How and why cognitive phenotypes vary between and within species remain contested. The cognitive demands associated with social interactions and environmental variability are hypothesized to be the predominant factors governing cognitive evolution. However, these factors fail to account for a large fraction of variation in animal cognition. Evidence is accumulating that interactions between predators and prey can drive cognitive evolution, although exploring this link has been constrained by methodological barriers and is often overlooked. In this Perspective, we outline how predator–prey interactions produce cognitive variation and drive cognitive evolution. We formalize this as the predatory intelligence hypothesis (PIH), which posits that the cognitive challenges associated with predator–prey interactions drive a cognitive co-evolutionary arms race between predators and prey, and that the result of this race is bidirectional enhancements across a suite of cognitive traits. We provide a series of predictions based on the PIH, and detail avenues for future research that will help to clarify the role of predation in cognitive evolution. The drivers of cognitive variation remain elusive. In this Perspective, Wooster et al. propose the predatory intelligence hypothesis, positing that the complex interactions between predator and prey promote cognitive variation on individual, developmental and evolutionary levels.

Tree hollows are a critical habitat resource for a vast array of vertebrate species globally; in Australia, they are used by over 300 species of birds, mammals, and reptiles. The decline of hollow-bearing trees due to disturbances like shifting fire regimes has prompted the use of nest boxes as a key conservation intervention. However, despite their widespread application, the efficacy of nest boxes in supporting arboreal mammals, especially in post-fire environments, is not well established. Following the 2019-2020 megafires in Australia, our field experiment evaluated the effectiveness of nest boxes in supporting arboreal mammal recovery. We deployed six nest boxes at each of nine sites (54 in total), including six burnt and three unburnt sites, and compared arboreal mammal activity at these sites with activity at equivalent control sites, which had no nest boxes (six burnt and three unburnt sites). We used baited camera traps to survey arboreal mammal activity 2 months prior to nest box deployment and 24 months post-deployment. We also assessed nest box occupancy by physically checking the boxes, and with camera traps, over 2 years. Nest box cameras showed that boxes were visited as early as 1 month post-deployment, but occupancy was low when nest boxes were first physically checked at 9 months post-deployment (17% in unburnt sites, 0% in burnt sites). At 24 months post-deployment, mean nest box occupancy was 50% in unburnt sites and 61% in burnt sites. The population surveys using baited camera traps revealed a stronger increase in arboreal mammal activity over time at burnt sites without nest boxes compared to those with nest boxes. Conversely, in unburnt sites, activity was steady over time in control sites but increased at nest box sites. Our findings suggest that while nest boxes provided minimal benefit for arboreal mammals within burnt sites, they may benefit populations in adjacent unburnt areas.

For millions of years, predators and their prey have been locked in an evolutionary arms race: adaptive changes in one favor compensatory adaptations in the other. Humans have also been powerful agents of selection, reshaping the distribution of traits in animal populations. These human-induced trait shifts can disrupt predator-prey interactions, with cascading effects on ecological communities and ecosystems. We synthesize emerging evidence demonstrating that anthropogenic pressures alter physical, behavioral, and social traits relevant to predator-prey dynamics. We provide a framework for predicting the outcomes of trait shifts and a roadmap for advancing this emerging field of research. Incorporating human-induced trait changes into interaction models is essential for forecasting and conserving ecological function in a rapidly changing world.

Snakes are experiencing global population decline due to habitat loss, environmental degradation, pollution and climate change, yet effective conservation is often hindered by their cryptic behaviour and low detectability. In this study, we conducted targeted surveys and estimated detection probabilities for the endangered grey snake (Hemiaspis damelii) and two sympatric species, De Vis' banded snake (Denisonia devisi) and curl snake (Suta suta), to inform planning under biodiversity offset schemes, future monitoring and conservation efforts in floodplain ecosystems of the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia. Visual encounter surveys were conducted across 22 transects over 15 consecutive nights, resulting in 140 snake observations, including 15 new H. damelii records. Detection probabilities varied among species, with D. devisi exhibiting the highest detection probability (0.842), followed by H. damelii (0.582) and S. suta (0.430). The mean number of surveys required to detect each species with 95% confidence was two, four and six surveys, respectively. These findings emphasise the need to tailor survey effort to species-specific detection probabilities to avoid false absences and improve the reliability of future surveys and monitoring programmes. We recommend integrating repeat surveys and occupancy modelling into standard monitoring protocols to improve conservation planning and management of threatened snake species. Our approach could be scaled to confirm grey snake presence at proposed development sites under biodiversity offset schemes by trading survey effort with spatial coverage to effectively sample extensive floodplain systems.

