ORCID Profile
0000-0003-1996-4064
Current Organisation
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica
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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)
Environmental Science and Management | Land Use and Environmental Planning | Digital and Interaction Design | Environmental Science and Management not elsewhere classified | Ecology And Evolution Not Elsewhere Classified | Evolutionary Biology | Land And Parks Management | Computer Hardware not elsewhere classified | Conservation | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Information and Knowledge Systems | Australian Government And Politics | Evolutionary Impacts of Climate Change | Policy and Administration not elsewhere classified | Urban and Regional Planning | Computer Hardware | Political Science | Environmental Management | Public Policy | Conservation And Biodiversity | Behavioural Ecology |
ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)
Effects of Climate Change and Variability on Australia (excl. Social Impacts) | Climate Change Adaptation Measures | Understanding political systems | Ecosystem Assessment and Management at Regional or Larger Scales | Management of Water Consumption by Information and Communication Services | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Development and Welfare | Remnant vegetation and protected conservation areas (both terrestrial and marine) | Environmental and resource evaluation not elsewhere classified | Residential Energy Conservation and Efficiency | Integrated (ecosystem) assessment and management | Information and Communication Services not elsewhere classified | Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity at Regional or Larger Scales | Global climate change adaptation measures | Urban Land Policy
Related Links
Publications
Climate-related financial disclosures in the public sector
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 25-05-2020
Australian songbird body size tracks climate variation: 82 species over 50 years
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 27-11-2019
Abstract: The observed variation in the body size responses of endotherms to climate change may be explained by two hypotheses: the size increases with climate variability ( the starvation resistance hypothesis ) and the size shrinks as mean temperatures rise ( the heat exchange hypothesis ). Across 82 Australian passerine species over 50 years, shrinking was associated with annual mean temperature rise exceeding 0.012°C driven by rising winter temperatures for arid and temperate zone species. We propose the warming winters hypothesis to explain this response. However, where average summer temperatures exceeded 34°C, species experiencing annual rise over 0.0116°C tended towards increasing size. Results suggest a broad-scale physiological response to changing climate, with size trends probably reflecting the relative strength of selection pressures across a climatic regime. Critically, a given amount of temperature change will have varying effects on phenotype depending on the season in which it occurs, masking the generality of size patterns associated with temperature change. Rather than phenotypic plasticity, and assuming body size is heritable, results suggest selective loss or gain of particular phenotypes could generate evolutionary change but may be difficult to detect with current warming rates.
Understanding the importance of primary tropical forest protection as a mitigation strategy
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 12-03-2020
DOI: 10.1007/S11027-019-09891-4
Abstract: Given the short time-frame to limit global warming, and the current emissions gap, it is critical to prioritise mitigation actions. To date, scant attention has been paid to the mitigation benefits of primary forest protection. We estimated tropical forest ecosystem carbon stocks and flows. The ecosystem carbon stock of primary tropical forests is estimated at 141–159 Pg C (billion tonnes of carbon) which is some 49–53% of all tropical forest carbon, the living biomass component of which alone is 91–103% of the remaining carbon budget to limit global warming to below 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. Furthermore, tropical forests have ongoing sequestration rates 0.47–1.3 Pg C yr −1 , equivalent to 8–13% of annual global anthropogenic CO 2 (carbon dioxide) emissions. We examined three main forest-based strategies used in the land sector—halting deforestation, increasing forest restoration and improving the sustainable management of production forests. The mitigation benefits of primary forest protection are contingent upon how degradation is defined and accounted for, while those from restoration also depend on how restoration is understood and applied. Through proforestation, reduced carbon stocks in secondary forests can regrow to their natural carbon carrying capacity or primary forest state. We evaluated published data from studies comparing logged and unlogged forests. On average, primary forests store around 35% more carbon. While comparisons are confounded by a range of factors, reported biomass carbon recovery rates were from 40 to 100+ years. There is a substantive portfolio of forest-based mitigation actions and interventions available to policy and decision-makers, depending on national circumstances, in addition to SFM and plantation focused approaches, that can be grouped into four main strategies: protection proforestation, reforestation and restoration reform of guidelines, accounting rules and default values landscape conservation planning. Given the emissions gap, mitigation strategies that merely reduce the rate of emissions against historic or projected reference levels are insufficient. Mitigation strategies are needed that explicitly avoid emissions where possible as well as enabling ongoing sequestration.
Reaching over the gap: A review of trends in and status of red panda research over 193 years (1827–2020)
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2021
The role of connectivity in Australian conservation
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2004
DOI: 10.1071/PC040266
Abstract: The existing system of nature reserves in Australia is inadequate for the long-term conservation and restoration of native biological ersity because it fails to accommodate, among other elements, large scale and long-term ecological processes and change, including physical and biotic transport in the landscape. This paper is an overview of the connectivity elements that inform a scientific framework for significantly improving the prospects for the long-term conservation of Australia's bio ersity. The framework forms the basis for the WildCountry programme. This programme has identified connectivity at landscape, regional and continental scales as a critical component of an effective conservation system. Seven categories of ecological phenomena are reviewed that require landscape permeability and that must be considered when planning for the maintenance of biological ersity and ecological resilience in Australia: (1) trophic relations at regional scales (2) animal migration, dispersal, and other large scale movements of in iduals and propagules (3) fire and other forms of disturbance at regional scales (4) climate variability in space and time and human forced rapid climate change (5) hydroecological relations and flows at all scales (6) coastal zone fluxes of organisms, matter, and energy and, (7) spatially-dependent evolutionary processes at all scales. Finally, we mention eight cross-cutting themes that further illuminate the interactions and implications of the seven connectivity-related phenomena for conservation assessment, planning, research, and management, and we suggest how the results might be applied by analysts, planners, scientists, and community conservationists.
Promising the Earth: the need for Engelian covenant making in the Anthropocene
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Date: 10-2019
An international survey of front-end receivers and observing performance of telescopes for radio astronomy
Publisher: IOP Publishing
Date: 02-07-2019
Abstract: This paper presents a survey of microwave front-end receivers installed at radio telescopes throughout the world. This unprecedented analysis was conducted as part of a review of front-end developments for Italian radio telescopes, initiated by the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics in 2016. Fifteen international radio telescopes have been selected to be representative of the instrumentation used for radio astronomical observations in the frequency domain from 300 MHz to 116 GHz. A comprehensive description of the existing receivers is presented and their characteristics are compared and discussed. The observing performances of the complete receiving chains are also presented. An overview of ongoing developments illustrates and anticipates future trends in front-end projects to meet the most ambitious scientific research goals.
Assessing the alignment of national-level adaptation plans to the Paris Agreement
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2019
Mature and old-growth forests contribute to large-scale conservation targets in the conterminous United States
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 28-09-2022
Abstract: Mature and old-growth forests (MOG) of the conterminous United States collectively support exceptional levels of bio ersity but have declined substantially from logging and development. National-scale proposals to protect 30 and 50% of all lands and waters are useful in assessing MOG conservation targets given the precarious status of these forests. We present the first coast to coast spatially explicit MOG assessment based on three structural development measures—canopy height, canopy cover, and above-ground living biomass to assess relative maturity. MOG were displayed by major forest types ( n = 22), landownerships (federal, state, private, and tribal), and Gap Analysis Project (GAP) management status overlaid on the NatureServe’s Red-listed Ecosystems and species, above-ground living biomass, and drinking water source areas. MOG total ∼67.2 M ha (35.9%) of all forest structural classes and were scattered across 8 regions with most in western regions. All federal lands combined represented the greatest (35%) concentrations of MOG, ∼92% of which is on national forest lands with ∼9% on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and ∼3% on national park lands (totals do not sum to 100% due to minor mapping errors in the datasets). MOG on national forest lands supported the highest concentration of conservation values. However, national forests and BLM lands did not meet lower bound (30%) targets with only ∼24% of MOG in GAP1,2 (5.9 M ha) protection status. The vast majority (76%, 20.8 M ha) of MOG on federal lands that store 10.64 Gt CO 2 (e) are vulnerable to logging (GAP3). If federal MOG are logged over a decade, and half their carbon stock emitted, there would be an estimated 0.5 ppm increase in atmospheric CO 2 by 2030, which is equivalent to ∼9% of United States total annual emissions. We recommend upper bound (100%) protection of federal MOG, including elevating the conservation status of Inventoried Roadless Areas. This would avoid substantial CO 2 emissions while allowing ongoing carbon sequestration to act as natural climate solutions to aid compliance with the Paris Climate Agreement and presidential executive orders on MOG and 30% of all lands and waters in protection by 2030. On non-federal lands, which have fewer MOG, regulatory improvements and conservation incentives are needed.
