ORCID Profile
0000-0001-8118-1904
Current Organisation
Murdoch University
Does something not look right? The information on this page has been harvested from data sources that may not be up to date. We continue to work with information providers to improve coverage and quality. To report an issue, use the Feedback Form.
Research Topics
In Research Link Australia (RLA), "Research Topics" refer to ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes. These topics are either sourced from ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes listed in researchers' related grants or generated by a large language model (LLM) based on their publications.
Top 5 Research Topics
ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)
Terrestrial Ecology | Plant Physiology | Environment and Resource Economics | Soil Sciences | Environmental Science and Management | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Environmental Knowledge | Macromolecular and Materials Chemistry | Synthesis of Materials | Soil Biology | Environmental Rehabilitation (excl. Bioremediation) |
ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)
Environmentally Sustainable Plant Production not elsewhere classified | Rehabilitation of Degraded Farmland, Arable Cropland and Permanent Cropland Environments | Expanding Knowledge in the Chemical Sciences | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Development and Welfare | Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences | Native Forests | Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity at Regional or Larger Scales | Expanding Knowledge in Technology
Related Links
Publications
New opabiniid diversifies the weirdest wonders of the euarthropod stem group
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 09-02-2022
Abstract: Once considered ‘weird wonders’ of the Cambrian, the emblematic Burgess Shale animals Anomalocaris and Opabinia are now recognized as lower stem-group euarthropods and have provided crucial data for constraining the polarity of key morphological characters in the group. Anomalocaris and its relatives (radiodonts) had worldwide distribution and survived until at least the Devonian. However, despite intense study, Opabinia remains the only formally described opabiniid to date. Here we reinterpret a fossil from the Wheeler Formation of Utah as a new opabiniid, Utaurora comosa nov. gen. et sp. By visualizing the s le of phylogenetic topologies in treespace, our results fortify support for the position of U. comosa beyond the nodal support traditionally applied. Our phylogenetic evidence expands opabiniids to multiple Cambrian stages. Our results underscore the power of treespace visualization for resolving imperfectly preserved fossils and expanding the known ersity and spatio-temporal ranges within the euarthropod lower stem group.
The role of landscape connectivity in resistance, resilience, and recovery of multi-trophic microarthropod communities
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 30-03-2018
DOI: 10.1002/ECY.2196
Abstract: There is a need to find generalizable mechanisms supporting ecological resilience, resistance, and recovery. One hypothesized mechanism is landscape connectivity, a habitat configuration that allows movement of biotic and abiotic resources between local patches. Whether connectivity increases all or only one of resistance, resilience, and recovery has not been teased apart, however, and has been difficult to test at large scales and for complex trophic webs. Natural microcosms offer a complex system that can be manipulated to test questions at a landscape-scale relative to the community of study. Here, we test the role of connectivity in altering resistance, resilience, and recovery to a gradient of heating disturbance in moss microcosms. To test across trophic levels, we focused on community composition as our metric of response and applied three connectivity treatments - isolation, connected to an equally disturbed patch, and connected to an undisturbed patch. We found that connectivity between equally disturbed patches boosted resistance of communities to disturbance. Additionally, recovery was linear and rapid in communities connected to undisturbed landscapes, hump shaped when connected to equally disturbed landscapes, and linear but slow in isolated communities. We did not find thresholds on the disturbance gradient at which disturbed communities exhibited zero or increasing dissimilarity to controls through time, so were unable to draw conclusions on the role of connectivity in ecological resilience. Ultimately, isolated communities exhibited increasingly variable composition and slow recovery patterns even in control communities when compared with connected treatments.
Putting provenance into perspective: the relative importance of restoration site conditions over seed sourcing
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 08-08-2023
DOI: 10.1111/REC.13989
Abstract: Post‐mining scenarios present challenges for restoration in a wide range of environments, especially in the context of climate change. The source of seed for restoration has been an issue of intense focus, as seed provenance can impact plant fitness and restoration outcomes. However, post‐mining landscapes require substrate reconstruction prior to vegetation re‐establishment. Critically, the relative importance of provenance and substrate in ecosystem recovery has been rarely quantified in a statistically rigorous framework. We established a large provenance trial with Banksia attenuata and Eucalyptus todtiana at two Western Australian mine sites in post‐mining reconstructed and adjoining un‐mined substrates. We show that site and substrate were 4 and 26 times more important than provenance in explaining survival for B. attenuata and E. todtiana , respectively. At one site, there was 100% mortality in the post‐mining substrate but high survival and no clear provenance effect in the un‐mined substrate. At the second site, there was again no clear provenance effect, but E. todtiana survival was higher in the post‐mining than un‐mined substrate. Our results show that post‐mining substrate changes can overwhelm provenance issues. Consequently, where substrates are highly impacted, alternative restoration targets and/or greater investment in substrate research are needed to improve restoration outcomes. Due to the thousands of mines across the world, this is an internationally relevant finding with important implications for investment into global ecosystem recovery.
Benefits of tree mixes in carbon plantings
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 25-09-2013
DOI: 10.1038/NCLIMATE1862
Primed for Change: Developing Ecological Restoration for the 21st Century
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 28-02-2013
DOI: 10.1111/REC.12012
The impact of an invasive weed Tradescantia fluminensis on native forest regeneration
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-2001
Mine completion criteria defined by best-practice: A global meta-analysis and Western Australian case studies
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2021
Resilience in ecology: Abstraction, distraction, or where the action is?
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2014
Correlation between soil development and native plant growth in forest restoration after surface mining
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2017
Transformation archetypes in global food systems
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 16-02-2022
DOI: 10.1007/S11625-022-01102-5
Abstract: Food systems are primary drivers of human and environmental health, but the understanding of their erse and dynamic co-transformation remains limited. We use a data-driven approach to disentangle different development pathways of national food systems (i.e. ‘transformation archetypes’) based on historical, intertwined trends of food system structure (agricultural inputs and outputs and food trade), and social and environmental outcomes (malnutrition, biosphere integrity, and greenhouse gases emissions) for 161 countries, from 1995 to 2015. We found that whilst agricultural total factor productivity has consistently increased globally, a closer analysis suggests a typology of three transformation archetypes across countries: rapidly expansionist, expansionist, and consolidative. Expansionist and rapidly expansionist archetypes increased in agricultural area, synthetic fertilizer use, and gross agricultural output, which was accompanied by malnutrition, environmental pressures, and lasting socioeconomic disadvantages. The lowest rates of change in key structure metrics were found in the consolidative archetype. Across all transformation archetypes, agricultural greenhouse gases emissions, synthetic fertilizer use, and ecological footprint of consumption increased faster than the expansion of agricultural area, and obesity levels increased more rapidly than undernourishment decreased. The persistence of these unsustainable trajectories occurred independently of improvements in productivity. Our results underscore the importance of quantifying the multiple human and environmental dimensions of food systems transformations and can serve as a starting point to identify potential leverage points for sustainability transformations. More attention is thus warranted to alternative development pathways able of delivering equitable benefits to both productivity and to human and environmental health.
Raptorial appendages of the Cambrian apex predator Anomalocaris canadensis are built for soft prey and speed
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 05-07-2023
Abstract: The stem-group euarthropod Anomalocaris canadensis is one of the largest Cambrian animals and is often considered the quintessential apex predator of its time. This radiodont is commonly interpreted as a demersal hunter, responsible for inflicting injuries seen in benthic trilobites. However, controversy surrounds the ability of A. canadensis to use its spinose frontal appendages to masticate or even manipulate biomineralized prey. Here, we apply a new integrative computational approach, combining three-dimensional digital modelling, kinematics, finite-element analysis (FEA) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to rigorously analyse an A. canadensis feeding appendage and test its morphofunctional limits. These models corroborate a raptorial function, but expose inconsistencies with a capacity for durophagy. In particular, FEA results show that certain parts of the appendage would have experienced high degrees of plastic deformation, especially at the endites, the points of impact with prey. The CFD results demonstrate that outstretched appendages produced low drag and hence represented the optimal orientation for speed, permitting acceleration bursts to capture prey. These data, when combined with evidence regarding the functional morphology of its oral cone, eyes, body flaps and tail fan, suggest that A. canadensis was an agile nektonic predator that fed on soft-bodied animals swimming in a well-lit water column above the benthos. The lifestyle of A. canadensis and that of other radiodonts, including plausible durophages, suggests that niche partitioning across this clade influenced the dynamics of Cambrian food webs, impacting on a erse array of organisms at different sizes, tiers and trophic levels.