Human disturbances are modifying animal behavior in ecosystems worldwide, with the potential to reshape species interactions. For instance, human-induced shifts in diel activity may disrupt the alignment of daily activity patterns between interacting species and destabilize temporal niche partitioning. To test this hypothesis, we leverage a global meta-analysis on the effects of human disturbance on diel activity and overlap of 480 mammalian predator-prey and intraguild predator dyads from 57 studies. We demonstrate that human disturbance has no overall effect on temporal overlap. Instead, the body mass ratios between dominant species and subordinate species shape the influence of human disturbance. When subordinates are larger than dominant species, humans compress the temporal niche (i.e., higher diel overlap), but when dominant species are larger than subordinate species, humans expand the temporal niche (i.e., lower diel overlap). These results suggest that larger bodied mammals "lose" the temporal predator-prey response race under human disturbance, with large predators experiencing less overlap with their prey, and large prey facing more overlap with their predators. As the human footprint expands globally, we can expect continued alterations to the animal temporal niche, with consequences for species interactions, population persistence, community structure, and evolutionary dynamics.

Context Cultural fire has recently been returned to semi-arid grasslands on Dja Dja Wurrung Country in southern Australia. However, its ecological effects on plant species in these modified grasslands have not been previously documented. Aims To assess the response of Maireana species to the return of a cultural fire regime in a long-unburnt grassland. Methods We measured the density, height, and proportion of fruiting of two Maireana species across three fire treatments (burnt twice, burnt four times, and long-unburnt) at a semi-arid grassland in central Victoria, Australia. Data were collected from 10 4-m2 quadrats per treatment. Key results Cultural burning significantly increased the density of two Maireana species compared with the unburnt treatment. For Maireana enchylaenoides, both plant height and fruiting proportion were significantly higher in the burnt treatments than in the unburnt treatment. While Maireana humillima showed no substantial height differences among treatments, the proportion of fruiting individuals was significantly greater in the burnt treatments. Conclusions Cultural fire promotes favourable conditions for Maireana species, enhancing both density and reproductive output. Implications This study has highlighted the potential of cultural fire to support the recovery of native grasslands where First Nations management has been disrupted, increasing native plant species abundance. Contrary to previous assumptions, both Maireana species resprout after fire and thrive under frequent low-intensity burning.

The Action Plan for Australian Lizards and Snakes 2017 summarised results from the first comprehensive assessment of the Australian squamate fauna by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), updating a more precursory assessment in 1993. This review outlines the progress towards achieving the six key recommendations from the 2017 Action Plan. Our review highlights that the conservation of Australian squamates is hampered by a lack of coordinated conservation and recovery plans, inadequate resourcing for taxonomy, management and research, and insufficient monitoring of threatened species. Relative to species with adequate data for conservation assessments, we demonstrate that Data Deficient and Not Evaluated species are substantially more likely to be threatened (5.4 and 3 times more likely, respectively). In total, some 127 Australian squamate species (13.1%) are likely to be threatened based on our collation of information across a range of jurisdictions (IUCN Red List, National, State/Territory), plus incorporation of new empirical data and predictive modelling. The past decade has seen amplification of existing threats (e.g. 2019–2020 Australian megafires), and the emergence and improved understanding of several other threats to Australian squamates. We outline 11 recommendations to improve the conservation status of Australian lizards and snakes. Lizards and snakes are a key component of almost all Australian ecosystems, particularly in tropical, arid and semi-arid environments. Maintaining their diversity and abundance is vital for ecosystem functioning and Australia’s biological and cultural heritage.

Mining reshapes vast areas of Earth’s surface, yet its impact on biodiversity remains poorly understood. Here, we show that mining is listed as a threat to over 12,000 species globally, including nearly 6,000 threatened species. Spatial analyses indicate that 28% of threatened species’ ranges overlap mining areas. More than 100 species have at least 75% of their range overlapping these areas, yet mining is not recognized as a threat in their IUCN assessments. Mining also occurs in areas of unusually high biodiversity, including areas with higher richness of threatened species. This pressure is poised to intensify as new projects targeting critical minerals could expose over 3,000 threatened species to potential future mining, 83% of which lack a mining-threat designation by the IUCN. These findings underscore the urgent need for more comprehensive accounting of mining impacts in conservation planning worldwide.