Connectivity Conservation Management
Publisher: Routledge
Date: 09-02-2010
Enabling conservation Theories of Change
Publisher: Research Square Platform LLC
Date: 11-11-2022
DOI: 10.21203/RS.3.RS-2184542/V1
Abstract: Global Theories of Change (ToCs), such as the post-2020 Global Bio ersity Framework (GBF), provide broad, overarching guidance for achieving conservation goals. However, broad guidance cannot inform how conservation actions will lead to desired outcomes. We provide a framework for translating a global-scale ToC into focussed, ecosystem-specific ToCs that consider feasibility of actions, as determined by national socioeconomic and political context (i.e., enabling conditions). We demonstrate the framework using coastal wetland ecosystems as a case study. We identified six distinct multinational profiles of enabling conditions (‘enabling profiles’) for coastal wetland conservation. For countries belonging to enabling profiles with high internal capacity to enable conservation, we described plausible ToCs that involved strengthening policy and regulation. Alternatively, for enabling profiles with low internal enabling capacity, plausible ToCs typically required formalising community-led conservation. Our ‘enabling profile’ framework could be applied to other ecosystems to help operationalise the post-2020 GBF.
Adaptation strategies for coral reef ecosystems in Small Island Developing States: Integrated modelling of local pressures and long-term climate changes
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2020
Spatial Bayesian Network for predicting sea level rise induced coastal erosion in a small Pacific Island
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2019
DOI: 10.1016/J.JENVMAN.2019.03.008
Abstract: An integrated approach combining Bayesian Network with GIS was developed for making a probabilistic prediction of sea level rise induced coastal erosion and assessing the implications of adaptation measures. The Bayesian Network integrates extensive qualitative and quantitative information into a single probabilistic model while GIS explicitly deals with spatial data for inputting, storing, analysing and mapping. The integration of the Bayesian Network with GIS using a cell-by-cell comparison technique (aka map algebra) provides a new tool to perform the probabilistic spatial analysis. The spatial Bayesian Network was utilised for predicting coastal erosion scenarios at the case study location of Tanna Island, Vanuatu in the South Pacific. Based on the Bayesian Network model, a rate of the island shoreline change was predicted probabilistically for each shoreline segment, which was transferred into GIS for visualisation purposes. The spatial distribution of shoreline change prediction results for various sea level rise scenarios was mapped. The outcomes of this work support risk-based adaptation planning and will be further developed to enable the incorporation of high resolution coastal process models, thereby supporting localised land use planning decisions.
The impact of climate change and wildfire on decadal alpine vegetation dynamics
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 16-06-2023
DOI: 10.1071/BT23002
Abstract: Context Climate-induced changes of alpine vegetation ersity, cover and composition have been recorded globally, but most insights have been gleaned from field studies over small spatiotemporal scales. Aims We assess dynamics in climate and vegetation of Australia’s highest and most biologically erse alpine area that surrounds Mount Kosciuszko (~455 km2), as well as recovery following the 2003 wildfires. Methods Climatic changes were analysed using gridded climate data for mean annual temperature (1910–2019) and seasonal precipitation (1900–2019), and changes in snow cover were assessed from snow course records (1954–2021). A vegetation cover time series (1990, 2000, 2010, 2020) was modelled with an optimised random forest classification using recursive feature selection, and the LandTrendr algorithm was used to detect areas burnt during wildfires. Key results Over time, temperatures and summer precipitation increased, whereas snow cover and winter precipitation decreased. Subsequently, vegetation dynamics were dominated by the densification of subalpine woodlands at lower elevations, replacing dry and wet heathlands. There was treeline stasis but upslope advancement of dry and wet shrublines but grassland vegetation types were relatively stable. However, in burnt areas there was suppressed upslope advancement of shrublines, treeline recession and relatively less expansion of subalpine woodlands. Conclusions Alpine vegetation may be impacted by climate change incrementally through relatively gradual changes in climatic conditions, and transformatively through landscape-level disturbance from wildfires. Implications Higher temperatures and altered precipitation regimes increase the frequency and severity of wildfires, which may be lified by increasing fuel loads and dryness from the proliferation and advance of woody vegetation in alpine areas.
Policy Options for the World's Primary Forests in Multilateral Environmental Agreements
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 14-08-2015
DOI: 10.1111/CONL.12120
Assessing the risk to the conservation status of temperate rainforest from exposure to mining, commercial logging, and climate change: A Tasmanian case study
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2017
Applying information for national adaptation planning and decision making: present and future practice in the Pacific Islands
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 20-11-2020
The use of Australian bioregions as spatial units of analysis to explore relationships between climate and songbird diversity
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2011
DOI: 10.1071/PC110354
Abstract: Biogeographers often investigate patterns of bio ersity at continental and global scales, using existing data georeferenced to a lattice of cells of latitude and longitude. Problems can arise with this approach when the available biological data are insufficient to adequately s le each cell and the cells are environmentally heterogeneous. An alternative, though less-often employed, approach is to use bioregions (defined as areas with distinctive biophysical environmental characteristics) as the basic s ling unit and to statistically control for unequal areas of regions. Here we applied this latter approach with the Interim Biogeographical Regionalisation of Australia (IBRA) to analyse continental patterns of songbird species richness in relation to mean annual precipitation, mean annual temperature, and mean wet season temperature, which are all predicted to substantially change given anthropogenic climate change. We used the Birds Australia database that has a large s le ( ,560,000) of distribution records covering Australia. For each of the 85 IBRAs, we determined the total number of songbird species and standardized these richness values accounting for the species-area effect by including the log of bioregion area as a covariate in the statistical models. Our analysis of standardized bioregion songbirds richness showed that the best supported model, based on information theory statistics included an interaction of mean annual temperature and precipitation (48.6% deviance explained). The fitted model showed declining richness with increasing temperature and declining precipitation, signalling that future climates may result in regional declines in songbird abundance. We suggest our simple empirical-statistical approach, using bioregions as the spatial unit, has promise for continental and global impact assessment of ersity changes and for conservation planning
Comprehensive carbon stock and flow accounting: A national framework to support climate change mitigation policy
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2013
The economic values of global forest ecosystem services: A meta-analysis
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2021
Evaluating nature-based solutions for climate mitigation and conservation requires comprehensive carbon accounting
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2021
Evaluating the role of the dingo as a trophic regulator in Australian ecosystems
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 08-2007
Correction to: Coastal flood risk within a peri‑urban area: Sussex Inlet district, SE Australia
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 21-10-2021
Wave transformation within a coral reef lagoon system, Erakor lagoon, Vanuatu
Publisher: Coastal Engineering Research Council
Date: 28-12-2020
DOI: 10.9753/ICCE.V36V.WAVES.38
Abstract: Coral reefs encircle most of the islands in Vanuatu and provide natural breakwaters for coastal communities by reducing wave energy arriving at the shoreline acting to control both inundation and erosion. Climate Change is projected to both exacerbate coastal hazards and endanger corals. The aim of this paper is to better understand the parameters that govern hydrodynamics on fringing reef systems. The interaction between the depth, waves and currents are studied from measurements conducted in Erakor lagoon, Vanuatu.Recorded Presentation from the vICCE (YouTube Link): youtu.be/mPrG6NWL4dM
Under What Circumstances Do Wood Products from Native Forests Benefit Climate Change Mitigation?
