scholarly journals Restoration of eucalypt grassy woodland: effects of experimental interventions on ground-layer vegetation

2014 ◽  
Vol 62 (7) ◽  
pp. 570 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. McIntyre ◽  
R. B. Cunningham ◽  
C. F. Donnelly ◽  
A. D. Manning
Keyword(s):  
Coarse Woody Debris ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Woody Debris ◽  
Ground Cover ◽  
Grazing Pressure ◽  
Livestock Grazing ◽  
Ground Layer ◽  
Total Biomass ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Main Driver

We report on the effects of broad-scale restoration treatments on the ground layer of eucalypt grassy woodland in south-eastern Australia. The experiment was conducted in two conservation reserves from which livestock grazing had previously been removed. Changes in biomass, species diversity, ground-cover attributes and life-form were analysed over a 4-year period in relation to the following experimental interventions: (1) reduced kangaroo density, (2) addition of coarse woody debris and (3) fire (a single burn). Reducing kangaroo density doubled total biomass in one reserve, but no effects on exotic biomass, species counts or ground cover attributes were observed. Coarse woody debris also promoted biomass, particularly exotic annual forbs, as well as plant diversity in one of the reserves. The single burn reduced biomass, but changed little else. Overall, we found the main driver of change to be the favourable growth seasons that had followed a period of drought. This resulted in biomass increasing by 67%, (mostly owing to the growth of perennial native grasses), whereas overall native species counts increased by 18%, and exotic species declined by 20% over the 4-year observation period. Strategic management of grazing pressure, use of fire where biomass has accumulated and placement of coarse woody debris in areas of persistent erosion will contribute to improvements in soil and vegetation condition, and gains in biodiversity, in the future.

scholarly journals Benchmarks and predictors of coarse woody debris in native forests of eastern Australia

2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 138-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caragh G. Threlfall ◽  
Bradley S. Law ◽  
Ross J. Peacock
Keyword(s):  
Coarse Woody Debris ◽  
Woody Debris ◽  
Native Forests ◽  
Eastern Australia

Grazing pressure impacts on two Aristida/Bothriochloa native pasture communities of central Queensland

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trevor J. Hall ◽  
Paul Jones ◽  
Richard G. Silcock ◽  
Piet G. Filet
Keyword(s):  
Ground Cover ◽  
Predictive Modelling ◽  
Grazing Pressure ◽  
Total Contribution ◽  
Themeda Triandra ◽  
Crown Cover ◽  
Economic Production ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Native Pastures

Managing native pastures for sustainable and economic production requires a good understanding of grazing effects on pasture dynamics. The Aristida/Bothriochloa pastures of north-eastern Australia are important for cattle production but little data on grazing pressure impacts on pastures are available to guide management decisions of producers, for land management education programs, or for predictive modelling. To address this deficiency, four different continuous grazing intensities were imposed on woodland communities over 7 or 8 years at two sites: a Eucalyptus populnea (poplar box) and a E. melanophloia (silver-leaved ironbark) community. Both sites had replicated paddocks grazed at a low, medium or high grazing pressure by +/− tree killing using herbicide (12 paddocks), and 12 ungrazed (nil grazing pressure) 1-ha plots subjected to the same tree-killing contrasts. Grazed paddock areas were fixed and varied between 3.5 and 21.5 ha. Differential grazing pressures were reset each autumn, by adjusting cattle numbers to consume over the next year the equivalent of 0%, 25%, 50% or 75% of the standing pasture mass available. Pasture grasses suitable as indicators of grazing pressure were identified for both communities. Under low grazing pressure, Themeda triandra (kangaroo grass) was the only desirable grass to show a significant increase in total contribution over time at both sites, although Dichanthium sericeum (Queensland bluegrass) also increased its contribution at the poplar box site. Chloris species increased their contribution as grazing pressure increased. The proportion of less palatable Aristida spp. (wiregrasses) in the pasture was not affected by high grazing pressure, although they increased at low grazing pressure in the poplar box community. There were no consistent changes in native legumes or weedy forb species to any treatment. Increasing grazing pressure had a greater negative effect on pasture mass, ground cover and pasture crown cover area than on changing species composition. Most changes in composition due to grazing pressure were smaller than those associated with variable seasonal rainfall, and were greater in the poplar box community. In above-average rainfall years grazing up to 50% of autumn standing pasture mass had no detrimental effect on composition in treeless poplar box country in the short term. The pastures remained stable or improved in both communities when grazing pressure was set annually to utilise 25% of the standing autumn forage.