Fire regimes are shifting worldwide, yet no common framework describes their direction, rate, or ecological effects. We introduce fire-regime velocity, the rate and direction of movement through a multidimensional fire-regime state space. By linking velocity to adaptive responses, the framework can help predict the consequences of fire-regime shifts for population persistence.

Interactions between threatening processes compound and accelerate biodiversity decline. Conservation managers need to understand how co-occurring threats interact and account for such interactions when prioritising when, where and how to manage landscapes to recover declining species. Using the Upper Warren region in south-western Australia as a case study, we develop a framework for identifying optimal fire age classes while also considering predation by introduced red foxes (Vulpes vulpes)-two co-occurring processes affecting the recovery of a threatened faunal community (woylie Bettongia penicillata, chuditch Dasyurus geoffroii, quenda Isoodon fusciventor and numbat Myrmecobius fasciatus). We fitted a multi-species relative abundance model to a dataset from 548 camera trap sites and tested for associations between each species' relative abundance, fox baiting intensity and time since fire. We then used linear programming optimisation to identify the optimal distribution of time since fire values across the study region that maximises the abundance of four focal species under alternative fox baiting intensity and fire severity scenarios. Fire and baiting both influenced the relative abundance of the four species in our study, with fox baiting intensity having a positive association with woylie relative abundance. The optimal distribution of time since fire values across the study region varied with the intensity of fox baiting. The importance of older fire ages increased in some locations when fox baiting intensity was high, but these results were highly uncertain and varied spatially. High fox baiting intensities combined with optimal fire age distributions also led to a higher relative abundance of three focal species overall, namely woylie, quenda and numbat. Synthesis and Applications. Our study demonstrates an end-to-end framework for using field data to derive optimal fire regimes for biodiversity in a way that explicitly acknowledges uncertainty and remains useful for conservation decisions. Approaches such as these are essential for managing ecosystems with compounding threats to biodiversity.

Fire has shaped the evolution of both plants and animals. Animals exposed to fire throughout their evolutionary history are predicted to exhibit behavioural adaptations that enhance survival during fire. Here, we investigated whether Australian sleepy lizards (Tiliqua rugosa), a large skink from fire-prone regions, recognize and respond to cues of fire. Motivated by reports of captive sleepy lizards reacting to smoke, we conducted behavioural trials exposing wild-caught sleepy lizards to the chemosensory (smoke) and auditory (fire sounds) cues of fire. Behavioural analysis revealed that sleepy lizards exhibited increased activity and significantly greater movements in response to smoke than to water vapour. They did not, however, react aversively to auditory cues of fire, suggesting a reliance on chemosensory rather than auditory cues for fire detection. Our findings provide empirical support for the hypothesis that chemosensory cues of fire elicit escape responses in animals from fire-prone regions, suggesting an evolved, likely innate, behavioural adaptation to recognize and respond to fire cues as indicative of a threat. As climate change increases the frequency and intensity of wildfires, understanding how animals perceive and respond to fire will prove crucial for predicting the threat posed by a more fire-prone future.

AimTo compare field-based evidence of plant and animal responses to fire with remotely sensed signals of fire heterogeneity and post-fire biomass recovery.LocationSouth-eastern Australia; New South Wales.Time Period2019-2022.Major Taxa StudiedA total of 982 species of plants and animals, in eight taxonomic groups: amphibians, birds, fish, insects, mammals, molluscs, plants and reptiles.MethodsWe collated 545,223 plant and animal response records from 47 field surveys of 4613 sites that focussed on areas burnt in 2019-2020. For each site, we calculated remotely sensed signals of fire heterogeneity and post-fire biomass recovery, including the delayed recovery index. Meta-regression analyses were conducted separately for species that declined after fire (negative effect sizes) and species that increased after fire (positive effect sizes) for each buffer size (250 m, 500 m, 1 km, 1.5 km, 2 km and 2.5 km radius).ResultsWe found that species exposed to homogenous high-severity fire (i.e., low fire heterogeneity) were more likely to exhibit decreased abundance/occurrence or inhibited recovery. Areas with delayed recovery of biomass also had significant negative on-ground responses, with lower abundance or occurrence in areas where biomass recovery was slower.Main ConclusionsThe fire heterogeneity index and the delayed recovery index are suitable for inclusion in monitoring and reporting systems for tracking relative measures over time, particularly when field survey data is not available at the landscape scales required to support reporting and management decisions. Locations with remotely sensed signals of delayed recovery should be prioritised for protection against further disturbances that may interfere with the recovery process. Research attention must next focus on how cumulative fire heterogeneity patterns of successive fires affect the post-fire recovery dynamics to further inform the application of remote sensing indicators as management tools for biodiversity conservation.