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 05-10-2015
Sensitivity of modelled gross primary productivity to topographic effects on surface radiation: A case study in the Cotter River Catchment, Australia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2011
Towards Improved Linkage of Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation in Health: A Review
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 18-04-2018
What role for offsetting aviation greenhouse gas emissions in a deep-cut carbon world?
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2017
Oceanographic anomalies coinciding with humpback whale super-group occurrences in the Southern Benguela
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 22-10-2021
DOI: 10.1038/S41598-021-00253-2
Abstract: Seasonal feeding behaviour of humpback whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae ) has been observed in the coastal waters of the Southern Benguela where the species has been observed forming super-groups during the austral spring in recent years since 2011. Super-groups are unprecedented densely-packed aggregations of between 20 and 200 in iduals in low-latitude waters and their occurrences indicate possible changes in feeding behaviour of the species. We accessed published data on super-groups occurrence in the study area in 2011, 2014 and 2015, and investigated oceanographic drivers that support prey availability in this region. We found that enhanced primary production is a necessary but not sufficient condition for super-groups to occur. Positive chlorophyll anomalies occurring one month prior to the super-group occurrences were identified, but only a concurrent significantly reduced water volume export from the region throughout October were conducive to the aggregations in the specific years. Hydrodynamic model results attributed the anomalous decreased volume export to the strength and orientation of the Goodhope Jet and associated eddy activity. The combination of random enhanced primary production typical of the region and emerging anomalous conditions of reduced water export in October since 2011 resulted in favourable food availability leading to the unique humpback whale aggregations. The novelty of this grouping behaviour is indicative of the lack of such oceanographic conditions in the past. Given the recency of the events, it is difficult to attribute this reduction in ocean transport to climatic regime shifts, and the origin should be likely investigated in the distant water mass interaction with the greater Agulhas system rather than in local intensifications of the upwelling conditions. A positive trend in the humpback whale population abundance points to the need to monitor the exposure of the species to the changing climate conditions.
Overcoming barriers to climate change information management in small island developing states: lessons from pacific SIDS
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 02-04-2018
Exploring the Multiple Benefits of Ecosystem-Based Adaptation in Tourism for Climate Risks and Destination Well-Being
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 29-07-2020
Abstract: Tourism is strongly interlinked with the natural and social environment, in particular in destinations around the Pacific. These environments are vulnerable to climate change which impacts on the social–ecological system of destinations. Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) uses ecosystems to manage the risks of climate change. However, a gap remains in understanding how the tourism sector can use EbA to create destination-wide benefits. The destination EbA framework presented here aims to address this gap by focusing on well-being and climate risk reduction. The framework is applied to a Pacific case study site, Tanna Island in Vanuatu, by drawing on primary qualitative data. Results highlight that EbA offers an approach for the tourism sector to create holistic benefits to destinations. Several constraints to successful implementation, and how these may be overcome, are identified. The article contributes by providing a framework for other destinations which aim to create benefits through tourism.
Status and drivers of food insecurity and adaptation responses under a changing climate among smallholder farmers households in Bagmati Province, Nepal
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 15-02-2021
Spatial conservation prioritization inclusive of wilderness quality: A case study of Australia's biodiversity
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2009
Antenna Pattern Modeling Accuracy for a Very Large Aperture Array Radio Telescope With Strongly Coupled Elements
Publisher: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Date: 11-2023
Implications of emergent risk for application of risk transfer mechanisms by local governments in Queensland
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2019
Catastrophic Declines in Wilderness Areas Undermine Global Environment Targets
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2016
DOI: 10.1016/J.CUB.2016.08.049
Abstract: Humans have altered terrestrial ecosystems for millennia [1], yet wilderness areas still remain as vital refugia where natural ecological and evolutionary processes operate with minimal human disturbance [2-4], underpinning key regional- and planetary-scale functions [5, 6]. Despite the myriad values of wilderness areas-as critical strongholds for endangered bio ersity [7], for carbon storage and sequestration [8], for buffering and regulating local climates [9], and for supporting many of the world's most politically and economically marginalized communities [10]-they are almost entirely ignored in multilateral environmental agreements. This is because they are assumed to be relatively free from threatening processes and therefore are not a priority for conservation efforts [11, 12]. Here we challenge this assertion using new comparable maps of global wilderness following methods established in the original "last of the wild" analysis [13] to examine the change in extent since the early 1990s. We demonstrate alarming losses comprising one-tenth (3.3 million km
Net carbon accounting and reporting are a barrier to understanding the mitigation value of forest protection in developed countries
Publisher: IOP Publishing
Date: 28-04-2022
Abstract: Meeting the Paris Agreement global warming target requires deep and rapid cuts in CO 2 emissions as well as removals from the atmosphere into land sinks, especially forests. While international climate policy in the land sector does now recognize forest protection as a mitigation strategy, it is not receiving sufficient attention in developed countries even though they experience emissions from deforestation as well as from logging of managed forests. Current national greenhouse gas inventories obscure the mitigation potential of forest protection through net carbon accounting between the fossil fuel and the land sectors as well as within the different categories of the land. This prevents decision-makers in national governments, the private sector and civil society having access to all the science-based evidence needed to evaluate the merits of all mitigation strategies. The consequences of net carbon accounting for global policy were investigated by examining annual inventory reports of four high forest cover developed countries (Australia, Canada, USA, and Russia). Net accounting between sectors makes a major contribution to meeting nationally determined contributions with removals in Forest Land offsetting between 14% and 38% of the fossil fuel emissions for these countries. Analysis of reports for Australia at a sub-national level revealed that the State of Tasmania delivered negative emissions due to a change in forest management—a large and rapid drop in native forest logging—resulting in a mitigation benefit of ∼22 Mt CO 2 -e yr –1 over the reported period 2011/12–2018/19. This is the kind of outcome required globally to meet the Paris Agreement temperature goal. All CO 2 emissions from, and atmospheric removals into, forest ecosystem carbon stocks now matter and should be counted and credited to achieve the deep and rapid cuts in emissions needed over the coming decades. Accounting and reporting systems therefore need to show gains and losses of carbon stocks in each reservoir. Changing forest management in naturally regenerating forests to avoid emissions from harvesting and enabling forest regrowth is an effective mitigation strategy that can rapidly reduce anthropogenic emissions from the forest sector and simultaneously increase removals of CO 2 from the atmosphere.