Multi-platform LiDAR approach for detecting coarse woody debris in a landscape with varied ground cover

2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (24) ◽  
pp. 9316-9342
Author(s):  
Shukhrat Shokirov ◽  
Michael Schaefer ◽  
Shaun R. Levick ◽  
Tommaso Jucker ◽  
Justin Borevitz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Coarse Woody Debris ◽  
Woody Debris ◽  
Ground Cover

scholarly journals The importance of travelling stock reserves for maintaining high-quality threatened temperate woodlands

2017 ◽  
Vol 65 (7) ◽  
pp. 507 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thea O'Loughlin ◽  
Luke S. O'Loughlin ◽  
Damian R. Michael ◽  
Jeffrey T. Wood ◽  
Helen P. Waudby ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plant Species ◽  
Land Tenure ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Ground Cover ◽  
Grazing Pressure ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Permanent Plots ◽  
Private Land ◽  
Native Plant ◽  
Eastern Australia

Travelling stock reserves (TSRs) are thought to represent some of the highest-quality and least degraded remnants of threatened temperate woodland in south-eastern Australia. These public reserves have not had the same high levels of grazing pressure and other disturbances as woodland remnants on private land. Thus, TSRs are expected to be important for the protection of biodiversity in heavily cleared and modified landscapes. We tested the hypothesis that land tenure had significant effects on the quality of woodlands by comparing vegetation structural attributes between TSRs and remnant vegetation used for primary production purposes. Vegetation attributes were monitored in 155 permanent plots over 5 years in remnant temperate woodland sites in the Riverina bioregion of New South Wales. Overall, TSRs supported higher native plant species richness and were characterised by higher ground cover of native shrubs and less cover of exotic plant species than agricultural production areas. We found land tenure had significant effects on some vegetation attributes demonstrated to be important for threatened fauna. We attribute these results to TSRs having a history of lower grazing pressure compared with remnants managed for agricultural production. Our study provides empirical evidence to support the high conservation value of TSRs in formerly woodland-dominated, but now extensively cleared agricultural landscapes.

Condition of fenced and unfenced remnant vegetation in inland catchments in south-eastern Australia

2008 ◽  
Vol 56 (7) ◽  
pp. 590 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sue V. Briggs ◽  
Nicola M. Taws ◽  
Julian A. Seddon ◽  
Bindi Vanzella
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Public Investment ◽  
Grazing Pressure ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
Remnant Vegetation ◽  
Vegetation Condition ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Native Species Richness ◽  
South Eastern Australia

Considerable areas of remnant native vegetation have been fenced in the last decade to manage grazing by domestic stock. This study investigated vegetation condition in comparative fenced and unfenced remnant vegetation in the mid–upper Murrumbidgee and Lachlan catchments in south-eastern Australia. Native species richness, native groundcover and overstorey regeneration were higher at fenced than at unfenced sites. Area of bare ground was lower at fenced sites. Exotic groundcover did not differ between fenced and unfenced sites. Native species richness was higher at sites fenced for longer and with no stock grazing; neither native nor exotic groundcover at fenced sites was related to time since fencing or stock grazing pressure. Some tree species regenerated at both fenced and unfenced sites (Blakely’s red gum, Eucalyptus blakelyi; tumbledown gum, E. dealbata, long-leaved box, E. goniocalyx; red stringbark, E. macrorhyncha), some regenerated at few fenced and few unfenced sites (white box, E. albens; yellow box, E. melliodora) and some regenerated at fenced sites but not at unfenced sites (grey box, E. microcarpa; mugga ironbark, E. sideroxylon; white cypress pine, Callitris glaucophylla). Although less robust than pre- and postfencing monitoring, the comparisons reported here provide a logistically feasible and relatively inexpensive assessment of effects of the sizeable public investment in fencing on vegetation condition.

