ORCID Profile
0000-0003-4411-8214
Current Organisations
Dalian Polytechnic University
,
Telethon Kids Institute
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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)
Natural Resource Management | Environmental Monitoring | Environmental Science and Management | Environmental Management | Conservation and Biodiversity
ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)
Ecosystem Assessment and Management of Forest and Woodlands Environments | Rehabilitation of Degraded Forest and Woodlands Environments | Remnant Vegetation and Protected Conservation Areas in Farmland, Arable Cropland and Permanent Cropland Environments |
Related Links
Publications
Mortality of native grasses after a summer fire in natural temperate grassland suggests ecosystem instability
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 2014
DOI: 10.1111/EMR.12085
Combining facilitated dialogue and spatial data analysis to compile landscape history
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 17-11-2010
DOI: 10.1017/S0376892910000767
Abstract: Successful reconstruction or restoration of formerly cleared landscapes depends on land use history and its legacies. Programmes developed without consideration of these legacies may fail to be effective and lack credibility. However, compiling landscape histories is not simple our participatory workshops with long-term local residents combined spatial data on landscape change with facilitated conversations to compile a history of landscape change. Timing and extent of key environmental and socioeconomic drivers of woody vegetation cover change since European settlement were established. Some drivers of clearing were relatively well-known, such as drought, or clearing for surface mining and pastoralism. However, others, including important interactions like prolonged drought intersecting with declining wool prices, were less known. These workshops verified provisional data, tested focus and methods, and identified critical time periods for further investigation. The workshops were a powerful transdisciplinary research tool that enhanced the understanding of researchers and participants beyond expectations. Other researchers should consider the general approach when assembling landscape history as a basis for documenting the degree and causes of change.
Biodiversity patterns and ecological processes in Neotropical dry forest: the need to connect research and management for long-term conservation
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 2017
Examining change over time in habitat attributes using Bayesian reinterpretation of categorical assessments
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-2013
DOI: 10.1890/12-1670.1
Abstract: Prospects for evaluating effects of vegetation restoration have long been limited by availability of appropriately sensitive baseline data. Data that are typically collected to justify investment in restoration are rarely suitable for estimating subsequent change over time, but given how commonly such data are collected, can they contribute something to learning about ecological change over time? We compared vegetation and habitat data from a quantitative reassessment of 25 habitat restoration sites seven years after they were initially assessed using a semiquantitative, categorical scoring system. Our aim was to estimate the change at sites between the first, semiquantitative survey and a second, quantitative survey. We treated the initial values as effectively unknown and used Bayesian models to infer plausible values using three different informative prior distributions, variously comprising the initial site assessments and modeled values from a statewide data set. We successfully constructed models of change over time between the two surveys, and regardless of which prior model was implemented, our data analysis suggested that cover of exotic species was reduced, but canopy cover, the cover of organic litter, and the length of fallen logs were all increased after the seven-year period. A small increase in the mean number of large-diameter trees was likely due to initial measurement error. Site fertility and canopy cover were important covariates in explaining the magnitude of change in total log length. Sites with higher canopy cover decreased more in weed cover and increased more in litter cover. Our approach could be used to retrospectively analyze any ordinal data set where there is a scoring logic that can be interpreted quantitatively. Data sets where treatment contrasts and untreated controls exist will be particularly valuable for testing the utility of our approach. While this novel approach should prove a useful analytical complement to genuine longitudinal monitoring and space-for-time surveys, it is no substitute for initiation of learning about management effectiveness using data from purposefully designed and measured surveys.