Camera traps are widely used in wildlife research and monitoring, so it is imperative to understand their strengths, limitations, and potential for increasing impact. We investigated a decade of use of wildlife cameras (2012-2022) with a case study on Australian terrestrial vertebrates using a multifaceted approach. We (i) synthesised information from a literature review; (ii) conducted an online questionnaire of 132 professionals; (iii) hosted an in-person workshop of 28 leading experts representing academia, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and government; and (iv) mapped camera trap usage based on all sources. We predicted that the last decade would have shown: (i) exponentially increasing sampling effort, a continuation of camera usage trends up to 2012; (ii) analytics to have shifted from naive presence/absence and capture rates towards hierarchical modelling that accounts for imperfect detection, thereby improving the quality of outputs and inferences on occupancy, abundance, and density; and (iii) broader research scales in terms of multi-species, multi-site and multi-year studies. However, the results showed that the sampling effort has reached a plateau, with publication rates increasing only modestly. Users reported reaching a saturation point in terms of images that could be processed by humans and time for complex analyses and academic writing. There were strong taxonomic and geographic biases towards medium-large mammals (>500g) in forests along Australia's southeastern coastlines, reflecting proximity to major cities. Regarding analytical choices, bias-prone indices still accounted for similar to 50% of outputs and this was consistent across user groups. Multi-species, multi-site and multiple-year studies were rare, largely driven by hesitancy around collaboration and data sharing. There is no widely used repository for wildlife camera images and the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) is the dominant repository for sharing tabular occurrence records. However, the ALA is presence-only and thus is unsuitable for creating detection histories with absences, inhibiting hierarchical modelling. Workshop discussions identified a pressing need for collaboration to enhance the efficiency, quality and scale of research and management outcomes, leading to the proposal of a Wildlife Observatory of Australia (WildObs). To encourage data standards and sharing, WildObs should (i) promote a metadata collection app; (ii) create a tagged image repository to facilitate artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) computer vision research in this space; (iii) address the image identification bottleneck via the use of AI/ML-powered image-processing platforms; (iv) create data commons for detection histories that are suitable for hierarchical modelling; and (v) provide capacity building and tools for hierarchical modelling. Our review highlights that while Australia's investments in monitoring biodiversity with cameras position it to be a global leader in this context, realising that potential requires a paradigm shift towards best practices for collecting, curating, sharing and analysing 'Big Data'. Our findings and framework have broad applicability outside Australia to enhance camera usage to meet conservation and management objectives ranging from local to global scales. This review articulates a country/continental observatory approach that is also suitable for international collaborative wildlife research networks.

Megafires are becoming increasingly common in regions across the globe due to climate change and human activities. This rapid departure from historical fire regimes is creating novel challenges for animal populations, and their ability to persist may depend on fire-driven adaptations. Understanding how species respond and adapt to altered fire regimes is key to their conservation management, but for many species such mechanisms are poorly understood. We focused on the behavioural strategies of a threatened arboreal mammal in response to megafire. Specifically, using GPS collars, we studied the effect of the 2019-20 Australian megafires on the space use and movement behaviour of southern greater gliders (Petauroides volans). We deployed GPS collars on eight animals in burnt forest and seven animals in unburnt forest similar to 31 months after the fires to compare home range size and movement patterns. Our analysis revealed that despite severe habitat disturbance, greater gliders exhibited home range fidelity and their home range size, which averaged 2.06 ha, did not differ between unburnt and burnt sites. However, individuals in burnt forests travelled further within their home ranges compared to those in unburnt forests, and their movements were more direct, rather than convoluted. These changes in movement behaviour demonstrate that greater gliders can exhibit fine-scale behavioural plasticity in response to large-scale habitat disturbance. Our study provides empirical evidence of how a species that is not typically associated with recently burnt vegetation is persisting in severely burnt habitat and may be able to do so by adjusting its movement patterns to meet its resource needs. We show that plasticity can provide some opportunity for adaptation to disturbance, but species that exhibit otherwise fixed behavioural strategies such as home range fidelity, will continue to be challenged by severe and frequent environmental changes. We therefore recommend that conservation efforts for such species prioritise safeguarding unburnt habitat and, where necessary, consider provisioning critical supplementary resources to minimise wildfire impacts.