Conservation of the Grassy White Box Woodlands: Relative Contributions of Size and Disturbance to Floristic Composition and Diversity of Remnants

1995 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 349 ◽  
Author(s):  
SM Prober ◽  
KR Thiele
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Livestock Grazing ◽  
General Character ◽  
Native Plant ◽  
Weed Invasion ◽  
Total Species Richness ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Native Species Richness

Before European settlement, grassy white box woodlands were the dominant vegetation in the east of the wheat-sheep belt of south-eastern Australia. Tree clearing, cultivation and pasture improvement have led to fragmentation of this once relatively continuous ecosystem, leaving a series of remnants which themselves have been modified by livestock grazing. Little-modified remnants are extremely rare. We examined and compared the effects of fragmentation and disturbance on the understorey flora of woodland remnants, through a survey of remnants of varying size, grazing history and tree clearing. In accordance with fragmentation theory, species richness generally increased with remnant size, and, for little-grazed remnants, smaller remnants were more vulnerable to weed invasion. Similarly, tree clearing and grazing encouraged weed invasion and reduced native species richness. Evidence for increased total species richness at intermediate grazing levels, as predicted by the intermediate disturbance hypothesis, was equivocal. Remnant quality was more severely affected by grazing than by remnant size. All little-grazed remnants had lower exotic species abundance and similar or higher native species richness than grazed remnants, despite their extremely small sizes (< 6 ha). Further, small, littlegrazed remnants maintained the general character of the pre-European woodland understorey, while grazing caused changes to the dominant species. Although generally small, the little-grazed remnants are the best representatives of the pre-European woodland understorey, and should be central to any conservation plan for the woodlands. Selected larger remnants are needed to complement these, however, to increase the total area of woodland conserved, and, because most little-grazed remnants are cleared, to represent the ecosystem in its original structural form. For the maintenance of native plant diversity and composition in little-grazed remnants, it is critical that livestock grazing continues to be excluded. For grazed remnants, maintenance of a site in its current state would allow continuation of past management, while restoration to a pre-European condition would require management directed towards weed removal, and could take advantage of the difference noted in the predominant life-cycle of native (perennial) versus exotic (annual or biennial) species.

scholarly journals Restoration of slash pile burn scars to prevent establishment and propagation of non-native plants

2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (8) ◽  
pp. 1042-1050 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. DeSandoli ◽  
R. Turkington ◽  
L.H. Fraser
Keyword(s):  
Native Species ◽  
Woody Debris ◽  
Chemical Properties ◽  
Fire Risk ◽  
Ground Cover ◽  
Arbuscular Mycorrhizal ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Native Plant ◽  
Burn Scar ◽  
Native Seed

Logging and burning of the resultant woody debris is a management tool to reduce fire risk. Burning of the debris as piles affects the underlying soil biota and soil physical and (or) chemical properties. The resulting disturbance created by the burns may create opportunities for the establishment and spread of non-native plant species. Here, we test three restoration treatments on recent, approximately 1-year-old, pile burn scars, including an arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) inoculant (present or absent), a ground cover (straw or no straw added), and different seeding types (native seed mix, agronomic seed mix, and no seed). The most effective treatment in reducing undesired non-native species cover was the seeding of agronomic species; here “native” and “non-native” groups exclude sown agronomic species. Undesired non-native cover was 15.1% in plots with no seed, 9.1% in plots with native seed added, and 3.5% in plots with agronomic seed added. Total vegetation cover, mostly through the increase of agronomic species, was increased by seeding and by the application of straw cover. Commercial AMF inoculum was an ineffective treatment, suggesting that a better understanding of host specificity is warranted. Restoration efforts should be directed at burn scar sites after burning to ameliorate the effects of invasive species colonization, and the use of agronomic species may prevent non-native invasive plants from establishing.