Integrating forest management across the landscape: a three pillar framework
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 30-11-2020
The Necessary Transition
Publisher: Routledge
Date: 08-09-2017
Implications of preferential access to land and clean energy for Sustainable Aviation Fuels
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2023
Co-occurrence of biodiversity, carbon storage, coastal protection, and fish and invertebrate production to inform global mangrove conservation planning
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2023
Dynamic size responses to climate change: prevailing effects of rising temperature drive long-term body size increases in a semi-arid passerine
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 30-04-2014
DOI: 10.1111/GCB.12507
Abstract: Changes in animal body size have been widely reported as a correlate of contemporary climate change. Body size affects metabolism and fitness, so changing size has implications for resilience, yet the climatic factors that drive size variation remain poorly understood. We test the role of mean and extreme temperature, rainfall, and remotely sensed primary productivity (NDVI) as drivers of body size in a sedentary, semi-arid Australian passerine, Ptilotula (Lichenostomus)penicillatus, over 23 years. To distinguish effects due to differential growth from changes in population composition, we analysed first-year birds and adults separately and considered climatic variation at three temporal scales (current, previous, and preceding 5 years). The strongest effects related to temperature: in both age classes, larger size was associated with warmer mean temperatures in the previous year, contrary to Bergmann's Rule. Moreover, adults were larger in warmer breeding seasons, while first years was larger after heat waves these effects are more likely to be mediated through size-dependent mortality, highlighting the role of body size in determining vulnerability to extinction. In addition to temperature, larger adult size was associated with lower primary productivity, which may reflect a trade-off between vegetative growth and nectar production, on which adults rely. Finally, lower rainfall was associated with decreasing size in first year and adults, most likely related to decreased food availability. Overall,body size increased over 23 years, strongly in first-year birds (2.7%) compared with adults (1%), with size outcomes a balance between competing drivers. As rainfall declined over time and productivity remained fairly stable, the temporal increase in body size appears largely driven by rising mean temperature and temperature extremes. Body size responses to environmental change are thus complex and dynamic, driven by effects on growth as well as mortality.
An integrated risk and vulnerability assessment framework for climate change and malaria transmission in East Africa
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 11-11-2016
The phosphorus-rich signature of fire in the soil–plant system: a global meta-analysis
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 04-01-2018
DOI: 10.1111/ELE.12896
Abstract: The biogeochemical and stoichiometric signature of vegetation fire may influence post-fire ecosystem characteristics and the evolution of plant 'fire traits'. Phosphorus (P), a potentially limiting nutrient in many fire-prone environments, might be particularly important in this context however, the effects of fire on P cycling often vary widely. We conducted a global-scale meta-analysis using data from 174 soil studies and 39 litter studies, and found that fire led to significantly higher concentrations of soil mineral P as well as significantly lower soil and litter carbon:P and nitrogen:P ratios. These results demonstrate that fire has a P-rich signature in the soil-plant system that varies with vegetation type. Further, they suggest that burning can ease P limitation and decouple the biogeochemical cycling of P, carbon and nitrogen. These effects resemble a transient reversion to an earlier stage of ecosystem development, and likely underpin at least some of fire's impacts on ecosystems and organisms.
The experiences and perceptions of farmers about the impacts of climate change and variability on crop production: a review
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 23-04-2020
Opportunities for improving recognition of coastal wetlands in global ecosystem assessment frameworks
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2021
Improving the Use of Species Distribution Models in Conservation Planning and Management under Climate Change
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 24-11-2014
Species distribution models can be highly sensitive to algorithm configuration
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2019
A Wilderness Approach under the World Heritage Convention
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 02-11-2015
DOI: 10.1111/CONL.12205
Revealing the dominant discourses of stakeholders towards natural resource management in Port Resolution, Vanuatu, using Q-method
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2020
Integrating statistical and mechanistic approaches with biotic and environmental variables improves model predictions of the impact of climate and land-use changes on future mosquito-vector abundance,
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 23-09-2020
DOI: 10.1186/S13071-020-04360-3
Abstract: Changes to Australia’s climate and land-use patterns could result in expanded spatial and temporal distributions of endemic mosquito vectors including Aedes and Culex species that transmit medically important arboviruses. Climate and land-use changes greatly influence the suitability of habitats for mosquitoes and their behaviors such as mating, feeding and oviposition. Changes in these behaviors in turn determine future species-specific mosquito ersity, distribution and abundance. In this review, we discuss climate and land-use change factors that influence shifts in mosquito distribution ranges. We also discuss the predictive and epidemiological merits of incorporating these factors into a novel integrated statistical (SSDM) and mechanistic species distribution modelling (MSDM) framework. One potentially significant merit of integrated modelling is an improvement in the future surveillance and control of medically relevant endemic mosquito vectors such as Aedes vigilax and Culex annulirostris , implicated in the transmission of many arboviruses such as Ross River virus and Barmah Forest virus, and exotic mosquito vectors such as Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus . We conducted a focused literature search to explore the merits of integrating SSDMs and MSDMs with biotic and environmental variables to better predict the future range of endemic mosquito vectors. We show that an integrated framework utilising both SSDMs and MSDMs can improve future mosquito-vector species distribution projections in Australia. We recommend consideration of climate and environmental change projections in the process of developing land-use plans as this directly impacts mosquito-vector distribution and larvae abundance. We also urge laboratory, field-based researchers and modellers to combine these modelling approaches. Having many different variations of integrated (SDM) modelling frameworks could help to enhance the management of endemic mosquitoes in Australia. Enhanced mosquito management measures could in turn lead to lower arbovirus spread and disease notification rates.
Responses of humpback whales to a changing climate in the Southern Hemisphere: Priorities for research efforts
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 23-09-2020
DOI: 10.1111/MAEC.12616
Abstract: Globally, baleen whales were severely depleted by historic whaling. Recovering populations have been observed to alter their behaviour. These changes have been attributed to climate change in some cases and raise concerns over the successful recovery of baleen whale populations. Current data‐driven statistical habitat and behavioural models have proven useful for addressing questions of whale distribution changes within their limitations. Given observed changes in oceanic conditions, a new approach to managing baleen whale population recovery is necessary. Model predictions of future whale movements and distributions under climate change scenarios are vital to enable adequate conservation management. This paper presents a new perspective on understanding the impacts of climate change on humpback whales, arguing the need for a system‐based multidisciplinary research approach. Our approach includes coupled, mechanistic models based upon robust ecological principles, and integrates key physical, biogeochemical, biological and ecological modules to address long‐term changes associated with climate change. To illustrate the need for this system‐based multidisciplinary approach, we focus on Southern Hemisphere humpback whales, the recovery of which may be impacted by rapid changes in habitat conditions brought about by anthropogenic climate change.
Comparing Community Needs and REDD+ Activities for Capacity Building and Forest Protection in the Équateur Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 15-06-2022
DOI: 10.3390/LAND11060918
Abstract: Primary forests are essential ecosystems that can play a key role in mitigating climate change. REDD+ is designed to help countries and communities secure benefits for avoiding deforestation but has faced significant implementation challenges. There are substantial potential benefits for REDD+ in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where shifting agriculture is the major cause of deforestation. However, implementation requires significant capacity building in a number of sectors and at a number of levels. This paper explores how well the capacity building activities within the DRC REDD+ strategy are aligned with the capacity needs identified by provincial government stakeholders and local communities in the Équateur province of the DRC, identified through workshops and surveys. The research suggests that while many technical capacity needs identified by stakeholders could be potentially addressed by the REDD+ strategy, there are number of systemic capacity needs that are unlikely to be addressed. Failure to address these needs risks undermining any implementation of REDD+. The results suggest that education and training in governance and management, as well as fundamental education in sustainability, are key capacity needs that REDD+ may need to incorporate. The results also provide further evidence that REDD+ projects need to be long-term and take into account the local context and needs in order to be effective.
Implementation of national health adaptation policy: a case study of policy principles and implementation barriers in the Philippines
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 20-09-2021
Mapping tourism stakeholders' weather and climate information-seeking behavior in Fiji
Publisher: American Meteorological Society
Date: 05-2017
Abstract: Tourism is inherently dependent on weather and climate, and its sustainability and resilience to adverse weather and climate impacts is greatly enhanced by providing tailored climate services to tourism sector stakeholders. Climate services need to integrate standard weather forecasts, with early warning systems, seasonal forecasts, and long-term projections of climatic changes in order to meet the information needs of the sector. While a growing number of studies address the potential climate change impacts on tourism, little is known about how the tourism sector accesses, uses, and analyses the available weather and climate information. This research presents findings from an exploratory study on weather and climate information-seeking behavior of 15 private and public tourism sector stakeholders in the Republic of Fiji. The results show a variety of weather and climate information-seeking paths in use, which differ depending on levels of professional responsibility, weather and climate literacy, and information and digital competency. Those with high weather information literacy access a broader variety of sources. Hence, their interpretation does not focus only on their own location, but “weather” is seen as a broad spatial phenomenon that might or might not result in adverse effects in their location. Understanding erse weather and climate information-seeking paths can aid in better targeting climate and adaptation services across different stakeholder groups. Especially in the context of small island developing states (SIDS), the integration of traditional, local, and scientific knowledge as information sources is likely to provide a more useful and context-specific basis for climate adaptation planning within the sector.
