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Published VersionCC BY V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
Habitat structure and connectivity underpin bright spots for terrestrial fauna in urban coastal wetlands
Urban Ecosystems, Vol.29(2), pp.1-15
2026
Abstract
Coastal wetlands and their terrestrial fauna inhabitants are threatened globally by urbanisation despite the fundamental ecosystem services and habitats they provide. The reduction of sizeable, connected habitat from urbanisation plus habitat colonisation by pests, threaten native fauna in coastal regions. Consequently, identifying the drivers of quality habitat for native fauna in urban coastal wetlands is crucial in conserving valuable habitats for ecological bright spots, and highlighting habitats in need of active pest interventions. We tested a suite of spatial (i.e. connectivity within habitats and with urban areas) and habitat structure drivers on the terrestrial vertebrate assemblages of coastal wetlands in the North Pine River, Queensland, Australia. Connectivity with saltmarsh and three habitat structure variables (i.e. canopy cover < 20%, native understory richness between 1 and 2 species, and invasive tree richness between 1 and 2 species) were central in determining ecological bright spots, that is areas with higher than predicted native fauna and lower than predicted pest fauna. Across all four bright spot metrics (i.e. native fauna richness and abundance, and pest fauna richness and abundance), sites most commonly performed as predicted (87%), followed by bright spots (67%), then management areas (58%). Interestingly, no urban metrics were significant in determining bright spots for fauna, reflecting the resilience of terrestrial fauna even in urban areas. Our results do not dilute the negative impacts of urbanisation but rather highlight the necessity of conserving and maintaining connected and structurally appropriate coastal wetlands in urban landscapes for native terrestrial fauna.
Details
- Title
- Habitat structure and connectivity underpin bright spots for terrestrial fauna in urban coastal wetlands
- Authors
- Caitlin S. Willis (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and EngineeringErin K. Wills - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and EngineeringBen L. Gilby - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and Engineering
- Publication details
- Urban Ecosystems, Vol.29(2), pp.1-15
- Publisher
- Springer New York LLC
- Date published
- 2026
- DOI
- 10.1007/s11252-026-01926-4
- ISSN
- 1573-1642
- Copyright note
- This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
- Data Availability
- No datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.
- Organisation Unit
- Graduate Research School; School of Science, Technology and Engineering
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991210047302621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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- Biodiversity Conservation
- Ecology
- Environmental Sciences
- Urban Studies
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Source: InCites