A prevailing view in dryland systems is that mammals are constrained by the scarcity of fertile soils and primary productivity. An alternative view is that predation is a primary driver of mammal assemblages, especially in Australia, where 2 introduced mesopredators—feral cat (Felis catus) and red fox (Vulpes vulpes) —are responsible for severe declines of dryland mammals. We evaluated productivity and predation as drivers of...

By 2050, 70% of the world's population will live in urban areas. In many cases urbanization reduces the richness and abundance of native species. Living in highly modified environments with fewer opportunities to interact directly with a diversity of native species may adversely affect residents’ personal well‐being and emotional connection to nature. We assessed the personal well‐being, neighborhood well‐being (a measure of a...

Aim To test six hypotheses that could explain or mediate the positive correlation between human population density (HPD) and bird species richness while controlling for biased sampling effort. These hypotheses were labelled as follows: productivity (net primary productivity, NPP); inherent heterogeneity (diversity of vegetation types); anthropogenic heterogeneity (diversity of land uses); conservation policy (proportion of con...

The management of landscapes for biological conservation and ecologically sustainable natural resource use are crucial global issues. Research for over two decades has resulted in a large literature, yet there is little consensus on the applicability or even the existence of general principles or broad considerations that could guide landscape conservation. We assess six major themes in the ecology and conservation of landscap...

Aim In this study, I determine the relationships between net primary productivity (NPP), human population density, species richness and land use. I also examine the implications of human settlement patterns for species conservation. Location Australia. Methods I document the associations between NPP, human population density and the species richness of birds, butterflies and mammals using correlations and spatial regressions....