A tool for simulating and communicating uncertainty when modelling species distributions under future climates
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-2014
DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.1319
Abstract: Tools for exploring and communicating the impact of uncertainty on spatial prediction are urgently needed, particularly when projecting species distributions to future conditions. We provide a tool for simulating uncertainty, focusing on uncertainty due to data quality. We illustrate the use of the tool using a Tasmanian endemic species as a case study. Our simulations provide probabilistic, spatially explicit illustrations of the impact of uncertainty on model projections. We also illustrate differences in model projections using six different global climate models and two contrasting emissions scenarios. Our case study results illustrate how different sources of uncertainty have different impacts on model output and how the geographic distribution of uncertainty can vary. Synthesis and applications : We provide a conceptual framework for understanding sources of uncertainty based on a review of potential sources of uncertainty in species distribution modelling a tool for simulating uncertainty in species distribution models and protocols for dealing with uncertainty due to climate models and emissions scenarios. Our tool provides a step forward in understanding and communicating the impacts of uncertainty on species distribution models under future climates which will be particularly helpful for informing discussions between researchers, policy makers, and conservation practitioners.
The role of indigenous and traditional knowledge in ecosystem-based adaptation: a review of the literature and case studies from the Pacific Islands
Publisher: American Meteorological Society
Date: 10-2018
Abstract: Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) is increasingly being advocated as a climate adaptation approach that can deliver multiple benefits to communities. EbA scholarship argues that community-based projects can strengthen those ecosystems that deliver critical services to communities and in doing so enhance community resilience. In particular, the inclusion of indigenous and traditional knowledge (ITK) into community-based EbA projects is positioned as critical to successful climate adaptation. Yet, there is surprisingly little investigation into how ITK is being defined and incorporated into EbA initiatives. This paper critically reviews EbA literature and provides empirical ex les from Vanuatu and Samoa to demonstrate the different ways ITK relates to EbA projects. We find that there is widespread recognition that ITK is important for indigenous and local communities and can be employed successfully in EbA. However, this recognition is more aspirational than practical and is not being necessarily translated into ITK-informed or ITK-driven EbA projects. ITK should not be conceptualized simply as a collection of local environmental information that is integrated with Western scientific knowledge. Instead, ITK is part of nested knowledge systems (information–practices–worldviews) of indigenous peoples. This knowledge includes local natural resource management, sociocultural governance structures, social norms, spiritual beliefs, and historical and contemporary experiences of colonial dispossession and marginalization. At present, most EbA projects focus on the provision of information to main decision-makers only however, since ITK is held collectively, it is essential that entire communities are included in ITK EbA projects. There is a huge potential for researchers and ITK holders to coproduce knowledge that would be best placed to drive climate adaptation in a changing world.
Water circulation and impact on water quality in the southwest of Efate Island, Vanuatu
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2021
DOI: 10.1016/J.MARPOLBUL.2021.112938
Abstract: In Small Island Developing States (SIDS), water pollution is not monitored or assessed frequently enough to fully understand the processes, impacts of water quality issues and what solutions are available This study investigated flushing time in Erakor lagoon and Port Vila Bay, Vanuatu using a numerical model developed in Delft3D. Microbial contamination by Escherichia coli was detected in multiple locations in the lagoon system with counts exceeding thresholds related to human health concerns. Modelling demonstrated a poor flushing time overall with a further decrease as the influence of waves and wind increased, especially in Vila Bay. Sea level rise resulted in an increase in flushing time downstream of the lagoon near the open sea, while with a decrease upstream and in Vila Bay. Based on these results, we recommend long-term continuous monitoring and identification of higher risks areas to prioritise decisions around wastewater management.
Social benefit cost analysis of ecosystem-based climate change adaptations: a community-level case study in Tanna Island, Vanuatu
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 29-07-2020
The Role of Environmental Drivers in Humpback Whale Distribution, Movement and Behavior: A Review
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 10-11-2021
DOI: 10.3389/FMARS.2021.720774
Abstract: Humpback whales, Megaptera novaeangliae , are a highly migratory species exposed to a wide range of environmental factors during their lifetime. The spatial and temporal characteristics of such factors play a significant role in determining suitable habitats for breeding, feeding and resting. The existing studies of the relationship between oceanic conditions and humpback whale ecology provide the basis for understanding impacts on this species. Here we have determined the most relevant environmental drivers identified in peer-reviewed literature published over the last four decades, and assessed the methods used to identify relationships. A total of 148 studies were extracted through an online literature search. These studies used a combined estimated 105,000 humpback whale observations over 1,216 accumulated study years investigating the relationship between humpback whales and environmental drivers in both Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Studies focusing on humpback whales in feeding areas found preferences for areas of upwelling, high chlorophyll-a concentration and frontal areas with changes in temperature, depth and currents, where prey can be found in high concentration. Preferred calving grounds were identified as shallow, warm and with slow water movement to aid the survival of calves. The few studies of migration routes have found preferences for shallow waters close to shorelines with moderate temperature and chlorophyll-a concentration. Extracting information and understanding the influence of key drivers of humpback whale behavioral modes are important for conservation, particularly in regard to expected changes of environmental conditions under climate change.
Do whales really increase the oceanic removal of atmospheric carbon?
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 05-06-2023
DOI: 10.3389/FMARS.2023.1117409
Abstract: Whales have been titled climate savers in the media with their recovery welcomed as a potential carbon solution. However, only a few studies were performed to date providing data or model outputs to support the hypothesis. Following an outline of the primary mechanisms by which baleen whales remove carbon from the atmosphere for eventual sequestration at regional and global scales, we conclude that the amount of carbon whales are potentially sequestering might be too little to meaningfully alter the course of climate change. This is in contrast to media perpetuating whales as climate engineers. Creating false hope in the ability of charismatic species to be climate engineers may act to further delay the urgent behavioral change needed to avert catastrophic climate change impacts, which can in turn have indirect consequences for the recovery of whale populations. Nevertheless, whales are important components of marine ecosystems, and any further investigation on existing gaps in their ecology will contribute to clarifying their contribution to the ocean carbon cycle, a major driver of the world’s climate. While whales are vital to the healthy functioning of marine ecosystems, overstating their ability to prevent or counterbalance anthropogenically induced changes in global carbon budget may unintentionally redirect attention from known, well-established methods of reducing greenhouse gases. Large scale protection of marine environments including the habitats of whales will build resilience and assist with natural carbon capture.
Capturing multiple forest ecosystem services for just benefit sharing: The Basket of Benefits Approach
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2022
A framework for complex climate change risk assessment
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2021
Major Conservation Policy Issues for Biodiversity in Oceania
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 13-07-2009
DOI: 10.1111/J.1523-1739.2009.01287.X
Abstract: Oceania is a erse region encompassing Australia, Melanesia, Micronesia, New Zealand, and Polynesia, and it contains six of the world's 39 hotspots of ersity. It has a poor record for extinctions, particularly for birds on islands and mammals. Major causes include habitat loss and degradation, invasive species, and overexploitation. We identified six major threatening processes (habitat loss and degradation, invasive species, climate change, overexploitation, pollution, and disease) based on a comprehensive review of the literature and for each developed a set of conservation policies. Many policies reflect the urgent need to deal with the effects of burgeoning human populations (expected to increase significantly in the region) on bio ersity. There is considerable difference in resources for conservation, including people and available scientific information, which are heavily biased toward more developed countries in Oceania. Most scientific publications analyzed for four threats (habitat loss, invasive species, overexploitation, and pollution) are from developed countries: 88.6% of Web of Science publications were from Australia (53.7%), New Zealand (24.3%), and Hawaiian Islands (10.5%). Many island states have limited resources or expertise. Even countries that do (e.g., Australia, New Zealand) have ongoing and emerging significant challenges, particularly with the interactive effects of climate change. Oceania will require the implementation of effective policies for conservation if the region's poor record on extinctions is not to continue.