The vegetation structure and condition of contracting lowland habitat for Leadbeater's possum (Gymnobelideus leadbeateri)
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2021
DOI: 10.1071/AM20047
Abstract: Lowland Leadbeater’s possums are on a trajectory to extinction, with fewer than 40 in iduals surviving in the wild. Quantification of the vegetation characteristics of their occupied habitat is urgently needed to inform strategies to conserve this genetically distinct population. We surveyed the canopy and midstorey vegetation at all remaining (nine) occupied territories and eleven abandoned territories in lowland sw forest at the Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve. For each territory we quantified canopy and midstorey stem density, basal area (total and live) and vegetation condition (percentage live basal area, tree crown vigour and plant area index) within a 50-m radius of known den locations. The canopy at all locations was dominated by mountain sw gum (Eucalyptus c hora), with most occupied sites supporting dense midstorey dominated by paperbarks, either Melaleuca squarrosa or Melaleuca ericifolia. Occupied territories had higher stem densities and better vegetation condition than abandoned territories. Stem density alone was able to predict occupancy vis-à-vis abandoned sites with a high (80%) degree of accuracy. Lowland Leadbeater’s possums occupy sw forests characterised by high stem density, particularly in the midstorey, structural complexity and healthy vegetation. These findings can help guide habitat restoration and translocation projects currently underway to expand the area of lowland habitat for this critically endangered species.
Biocrust morphogroups provide an effective and rapid assessment tool for drylands
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-2014
Arresting the rate of land clearing: Change in woody native vegetation cover in a changing agricultural landscape
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2012
Historical and current land use shape landscape restoration options in the Australian wheat and sheep farming zone
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2009
Useful surrogates of soil texture for plant ecologists from airborne gamma‐ray detection
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 16-01-2018
DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.3417
Abstract: Plant ecologists require spatial information on functional soil properties but are often faced with soil classifications that are not directly interpretable or useful for statistical models. Sand and clay content are important soil properties because they indicate soil water‐holding capacity and nutrient content, yet these data are not available for much of the landscape. Remotely sensed soil radiometric data offer promise for developing statistical models of functional soil properties applicable over large areas. Here, we build models linking radiometric data for an area of 40,000 km 2 with soil physicochemical data collected over a period of 30 years and demonstrate a strong relationship between gamma radiometric potassium ( 40 K), thorium (²³²Th), and soil sand and clay content. Our models showed predictive performance of 43% with internal cross‐validation (to held‐out data) and ~30% for external validation to an independent test dataset. This work contributes to broader availability and uptake of remote sensing products for explaining patterns in plant distribution and performance across landscapes.
Beyond the blame game: a restoration pathway reconciles ecologists’ and local leaders’ divergent models of seasonally dry tropical forest degradation
Publisher: Resilience Alliance, Inc.
Date: 2019
Intraspecific interactions affect the spatial pattern of a dominant shrub in a semiarid shrubland: A prospective approach
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 28-12-2018
Abstract: Dispersal, physical conditions and biotic interactions contribute to determine the spatial distribution of in iduals in plant populations. Much of what we know has been learned from studies that retrospectively posit mechanisms presumed to have generated the observed spatial patterns. Here we present a prospective approach. We start by measuring spatial demographic effects and evaluate if they can generate observed spatial patterns. We evaluated the influence of interactions among conspecifics on vital rates, demography and spatial distribution of Croton aff. wagneri , a dominant shrub in dry Andean ecosystems. Recruitment, survival and growth varied in relation with distance to conspecifics neighbours and with their summed cover. We built a spatial in idual‐based model and simulated its population dynamics in 30 × 30 m plots for a 30‐year period. We compared the predicted spatial pattern from these demographic models with that observed among plants in 16 independent plots with the same area. Simulated populations mimicked observed spatial patterns, although in plots at high elevations the simulated populations did not reproduce the observed inhibition at small scales. Observed and simulated patterns indicated differences between elevations in maximum aggregation and location of the distances with higher aggregation. We discuss how consideration of critical seed and juvenile stages and interspecific interactions could further improve our understanding of spatial pattern and recommend that these factors be considered in future models.
