The importance of ecological processes for terrestrial biodiversity conservation in Tasmania ? a review

The continental island of Tasmania supports an extraordinary biota featuring ancient communities, high levels of endemism and many species extinct on mainland Australia. However, more than 670 species are currently listed as threatened, mainly due to changes in their habitat since European settlement. Although Tasmania has a relatively high proportion of its land in reserves with some degree of representation for most vegetation types, habitat protection in some bioregions is very low. In this paper we approach biodiversity assessment in Tasmania by (i) addressing critical, natural ecological processes that underpin and sustain its biodiversity, (ii) assessing the current trends in, and threats to, these processes, and (iii) identifying gaps in knowledge that limit the effective management of these processes for conservation. It is hoped that this will contribute a sound basis for ongoing adaptive management for biodiversity conservation in Tasmania and assist in re-focusing the purpose of the reserve network from representation to persistence of the native biota.

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Fire regimes, biodiversity conservation and prescribed-burning programs

Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria ◽

10.1071/rs12001 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 124 (1) ◽

pp. 1 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

A. Malcolm Gill

Keyword(s):

Biodiversity Conservation ◽

Working Conditions ◽

Prescribed Burning ◽

Fire Regime ◽

Fire Regimes ◽

Royal Commission ◽

Vegetation Types ◽

Protection Of Life ◽

Conservation Of Biodiversity ◽

Safe Working

In the trend towards the domestication, or taming, of fire regimes in Victoria, Australia, the level of prescribed burning has been stepped up due to a recommendation from the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission. While prescribed burning programs may be instituted for a number of reasons, especially the protection of life and property, they have consequences for the conservation of biodiversity. Not all vegetation types can be prescribed burned because the weather does not always allow it to occur under safe working conditions; where prescribed burning programs are carried out, unplanned fires may still occur. Thus, the general issue is the effect on biodiversity of both prescribed and unplanned fires, neither alone. Here, the importance to biodiversity conservation of all the components of the fire regime– interval, season, intensity and type (peat fire or otherwise) – and their domain of variability is emphasized. If conservation of biodiversity is to be guaranteed in a changing fire world, then much more knowledge about the systems being managed, gained in large part through effective monitoring, is needed. Issues such as targets and some assumptions of management are addressed here.

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Australia?s Biodiversity and Climate Change

Pacific Conservation Biology ◽

10.1071/pc100221 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 16 (3) ◽

pp. 221

Author(s):

David Goodall

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Natural Resources ◽

Biodiversity Conservation ◽

Climate Changes ◽

Natural Resources Management ◽

Ecological Processes ◽

Resources Management ◽

Number Of Species ◽

Ministerial Council

This volume is the result of an initiative by the Natural Resources Management Ministerial Council, to assess the vulnerability of Australia?s biodiversity to climate change. It may be said at once that this remit is interpreted, not as referring to changes in ?biodiversity? as usually understood ? the number of species present ? but rather as covering all responses of organisms and the ecosystems in which they participate to the climate changes now in progress and in prospect. This extension of ?biodiversity? is clarified by the statement that ?modern biodiversity conservation . . . should ensure . . . the maintenance of ecological processes and the delivery of ecosystem services?.

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The Reservation Status of Plant Species and Vegetation Types in the Northern Territory

Australian Journal of Botany ◽

10.1071/bt9960673 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 44 (6) ◽

pp. 673 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

JCZ Woinarski ◽

G Connors ◽

B Oliver

Keyword(s):