Effective coastal adaptation needs accurate hazard assessment: a case study in Port Resolution, Tanna Island Vanuatu
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 2022
DOI: 10.1007/S10584-021-03304-9
Abstract: Developing countries face risks from coastal hazards that are being lified by climate change. The selection of effective adaptation interventions to manage these risks requires a sufficiently accurate assessment of the coastal hazard at a given location. Yet challenges remain in terms of understanding local coastal risks given the coarseness of global wave models and the paucity of locally scaled data in most developing countries, including Small Island Developing States (SIDS) like Vanuatu. This paper aims to examine the differences in hazard assessment and adaptation option selections arising from analyses using globally versus locally scaled data on coastal processes. As a case study, we focused on an eroding cliff face in Port Resolution on Tanna Island, Vanuatu, which is of concern to the local community and government authorities. The coastal process modeling revealed that the global wave data generated unrealistically high predictions of wave height within Port Resolution Bay. Expensive engineering adaptations designed to provide coastal protection were therefore likely to fail in preventing ongoing cliff erosion. In this case, the best adaptation solution involves changing land use to revegetate and help stabilize the cliff top. Our case study highlights the importance of accurate hazard assessment, especially in data-poor regions where the extrapolation of global datasets and models in the absence of local data can result in poor adaptation decision-making. Furthermore, the multidisciplinary approach applied here can be applied in other data-poor regions to strengthen analyses exploring the benefits of local adaptation interventions.
Marine and coastal ecosystem-based adaptation in Asia and Oceania: review of approaches and integration with marine spatial planning
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2021
DOI: 10.1071/PC20025
Abstract: There is growing interest in using ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) to maintain or restore ecosystem services to increase human resilience to climate change. However, to date, the focus on EbA has been on conceptualising the approach and encouraging its use, rather than understanding EbA in practice. We review the EbA literature to synthesise where, why and how marine and coastal EbA projects have been implemented and examine how EbA has been integrated with marine spatial planning. We focus specifically on EbA projects in Asia and Oceania, where climate variability and dependence on marine and coastal ecosystems is high. Most projects were found in the grey literature, implemented in developing countries, and targeted extreme events and sea level rise. Mangroves, particularly mangrove restoration, was the most common ecosystem used, followed by coral reefs. EbA across ecosystems commonly targeted capacity building and livelihood enhancement, and maintenance of wildlife, alongside shoreline protection for mangroves and food security for coral reefs. Integrated EbA and marine spatial planning projects were participatory, implemented at local–regional scales, displayed adaptive management, and community-based or shared governance. Our research helps to build an understanding of EbA in practice and a knowledge base to assist coastal communities in adapting to climate change.
Priority areas for conserving greater gliders in Queensland, Australia
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2023
DOI: 10.1071/PC23018
Gaps and opportunities for the World Heritage Convention to contribute to global wilderness conservation.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-12-2018
DOI: 10.1111/COBI.12976
Abstract: Wilderness areas are ecologically intact landscapes predominantly free of human uses, especially industrial-scale activities that result in substantial biophysical disturbance. This definition does not exclude land and resource use by local communities who depend on such areas for subsistence and bio-cultural connections. Wilderness areas are important for bio ersity conservation and sustain key ecological processes and ecosystem services that underpin planetary life-support systems. Despite these widely recognized benefits and values of wilderness, they are insufficiently protected and are consequently being rapidly eroded. There are increasing calls for multilateral environmental agreements to make a greater and more systematic contribution to wilderness conservation before it is too late. We created a global map of remaining terrestrial wilderness following the established last-of-the-wild method, which identifies the 10% of areas with the lowest human pressure within each of Earth's 62 biogeographic realms and identifies the 10 largest contiguous areas and all contiguous areas >10,000 km
Evaluating coral reef ecosystem services outcomes from climate change adaptation strategies using integrative system dynamics
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2021
Coastal Processes within a Coral Reef Lagoon System: Erakor Lagoon, Efate Island, Vanuatu
Publisher: Coastal Education and Research Foundation
Date: 26-05-2020
DOI: 10.2112/SI95-276.1
Assessing how ecosystem-based adaptations to climate change influence community wellbeing: a Vanuatu case study
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 07-09-2021
Spatial variation and drivers of vegetation structure and composition in coastal freshwater wetlands of subtropical Australia
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 31-08-2021
DOI: 10.1071/MF21023
Abstract: Coastal freshwater wetlands (CFWs) are among the most understudied wetlands globally and are highly vulnerable to projected climate changes. To address CFW knowledge gaps in south-east Queensland, Australia, we surveyed the floristic composition and structure of wooded CFWs and explored variation in vegetation patterns in relation to selected environmental drivers. Understorey and shrub assemblages were surveyed using a cover-class scale and stem counts for tree species abundance. Vegetation structure attributes (stem density, basal area) were calculated from survey data. Redundancy analysis was used to investigate drivers of vegetation structure and the species composition of each stratum. Vegetation structure patterns were associated with gradients of rainfall, soil moisture, salinity and pH. Understorey species composition was associated with wallum wetland species, native perennial grass and herb species, and vegetation patterns of the canopy. Common CFW species, namely Melaleuca quinquenervia and Eucalyptus tereticornis, dominated tree assemblage variation. Overall, CFW vegetation exhibited strong associations with gradients of salinity, rainfall, groundwater dependence and disturbance. Alterations to key drivers of vegetation pattern with future climate changes are likely to markedly influence the composition, structure and function of CFW vegetation communities. Action is therefore required to maintain CFW vegetation communities and ecological function in these erse and unique wetland systems.
Ecosystem-based Adaptation: A review of the constraints
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2018
Global typologies of coastal wetland status to inform conservation and management
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2021
Climate change adaptation by subsistence and smallholder farmers: Insights from three agro-ecological regions of Nepal
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 2020
The low frequency receivers for SKA 1-low: Design and verification
Publisher: IEEE
Date: 08-2017
Red-Listed Ecosystem Status of Interior Wetbelt and Inland Temperate Rainforest of British Columbia, Canada
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 23-07-2021
DOI: 10.3390/LAND10080775
Abstract: The Interior Wetbelt (IWB) of British Columbia, which includes the globally rare Inland Temperate Rainforest (ITR), contains primary forests poorly attributed and neglected in conservation planning. We evaluated the IWB and ITR using four IUCN Red List of Ecosystems Criteria: geographic distribution, environmental degradation (abiotic and biotic factors), and likelihood of ecosystem collapse. Clearcut logging (3.2M ha) represented 57% of all anthropogenic disturbances, reducing potential primary forest by 2.7 million ha (28%) for the IWB and 524,003 ha (39%) for the ITR. Decadal logging rates nearly doubled from 5.3% to 10.2% from 1970s–2000s. Core areas (buffered by 100-m from roads and developments) declined by 70% to 95% for the IWB and ITR, respectively. Vulnerable was assigned to karst, the only abiotic factor assessed, because it was associated with rare plants. For biotic factors, Old-Growth Birds were Vulnerable, Southern Woodland Caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) habitat and Sensitive Fish were Endangered, and Old-Growth Lichens habitat was Critical. Overall, the IWB was ranked as Endangered and the ITR as Critical with core area collapse possible within 9 to 18 years for the ITR, considered one of the world’s most imperiled temperate rainforests.