Fire regimes are shifting around the world due to climate and land-use change, resulting in an increased frequency of large and severe wildfires. However, the impact of extreme wildfire events on animal species remains poorly understood. Particularly lacking is an understanding of how fire affects animal behaviour. By examining how distinct vertebrate groups respond to wildfire, we capture variations in resilience mechanisms that further our understanding of fire ecology and aid conservation strategies in increasingly fire-prone landscapes. Across an area of 180 110 ha, we investigated the effects of the 2019-2020 Australian wildfires on vegetation structure (a proxy for vertebrate habitat), the number of independent detections (as an indicator of abundance), and diel activity of a range of terrestrial animals in eucalypt forests of south-eastern Australia. We examined the influence of fire severity on vegetation structure, using wildlife cameras, animal species abundance, and how burnt or unburnt areas and fire severity affect species' diel activity patterns 20 months post-fire. Areas subject to high severity fires (in comparison to low and moderate severity) had less canopy cover and leaf litter, and higher vegetation cover at measured (0 to > 2 m) understory heights, as well as greater abundance of logs. Fire severity had a limited effect on the abundance of animal species, with differences in abundance observed in eight of 29 species. Greater impact occurred following high severity fire, where 8/29 species were affected, compared to 3/29 in areas burnt at low and moderate severity. However, only 4/29 species (high severity) and 1/29 (low and moderate severity) responded negatively, demonstrating a general resilience among many species to fire. Areas that burnt at high severity had higher introduced mammal richness and reduced native mammal diversity, suggesting the potential for introduced species to establish in severely burnt areas. The diel activity patterns in areas subject to fire differed for seven of 17 species with sufficient data, with these species concentrating their activity during specific times in burnt areas compared to unburnt areas. Such behavioural plasticity may facilitate species persistence in environments modified by fire by allowing species to exploit different resources or minimise predation risk. Understanding how fire affects animal species, including animal behaviour, will be critical as the world's fire regimes continue to change.

Understanding what factors influence species occupancy in human-modified landscapes is a central theme in ecology. This is particularly vital for freshwater semi-aquatic organisms that occupy both terrestrial and aquatic environments that have often undergone severe habitat alteration from flow modification, water abstraction, and human encroachment. A greater understanding of their habitat and hydrological requirements is needed to predict how further changes to freshwater systems will impact their persistence. We identified scale-dependent habitat and hydrological relationships in a semi-aquatic mammal from a highly modified and regulated, inland freshwater ecosystem in south-eastern Australia. We used motion-sensing cameras to collect abundance data on rakali (Hydromys chrysogaster) from 62 sites encompassing multiple aquatic habitat types. Negative binomial N-mixture models were used to determine which habitat and hydrological variables influenced rakali abundance at a site and landscape level. Landsat-derived inundation and vegetation landscape metrics were analysed at two spatial and three temporal scales. We found habitat relationships differed depending on spatial scale. Site habitat characteristics such as dissolved oxygen and bank slope influenced rakali abundance. Landscape-scale variables at finer spatial scales (representative of total home range size), and broader temporal scales (30 years) provided the best models of rakali habitat requirements. The importance of water permanence depended on habitat type, with permanent lotic habitats supporting the largest rakali populations, suggesting this is critical refuge habitat to conserve in dry years. We highlight the importance of measuring features at multiple spatial scales and describe factors that may impact the persistence of freshwater semi-aquatic mammals. Our findings have broad implications for managing wetlands by using environmental water to improve habitat requirements, water permanence and persistence of semi-aquatic mammals in human-modified landscapes.