Field-Deployed Extruded Seed Pellets Show Promise for Perennial Grass Establishment in Arid Zone Mine Rehabilitation
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 10-12-2020
Abstract: Current methods of mine rehabilitation in the arid zone have a high failure rate at seedling emergence largely due to limited availability of topsoil and low water-holding capacity of alternative growth substrates such as mining overburden and tailings. Further, seedlings have consistently failed to emerge from seeds sown on the soil surface using traditional broadcasting methods. Seed pellets, formed by extruding soil mixtures and seeds into pellets, can potentially increase soil water uptake through enhanced soil-seed contact and thereby improve seedling emergence. We tested an extruded seed pelleting method in a three-factor field experiment (i.e., different pellet-soil mixtures, organic amendments, and simulated rainfall regimes) in north-western Australia. Given the observed lack of seedling emergence from broadcast seeds, the aims of the experiment were to assess: (i) the use of pellets to promote native seedling emergence and establishment and (ii) the soil physico-chemical and microbiological changes that occur with this method of rehabilitation. The effects of pellet-soil mixtures, organic amendment, and rainfall regime on seedling emergence and survival of three native plant species suggest trade-offs among responses. Pellets made with a 1:1 blend of topsoil and a loamy-sand waste material had the highest seedling emergence, while 100% topsoil pellets had lower emergence probably because of hardsetting. Triodia pungens (a native grass) survived to the end of the experiment while Indigofera monophylla and Acacia inaequilatera (native shrubs) emerged but did not survive. Adding an organic amendment in the extruded pellet inhibited Triodia seedling emergence but increased soil microbial activity. Overall, extruded pellets made from a 1:1 blend showed promise for the establishment of Triodia seeds and beneficially, incorporates mine waste overburden and lesser amounts of topsoil. Further research is needed to improve pelleting production and to test the applicability of the method at scale, for different species and other ecosystem types.
The Ridgefield Multiple Ecosystem Services Experiment: Can restoration of former agricultural land achieve multiple outcomes?
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2012
Ten years of pulling: Ecosystem recovery after long‐term weed management in Garry oak savanna
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 31-08-2019
DOI: 10.1111/CSP2.92
Routledge Handbook of Ecological and Environmental Restoration
Publisher: Routledge
Date: 18-05-2017
New anatomical information on A nomalocaris from the C ambrian E mu B ay S hale of S outh A ustralia and a reassessment of
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 04-03-2013
DOI: 10.1111/PALA.12029
Applied phosphorus has long-term impacts on vegetation responses in restored jarrah forest
Publisher: Australian Centre for Geomechanics, Perth
Date: 2019
Mating strategies dictate the importance of insect visits to native plants in urban fragments
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2020
DOI: 10.1071/BT19122
Abstract: Plant species conservation relies on their reproductive success and likelihood of population persistence. Knowledge of plant mating systems, particularly the relationship between plants and their pollinators, is fundamental to inform conservation efforts. This knowledge could be critical for prioritising efforts in human-dominated fragmented landscapes such as the world’s bio ersity hotspots, where reproductive success can be compromised due to habitat loss, limited access to pollinators or other factors. Yet, fundamental data on plant mating systems are lacking for many Australian plants. Here we determined the mating systems of native plant species growing in native woodland fragments within Perth’s urban landscape in south-western Australia. We manipulated insect access to flowers and pollen transfer on five locally common native species, then observed floral visitors and examined reproductive success. Hemiandra pungens and Patersonia occidentalis had mixed mating systems with some ability to self-pollinate, whereas Dianella revoluta and Jacksonia sericea were reliant on insects for outcross pollination. The fruits and seeds produced by Tricoryne elatior were too low to draw conclusions about its mating system. The introduced honey bee (Apis mellifera) was the sole visitor to the mixed mating species, whereas native bees visited D. revoluta and J. sericea (one bee species each). Overall, our data suggest that D. revoluta and J. sericea are more vulnerable to fragmentation than H. pungens and P. occidentalis. Although insects contributed significantly to the reproductive output of the two former plant species, our observations suggested low frequency and richness of insect visitors to these urban fragments. More research is required to determine the generality of our findings. A comparative study in larger native woodland fragments would help estimate the effect of fragmentation on insect pollinators and consequences for the insect-reliant plant species.
Benefits of mycorrhizal inoculation to ecological restoration depend on plant functional type, restoration context and time
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2019
Some costs of reproduction for male bushcrickets, Requena verticalis (Orthoptera : Tettigoniidae) allocating resources to mate attraction and nuptial feeding
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 07-1992
DOI: 10.1007/BF00167816
Richard J. Hobbs: how one ecologist has influenced the way we think about restoration ecology
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 08-07-2020
DOI: 10.1111/REC.13211
Abstract: Professor Richard Hobbs has had a profound influence on the development of the discipline of restoration ecology. With more than 300 publications spanning a broad scope of applied ecological sciences, he has collaborated with hundreds of researchers. His sometimes‐provocative insights, balanced by extensive empirical research, will have a lasting impact by encouraging people to think more broadly about the science and practice of ecological restoration. Here, on the eve of his retirement, some of his staff and students, past and present, take a retrospective look at his contributions to restoration ecology both as a scientist and as a mentor.
Improving city life: Options for ecological restoration in urban landscapes and how these might influence interactions between people and nature
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 24-05-2013
Restoration ecologists might not get what they want: Global change shifts trade-offs among ecosystem functions
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 22-12-2020
DOI: 10.1101/2020.12.21.423790
Abstract: Ecological restoration increasingly aims at improving ecosystem multifunctionality and making landscapes resilient to future threats, especially in bio ersity hotspots such as Mediterranean-type ecosystems. Successful realisation of such a strategy requires a fundamental mechanistic understanding of the link between ecosystem plant composition, plant traits and related ecosystem functions and services, as well as how climate change affects these relationships. An integrated approach of empirical research and simulation modelling with focus on plant traits can allow this understanding. Based on empirical data from a large-scale restoration project in a Mediterranean-type climate in Western Australia, we developed and validated the spatially explicit simulation model ModEST, which calculates coupled dynamics of nutrients, water and in idual plants characterised by traits. We then simulated all possible combinations of eight plant species with different levels of ersity to assess the role of plant ersity and traits on multifunctionality, the provision of six ecosystem functions (covering three ecosystem services), as well as trade-offs and synergies among the functions under current and future climatic conditions. Our results show that multifunctionality cannot fully be achieved because of trade-offs among functions that are attributable to sets of traits that affect functions differently. Our measure of multifunctionality was increased by higher levels of planted species richness under current, but not future climatic conditions. In contrast, single functions were differently impacted by increased plant ersity. In addition, we found that trade-offs and synergies among functions shifted with climate change. Synthesis and application . Our results imply that restoration ecologists will face a clear challenge to achieve their targets with respect to multifunctionality not only under current conditions, but also in the long-term. However, once ModEST is parameterized and validated for a specific restoration site, managers can assess which target goals can be achieved given the set of available plant species and site-specific conditions. It can also highlight which species combinations can best achieve long-term improved multifunctionality due to their trait ersity.
Restoration and resilience
Publisher: Routledge
Date: 18-05-2017
Evolutionary history of grazing and resources determine herbivore exclusion effects on plant diversity
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 25-07-2022
DOI: 10.1038/S41559-022-01809-9
Abstract: Ecological models predict that the effects of mammalian herbivore exclusion on plant ersity depend on resource availability and plant exposure to ungulate grazing over evolutionary time. Using an experiment replicated in 57 grasslands on six continents, with contrasting evolutionary history of grazing, we tested how resources (mean annual precipitation and soil nutrients) determine herbivore exclusion effects on plant ersity, richness and evenness. Here we show that at sites with a long history of ungulate grazing, herbivore exclusion reduced plant ersity by reducing both richness and evenness and the responses of richness and ersity to herbivore exclusion decreased with mean annual precipitation. At sites with a short history of grazing, the effects of herbivore exclusion were not related to precipitation but differed for native and exotic plant richness. Thus, plant species' evolutionary history of grazing continues to shape the response of the world's grasslands to changing mammalian herbivory.
Soil-vegetation type, stem density and species richness influence biomass of restored woodland in south-western Australia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2015
Correction to: Rethinking soil water repellency and its management (Plant Ecology, (2019), 220, 10, (977-984), 10.1007/s11258-019-00967-4)
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 03-12-2020
Threats to biodiversity from cumulative human impacts in one of North America's last wildlife frontiers
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-01-2018
DOI: 10.1111/COBI.13036
Abstract: Land-use change is the largest proximate threat to bio ersity yet remains one of the most complex to manage. In British Columbia (BC), where large mammals roam extensive tracts of intact habitat, continued land-use development is of global concern. Extant mammal ersity in BC is unrivalled in North America owing, in part, to its unique position at the intersection of alpine, boreal, and temperate biomes. Despite high conservation values, understanding of cumulative ecological impacts from human development is limited. Using cumulative-effects-assessment (CEA) methods, we assessed the current human footprint over 16 regional ecosystems and 7 large mammal species. Using historical and current range estimates of the mammals, we investigated impacts of human land use on species' persistence. For ecosystems, we found that bunchgrass, coastal Douglas fir, and ponderosa pine have been subjected to over 50% land-use conversion, and over 85% of their spatial extent has undergone either direct or estimated indirect impacts. Of the mammals we considered, wolves were the least affected by land conversion, yet all species had reduced ranges compared with historical estimates. We found evidence of a hard trade-off between development and conservation, most clearly for mammals with large distributions and ecosystems with high levels of conversion. Rather than serve as a platform to monitor species decline, we strongly advocate these data be used to inform land-use planning and to assess current conservation efforts. More generally, CEAs offer a robust tool to inform wildlife and habitat conservation at scale.