Hydrophilic colloids (Konjac gum/Xanthan gum) in 3D printing of transitional food from fish paste
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2023
High self-pollen transfer and low fruit set in buzz-pollinated Dianella revoluta (Phormiaceae)
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2004
DOI: 10.1071/BT03139
Abstract: We used pollinator observation, flower manipulation, controlled pollination and pollen-tube analysis to better understand the reproductive ecology of Dianella revoluta R.Br., a common species known to have depressed fruit set at fragmented sites. This buzz-pollinated species was found to receive large quantities of self-pollen even during a single pollinator visit, but is only partially self-compatible. This may be the first direct demonstration of pollinator-facilitated, autogamous self-pollen transfer accounting for a significant proportion of stigmatic pollen load. Frequent high self-pollen transfer may account for the observed low rate of fruit development in open-pollinated flowers. Self-pollen tubes reached the base of the style in comparable numbers and at the same rate as outcross pollen tubes, with no sign of pollen-tube competition favouring outcross pollen. Barriers to greater self-fertility occur late, probably through early abortion of selfed ovules. We also investigated what impact overlapping distribution with D. longifolia may have on D. revoluta pollination and reproduction. Although these species shared pollinators, they differed in terms of frequency of visits. There was also separation of floral phenology within the course of a day.
Carrageenan addition improves the melting temperature and 3D printing performance of the gelatin system
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2023
State-and-transition modelling for Adaptive Management of native woodlands
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2011
Surprisingly fast recovery of biological soil crusts following livestock removal in southern Australia
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 04-05-2011
Vulnerability of Human Populations to Contamination from Petroleum Exploitation in the Napo River Basin: An Approach for Spatially Explicit Risk Assessment
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 17-08-2021
DOI: 10.3390/SU13169230
Abstract: Background: contamination of aquatic ecosystems by oil spills associated with petroleum exploitation represents a serious problem of environmental contamination that can affect human health. We developed a spatial model of contamination risk in the Ecuadorian Amazon, and evaluated the model using independent datasets on environmental contamination and clinical indicators of human health risk factors. Methods: the spatial risk of contamination for the Napo River basin was based on the calculation of a friction surface and the accessibility of possible oil contamination. Human health was evaluated using peripheral blood s les from 256 in iduals. We used monitoring data on contamination to validate the spatial model of contamination risk and analyzed whether the estimated risk explained the incidence of human health risk factors. Results: our risk model showed a significant association with actual contamination detected in the study area. According to our risk model, around 30% of the territory has some level of contamination. Risk of contamination was associated with an increasing mean incidence in risk factors for human health in resident populations, but elevated contamination risk was not a significant predictor of the incidence of selected health indicators only the incidence of inflammation was significantly increased. Conclusions: a large proportion of the populations in the Napo River basin has high vulnerability to contamination from petroleum exploitation, and this contamination risk may be traced in some indicators of health risk. Closer examination of health risk factors is warranted, and our spatial model of contamination risk can inform the design and analysis of such studies, as well as risk mitigation and management. Our approach to building the model of contamination risk could be applied in other catchments where petroleum exploitation is contemplated.
Understanding Landscapes through Knowledge Management Frameworks, Spatial Models, Decision Support Tools and Visualisation
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Date: 2008
Disentangling chronic regeneration failure in endangered woodland ecosystems
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 2020
DOI: 10.1002/ECS2.2998
Transient shifts in composition of degraded temperate native grassland following grazing exclusion
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 04-2023
DOI: 10.1111/AVSC.12731
Abstract: Globally, grassy ecosystems are threatened and are still declining in extent in many areas. Improving the management of degraded native temperate grasslands that are grazed by livestock is important to the conservation of this critically endangered ecosystem. Questions remain about the role of grazing in the management of such grasslands, particularly in the face of climate change and given the sensitivity of these systems to inter‐annual rainfall variability. Here, we investigate the effect of livestock exclusion on grassland composition. Temperate grassland, Victoria, Australia. Over 9 years (2009–2017), we monitored plant functional groups in plots open‐to‐grazing or ungrazed exclusion plots within five fields of degraded native temperate grassland on private land. In the years after grazing had been excluded, we found significant differences in cover between grazed and ungrazed plots for some functional groups (e.g. native perennial graminoids) in some years, but we did not observe long‐term ergence in cover or composition of the treatments. At the final monitoring point there were no significant differences in native or exotic species richness between the grazed and ungrazed plots. We show that the years in which differences were observed correspond with the 2010–2011 La Niña high‐rainfall event, suggesting that grazing exclusion effects are mediated by rainfall, and are likely to be evident only under certain conditions. In grassy ecosystems already degraded by long‐term grazing, excluding grazing has limited potential to shift plant species composition in favour of native dominance. Such grasslands may persist in the medium term in a stable but degraded state with or without continued light to moderate livestock grazing pressure. Hence, managed livestock grazing need not be incompatible with the conservation of degraded temperate grasslands particularly where biomass management is important for the maintenance of faunal habitat. However, improving the function and ersity of these degraded grasslands will seemingly require additional management, including seed addition and experimentation with alternative disturbance regimes.