Context Invasive mammalian predators have caused population declines and extinctions of wildlife worldwide. Many of these species exhibit some form of prey na & iuml;vet & eacute;, which heightens their vulnerability to novel predators. In Australia, introduced feral cats (Felis catus) and red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) have had a particularly negative effect on native fauna, with the impacts of cats on mammals and birds well documented. Although feral cats are known to regularly prey on Australian reptiles, little is known about the behavioural responses of reptiles to cats, including whether native reptiles can recognise cats as a predation risk, and if so, which cues they use.Aims We investigated behavioural responses of two Australian lizard species, the shrubland morethia skink (Morethia obscura) and eastern striped skink (Ctenotus robustus), to the visual cues of feral cats in semiarid, south-eastern Australia.Methods We used arena trials to test lizards for predator recognition by using visual cues of an alien mammal predator (taxidermied cat, Felis catus), a native mammal predator (taxidermied western quoll, Dasyurus geoffroyi) and a mammal non-predator (taxidermied European rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus), as well as a procedural control (bucket) and a negative control (nothing).Key results We found little evidence of behavioural change when lizards were exposed to the taxidermied cat. Morethia obscura basked less when exposed to all treatments and C. robustus increased vigilance when in the presence of the taxidermied cat, but overall responses were similar among treatments.Conclusions Our findings suggest that stationary visual cues of cats do not trigger behavioural responses in these two lizard species.Implications Future research should assess behavioural responses to combinations of cat cues (e.g. movement, scent). Developing a deeper understanding of predator recognition systems and prey na & iuml;vet & eacute; in reptile communities will be crucial for conservation of Australian reptiles that are negatively affected by feral cats.

Context Ecosystem assessment using acoustic monitoring technologies can be an efficient method for determining species community composition and breeding activity, but many factors affect the quality of acoustics-data and subsequent level of confidence in derived inferences. Aims We aimed to assess variability in detection probabilities of five frog species using autonomous recording units (ARUs) deployed across a single 1 km2 wetland, comprising a lagoon and surrounding area, and subsequently determine the required number of ARUs with 95% confidence in derived presence–absence data. Methods Ten ARUs were deployed in two rings around the lagoon’s centroid close to the water’s edge. Occupancy models were used to derive detection probabilities of species calling in the lagoon from data describing the temporal pattern of calling at each site, which were derived using call recognition software. Key results Only two of the five target species were detected by all 10 ARUs. All target species’ non-zero ARU detection probabilities varied by a factor of 14, and the coefficients of variation in individual ARU detection probability for each species varied by a factor of seven. Simulations revealed seven or eight ARUs are required to achieve 95% confidence in confirming presence of either of the two species with the highest observed detection probabilities, given they are present and calling. Even with ten deployed ARUs, the probability of successful detection of the other three species known to be calling on any day was less than 40%. Conclusions Effective detection was not achieved for all targeted species by several ARUs during a period when hydrology and season suited recruitment activity. Despite all ARUs being deployed at locations favourable for detecting targeted species, stochastic factors drove spatial variability in detection resulting in markedly different data for each ARU and each species. Implications Data describing species presence derived from automated recording units may not be representative due to spatiotemporal variability in detection that varies by species. To improve ARU deployment strategies, a priori knowledge of typical detection probabilities and species spatial variability can be used to determine the required number of call recorders for a set level of confidence.

As global agricultural expansion continues, there is little choice but to incorporate modified landscapes into biodiversity conservation efforts. Increasingly available animal movement data can be leveraged to identify important habitat features and assess population connectivity in fragmented landscapes. We use the shingleback lizard (Tiliqua rugosa) as a case study to demonstrate the utility of GPS-telemetry data to inform conservation decisions. We investigated habitat selection at the fine scale (movement step selection), broad scale (home range selection) and simulated movement trajectories to assess landscape-scale movement. We show that patches of remnant vegetation are focal points for fine-scale movement, as well as for potential population connectivity in the broader landscape. However, shingleback lizards also used edge habitats like paddock edges and roadsides, perhaps utilising altered thermoregulatory opportunities, foraging conditions, or resource subsidies. These results underscore the importance of remnant vegetation patches for sustaining movement and gene flow in modified landscapes. Our study demonstrates how movement ecology, including simulated movement trajectories, can inform conservation strategies to mitigate the impacts of habitat destruction and fragmentation on wildlife populations.