Foundation species are species that play important roles in structuring ecological communities. Therefore, conservation managers often aim to promote foundation species. However, it can be unclear which features of foundation species ought to be the focus of management. We studied hummock‐forming grasses in the genus Triodia. Triodia grasses are considered foundation species because they create complex structures used by many fauna species. Although conservation managers often aim to promote extent cover of Triodia, this is only likely to be optimal for species most strongly associated with extent cover or other structural features strongly correlated with extent cover. We tested (i) whether ‘extent cover’ is the most appropriate way to characterise Triodia as habitat and (ii) whether fauna are associated with any non‐Triodia structures. We studied the Triodia structure associations of one mammal, two birds and five reptiles associated with Triodia scariosa at 524 sites in the Murray‐Mallee, Australia (Ningaui yvonneae, Amytornis striatus, Stipiturus mallee, Ctenophorus fordi, Ctenotus atlas, Ctenotus inornatus, Delma australis and Delma butleri). We used site‐level presence–absence data and vegetation structure data to compare parsimony of models built using four Triodia structural features: extent cover, mean height, mean width and mean volume. We also included non‐Triodia vegetation structures in the model selection: extent cover of leaf litter, shrubs and trees. We divided structural features related to extent cover into categories according to their heights. One species was most closely associated with mean Triodia height; one species with mean Triodia width and six species with extent cover of Triodia, although here, Triodia height categories differed between species. Five species were also associated with shrubs or trees. Extent cover of Triodia was generally an appropriate measure of Triodia structure. Nevertheless, we found variation between species. When characterising the structure of foundation species, we recommend testing faunal associations with multiple structural features.

中文翻译：

---

所有动物群是否都与基础物种Triodia Scariosa的相同结构特征相关？

基础物种是在构建生态社区中起重要作用的物种。因此，保护​​经理通常旨在推广基础物种。但是，尚不清楚基础物种的哪些特征应成为管理的重点。我们的研究属小丘形成草Triodia。Triodia草被认为是基础物种，因为它们创建了许多动物物种使用的复杂结构。尽管保护管理者通常旨在促进Triodia的覆盖范围，但这仅对与覆盖范围最紧密相关的物种或与覆盖范围最相关的其他结构特征最合适。我们测试了（i）“覆盖范围”是否是表征特征的最合适方法以Triodia作为栖息地，以及（ii）动物群是否与任何非Triodia结构有关。我们研究了Triodia一个哺乳动物，两只小鸟，与相关的5种爬行动物的结构协会Triodia scariosa在默里-马利524点，澳大利亚（里氏袋鼬属yvonneae，Amytornis叶蝉，Stipiturus桉树，Ctenophorus fordi，Ctenotus图谱，Ctenotus inornatus，Delma芦苇和Delma butleri）。我们使用站点级别的存在-缺失数据和植被结构数据来比较使用四个Triodia构建的模型的简约性结构特征：范围覆盖，平均高度，平均宽度和平均体积。我们还在模型选择中包括了非Triodia植被结构：落叶，灌木和树木的覆盖范围。我们根据范围高度将与范围覆盖相关的结构特征分为几类。一种物种与Triodia平均高度最密切相关；一个物种的平均Triodia宽度和六个物种的Triodia覆盖度，尽管在这里Triodia的高度类别在物种之间有所不同。五个物种也与灌木或树木有关。的程度盖Triodia通常是一个适当的措施Triodia结构体。然而，我们发现了物种之间的差异。在表征基础物种的结构时，我们建议测试具有多种结构特征的动物区系。