Aboriginal Cultures in the Wet Tropics

2009 ◽  
pp. 59-70
Author(s):  
Sandra Pannell
Keyword(s):  
Wet Tropics

scholarly journals Determinants of bird assemblage composition in riparian vegetation on sugarcane farms in the Queensland Wet Tropics

2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anita F. Keir ◽  
Richard G. Pearson ◽  
Robert A. Congdon
Keyword(s):  
Riparian Vegetation ◽  
Wildlife Conservation ◽  
Agricultural Landscape ◽  
Riparian Zone ◽  
Riparian Forest ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Generalist Species ◽  
Assemblage Composition ◽  
Bird Assemblages ◽  
Wet Tropics

Remnant habitat patches in agricultural landscapes can contribute substantially to wildlife conservation. Understanding the main habitat variables that influence wildlife is important if these remnants are to be appropriately managed. We investigated relationships between the bird assemblages and characteristics of remnant riparian forest at 27 sites among sugarcane fields in the Queensland Wet Tropics bioregion. Sites within the remnant riparian zone had distinctly different bird assemblages from those of the forest, but provided habitat for many forest and generalist species. Width of the riparian vegetation and distance from source forest were the most important factors in explaining the bird assemblages in these remnant ribbons of vegetation. Gradual changes in assemblage composition occurred with increasing distance from source forest, with species of rainforest and dense vegetation being replaced by species of more open habitats, although increasing distance was confounded by decreasing riparian width. Species richness increased with width of the riparian zone, with high richness at the wide sites due to a mixture of open-habitat species typical of narrower sites and rainforest species typical of sites within intact forest, as a result of the greater similarity in vegetation characteristics between wide sites and the forest proper. The results demonstrate the habitat value for birds of remnant riparian vegetation in an agricultural landscape, supporting edge and open vegetation species with even narrow widths, but requiring substantial width (>90 m) to support specialists of the closed forest, the dominant original vegetation of the area.

Positive edge effects for arboreal marsupials: an assessment of potential mechanisms

2006 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elaine K. Harding ◽  
Shirin Gomez
Keyword(s):  
Edge Effects ◽  
Brushtail Possum ◽  
Strongly Correlated ◽  
Positive Edge ◽  
Relative Index ◽  
Arboreal Marsupials ◽  
Pellet Counts ◽  
Wet Tropics ◽  
Foliage Density ◽  
Ringtail Possum

In this study we examined the potential for positive edge effects on folivorous arboreal marsupials inhabiting upland rainforest in the Wet Tropics region of far north Queensland, Australia. We predicted that the folivores should have increased densities at edges relative to interior forest 90 m from the edge owing to the following causal factors, either separately or in combination: (a) increased foliar biomass, measured as vertical foliage density; and/or (b) increased abundance of preferred food trees. To test these hypotheses, we conducted surveys of the lemuroid ringtail possum (Hemibelideus lemuroides), the green ringtail possum (Pseudochirops archeri), the Herbert River ringtail possum (Pseudochirulus herbertensis) and the coppery brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula johnstonii) at two remnant rainforest sites with ‘hard’ edges such as roads or pasture. Because arboreal species are often difficult to survey accurately within forests, we utilised pellet counts as an index of the population and compared this to the common survey technique of night spotlighting. Our results indicated that pellet counts, combined over all species, were positively and strongly correlated with spotlighting results. Using pellet counts as a relative index of arboreal folivore populations, we found that edge transects contained a higher abundance of all species combined than did interior transects. Further, total foliage density in the 10–30-m vertical transect was found to be significantly correlated with total pellet counts at edge transects. Total preferred tree species was not significantly different between edge and interior transects. From these results we propose that foliage density, as a surrogate for biomass, is a possible mechanism explaining the higher abundance of arboreal marsupials at the edges of these two highland rainforest sites in north Queensland.

Regeneration methods for dipterocarp forests of wet tropical Asia

2003 ◽  
Vol 79 (2) ◽  
pp. 263-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark S Ashton
Keyword(s):  
Land Use Planning ◽  
Forest Type ◽  
Forest Products ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Tropical Asia ◽  
Ecological Principles ◽  
Dipterocarp Forests ◽  
Non Timber Forest Products ◽  
History Of ◽  
Wet Tropics

Dipterocarp forests of the Asian wet tropics have a long history of silvicultural research. This paper provides a review of this history and a summary of the ecological principles guiding the regeneration methods used. Dipterocarp forests are here defined as those of the seasonally wet regions of Thailand, Burma, and India, and those that are considered of the mixed dipterocarp forest type that dominate the aseasonal wet regions of Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and parts of Indonesia and the Philippines. Two silvicultural regeneration methods are described, shelterwoods and their variants, and selection systems. Both systems can be justified but emphasis is given to the development of shelterwood and selection regeneration methods that are tailored to the particular biological and social context at hand. The paper concludes with a call for improved land-use planning and stand typing to better integrate service and protection values with those values focused on commodity production. Key words: Dipterocarpus, hill forest, non-timber forest products, polycyclic, regeneration, selection, shelterwood, Shorea

scholarly journals Exploring sustainable land use in forested tropical social-ecological systems: A case-study in the Wet Tropics

2019 ◽  
Vol 231 ◽  
pp. 940-952 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julen Gonzalez-Redin ◽  
Iain J. Gordon ◽  
Rosemary Hill ◽  
J. Gary Polhill ◽  
Terence P. Dawson
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Ecological Systems ◽  
Sustainable Land Use ◽  
Social Ecological Systems ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Wet Tropics

scholarly journals Learning for Stewardship in the Anthropocene: A Study with Young Adolescents in the Wet Tropics

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcia Thorne
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods Research ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Ethic Of Care ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Environmental Stewardship ◽  
Earth Systems ◽  
Sequential Mixed Methods ◽  
Analysis And Synthesis ◽  
Wet Tropics ◽  
Sustainability Curriculum

Enhancing student capacity to act for sustainability is recognised as an important strategy for reversing current patterns of environmental degradation. To achieve this, the emerging Australian Curriculum incorporates a sustainability cross-curriculum priority, designed to ensure students develop the necessary knowledge, skills, values and world views to contribute to more sustainable patterns of living. Stewardship has an important role to play in helping to develop sustainable patterns of living. However, it is not known to what extent or how the sustainability cross-curriculum priority includes stewardship.<br />This research investigates sustainability teaching and learning from an environmental stewardship perspective. Education based on environmental stewardship aims to develop an ethic of care for the natural and built world. Proponents of environmental stewardship argue that the approach is effective because it provides a foundation for the development of well-being, critical thinking and problem solving in tandem with the desire and confidence to act to maintain life supporting Earth Systems.<br />This research will apply an explanatory sequential mixed methods research design to map and review environmental stewardship in the Australian Curriculum’s sustainability cross-curriculum priority and in Year 10 students and teachers in the Wet Tropics region of Australia. Research methods will include a document analysis of the Australian Curriculum’s sustainability cross-curriculum priority; and survey and interviews to understand student and teacher subjective foundations of environmental stewardship and the expression of stewardship in school and life contexts. Subjective foundations include the existent aspirations, values and knowledge that guide student and teacher thinking and action for stewardship. Analysis and synthesis of this data, through a stewardship lens, will inform a stewardship pedagogical framework that will complement the sustainability curriculum.

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