Capacity for change: Three core attributes of adaptive capacity that bolster restoration efficacy
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 04-03-2022
DOI: 10.1111/REC.13647
Abstract: In the face of rapid environmental change, restoration will need to emphasize innovative approaches that support the long‐term resilience of social and ecological systems. To this end, we highlight the critical, but often overlooked, role of adaptive capacity, which enables restoration practice, governance, and target ecosystems to adapt to directional environmental change. We identify three core attributes of adaptive capacity: (1) ersity, (2) connectivity, and (3) flexibility. For each attribute, we describe key strategies, including enhancing mechanisms of ecological memory, facilitating the generation of beneficial novelty, and developing governance structures that are flexible and anticipatory. These core attributes can also lead to maladaptive outcomes careful consideration of a social‐ecological system's resilience and vulnerabilities to environmental change will likely be critical to avoid unwanted outcomes. Ultimately, implementing strategies that increase adaptive capacity can bolster restoration efficacy as it seeks to confront the global challenge of rapid environmental change.
The diverse radiodont fauna from the Marjum Formation of Utah, USA (Cambrian: Drumian)
Publisher: PeerJ
Date: 19-01-2021
DOI: 10.7717/PEERJ.10509
Abstract: Radiodonts have long been known from Cambrian deposits preserving non-biomineralizing organisms. In Utah, the presence of these panarthropods in the Spence and Wheeler (House Range and Drum Mountains) biotas is now well-documented. Conversely, radiodont occurrences in the Marjum Formation have remained scarce. Despite the large amount of work undertaken on its erse fauna, only one radiodont ( Peytoia ) has been reported from the Marjum Biota. In this contribution we quadruple the known radiodont ersity of the Marjum fauna, with the description of the youngest members of two genera, Caryosyntrips and Pahvantia , and that of a new taxon Buccaspinea cooperi gen. et sp. nov. This new taxon can be identified from its large oral cone bearing robust hooked teeth with one, two, or three cusps, and by the unique endite morphology and organisation of its frontal appendages. Appendages of at least 12 podomeres bear six recurved plate-like endites proximal to up to four spiniform distal endites. Pahvantia hastata specimens from the Marjum Formation are particularly large, but otherwise morphologically indistinguishable from the carapace elements of this species found in the Wheeler Formation. One of the two new Caryosyntrips specimens can be confidently assigned to C. camurus . The other bears the largest spines relative to appendage length recorded for this genus, and possesses endites of variable size and unequal spacing, making its taxonomic assignment uncertain. Caryosyntrips, Pahvantia , and Peytoia are all known from the underlying Wheeler Formation, whereas isolated appendages from the Spence Shale and the Wheeler Formation, previously assigned to Hurdia , are tentatively reidentified as Buccaspinea . Notably, none of these four genera occurs in the overlying Weeks Formation, providing supporting evidence of a faunal restructuring around the Drumian-Guzhangian boundary. The description of three additional nektonic taxa from the Marjum Formation further documents the higher relative proportion of free-swimming species in this biota compared to those of the Wheeler and Weeks Lagerstätten. This could be related to a moderate deepening of the basin and/or changing regional ocean circulation at this time.
Genetic and mating system assessment of translocation success of the long-lived perennial shrub Lambertia orbifolia (Proteaceae)
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-06-2021
DOI: 10.1111/REC.13369
Abstract: There is an increasing need to establish populations of threatened plants in threat‐free habitat to prevent species extinction. The amount of genetic ersity in founding plants will influence whether the new population has the capacity to persist and evolve over time, and factors that influence the maintenance of genetic ersity, such as the mating systems, will also play a role in population persistence. We developed 13 nuclear microsatellite markers and used these to evaluate genetic ersity and mating system parameters of three translocated populations of two subspecies of Lambertia orbifolia , and compared these parameters to seven wild populations. Genetic ersity was maintained in the translocated population of L. orbifolia subsp. Scott River Plains, established using a single source population ( N ar = 3.270 and H e = 0.478 in translocated population N ar = 3.280 and H e = 0.534 in wild populations), and maintained or increased in the two admixed translocated populations of L. orbifolia subsp. orbifolia ( N ar = 3.115, 3.830 and H e = 0.511, 0.635 in translocated populations N ar = 2.708 and H e = 0.438 in wild populations) compared to wild populations of each subspecies. Mating system parameters were comparable between translocated and wild populations of L. orbifolia subsp. Scott River Plains indicating the likelihood of genetic ersity being maintained in future generations. However, there was increased selfing in translocated populations of L. orbifolia subsp. o rbifolia , suggesting suboptimal pollination and high values for the inbreeding coefficient in these admixed populations ( F is = 0.474, 0.275), which may be an artifact of the Wahlund effect or from less fit (inbred) seedlings surviving ex situ propagation and translocation.
Phosphorus fertilisation and large legume species affect jarrah forest restoration after bauxite mining
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2015
Legacy of land-use evident in soils of Western Australia’s wheatbelt
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 02-2006
Mapping the extent and spread of multiple plant invasions can help prioritise management in Galapagos National Park
Publisher: Pensoft Publishers
Date: 02-09-2014
Impact of an invasive clonal herb on epigaeic invertebrates in forest remnants in New Zealand
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2004
Evidence for Niche Differentiation in the Environmental Responses of Co-occurring Mucoromycotinian Fine Root Endophytes and Glomeromycotinian Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 03-11-2020
Isolation predicts compositional change after discrete disturbances in a global meta‐study
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 19-01-2017
DOI: 10.1111/ECOG.02383
Drivers of post‐fire resprouting success in restored Banksia woodlands
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 26-10-2023
DOI: 10.1111/AEC.13447
Towards a bridging concept for undesirable resilience in social-ecological systems
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 2020
DOI: 10.1017/SUS.2020.15
Abstract: Resilience is a cross-disciplinary concept that is relevant for understanding the sustainability of the social and environmental conditions in which we live. Most research normatively focuses on building or strengthening resilience, despite growing recognition of the importance of breaking the resilience of, and thus transforming, unsustainable social-ecological systems. Undesirable resilience (cf. lock-ins , social-ecological traps ), however, is not only less explored in the academic literature, but its understanding is also more fragmented across different disciplines. This disparity can inhibit collaboration among researchers exploring interdependent challenges in sustainability sciences. In this article, we propose that the term lock-in may contribute to a common understanding of undesirable resilience across scientific fields.
Global resource acquisition patterns of invasive and native plant species do not hold at the regional scale in Mediterranean type ecosystems
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 20-10-2017
Agricultural land-use favours Mucoromycotinian, but not Glomeromycotinian, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi across ten biomes
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 02-11-2021
DOI: 10.1111/NPH.17780
Abstract: Globally, agricultural land‐use negatively affects soil biota that contribute to ecosystem functions such as nutrient cycling, yet arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are promoted as essential components of agroecosystems. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi include Glomeromycotinian AMF (G‐AMF) and the arbuscule‐producing fine root endophytes, recently re‐classified into the Endogonales order within Mucoromycotina. The correct classification of Mucoromycotinian AMF (M‐AMF) and the availability of new molecular tools can guide research to better the understanding of their ersity and ecology. To investigate the impact on G‐AMF and M‐AMF of agricultural land‐use at a continental scale, we s led DNA from paired farm and native sites across 10 Australian biomes. Glomeromycotinian AMF were present in both native and farm sites in all biomes. Putative M‐AMF were favoured by farm sites, rare or absent in native sites, and almost entirely absent in tropical biomes. Temperature, rainfall, and soil pH were strong drivers of richness and community composition of both groups, and plant richness was an important mediator. Both fungal groups occupy different, but overlapping, ecological niches, with M‐AMF thriving in temperate agricultural landscapes. Our findings invite exploration of the origin and spread of M‐AMF and continued efforts to resolve the phylogeny of this newly reclassified group of AMF.
Potential benefits of biodiversity to Australian vegetation projects registered with the Emissions Reduction Fund—is there a carbon-biodiversity trade-off?
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-2020
DOI: 10.1111/EMR.12426
Extinction debt varies in two threatened Mediterranean-type woodland communities undergoing rapid urbanisation
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2023
DOI: 10.1071/BT22134
Concerns about novel ecosystems
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 31-01-2013
Novel Urban Ecosystems and Ecosystem Services
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 31-01-2013
Habitat restoration will help some functional plant types persist under climate change in fragmented landscapes
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 30-03-2012
Opposing community assembly patterns for dominant and nondominant plant species in herbaceous ecosystems globally
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-11-2021
DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.8266
Abstract: Biotic and abiotic factors interact with dominant plants—the locally most frequent or with the largest coverage—and nondominant plants differently, partially because dominant plants modify the environment where nondominant plants grow. For instance, if dominant plants compete strongly, they will deplete most resources, forcing nondominant plants into a narrower niche space. Conversely, if dominant plants are constrained by the environment, they might not exhaust available resources but instead may ameliorate environmental stressors that usually limit nondominants. Hence, the nature of interactions among nondominant species could be modified by dominant species. Furthermore, these differences could translate into a disparity in the phylogenetic relatedness among dominants compared to the relatedness among nondominants. By estimating phylogenetic dispersion in 78 grasslands across five continents, we found that dominant species were clustered (e.g., co‐dominant grasses), suggesting dominant species are likely organized by environmental filtering, and that nondominant species were either randomly assembled or overdispersed. Traits showed similar trends for those sites ( %) with sufficient trait data. Furthermore, several lineages scattered in the phylogeny had more nondominant species than expected at random, suggesting that traits common in nondominants are phylogenetically conserved and have evolved multiple times. We also explored environmental drivers of the dominant/nondominant disparity. We found different assembly patterns for dominants and nondominants, consistent with asymmetries in assembly mechanisms. Among the different postulated mechanisms, our results suggest two complementary hypotheses seldom explored: (1) Nondominant species include lineages adapted to thrive in the environment generated by dominant species. (2) Even when dominant species reduce resources to nondominant ones, dominant species could have a stronger positive effect on some nondominants by ameliorating environmental stressors affecting them, than by depleting resources and increasing the environmental stress to those nondominants. These results show that the dominant/nondominant asymmetry has ecological and evolutionary consequences fundamental to understand plant communities.