Plant Species ◽

Vascular Plant ◽

Broad Band ◽

Northern Territory ◽

Vegetation Types ◽

Land Area ◽

Threatened Plants ◽

Good Opportunity ◽

Reserve Network ◽

Reserve System

The terrestrial conservation reserve system of the Northern Territory comprises 83 reserves covering 3.79% of the land area. This system includes representation of only 63 of the 112 vegetation types recognised in the Northern Territory at 1:1000000 scale. Of these, only 31 are represented to at least 5% of their extent. The reserve system has a strong geographic bias, with very poor representation of vegetation types occurring across a broad band in the mid-latitudes of the Northern Territory. Broad vegetation categories which are particularly poorly reserved include tussock grasslands, chenopod shrublands, Acacia woodland and hummock grasslands: by contrast, closed forests and floodplains have > 20% of their extent reserved. In some contrast to the poor reservation extent of vegetation types, 80% of the 3632 named native vascular plant species known from the Northern Territory have been recorded from reserves. The distribution of the 743 unreserved plants is mapped, and coincides reasonably well with the pattern of unreserved vegetation types. The high proportion of the flora which is reserved is due in part to judicious (or fortuitous) reserve placement-for example, one reserve, Kakadu, contains almost half of the plant species known from the Northern Territory. There are substantial taxonomic and ecological biases in the reported reservation rates for NT plants. Rainforest plants tend to be reasonably well reserved (80% of 585 species), but designated threatened plants are poorly reserved(44% of 553 species). Due to its largely intact environment, the Northern Territory offers an unusually good opportunity for the establishment of a comprehensive reserve network. However, most of the unreserved plants and vegetation types occur on either freehold Aboriginal lands or pastoral leaseholds, suggesting that substantial enhancement of the existing reserve network may not be simple.

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Combined measurement and modeling of the hydrological impact of hydraulic redistribution using CLM4.5 at eight AmeriFlux sites

Hydrology and Earth System Sciences ◽

10.5194/hess-20-2001-2016 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 20 (5) ◽

pp. 2001-2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Congsheng Fu ◽

Guiling Wang ◽

Michael L. Goulden ◽

Russell L. Scott ◽

Kenneth Bible ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Soil Moisture ◽

Land Surface ◽

Bowen Ratio ◽

Hydraulic Redistribution ◽

Energy Budgets ◽

Vegetation Types ◽

Ecological Processes ◽

Community Land Model ◽

Hydrological Impact ◽

The Impact

Abstract. Effects of hydraulic redistribution (HR) on hydrological, biogeochemical, and ecological processes have been demonstrated in the field, but the current generation of standard earth system models does not include a representation of HR. Though recent studies have examined the effect of incorporating HR into land surface models, few (if any) have done cross-site comparisons for contrasting climate regimes and multiple vegetation types via the integration of measurement and modeling. Here, we incorporated the HR scheme of Ryel et al. (2002) into the NCAR Community Land Model Version 4.5 (CLM4.5), and examined the ability of the resulting hybrid model to capture the magnitude of HR flux and/or soil moisture dynamics from which HR can be directly inferred, to assess the impact of HR on land surface water and energy budgets, and to explore how the impact may depend on climate regimes and vegetation conditions. Eight AmeriFlux sites with contrasting climate regimes and multiple vegetation types were studied, including the Wind River Crane site in Washington State, the Santa Rita Mesquite savanna site in southern Arizona, and six sites along the Southern California Climate Gradient. HR flux, evapotranspiration (ET), and soil moisture were properly simulated in the present study, even in the face of various uncertainties. Our cross-ecosystem comparison showed that the timing, magnitude, and direction (upward or downward) of HR vary across ecosystems, and incorporation of HR into CLM4.5 improved the model-measurement matches of evapotranspiration, Bowen ratio, and soil moisture particularly during dry seasons. Our results also reveal that HR has important hydrological impact in ecosystems that have a pronounced dry season but are not overall so dry that sparse vegetation and very low soil moisture limit HR.

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Reforming the approach of the Global Environmental Facility to biodiversity conservation

Oryx ◽

10.1017/s0030605300028398 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 28 (2) ◽

pp. 101-106

Author(s):

Russell A. Mittermeier ◽

Ian A. Bowles

Keyword(s):

Biodiversity Conservation ◽

Biological Diversity ◽

Environmental Problem ◽

Convention On Biological Diversity ◽

Ecological Processes ◽

Global Environmental Facility ◽

Earth Summit ◽

Funding Mechanism ◽

The Earth ◽

Global Environmental

Biodiversity – a measure of the wealth of species, ecosystems and ecological processes that make up our living planet –received public prominence as a result of the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992. The loss of biodiversity, say the authors, is the greatest environmental problem the world faces but the issue has not been given the attention it deserves. With the emergence of the Global Environmental Facility in 1990 came the chance to fund biodiversity conservation on a unprecedented scale and in 1992 the GEF was adopted as the interim funding mechanism for the Convention on Biological Diversity signed at the Earth Summit. Three years after its foundation, the authors of this paper suggest that the GEF has to be reformed radically if it is to become an effective force in conservation. Their conclusions are based on Conservation International's experience with the GEF over the last 3 years in more than 10 countries.