Unpacking components of sustainable and resilient urban food systems
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2018
The Sardinia Radio Telescope
Publisher: EDP Sciences
Date: 12-2017
Implications of the Paris Climate Change Agreement for Adaptation Research and Universities
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Date: 2017
Assessing Community Readiness for Payments for Ecosystem Service Schemes for Tropical Primary Forest Protection in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 13-03-2023
Coastal flood risk within a peri-urban area: Sussex Inlet district, SE Australia
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 05-07-2021
Climate change, biodiversity conservation, and the role of protected areas: An australian perspective
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 11-2008
Projected direct and indirect effects of climate change on the Swift Parrot, an endangered migratory species
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 09-2016
DOI: 10.1071/MU15094
Evaluating planning without plans: Principles, criteria and indicators for effective forest landscape approaches
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2022
Wetland vegetation regeneration in response to tidal reinstatement on an abandoned sugar cane farm
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 14-12-2023
DOI: 10.1111/REC.13842
Abstract: Supratidal wetlands are threatened by agricultural production and are highly vulnerable to climate change, particularly through sea level rise (SLR). While vegetation structure and composition of supratidal wetlands will likely change under projected SLR with run‐on effects for ecosystem service provision, these changes can provide opportunities for restoration of adjacent agricultural land. Here, we investigated the natural regenerative potential of supratidal wetlands on abandoned agricultural land in Southeast Queensland, Australia, specifically, responses of wetland vegetation communities to simulated SLR, through tidal reinstatement. In 15 years since crop abandonment, distinct communities of typical supratidal wetland vegetation have naturally reestablished, in predominately freshwater conditions, with minimal management intervention. Reinstating tidal floodwater increased the flooded extent and permanence of brackish water. Four repeat surveys of vegetation composition, structure, and condition were conducted in permanent plots established in Casuarina sw , Melaleuca sw , herbaceous marsh, and riparian zone vegetation communities, to observe change over time. Species richness decreased in all regenerating communities (Herbaceous marsh, Casuarina , and Melaleuca ) post flood gate removal. Understory vegetation cover also decreased in Melaleuca and Casuarina plots, but increased in herbaceous marsh plots, with increased cover of salt‐tolerant species throughout. Changes in woody vegetation community and structure were not observed during this short study (2.5 years), although the regenerative capacity of woody and herbaceous species was reduced. Supratidal wetland vegetation communities can naturally reestablish in areas of abandoned agricultural land, however, increased saltwater flooding (likely with SLR) will put these communities at risk of transition to salt‐tolerant vegetation.
The Effectiveness of Conservation Reserves: Land Tenure Impacts upon Biodiversity across Extensive Natural Landscapes in the Tropical Savannahs of the Northern Territory, Australia
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 22-01-2013
DOI: 10.3390/LAND2010020
Conservation: Stop misuse of biodiversity offsets
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 07-2015
DOI: 10.1038/523401A
Wilderness and future conservation priorities in Australia
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-10-2009
Monitoring the impact of feral horses on vegetation condition using remotely sensed fPAR: A case study in Australia's alpine parks
Publisher: IUCN
Date: 30-11-2017
The Biodiversity and Climate Change Virtual Laboratory: Where ecology meets big data
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2016
Prioritizing threat management for biodiversity conservation
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 08-03-2012
EcoSummit 2023 Conference Declaration: Building a Sustainable Wellbeing Future
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2023
Interactions Between Biodiversity Offsets and Protected Area Commitments: Avoiding Perverse Outcomes
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 04-01-2016
DOI: 10.1111/CONL.12222
Identifying and mitigating risks to completion of small grant climate change adaptation projects: evidence from the Pacific
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 20-05-2021
Applying landscape-ecological principles to regional conservation: the WildCountry Project in Australia
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Date: 29-03-2007
Evaluating the mitigation effectiveness of forests managed for conservation versus commodity production using an Australian example
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 24-02-2022
DOI: 10.1111/CONL.12878
Abstract: Forests are critical for bio ersity conservation and climate change mitigation: reducing emissions, increasing removals, and providing resilient ecosystems with stable long‐term carbon storage. However, evaluating the mitigation effectiveness of forests managed for conservation versus commodity production has been long debated. We assessed factors influencing evaluation of mitigation effectiveness––land area, time horizon, reference level, carbon stock longevity––and tested the outcomes using analyses of carbon dynamics from an Australian ecosystem. Results showed that landscape scale accounting using carbon carrying capacity as the reference level and assessed over a series of time horizons best enables explicit evaluation of mitigation benefits. Time horizons need to differentiate between near‐term emissions reduction targets (2030 and 2050), relative longevity of carbon stocks in different reservoirs, and long‐term impacts on atmospheric CO 2 concentration. Greatest mitigation benefits derive from conservation through continued forest growth (52% gain in carbon stock by 2050) and accumulating carbon to attain carbon retention potential (70% gain). Cumulative emissions from harvesting result in permanent elevation of atmospheric CO 2 concentration (32 times the annual emission by rotation end). We recommend these time horizons and landscape scales for evaluating forest management to better guide policies and investments for achieving climate mitigation and bio ersity conservation.
Ecosystem greenspots: identifying potential drought, fire and climate change micro-refuges
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-2012
DOI: 10.1890/11-1479.1
Abstract: In response to climate change and other threatening processes there is renewed interest in the role of refugia and refuges. In bioregions that experience drought and fire, micro-refuges can play a vital role in ensuring the persistence of species. We develop and apply an approach to identifying potential micro-refuges based on a time series of remotely sensed vegetation greenness (fraction of photosynthetically active radiation intercepted by the sunlit canopy fPAR). The primary data for this analysis were NASA MODIS 16-day L3 Global 250 m (MOD13Q1) satellite imagery. This method draws upon relevant ecological theory (source sink habitats, habitat templet) to calculate a micro-refuge index, which is analyzed for each of the major vegetation ecosystems in the case-study region (the Great Eastern Ranges of New South Wales, Australia). Potential ecosystem greenspots were identified, at a range of thresholds, based on an index derived from: the mean and coefficient of variance (COV) of fPAR over the 10-year time series the minimum mean annual fPAR and the COV of the 12 values of mean monthly fPAR. These greenspots were mapped and compared with (1) an index of vascular plant species composition, (2) environmental variables, and (3) protected areas. Potential micro-refuges were found within all vegetation ecosystem types. The total area of ecosystem greenspots within the upper 25% threshold was 48 406 ha around 0.2% of the total area of native vegetation (23.9 x 10(6) ha) in the study region. The total area affected by fire was 3.4 x 10(6) ha. The results of the environmental diagnostic analysis suggest deterministic controls on the geographical distribution of potential micro-refuges that may continue to function under climate change. The approach is relevant to other regions of the world where the role of micro-refuges in the persistence of species is recognized, including across the world's arid zones and, in particular, for the Australian, southern African, and South American continents. Micro-refuge networks may play an important role in maintaining beta- ersity at the bio-region scale and contribute to the stability, resilience, and adaptive capacity of ecosystems in the face of ever-growing pressures from human-forced climate change, land use, and other threatening processes.
Creating a Novel Multi-Layered Integrative Climate Change Adaptation Planning Approach Using a Systematic Literature Review
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 08-11-2018
DOI: 10.3390/SU10114100
Abstract: Climate change adaptation planning requires the integration of disciplines, stakeholders, different modelling approaches, treatment options, and scales of analysis. An integrated stepwise planning approach is a critical requirement for effective climate change adaptation in the context of small island developing states and coastal communities. To address this need, this paper reports on a systematic review of 116 research papers from an initial set of around 650 academic peer-reviewed papers. These papers were assessed and categorised based on their planning framework or the approach utilised, measured climate change impacts, employed methods and tools, and recommended adaptation strategies or options. This study identified three important dimensions of a fully integrated climate change adaptation planning process, namely, integration in assessment, integration in modelling, and integration in adaptive responses. Moreover, it resulted in the formulation of a novel multi-layered integrative climate change adaptation planning approach. Adopting this holistic and integrative approach is more likely to yield better climate change adaptation in planning outcomes over the long term.