Habitat use by grey-crowned babbler, Pomatostomus temporalis, in urban and peri-urban environments

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 88
Author(s):  
Kathryn Teare Ada Lambert ◽  
Hugh Ford
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Use ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Woody Debris ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Ground Cover ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Habitat Requirements ◽  
Urban Landscapes

Habitat loss in the urban environment leads to a high rate of local extinction of native fauna. In contrast, where key habitat structures, such as woody debris, shrubs and trees, are maintained, urban landscapes can retain many native species. To manage urban habitats successfully for urban bird communities, it is, therefore, necessary to understand the habitat requirements of the species using them. We have previously shown that the grey-crowned babbler, Pomatostomus temporalis, exhibits similar mean weight, sex ratio and group size in natural and altered habitat in and around Dubbo, New South Wales. In the present study, we detail the movements and habitat use of the groups that inhabit urban areas. We found that groups behaved similarly in urban and peri-urban areas, but showed small differences in the frequency of behaviours, based on the habitat feature that was available. The results suggested that, despite the decline of the grey-crowned babbler in the southern parts of its range, this species is able to survive in altered habitats, if nesting habitat and ground cover remain available and neighbouring groups persist nearby. Because other woodland bird species have shown similar responses to urban environments, managers of urban parkland should provide foraging substrates for a variety of woodland bird species, including vulnerable species, to ameliorate threatening processes and protect key habitat requirements.

Habitat characteristics of a threatened arboreal marsupial and its resource use in a degraded landscape: the brush-tailed phascogale (Phascogale tapoatafa tapoatafa) in central Victoria, Australia

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 153 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Mansfield ◽  
A. H. Arnold ◽  
T. L. Bell ◽  
A. York
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Loss ◽  
Resource Use ◽  
Coarse Woody Debris ◽  
Woody Debris ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Ground Cover ◽  
Explanatory Models ◽  
Active Management ◽  
Central Victoria ◽  
Tree Communities

Context Habitat loss and degradation has contributed significantly to the decline of many species worldwide. To address this loss, we first require a comprehensive understanding of habitat requirements and resource-use patterns of the species under threat. Aims The study aimed to quantify variation in the habitat of a species threatened by habitat loss and degradation, the brush-tailed phascogale (Phascogale tapoatafa tapoatafa), by measuring several physical characteristics of trees and ground cover, as well as to determine potential foraging resource preferences using abundance data from a long-term monitoring study. Methods Phascogale monitoring surveys were conducted over a 13-year period from 2000 to 2012. Habitat variables characterising tree communities, ground cover and coarse woody debris were used to develop explanatory models of phascogale abundance at the site scale. Tree species preference by foraging phascogales was evaluated by comparing usage (trees on which they were captured) and availability. Key results The highest overall animal abundance was at sites characterised by associations of red stringybark, red box, grey box and broad-leaved and narrow-leaved peppermints. At these sites, red stringybark and grey box trees were of small diameter and tended to have small hollows. These sites also had low average tree height, low grass and/or herb and shrub cover and low volumes of coarse woody debris. From a resource-use perspective, phascogales foraged preferentially on certain species of Eucalyptus. Conclusions Our study suggests that phascogale abundance is highly spatially and temporally variable, most likely as a response to heterogeneity in habitat and foraging resources operating at a range of spatial scales. Implications This study has provided new information concerning spatial patterns of phascogale abundance and resource use within a forested area in central Victoria that has been subjected to multiple disturbances. Currently, the composition and age structure of tree communities and ground habitats are a response to severe disturbance due to past mining and harvesting activities. Successful conservation of this threatened species could be enhanced through active management of this forest to maintain the ongoing supply of nesting hollows and foraging resources.

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