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The Biodiversity Promotion Areas: effectiveness of agricultural direct payments on plant diversity conservation in the semi-natural grasslands of the Southern Swiss Alps

Biodiversity and Conservation ◽

10.1007/s10531-020-02069-4 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 29 (14) ◽

pp. 4155-4172

Author(s):

Simone Ravetto Enri ◽

Emiliano Nucera ◽

Michele Lonati ◽

Pier Francesco Alberto ◽

Massimiliano Probo

Keyword(s):

Biodiversity Conservation ◽

Functional Groups ◽

Plant Species ◽

Plant Diversity ◽

Swiss Alps ◽

Species Number ◽

Ecological Indicator ◽

Vegetation Types ◽

Natural Grasslands ◽

Meadow Species

Abstract An agro-environmental payment for the management of the so-called ‘Biodiversity Promotion Areas’ (BPA) has been used to accomplish biodiversity conservation goals in Switzerland. These areas have been managed according to specific limitations on mowing dates and fertilizers. We assessed the regional-scale effectiveness of BPA implementation within Ticino Canton by answering the following questions: (i) is plant species diversity higher in BPA than in conventionally managed grasslands (CMG)? (ii) which are the differences between BPA and CMG in terms of climatic, topographical, ecological, and vegetation variables? (iii) which vegetation types, functional groups, and plant species are specifically related to BPA? A total of 242 vegetation surveys (64 in BPA and 178 in CMG, respectively) was carried out in 55 farms and the main climatic and topographic features were assessed. Differences in terms of plant diversity, ecological indicator and pastoral values, species functional groups, vegetation types, and indicator species between BPA and CMG were assessed. The BPA harboured a higher plant diversity. They were located in steeper areas, at higher elevations, and characterised by lower soil nutrient content, mowing tolerance, and pastoral value than CMG. Dry meadow species number and cover were higher in BPA, while nutrient-rich meadow species number was higher in CMG. The species associated to BPA belonged to a wider range of functional groups and 38% of them belonged to the national list for biodiversity promotion in agriculture, whereas no species associated to CMG belonged to that list. Thus, our results confirmed the effectiveness of BPA for biodiversity conservation for the Southern Swiss Alps.

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Vegetation Map of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland 2018: A description of changes since 2006

Bothalia ◽

10.4102/abc.v49i1.2452 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 49 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Anisha Dayaram ◽

Linda R. Harris ◽

Barend A. Grobler ◽

Stephni Van der Merwe ◽

Anthony G. Rebelo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Biodiversity Assessment ◽

Vegetation Types ◽

Estuarine Ecosystem ◽

Data Set ◽

Vegetation Map ◽

Standard Mapping ◽

Form Part ◽

Software Platforms ◽

Future Work

Background: The Vegetation Map of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland (National Vegetation Map [NVM]) is a fundamental data set that is updated periodically. The National Biodiversity Assessment (NBA) 2018 process provided an opportunity for a more comprehensive revision of the NVM and better alignment between the terrestrial, marine and estuarine ecosystem maps.Objectives: The aim of this study was to update the NVM 2018 and quantify spatial and classification changes since NVM 2012, and describe the rationale and data sources utilised. We also quantified spatial errors corrected in this version, highlighted progress since NVM 2006, and identified errors and gaps to make recommendations for future revisions.Method: Edits made to the NVM in ArcMap 10.4 were categorised into the following five groups for analysis: (1) New types, (2) Boundary edits, (3) Realm re-assignment, (4) Removed and replaced vegetation types and (5) Deleted map area. Changes were quantified by category and biome. We used various software platforms to correct and quantify spatial errors since 2006.Results: Vegetation types were added (n = 47), removed (n = 35) and had boundary edits (n = 107) in NVM 2018, which affected over 5% of the total map area, compared to 2.6% (2012) and 0.5% (2009) for previous versions. Several sources of error were identified and fixed, and prompted the development of standard mapping protocols.Conclusion: National Vegetation Map 2018 is the most substantial revision of this data set that now fully aligns with maps of all other realms that form part of the NBA. However, parts of the map remain unrefined and provide opportunities for future work.