Challenges and Sensitivities in Assessing Total Ecosystem Service Values: Lessons From Vanuatu for the Pacific
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 05-08-2020
Abstract: Ecosystem service valuation (ESV) can inform land-use change policy and adaptation responses to climate change in Pacific Small Island Developing States. Despite Small Island Developing States communities relying acutely and directly on ecosystem service (ES) flows, methodologies must contend with limited valuation data and challenges. We undertake ESV to generate coefficients we then apply to mapped habitat extents for Vanuatu. We find the contribution of ESs to the people of Vanuatu is considerable and significantly larger than its gross domestic product. Therefore, policies that support ecologically sustainable exploitation of ESs are paramount in promoting community well-being. We also identify and discuss context-specific methodological challenges, which, if not addressed, risk distorting valuations, supporting perverse policy responses, and eroding confidence in ESV. We make recommendations to address the challenges of accounting for ecosystem condition, data gaps, and consideration of customary benefits, provide context to the interpretation of our results, and suggest where further research can ameliorate risks.
Harnessing the temporal and projective attributes of human agency to promote anticipatory climate change adaptation
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 23-06-2022
DOI: 10.1002/EET.2009
Abstract: Human agency is seen as a critical component of adaptive capacity concerning environmental change. This capacity may entail social actor's ability to learn from past experience, and create opportunities in the present for dealing with uncertainty and change in the future. However, it also means that actors need to be able to overturn structural barriers that impede anticipatory adaptation to climate change such as lack of political leadership, power imbalances, acceptance of climate risks and willingness to act. While scholarship around questions of structural barriers is common in environmental studies literature, there is less understanding about how future thinking could help to strengthen human agency. Harnessing the temporal and projective attributes of human agency by which social actors can exert influence over the future and create solutions may comprise a promising way forward. This paper investigates how social actors understand past social and environmental change and explores how scenario planning may help actors apply their understanding of changes over time to devise policies for climate change adaptation. The paper applies this exploratory lens to an Australian coastal local government area engaged in scenario planning and adaptation pathways planning. Findings indicate that the temporality aspect of agency applied to solving complex issues and overcoming structural barriers manifests differently from an in idual to a collective perspective. This means that while scenario planning and adaptation pathways planning helps with anticipatory identification and experimentation, this may not be sufficient to overturn structural barriers to adaptation in the short‐term.
Between a bog and a hard place: a global review of climate change effects on coastal freshwater wetlands
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 15-08-2020
DOI: 10.1007/S10584-020-02815-1
Abstract: Coastal wetlands are significant components of the coastal landscape with important roles in ecosystem service provision and mitigation of climate change. They are also likely to be the system most impacted by climate change, feeling the effects of sea levels rise, temperature increases and rainfall regime changes. Climate change impacts on estuarine coastal wetlands (mangroves, saltmarsh) have been thoroughly investigated however, the impacts on coastal freshwater wetlands (CFWs) are relatively unknown. To explore the current knowledge of the impacts of climate change on CFWs globally, we undertook a systematic quantitative literature review of peer-reviewed published literature. We found surprisingly little research (110 papers of an initial 678), the majority of which was conducted in the USA, focusing on the effects of sea level rise (SLR) on CFW vegetation or sediment accretion processes. From this research, we know that SLR will lead to reduced productivity, reduced regeneration, and increased mortality in CFW vegetation but little is known regarding the effects of other climate change drivers. Sediment accretion is also not sufficient to keep pace with SLR in many CFWs and again the effects of other climate drivers have not been investigated. The combination of unhealthy vegetation communities and minimal gain in vertical elevation can result in a transition towards a vegetation community of salt-tolerant species but more research is required to understand this process.
REDD+ and forest protection on indigenous lands in the Amazon
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 14-02-2021
DOI: 10.1111/REEL.12389
Abstract: Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) was introduced by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as a mechanism to reverse the loss of forests and carbon stocks in developing countries. REDD+ operates on the basis of performance‐based payments. This article focuses on REDD+ as a market‐based mechanism in the voluntary carbon market (VCM). It assesses the viability of using REDD+ on indigenous lands in the Brazilian Amazon by examining three key aspects of REDD+—the legal, technical and market requirements—in light of recent policy developments in Brazil and under the UNFCCC. REDD+ as a market‐based mechanism in the VCM currently faces significant barriers as a useful tool for forest protection in the Amazon, due to the lack of an international carbon market under the UNFCCC, the highly complex technical requirements, and the low market demand for REDD+ credits in the VCM. Moreover, we suggest that, although legally possible under Brazilian law, REDD+ projects in the VCM may not be a suitable market‐based option for indigenous communities in the Amazon due to the current national and international climate policy context.
Commonalities between Disaster and Climate Change Risks for Health: A Theoretical Framework
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 16-03-2018
Incorporating ecological and evolutionary processes into continental-scale conservation planning
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 2009
DOI: 10.1890/07-1684.1
Abstract: Systematic conservation planning research has focused on designing systems of conservation areas that efficiently protect a comprehensive and representative set of species and habitats. Recently, there has been an emphasis on improving the adequacy of conservation area design to promote the persistence and future generation of bio ersity. Few studies have explored incorporating ecological and evolutionary processes into conservation planning assessments. Bio ersity in Australia is maintained and generated by numerous ecological and evolutionary processes at various spatial and temporal scales. We accommodated ecological and evolutionary processes in four ways: (1) using sub-catchments as planning units to facilitate the protection of the integrity and function of ecosystem processes occurring on a sub-catchment scale (2) targeting one type of ecological refugia, drought refugia, which are critical for the persistence of many species during widespread drought (3) targeting one type of evolutionary refugia which are important for maintaining and generating unique biota during long-term climatic changes and (4) preferentially grouping priority areas along vegetated waterways to account for the importance of connected waterways and associated riparian areas in maintaining processes. We identified drought refugia, areas of relatively high and regular herbage production in arid and semiarid Australia, from estimates of gross primary productivity derived from satellite data. In this paper, we combined the novel incorporation of these processes with a more traditional framework of efficiently representing a comprehensive s le of bio ersity to identify spatial priorities across Australia. We explored the trade-offs between economic costs, representation targets, and connectivity. Priority areas that considered ecological and evolutionary processes were more connected along vegetated waterways and were identified for a small increase in economic cost. Priority areas for conservation investment are more likely to have long-term benefits to bio ersity if ecological and evolutionary processes are considered in their identification.
Impacts of feral horses in the Australian Alps and evidence-based solutions
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 2019
DOI: 10.1111/EMR.12357
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Discovery Projects - Grant ID: DP120102651
Start Date: 02-2012
End Date: 07-2015
Amount: $314,000.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityDiscovery Projects - Grant ID: DP0879092
Start Date: 2008
End Date: 12-2011
Amount: $378,500.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityLinkage Projects - Grant ID: LP0455163
Start Date: 11-2004
End Date: 12-2008
Amount: $440,000.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityLinkage Projects - Grant ID: LP210301176
Start Date: 09-2023
End Date: 09-2026
Amount: $419,378.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityDiscovery Projects - Grant ID: DP160103371
Start Date: 06-2016
End Date: 12-2022
Amount: $370,000.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityLinkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE140100061
Start Date: 2014
End Date: 07-2015
Amount: $1,000,000.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded Activity