Fine root endophytes under scrutiny: a review of the literature on arbuscule-producing fungi recently suggested to belong to the Mucoromycotina
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 07-06-2017
DOI: 10.1007/S00572-017-0782-Z
Abstract: Fine root endophytes (FRE) are arbuscule-forming fungi presently considered as a single species-Glomus tenue in the Glomeromycota (Glomeromycotina)-but probably belong within the Mucoromycotina. Thus, FRE are the only known arbuscule-forming fungi not within the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF Glomeromycotina) as currently understood. Phylogenetic differences between FRE and AMF could reflect ecological differences. To synthesize current ecological knowledge, we reviewed the literature on FRE and identified 108 papers that noted the presence of FRE and, in some, the colonization levels for FRE or AMF (or both). We categorized these records by geographic region, host-plant family and environment (agriculture, moderate-natural, low-temperature, high-altitude and other) and determined their influence on the percentage of root length colonized by FRE in a meta-analysis. We found that FRE are globally distributed, with many observations from Poaceae, perhaps due to grasses being widely distributed. In agricultural environments, colonization by FRE often equalled or exceeded that of AMF, particularly in Australasia. In moderate-natural and high-altitude environments, average colonization by FRE (~10%) was lower than that of AMF (~35%), whereas in low-temperature environments, colonization was similar (~20%). Several studies suggested that FRE can enhance host-plant phosphorus uptake and growth, and may be more resilient than AMF to environmental stress in some host plants. Further research is required on the functioning of FRE in relation to the environment, host plant and co-occurring AMF and, in particular, to examine whether FRE are important for plant growth in stressful environments. Targeted molecular primers are urgently needed for further research on FRE.
Identifying management options for modified vegetation: Application of the novel ecosystems framework to a case study in the Galapagos Islands
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2014
Land-use legacy and the persistence of invasive Avena barbataon abandoned farmland
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 21-10-2008
After the fence: Soil and vegetation condition in grazed, fenced and benchmark eucalypt woodlands of fragmented agricultural landscapes
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2011
DOI: 10.1071/BT11026
Abstract: Emerging ecological theory predicts that vegetation changes caused by introduction of livestock grazing may be irreversible after livestock are removed, especially in regions such as Australia that have a short evolutionary exposure to ungulate grazing. Despite this, fencing to exclude livestock grazing is the major tool used to restore vegetation in Australian agricultural landscapes. To characterise site-scale benefits and limitations of livestock exclusion for enhancing bio ersity in forb-rich York gum (Eucalyptus loxophleba Benth. subsp. loxophleba)–jam (Acacia acuminata Benth.) woodlands, we compared 29 fenced woodlands with 29 adjacent grazed woodlands and 11 little-grazed ‘benchmark’ woodlands in the Western Australian wheatbelt. We explored the following two hypotheses: (1) fencing to exclude livestock facilitates recovery of grazed woodlands towards benchmark conditions, and (2) without additional interventions after fencing, complete recovery of grazed woodlands to benchmark conditions is constrained by ecological or other limits. Our first hypothesis was supported for vegetation parameters, with fenced woodlands being more similar to benchmark woodlands in tree recruitment, exotic plant cover, native plant cover, native plant richness and plant species composition than were grazed woodlands. Further, exotic cover decreased and frequency of jam increased with time-since-fencing (2–22 years). However, we found no evidence that fencing led to decline in topsoil nutrient concentrations towards concentrations at benchmark sites. Our second hypothesis was also supported, with higher topsoil nutrient concentrations and exotic plant cover, and lower native plant richness in fenced than in benchmark woodlands, and different plant species composition between fenced and benchmark woodlands. Regression analyses suggested that recovery of native species richness is constrained by exotic species that persist after fencing, which in turn are more persistent at higher topsoil nutrient concentrations. We conclude that fencing to exclude livestock grazing can be valuable for bio ersity conservation. However, consistent with ecological theory, additional interventions are likely to be necessary to achieve some conservation goals or to promote recovery at nutrient-enriched sites.
Comment on “Worldwide evidence of a unimodal relationship between productivity and plant species richness”
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date: 29-01-2016
Abstract: Fraser et al . (Reports, 17 July 2015, p. 302) report a unimodal relationship between productivity and species richness at regional and global scales, which they contrast with the results of Adler et al . (Reports, 23 September 2011, p. 1750). However, both data sets, when analyzed correctly, show clearly and consistently that productivity is a poor predictor of local species richness.
Sample storage conditions alter colonisation structures of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and, particularly, fine root endophyte
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 04-04-2017
Tipping point for cockatoos in Perth
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-04-2019
DOI: 10.1111/AEC.12740
An exceptional record of Cambrian trilobite moulting behaviour preserved in the Emu Bay Shale, South Australia
Publisher: Scandinavian University Press / Universitetsforlaget AS
Date: 10-2018
DOI: 10.1111/LET.12266
Long-term conditioning of soil by plantation eucalypts and pines does not affect growth of the native jarrah tree
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2015
Integrating diverse social and ecological motivations to achieve landscape restoration
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 20-08-2018
Resilience trinity: safeguarding ecosystem functioning and services across three different time horizons and decision contexts
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 31-01-2020
DOI: 10.1111/OIK.07213
Nitrogen but not phosphorus addition affects symbiotic N2 fixation by legumes in natural and semi-natural grasslands located on four continents
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 15-06-2022
DOI: 10.1007/S11104-022-05498-Y
Abstract: The amount of nitrogen (N) derived from symbiotic N 2 fixation by legumes in grasslands might be affected by anthropogenic N and phosphorus (P) inputs, but the underlying mechanisms are not known. We evaluated symbiotic N 2 fixation in 17 natural and semi-natural grasslands on four continents that are subjected to the same full-factorial N and P addition experiment, using the 15 N natural abundance method. N as well as combined N and P (NP) addition reduced aboveground legume biomass by 65% and 45%, respectively, compared to the control, whereas P addition had no significant impact. Addition of N and/or P had no significant effect on the symbiotic N 2 fixation per unit legume biomass. In consequence, the amount of N fixed annually per grassland area was less than half in the N addition treatments compared to control and P addition, irrespective of whether the dominant legumes were annuals or perennials. Our results reveal that N addition mainly impacts symbiotic N 2 fixation via reduced biomass of legumes rather than changes in N 2 fixation per unit legume biomass. The results show that soil N enrichment by anthropogenic activities significantly reduces N 2 fixation in grasslands, and these effects cannot be reversed by additional P amendment.
Local loss and spatial homogenization of plant diversity reduce ecosystem multifunctionality
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 04-12-2017
DOI: 10.1038/S41559-017-0395-0
Abstract: Bio ersity is declining in many local communities while also becoming increasingly homogenized across space. Experiments show that local plant species loss reduces ecosystem functioning and services, but the role of spatial homogenization of community composition and the potential interaction between ersity at different scales in maintaining ecosystem functioning remains unclear, especially when many functions are considered (ecosystem multifunctionality). We present an analysis of eight ecosystem functions measured in 65 grasslands worldwide. We find that more erse grasslands-those with both species-rich local communities (α- ersity) and large compositional differences among localities (β- ersity)-had higher levels of multifunctionality. Moreover, α- and β- ersity synergistically affected multifunctionality, with higher levels of ersity at one scale lifying the contribution to ecological functions at the other scale. The identity of species influencing ecosystem functioning differed among functions and across local communities, explaining why more erse grasslands maintained greater functionality when more functions and localities were considered. These results were robust to variation in environmental drivers. Our findings reveal that plant ersity, at both local and landscape scales, contributes to the maintenance of multiple ecosystem services provided by grasslands. Preserving ecosystem functioning therefore requires conservation of bio ersity both within and among ecological communities.
Co-benefits of planting species mixes in carbon projects
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 2014
DOI: 10.1111/EMR.12084
Interactive effects of altered rainfall and simulated nitrogen deposition on seedling establishment in a global biodiversity hotspot
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-04-2012
Advances in restoration ecology: rising to the challenges of the coming decades
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 08-2015
DOI: 10.1890/ES15-00121.1
Incorporating novel ecosystems into management framework
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 31-01-2013
Mycorrhizal symbiosis and phosphorus supply determine interactions among plants with contrasting nutrient‐acquisition strategies
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-09-2021
Abstract: Highly erse plant communities growing on nutrient‐impoverished soils are test beds for theories on species coexistence. Here, neighbouring mycorrhizal and non‐mycorrhizal plants compete for limited phosphorus. The impact of below‐ground interactions on community dynamics is underexplored. We used an experimental approach to investigate effects of inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi and a phosphorus supply gradient on competitive and facilitative interactions among mixed assemblages of woody plants in microcosms. The plant species, one cluster root‐forming (CR) species and four AM species, are native to jarrah forest that grows on nutrient‐impoverished soils in south‐western Australia. We measured plant growth in microcosms, with and without inoculation with the AM fungus Rhizophagus irregularis , and across a gradient of P supply: 0, 9, 27 and 243 mg P per kg of soil. Our data show evidence of plant–plant facilitation at low P supply and competition at high P supply. Growth of the CR species, Hakea undulata , was highest in microcosms with 0P and without AM inoculation. One AM species, Bossiaea aquifolium , also performed better at lower P levels, possibly benefitting from P mobilised by H. undulata . The other three AM species, one strongly obligates, performed better at higher P levels. Data for Acacia celastrifolia suggested it was facultatively mycotropic, and because there was no correlation between AM colonisation and the relative inoculum effect, we suggest positive effects of AM inoculation at 9P might be due to benefits other than P acquisition, such as pathogen defence. Benefit of AM inoculation diminished for three of four mycorrhizal species at the highest P level as we had predicted. The fourth species, Eucalyptus marginata (jarrah), had higher growth in microcosms that were not inoculated with AM, perhaps because the species benefits more from ectomycorrhizas. Synthesis . Our experimental data suggest spatial heterogeneity of soil P, coupled with a ersity of nutrient‐acquisition strategies, and plasticity among plant–plant and plant–AM fungi interactions, contributes to plant species coexistence in the nutrient‐impoverished jarrah forest. Our research highlights the importance of below‐ground mechanisms for understanding factors determining community structure including a potential role of AM fungi in plant pathogen defence.
