Extending the protection offered by safe haven networks to threatened non-mammalian fauna

A strategy to protect native species from pests is the use of safe havens, such as fenced exclosures. In areas such as Australia, a conservation problem is that havens have primarily been designed to protect native mammals from invasive predators, yet there is an opportunity to protect non-mammal taxa by updating current havens or establishing new havens to protect against a wider variety of pests. We performed species distribution modelling with systematic spatial planning to locate multi-species hotspots representing high value areas for the placement of safe havens on mainland Australia, to showcase how such networks could be updated and expanded to offer representative protection across native animal taxa. Areas were prioritised based on the geographic distribution of non-mammal species susceptible to pests while accounting for climate change. We found that the extent of protection currently conferred to these species is low because few mainland fenced havens contain them or are predicted to contain them under future climate change scenarios. By establishing threat-specific havens within these areas, the capacity of Australia's safe haven network to buffer native species decline will be improved if they are constructed using designs that address specific pest types at the local scale, but which collectively address a diversity of pests at larger spatial scales. Our findings stress the need for systematic and inclusive protection of taxa from a diversity of pests in safe havens robust to future climate change.