本土的新荷兰鼠（）进行了试点重新引入试验，以应对其对重新引入的本土哺乳动物捕食者可能存在的天真无知。我们发现，被放入迷你安全避难所的小鼠体重保持稳定，并且在放归后17个月（525天）之后仍继续使用放归地点。相比之下，放置在临时软放归围栏中的个体往往体重下降，并且在放归后约1个月就无法被发现了。我们讨论了迷你安全避难所对于种群恢复和 “围栏外” 重新引入的广泛适用性，并推荐了进一步完善该方法的途径。
在线版本包含可在10.1007/s10531-022-02495-6获取的补充材料。