Abiotic and biotic responses to woody debris additions in restored old fields in a multi‐site Before‐After‐Control‐Impact experiment
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-2022
DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.9058
Abstract: Ecological restoration of former agricultural land can improve soil conditions, recover native vegetation, and provide fauna habitat. However, restoration benefits are often associated with time lags, as many attributes, such as leaf litter and coarse woody debris, need time to accumulate. Here, we experimentally tested whether adding mulch and logs to restoration sites in semi‐arid Western Australia can accelerate restoration benefits. All sites had been cropped and then planted with native trees and shrubs (i.e., Eucalyptus , Melaleuca , and Acacia spp.) 10 years prior to our experiment, to re‐establish the original temperate eucalypt woodland vegetation community. We used a Multi‐site Before‐After‐Control‐Impact (MBACI) design to test the effects on 30 abiotic and biotic response variables over a period of 2 years. Of the 30 response variables, a significant effect was found for just four variables: volumetric water content, decomposition, native herbaceous species cover and species richness of disturbance specialist ants. Mulch addition had a positive effect on soil moisture when compared to controls but suppressed growth of native (but not exotic) herbaceous plants. On plots with log additions, decomposition rates decreased, and species richness of disturbance specialist ants increased. However, we found no effect on total species richness and abundance of other ant species groups. The benefit of mulch to soil moisture was offset by its disbenefit to native herbs in our study. Given time, logs may also provide habitat for ant species that prefer concealed habitats. Indeed, benefits to other soil biophysical properties, vegetation, and ant fauna may require longer time frames to be detected. Further research is needed to determine whether the type, quantity, and context of mulch and log additions may improve their utility for old field restoration and whether effects on native herbs are correlated with idiosyncratic climatic conditions.
How will climate variability interact with long-term climate change to affect the persistence of plant species in fragmented landscapes?
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 28-11-2014
DOI: 10.1017/S0376892913000490
Abstract: As climates change, some plant species will need to migrate across landscapes fragmented by unsuitable environments and human activities to colonize new areas with suitable climates as previously habited areas become uninhabitable. Previous modelling of plant's migration potential has generally assumed that climate changes at a constant rate, but this ignores many potentially important aspects of real climate variability. In this study, a spatially explicit simulation model was used to investigate how interannual climate variability, the occurrence of extreme events and step changes in climate might interact with gradual long-term climate change to affect plant species’ capacity to migrate across fragmented landscapes and persist. The considered types of climate variability generally exacerbated the negative effects of long-term climate change, with a few poignant exceptions where persistence of long-lived trees improved. Strategic habitat restoration ameliorated negative effects of climate variability. Plant functional characteristics strongly influenced most results. Any modelling of how climate change may affect species persistence, and how actions such as restoration may help species adapt, should account for both short-term climate variability and long-term change.
Defining biodiverse reforestation: Why it matters for climate change mitigation and biodiversity
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 20-09-2022
DOI: 10.1002/PPP3.10329
Abstract: Mixed species plantings present an attractive alternative to monoculture reforestation through their added benefits to bio ersity. Yet there is ambiguity in the use of the term ‘bio ersity’ in carbon and bio ersity markets, which may create perverse outcomes when designing schemes and projects. Here, we review how the concept of bio ersity is defined and applied in reforestation projects, and restoration more broadly. Improved transparency around the use of the term bio ersity is urgently needed to provide rigour in emerging market mechanisms, which seek to benefit the environment and people. Reforestation to capture and store atmospheric carbon is increasingly ch ioned as a climate change mitigation policy response. Reforestation plantings have the potential to provide conservation co‐benefits when erse mixtures of native species are planted, and there are growing attempts to monetise bio ersity benefits from carbon reforestation projects, particularly within emerging carbon markets. But what is meant by ‘bio erse’ across different stakeholders and groups implementing and overseeing these projects and how do these perceptions compare with long‐standing scientific definitions? Here, we discuss approaches to, and definitions of, bio ersity in the context of reforestation for carbon sequestration. Our aim is to review how the concept of bio ersity is defined and applied among stakeholders (e.g., governments, carbon certifiers and farmers) and rights holders (i.e., First Nations people) engaging in reforestation, and to identify best‐practice methods for restoring bio ersity in these projects. We find that some stakeholders have a vague understanding of ersity across varying levels of biological organisation (genes to ecosystems). While most understand that bio ersity underpins ecosystem functions and services, many stakeholders may not appreciate the difficulties of restoring bio ersity akin to reference ecosystems. Consequently, bio ersity goals are rarely explicit, and project goals may never be achieved because the levels of restored bio ersity are inadequate to support functional ecosystems and desired ecosystem services. We suggest there is significant value in integrating bio ersity objectives into reforestation projects and setting specific restoration goals with transparent reporting outcomes will pave the way for ensuring reforestation projects have meaningful outcomes for bio ersity, and legitimate incentive payments for bio ersity and natural capital accounting.
Phosphorus supply affects seedling growth of mycorrhizal but not cluster-root forming jarrah-forest species
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 31-01-2022
DOI: 10.1007/S11104-021-05268-2
Abstract: Fertiliser is often used to kick-start ecological restoration despite growing evidence of the potentially negative impacts on plant ersity. Jarrah ( Eucalyptus marginata ) forest species growing on nutrient (especially phosphorus) impoverished soils in southwestern Australia have a suite of adaptations for phosphorus (P) acquisition, including the formation of cluster roots, and associations with mycorrhizal fungi. Here we investigated how escalating P supply, along with a stoichiometric adjustment of nitrogen (N) supply, impacted the growth and nutrition of a wide range of jarrah forest seedlings. In a pot experiment, we measured seedling biomass and nutritional responses of 12 jarrah forest species to a gradient of P supply in relation to N supply, and for the mycorrhizal species, inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. Three cluster-root forming species did not respond to increasing P, probably because they were reliant on seed P. Generally, mycorrhizal species showed a positive biomass response to increasing P when N was available. Mycorrhizas benefited seedling growth at low P (9 mg P added per kg of jarrah forest soil) when N was also available, and were parasitic to seedling growth at high P (243 mg P/ kg soil) without additional N. These results highlight importance of P and N supply in determining the nature of the symbiosis between plants and mycorrhizal fungi. Since P supply has the potential to reduce plant growth, for a range of species, our results suggest careful consideration of fertiliser amounts for ecological restoration of ecosystems adapted to nutrient poor soils.
Negative effects of nitrogen override positive effects of phosphorus on grassland legumes worldwide
Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Date: 06-07-2021
Abstract: Predicting the effects of anthropogenic nutrient enrichment on plant communities is critical for managing implications for bio ersity and ecosystem services. Plant functional types that fix atmospheric nitrogen (e.g., legumes) may be at particular risk of nutrient-driven global decline, yet global-scale evidence is lacking. Using an experiment in 45 grasslands across six continents, we showed that legume cover, richness, and biomass declined substantially with nitrogen additions. Although legumes benefited from phosphorus, potassium, and other nutrients, these nutrients did not ameliorate nitrogen-induced legume decline. Given global trends in anthropogenic nutrient enrichment, our results indicate the potential for global decline in grassland legumes, with likely consequences for bio ersity, food webs, soil health, and genetic improvement of protein-rich plant species for food production.
Movers and Stayers: Novel Assemblages in Changing Environments
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2018
DOI: 10.1016/J.TREE.2017.11.001
Abstract: Increased attention to species movement in response to environmental change highlights the need to consider changes in species distributions and altered biological assemblages. Such changes are well known from paleoecological studies, but have accelerated with ongoing pervasive human influence. In addition to species that move, some species will stay put, leading to an array of novel interactions. Species show a variety of responses that can allow movement or persistence. Conservation and restoration actions have traditionally focused on maintaining or returning species in particular places, but increasingly also include interventions that facilitate movement. Approaches are required that incorporate the fluidity of biotic assemblages into the goals set and interventions deployed.
