Successful management of animal communities depends on understanding what features of the environment allow populations to persist. We examined spatial mosaics of animal communities in semiarid Australia and found that spiders and lizards were more abundant where cover of woody vegetation was relatively high, but other taxa were not linked to vegetation cover. Thus, preserving woody vegetation is important for conserving some taxa. Environmental features important for other taxa need to be identified for management consideration. Photograph by L. Schwanz.