Artificial refuges to combat habitat loss for an endangered marsupial predator: how do they measure up?

One technique used to combat the growing global species extinction crisis has been to create artificial refuges—human-made replacements for natural refuges destroyed during habitat modification. However, there is limited knowledge of how closely artificial refuges replicate the natural refuges they seek to replace. Mining threatens many species worldwide through large-scale habitat modification, and artificial refuges have been proposed as a method to offset the resulting habitat loss. Here, we examined the microclimatic, physical, and biotic characteristics of natural dens occupied by the northern quoll (Dasyurus hallucatus)—an endangered marsupial threatened by habitat loss—and compared these to 1) superficially similar unoccupied crevices, and 2) artificial dens created by mining companies for northern quolls. Northern quolls occupied natural dens that were cooer and deeper than unoccupied crevices, likely to avoid lethal air temperatures as well as predators. Artificial dens provide...