A framework for measuring the effects of disturbance in restoration projects
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 25-04-2021
DOI: 10.1111/REC.13379
Abstract: Ecological resilience is widely acknowledged as a vital attribute of successful ecosystem restoration, with potential for restoration practice to contribute to this goal. Hence, defining common metrics of resilience to naturally occurring disturbances is essential for restoration planning, efforts, and monitoring. Here, we reviewed how plant community ecologists have measured resilience of restoration projects to disturbances and propose a framework to guide measurement of restoration projects to disturbance. We found 22 studies that investigated the impact of disturbances on restoration projects, from three continents and for three disturbance types. Over half of the studies were from Australia, with the dataset biased toward fire responses of restored, or partially restored, forest ecosystems. Native plant species richness, cover, and density were common response variables. Studies varied in restoration context, design, response variables, and statistical approaches, limiting generalizations. Nonetheless we have identified several response variables that offer potential as lagging indicators (e.g. species richness) and leading indicators (e.g. recruitment) of resilience in erse vegetation types exposed to a variety of disturbance regimes. We suggest a third set of variables, proxy measures of resilience (e.g. functional redundancy), to complement lagging and leading indicators. We conclude with a framework to guide decisions about when to use each of the three types of measures to assess resilience of restoration projects to disturbance, providing some clarity to decision‐making despite the uncertainty of changing disturbance regimes. Lastly, we invite researchers to understand the impact of disturbance on the resilience of restoration projects, rather than assume resilience.
Seed dispersal and recruitment limitation are barriers to native recolonization of old-fields in western Australia
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 19-02-2007
Plant migration and persistence under climate change in fragmented landscapes: Does it depend on the key point of vulnerability within the lifecycle?
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2013
Long-term data suggest jarrah-forest establishment at restored mine sites is resistant to climate variability
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 2015
Plant functional traits of dominant native and invasive species in Mediterranean-climate ecosystems
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 2016
DOI: 10.1890/15-0974.1
Abstract: The idea that dominant invasive plant species outperform neighboring native species through higher rates of carbon assimilation and growth is supported by several analyses of global data sets. However, theory suggests that native and invasive species occurring in low‐resource environments will be functionally similar, as environmental factors restrict the range of observed physiological and morphological trait values. We measured resource‐use traits in native and invasive plant species across eight erse vegetation communities distributed throughout the five mediterranean‐climate regions, which are drought prone and increasingly threatened by human activities, including the introduction of exotic species. Traits differed strongly across the five regions. In regions with functional differences between native and invasive species groups, invasive species displayed traits consistent with high resource acquisition however, these patterns were largely attributable to differences in life form. We found that species invading mediterranean‐climate regions were more likely to be annual than perennial: three of the five regions were dominated by native woody species and invasive annuals. These results suggest that trait differences between native and invasive species are context dependent and will vary across vegetation communities. Native and invasive species within annual and perennial groups had similar patterns of carbon assimilation and resource use, which contradicts the widespread idea that invasive species optimize resource acquisition rather than resource conservation.
Seed mass and summer drought survival in a Mediterranean-climate ecosystem
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 12-04-2011
Effect of plant root symbionts on performance of native woody species in competition with an invasive grass in multispecies microcosms
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 02-08-2018
DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.4397
Best served deep: The seedbank from salvaged topsoil underscores the role of the dispersal filter in restoration practice
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 15-11-2021
DOI: 10.1111/AVSC.12539
P is for persistence: Soil phosphorus remains elevated for more than a decade after old field restoration
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-03-2022
DOI: 10.1002/EAP.2547
Abstract: Understanding constraints to ecological restoration on former agricultural land has become increasingly important due to agricultural land degradation in the developed world, and growing evidence for enduring agricultural legacies that limit native species recovery. In particular, the removal of native plant biomass and subsequent disturbance of soil properties through farming activities can alter soil ecosystem processes. Planting of native plant species is a common approach to restoring native vegetation on agricultural land and is assumed to benefit soil ecosystem processes, but the degree to which altered soil chemical processes recover is poorly documented. We investigated recovery of soil chemical properties after restoration in semiarid Western Australia, hypothesizing that elevated nutrient concentrations would gradually decline post planting, but available phosphorus (P) concentrations would remain higher than reference conditions. We used a space‐for‐time substitution approach, comparing 10 planted old field plots with matched fallow cropland and reference woodlands. S ling on planted old fields and reference woodland plots was stratified into open patches and under tree canopy to account for consistent differences between these areas. The most prominent legacy of cropping was significantly and substantially higher concentrations of soil available P in fallow croplands and restored old fields compared with reference woodlands. Soil mineral nitrogen (N) concentrations were elevated in fallow croplands compared to open patches in reference woodlands (ammonium and nitrate) and under the tree canopy (ammonium). However, in restored old fields, mineral N concentrations were similar to woodland sites, providing evidence for amelioration over time. No significant differences in nutrient concentrations under tree canopies compared with open patches had developed in the planted old fields, despite a distinction between open patches and he under ttree canopy in reference woodlands for total N. We conclude that soil P legacies in old fields may inhibit the recolonization of native species that are sensitive to, or uncompetitive at, elevated P concentrations. To achieve full recovery, further research is required to test restoration practices aimed at reducing soil P concentrations to facilitate native plant establishment and persistence.
Novel ecosystems: Governance and conservation in the age of the Anthropocene
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2018
DOI: 10.1016/J.JENVMAN.2017.12.013
Abstract: Meeting conservation objectives in an era of global environmental change has precipitated debate about where and how to intervene. Ecological and social values of novel ecosystems are particularly contested. Governance has a role to play, but this role is underexplored. Here, we critically review the novel ecosystems literature to identify challenges that fall within the realm of governance. Using a conceptual framework for analysing adaptive governance, we consider how governance could help address five challenges. Specifically, we argue that reforming governance can support the re-framing of policy objectives for ecosystems where transformation is likely, and in doing so, it could highlight the tensions between the emergence of novel ecosystems on the one hand and cultural expectations about how ecosystems should look on the other. We discuss the influence of power, authority and administrative competence on conservation efforts in times of environmental change. We consider how buffering can address translational mismatch between conventional conservation policy and modern ecological reality. This review provides insights into how governance reform could enable more adaptive responses to transformative changes, such as novel ecosystems, while remaining committed to achieving conservation outcomes. Indeed, at their best, adaptive responses would encompass the reality of ecological transformation while being sympathetic to concerns about undesirable outcomes. Connections between researchers in the fields of governance, ecology and conservation could help to achieve these twin aims. We provide ex les of governance and policy-making techniques that can support context-specific governance reform that supports more effective conservation in the Anthropocene.
Fine endophytes (Glomus tenue) are related to Mucoromycotina, not Glomeromycota
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 21-10-2016
DOI: 10.1111/NPH.14268
Managing the whole landscape: Historical, hybrid, and novel ecosystems
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-2014
DOI: 10.1890/130300
Microbial processing of plant remains is co‐limited by multiple nutrients in global grasslands
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-06-2020
DOI: 10.1111/GCB.15146
Abstract: Microbial processing of aggregate‐unprotected organic matter inputs is key for soil fertility, long‐term ecosystem carbon and nutrient sequestration and sustainable agriculture. We investigated the effects of adding multiple nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium plus nine essential macro‐ and micro‐nutrients) on decomposition and biochemical transformation of standard plant materials buried in 21 grasslands from four continents. Addition of multiple nutrients weakly but consistently increased decomposition and biochemical transformation of plant remains during the peak‐season, concurrent with changes in microbial exoenzymatic activity. Higher mean annual precipitation and lower mean annual temperature were the main climatic drivers of higher decomposition rates, while biochemical transformation of plant remains was negatively related to temperature of the wettest quarter. Nutrients enhanced decomposition most at cool, high rainfall sites, indicating that in a warmer and drier future fertilized grassland soils will have an even more limited potential for microbial processing of plant remains.
Seedling response to phosphate addition and inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizas and the implications for old-field restoration in Western Australia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2007
Restoration of OCBILs in south-western Australia: Response to Hopper
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 09-10-2010
Old-field restoration improves habitat for ants in a semi-arid landscape
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 25-11-2021
DOI: 10.1111/REC.13605
Abstract: Many old fields are undergoing ecological restoration aiming to return lost bio ersity and ecosystem functions. However, there is scant evidence that this outcome is achieved. Here we investigate the effects of tree planting following cessation of cropping on ant communities. Ants are a dominant faunal group, functionally important for ecosystem recovery and widely used as indicators of ecosystem restoration. Using a space‐for‐time approach, we surveyed eight fallow croplands, 10‐year‐old planted old fields, and reference woodlands in semi‐arid south‐western Australia. We tested the extent ant communities in planted old fields erged from those of fallow cropland and converged with those of reference woodlands, distinguishing areas under tree canopies and open patches to account for a direct tree effect. We analyzed ant community data at species, genus, and functional‐group levels. Ant species composition in planted old fields substantially converged from fallow croplands toward reference woodlands. Abundance and richness of genera in the tree‐associated functional group Subordinate C onotini was higher under trees than in open areas in planted old fields and reference woodlands. Unlike in reference woodlands, abundance and richness of Hot Climate Specialists was not higher in open areas than under trees in planted old fields, indicating that planted trees did not yet strongly impact the microclimate beneath them. Although old field restoration had positive effects on ant assemblages, full convergence to reference woodlands had not been achieved after 10 years. This was particularly evident for functional groups. Research on older plantings is needed to test if and when full convergence occurs.
Nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer regime affect jarrah forest restoration after bauxite mining in Western Australia
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 17-05-2013
DOI: 10.1111/AVSC.12046
AusTraits, a curated plant trait database for the Australian flora
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 30-09-2021
DOI: 10.1038/S41597-021-01006-6
Abstract: We introduce the AusTraits database - a compilation of values of plant traits for taxa in the Australian flora (hereafter AusTraits). AusTraits synthesises data on 448 traits across 28,640 taxa from field c aigns, published literature, taxonomic monographs, and in idual taxon descriptions. Traits vary in scope from physiological measures of performance (e.g. photosynthetic gas exchange, water-use efficiency) to morphological attributes (e.g. leaf area, seed mass, plant height) which link to aspects of ecological variation. AusTraits contains curated and harmonised in idual- and species-level measurements coupled to, where available, contextual information on site properties and experimental conditions. This article provides information on version 3.0.2 of AusTraits which contains data for 997,808 trait-by-taxon combinations. We envision AusTraits as an ongoing collaborative initiative for easily archiving and sharing trait data, which also provides a template for other national or regional initiatives globally to fill persistent gaps in trait knowledge.
New opabiniid diversifies the weirdest wonders of the euarthropod lower stem group
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 11-03-2021
DOI: 10.1101/2021.03.10.434726
Abstract: Once considered ‘weird wonders’ of the Cambrian, the emblematic Burgess Shale animals Anomalocaris and Opabinia are now recognized as lower stem-group euarthropods. Anomalocaris and its relatives (radiodonts) had a worldwide distribution and survived until at least the Devonian, whereas - despite intense study - Opabinia remains the only formally described opabiniid to date. Here we reinterpret a fossil from the Wheeler Formation of Utah as a new opabiniid, KUMIP 314087. By visualizing the s le of phylogenetic topologies in treespace, our results fortify support for the position of KUMIP 314087 beyond the nodal support traditionally applied. Our phylogenetic evidence expands opabiniids to multiple Cambrian Stages spanning approximately five million years. Our results underscore the power of treespace visualization for resolving imperfectly preserved fossils and expanding the known ersity and spatiotemporal ranges within the euarthropod lower stem group. This work contains a new biological name. New names in preprints are not considered available by the ICZN. To avoid ambiguity, the new biological name is not included in this preprint, and the specimen number (KUMIP 314087) is used as a placeholder. Cover image. Artistic reconstruction of the new opabiniid from the Wheeler Formation, Utah, USA (Cambrian: Drumian). Artwork by F. Anthony.
Global change shifts trade‐offs among ecosystem functions in woodlands restored for multifunctionality
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-06-2021
Abstract: Ecological restoration increasingly aims at improving ecosystem multifunctionality and making landscapes resilient to future threats, especially in bio ersity hotspots such as Mediterranean‐type ecosystems. Plants and their traits play a major role in the functioning of an ecosystem. Therefore, successful restoration towards long‐term multifunctionality requires a fundamental mechanistic understanding of this link under changing climate. An integrated approach of empirical research and simulation modelling with a focus on plant traits can allow this understanding. Based on empirical data from a large‐scale restoration project in a Mediterranean‐type ecosystem in Western Australia, we developed and validated the spatially explicit simulation model Modelling Ecosystem Functions and Services based on Traits (ModEST), which calculates coupled dynamics of nutrients, water and in idual plants characterised by functional traits. We then simulated all possible combinations of eight plant species with different levels of ersity to assess the role of plant ersity and traits on multifunctionality, the provision of six ecosystem functions that can be linked to ecosystem services, as well as trade‐offs and synergies among the functions under current and future climatic conditions. Our results show that multifunctionality cannot fully be achieved because of trade‐offs among functions that are attributable to sets of traits that affect functions differently. Our measure of multifunctionality was increased by higher levels of planted species richness under current, but not future climatic conditions. In contrast, single functions were differently impacted by increased plant ersity and thus the choice and weighting of these functions affected multifunctionality. In addition, we found that trade‐offs and synergies among functions shifted with climate change due to different direct and indirect (mediated via community trait changes) effects of climate change on functions. Synthesis and application . With our simulation model Modelling Ecosystem Functions and Services based on Traits (ModEST), we show that restoration towards multifunctionality might be challenging not only under current conditions but also in the long‐term. However, once ModEST is parameterised and validated for a specific restoration site, managers can assess which target goals can be achieved given the set of available plant species and site‐specific conditions. It can also highlight which species combinations can best achieve long‐term improved multifunctionality due to their trait ersity.
A million and more trees for science
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 16-04-2018
Incorporating novelty and novel ecosystems into restoration planning and practice in the 21st century
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 07-2013
Recovery of woody but not herbaceous native flora 10 years post old‐field restoration
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-2021
Abstract: Vegetation recovery in old fields towards mature reference states is often limited by abiotic and biotic thresholds resulting from agricultural land use legacies, as commonly highlighted using state and transition models. Old‐field restoration may include interventions (e.g. planting of vegetation) to overcome these thresholds and assist transition between states. However, our understanding of the effectiveness of these interventions is limited. Using a point‐intercept transect method, we surveyed nine sites, each comprising a triplet of fallow cropland, planted old field and woodland reference plots to reflect states of old‐field restoration, from the degraded state to the reference state. We compared ground cover attributes, and richness and cover of woody and herbaceous flora species, using ANOVA and multivariate analyses. We found that a decade after planting, cover of leaf litter and woody debris in planted old fields were significantly higher than in the fallow croplands however, woodland reference conditions were not achieved. Cover of logs was similar to the fallow cropland. Woody species cover and richness were similar in planted old fields and woodland reference plots, with planted old fields having more than 60% of the shrub species richness and cover, and similar tree species richness, to the woodland reference plot. In contrast, whilst herbaceous species contributed more than half the plant species richness in reference woodland plots, there were significantly fewer herbaceous species in the planted old fields, which were more similar to the fallow croplands. Cover of exotic annual forbs in planted old fields was about half that of fallow cropland, and exotic annual grass cover was similar to the reference woodland. Our results show that active restoration of old fields increased leaf litter, woody debris and cover and richness of trees and perennial shrubs. However, native herbaceous species richness, and to some extent cover, remained similar to the fallow cropland. To effect transitioning of the herbaceous layer to the woodland reference state, further intervention such as removal of exotics, followed by sowing or planting native herbaceous species, may be necessary.
Plant size and neighbourhood characteristics influence survival and growth in a restored ex‐agricultural ecosystem
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 2022
Abstract: Restoring woody vegetation on degraded agricultural land is a widespread and common ecological restoration practice. However, highly variable plant survival and growth limit outcomes for many projects. Inconsistent reporting and monitoring of projects mean that an assessment of the relative importance of community‐assembly processes is limited, particularly over longer timescales. We use 7 years of monitoring data of nearly 2000 native trees and shrubs in a restoration project on ex‐agricultural land in south‐western Australia to test the potential effects of facilitation or competition from neighbouring plants, as well as look for patterns in their interaction with the attributes of in iduals and species traits. Overall, plant size was the strongest single predictor of survival and incremental growth. In idual plants in neighbourhoods with higher inter‐generic basal area were more likely to survive, with this effect strongest in smaller in iduals. When plants were larger, they were less likely to grow when in neighbourhoods with high intra‐generic basal area. Taller‐growing plants (higher species maximum height) were more likely to survive when in iduals were small (basal area of 1–10 cm 2 ), compared with shorter growing plants. Growth was also more likely in taller‐growing plants, and this relationship increased with the size of the in idual. Recruitment was very low, with just 148 new recruits recorded across the 42 plots over 7 years. Maximizing the growth of plants in restorations in the early stages may promote survival and growth in the longer term. We also demonstrate that increased levels of inter‐generic neighbouring plants may improve in idual plant survival in the restoration of ex‐agricultural land. As a result, we suggest tailoring direct‐seeding methods to minimize clustering of congeneric in iduals. We also highlight the need to find means of promoting recruitment for the long‐term sustainability of restoration efforts.
Using structured decision-making to set restoration objectives when multiple values and preferences exist
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-10-2017
DOI: 10.1111/REC.12591
Abstract: Achieving global targets for restoring native vegetation cover requires restoration projects to identify and work toward common management objectives. This is made challenging by the different values held by concerned stakeholders, which are not often accounted for. Additionally, restoration is time‐dependent and yet there is often little explicit acknowledgment of the time frames required to achieve outcomes. Here, we argue that explicitly incorporating value and time considerations into stated objectives would help to achieve restoration goals. We reviewed the peer‐reviewed literature on restoration of terrestrial vegetation and found that while there is guidance on how to identify and account for stakeholder values and time considerations, there is little evidence these are being incorporated into decision‐making processes. In this article, we explore how a combination of stakeholder surveys and workshops can be used within a structured decision‐making framework to facilitate the integration of erse stakeholder values and time frame considerations to set restoration objectives. We demonstrate this approach with a case of restoration decision‐making at a regional scale (southeast Queensland, Australia) with a view to this experience supporting similar restoration projects elsewhere.