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Can Constructed Wetlands be Wildlife Refuges? A Review of Their Potential Biodiversity Conservation Value

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12041442 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (4) ◽

pp. 1442 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Chengxiang Zhang ◽

Li Wen ◽

Yuyu Wang ◽

Cunqi Liu ◽

Yan Zhou ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Biodiversity Conservation ◽

Constructed Wetlands ◽

Native Species ◽

Municipal Wastewater ◽

Agricultural Runoff ◽

Ecological Trap ◽

Management Options ◽

Ecological Processes ◽

Wetland Ecosystems ◽

Management Intervention

The degradation of wetland ecosystems is currently recognized as one of the main threats to global biodiversity. As a means of compensation, constructed wetlands (CWs), which are built to treat agricultural runoff and municipal wastewater, have become important for maintaining biodiversity. Here, we review studies on the relationships between CWs and their associated biodiversity published over the past three decades. In doing so, we provide an overview of how wildlife utilizes CWs, and the effects of biodiversity on pollutant transformation and removal. Beyond their primary aim (to purify various kinds of wastewater), CWs provide sub-optimal habitat for many species and, in turn, their purification function can be strongly influenced by the biodiversity that they support. However, there are some difficulties when using CWs to conserve biodiversity because some key characteristics of these engineered ecosystems vary from natural wetlands, including some fundamental ecological processes. Without proper management intervention, these features of CWs can promote biological invasion, as well as form an ‘ecological trap’ for native species. Management options, such as basin-wide integrative management and building in more natural wetland components, can partially offset these adverse impacts. Overall, the awareness of managers and the public regarding the potential value of CWs in biodiversity conservation remains superficial. More in-depth research, especially on how to balance different stakeholder values between wastewater managers and conservationists, is now required.

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Statistical ecology comes of age

Biology Letters ◽

10.1098/rsbl.2014.0698 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 10 (12) ◽

pp. 20140698 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Olivier Gimenez ◽

Stephen T. Buckland ◽

Byron J. T. Morgan ◽

Nicolas Bez ◽

Sophie Bertrand ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Global Environmental Change ◽

Model Fitting ◽

Process Models ◽

Science Data ◽

Ecological Processes ◽

Research Perspectives ◽

Current Trends ◽

Global Environmental ◽

Rigorous Framework ◽

Statistical Ecology

The desire to predict the consequences of global environmental change has been the driver towards more realistic models embracing the variability and uncertainties inherent in ecology. Statistical ecology has gelled over the past decade as a discipline that moves away from describing patterns towards modelling the ecological processes that generate these patterns. Following the fourth International Statistical Ecology Conference (1–4 July 2014) in Montpellier, France, we analyse current trends in statistical ecology. Important advances in the analysis of individual movement, and in the modelling of population dynamics and species distributions, are made possible by the increasing use of hierarchical and hidden process models. Exciting research perspectives include the development of methods to interpret citizen science data and of efficient, flexible computational algorithms for model fitting. Statistical ecology has come of age: it now provides a general and mathematically rigorous framework linking ecological theory and empirical data.

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Uncertainty and adaptive management for biodiversity conservation

Biological Conservation ◽

10.1016/j.biocon.2010.11.022 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 144 (4) ◽

pp. 1175-1178 ◽

Cited By ~ 108

Author(s):

David A. Keith ◽

Tara G. Martin ◽

Eve McDonald-Madden ◽

Carl Walters

Keyword(s):

Biodiversity Conservation ◽

Adaptive Management

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