Experimental evidence that even minor livestock trampling has severe effects on land snail communities in forest remnants
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-2014
Resilience trinity: safeguarding ecosystem services across three different time horizons and decision contexts
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 14-02-2019
DOI: 10.1101/549873
Abstract: Ensuring ecosystem resilience is an intuitive approach to safeguard future provisioning of ecosystem services (ES). However, resilience is an ambiguous concept and difficult to operationalize. Focusing on resilience mechanisms, such as ersity, network architectures or adaptive capacity, has recently been suggested as means to operationalize resilience. Still, the focus on mechanisms is not specific enough because the usefulness of a mechanism is context-dependent. We suggest a conceptual framework, resilience trinity, to facilitate management of resilience mechanisms in three distinctive decision contexts and time-horizons. i) reactive, when there is an imminent threat to ES resilience and a high pressure to act, ii) adjustive, when the threat is known in general but there is still time to adapt management, and iii) provident when time horizons are very long and the nature of the threats is uncertain, leading to a low willingness to act. This emphasizes that resilience has different interpretations and implications at different time horizons which however need to be reconciled. The inclusion of time into resilience thinking ensures that longer-term management actions are not missed while urgent threats to ES are given priority.
Enduring effects of large legumes and phosphorus fertiliser on jarrah forest restoration 15 years after bauxite mining
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2019
Beyond species richness and community composition: Using plant functional diversity to measure restoration success in jarrah forest
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-2021
DOI: 10.1111/AVSC.12607
Abstract: The importance of restoring ecosystem functions to native systems that have been degraded, damaged or destroyed is increasingly recognised. Yet few studies have measured the effect of restoration efforts on ecosystem functioning or the functional ersity (FD) that underpins it. Here we assessed change in FD of restored assemblages one to 25 years after the onset of post‐mine restoration. Northern Jarrah ( Eucalyptus marginata Donn ex Sm.) Forest bioregion of southwestern Australia. Functional richness, evenness, ergence and dispersion were derived from five plant functional traits relevant to community reassembly. Effects of three explanatory variables (i.e. age, year restoration was initiated, and time since fire) on six response variables (i.e. four FD indices, species richness, and compositional similarity to nearby reference forest) were analysed using linear mixed models for a data set with repeated measures of plots through time ( n = 810 plots), and linear models for a subset of one‐time measures of different aged assemblages (i.e. space‐for‐time approach n = 490 plots). Functional evenness and functional dispersion increased with age, while functional ergence and functional richness decreased with age. Functional dispersion increased with time since fire, while functional richness decreased with time since fire. Species richness decreased with age, but at 25 years, species richness was comparable to that observed in reference forest. In contrast, similarity showed no relationship with age of restored forest, and at 25 years, similarity of restored forest to reference was low compared with similarity of reference forest to itself. Three of four FD indices had not reached those of reference jarrah forest 25 years after restoration had been initiated. Reassembly of FD suggests importance of environmental filtering and high functional redundancy. A longer time frame may be needed to assess FD of restored assemblages, and in the meantime, species richness is not an adequate surrogate of FD.
Nestedness patterns reveal impacts of reduced rainfall on seedling establishment in restored jarrah forest
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2018
Nutrient enrichment diminishes plant diversity and density, and alters long-term ecological trajectories, in a biodiverse forest restoration
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2021
Mechanisms linking fungal conditioning of leaf litter to detritivore feeding activity
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2016
Soil seed bank development of smoke‐responsive plant species in a 23‐year restoration chronosequence and implications for resilience to fire
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 2023
DOI: 10.1111/AVSC.12713
Abstract: Responses of ecological restoration projects to disturbances are rarely explored, yet their capacity to withstand and recover from disturbance (resilience) is a critical measure of restoration success. In many plant communities, the soil seed bank (SSB) provides an important source of propagules for species persistence and community resilience to disturbance. Understanding how SSBs develop with time can inform restoration of resilient ecosystems. Here, in fire‐prone Banksia woodland restoration following sand mining, we ask: (a) how does the smoke‐responsive (dormancy broken by smoke) SSB develop over time (b) what plant‐trait and climate factors influence its development and (c) what do the data suggest for the resilience of these restored woodlands to fire? Ellenbrook, Swan Coastal Plain, Western Australia (latitude −31.76, longitude 115.95). We used smoke, a key germination cue associated with fire disturbance, to trigger germination of the SSB in Banksia woodland restoration. Using a chronosequence of nine ages between 3 and 26 years since initiation of restoration, we tested how the SSB develops using counts and richness of germinating native and invasive annuals, and native perennial obligate seeding and resprouting species. To understand the contribution of above‐ground restored vegetation to SSB development, we compared Sørensen's similarity of the smoke germinable SSB (smoked SSB) and untreated germinable SSB (control SSB) with above‐ground vegetation. Smoked SSB germinant density decreased with restoration age for both native and invasive annuals, but was stable for native perennials. Similarity between smoked SSB and above‐ground vegetation was higher for perennial obligate seeders than for resprouters and peaked for perennials at 23 years. Post‐fire regeneration potential of the SSB was evident across the chronosequence, with restoration age influencing the density of native annuals and overall composition of the SSB. The findings for perennial species suggest an increase in resilience to fire with restoration age.
Seedling emergence and summer survival after direct seeding for woodland restoration on old fields in south-western Australia
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 25-04-2014
DOI: 10.1111/EMR.12110
The response of fine root endophyte (Glomus tenue) to waterlogging is dependent on host plant species and soil type
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 27-01-2016
Rethinking soil water repellency and its management
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 29-08-2019
First Cryo-Scanning Electron Microscopy Images and X-Ray Microanalyses of Mucoromycotinian Fine Root Endophytes in Vascular Plants
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 03-09-2020
A framework for developing completion criteria for mine closure and rehabilitation
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2020
Towards a conceptual framework for the management of novel ecosystems
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 31-01-2013
Synchronous polyandry and multiple paternity in the frogCrinia georgiana(Anura: Myobatrachidae)
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-1999
Global meta-analysis reveals incomplete recovery of soil conditions and invertebrate assemblages after ecological restoration in agricultural landscapes
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 16-03-2021
Abstract: Restoration of old fields in agricultural landscapes has become increasingly important for conservation of species and their habitats owing to habitat destruction and rapid environmental change. Studies examining the outcomes of old field restoration predominantly focus on plant, and sometimes, vertebrate communities. Fewer studies have systematically investigated the effects of restoration efforts on soil properties or ground‐dwelling invertebrates and there is limited synthesis of these data. We conducted a global meta‐analysis of published studies to assess the effects of old field restoration on soil properties and soil invertebrate abundance and richness. We anticipated increased vegetation cover would improve soil properties towards reference condition and in turn, this would promote invertebrate abundance and richness. Studies were included if field sites had a history of cropping or livestock grazing. We identified 42 studies (1994–2019) from 16 countries that met our criteria. More studies assessed passive restoration methods than active planting, and native species were more commonly planted than exotic species. Results showed that restoration improved soil conditions with respect to total nitrogen, magnesium, soil carbon, bulk density and porosity when compared to controls however, conditions similar to those in reference ecosystems were generally not achieved, even 50+ years after restoration had been initiated. Moderator analyses showed few significant tends, however, bulk density improved with age, and in passively restored versus reference ecosystems. Outcomes for soil carbon and bulk density were most predominant in the top soil when compared to the degraded ecosystem. We detected no consistent trends for the effect of restoration on soil invertebrate richness and abundance compared to the control or reference ecosystems. Synthesis and applications . Our global meta‐analysis found strong evidence that old field restoration in agricultural landscapes had positive effects on soil condition but did not lead to full recovery when compared to a reference ecosystem. We detected few and idiosyncratic effects for invertebrates. Further research is needed to understand effects of restoration on soil invertebrate functional groups and to develop management interventions that accelerate the restoration of soil condition.
Genetic differentiation, reproductive mode, and gene flow in the brooding coral Pocillopora damicornis along the Great Barrier Reef, Australia
Publisher: Inter-Research Science Center
Date: 1997
DOI: 10.3354/MEPS159175
What's new about old fields? Land abandonment and ecosystem assembly
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2008
DOI: 10.1016/J.TREE.2007.10.005
Abstract: Environmental and socio-economic changes are leading to increased levels of land abandonment worldwide. The assembly of plant communities on old fields has informed much ecological theory, which in turn has facilitated efforts at ecological restoration. The interaction of the cultivation legacy with inherent soil and vegetation characteristics will determine the dynamics of plant community assembly on old fields and indicate the level of effort required to restore historical vegetation states. The abandonment of traditional agricultural lands in some areas will create old fields that require limited or no restoration. Yet intensification of agriculture and rapid environmental change will lead to increasing numbers of old fields that show little recovery towards an historic vegetation state. The restoration of these old fields will pose significant scientific and policy challenges.
Soil conditioning and plant-soil feedbacks in a modified forest ecosystem are soil-context dependent
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 28-01-2015
Non‐native plants and nitrogen addition have little effect on pollination and seed set in 3‐year‐old restored woodland
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 31-08-2020
DOI: 10.1111/AEC.12949
Invasion by a Perennial Herb Increases Decomposition Rate and Alters Nutrient Availability in Warm Temperate Lowland Forest Remnants
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 2004
Related Organisations
Related Funding Activities
ARC Future Fellowships - Grant ID: FT120100564
Start Date: 03-2013
End Date: 06-2017
Amount: $709,778.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityDiscovery Projects - Grant ID: DP180103157
Start Date: 2018
End Date: 12-2020
Amount: $313,332.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityIndustrial Transformation Training Centres - Grant ID: IC210100034
Start Date: 09-2022
End Date: 09-2027
Amount: $4,986,473.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded Activity