Landscape Analysis and Visualisation
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Date: 2008
Plant isolation reduces outcross pollen receipt in a partially self-compatible herb
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 20-10-2004
AusTraits – a curated plant trait database for the Australian flora
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 07-01-2021
DOI: 10.1101/2021.01.04.425314
Abstract: We introduce the AusTraits database - a compilation of measurements of plant traits for taxa in the Australian flora (hereafter AusTraits). AusTraits synthesises data on 375 traits across 29230 taxa from field c aigns, published literature, taxonomic monographs, and in idual taxa descriptions. Traits vary in scope from physiological measures of performance (e.g. photosynthetic gas exchange, water-use efficiency) to morphological parameters (e.g. leaf area, seed mass, plant height) which link to aspects of ecological variation. AusTraits contains curated and harmonised in idual-, species- and genus-level observations coupled to, where available, contextual information on site properties. This data descriptor provides information on version 2.1.0 of AusTraits which contains data for 937243 trait-by-taxa combinations. We envision AusTraits as an ongoing collaborative initiative for easily archiving and sharing trait data to increase our collective understanding of the Australian flora.
Misinformation, internet honey trading and beekeepers drive a plant invasion
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 17-11-2021
DOI: 10.1111/ELE.13645
Towards open, reliable, and transparent ecology and evolutionary biology
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 09-04-2021
DOI: 10.1186/S12915-021-01006-3
Abstract: Unreliable research programmes waste funds, time, and even the lives of the organisms we seek to help and understand. Reducing this waste and increasing the value of scientific evidence require changing the actions of both in idual researchers and the institutions they depend on for employment and promotion. While ecologists and evolutionary biologists have somewhat improved research transparency over the past decade (e.g. more data sharing), major obstacles remain. In this commentary, we lift our gaze to the horizon to imagine how researchers and institutions can clear the path towards more credible and effective research programmes.
Disentangling chronic regeneration failure in endangered woodland ecosystems
Publisher: California Digital Library (CDL)
Date: 14-04-2019
Empirically validating a dense woody regrowth 'problem' and thinning 'solution' for understory vegetation
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2015
Using Remote Sensing to Estimate Understorey Biomass in Semi-Arid Woodlands of South-Eastern Australia
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 13-05-2022
DOI: 10.3390/RS14102358
Abstract: Monitoring ground layer biomass, and therefore forage availability, is important for managing large, vertebrate herbivore populations for conservation. Remote sensing allows for frequent observations over broad spatial scales, capturing changes in biomass over the landscape and through time. In this study, we explored different satellite-derived vegetation indices (VIs) for their utility in estimating understorey biomass in semi-arid woodlands of south-eastern Australia. Relationships between VIs and understorey biomass data have not been established in these particular semi-arid communities. Managers want to use forage availability to inform cull targets for western grey kangaroos (Macropus fuliginosus), to minimise the risk that browsing poses to regeneration in threatened woodland communities when grass biomass is low. We attempted to develop relationships between VIs and understorey biomass data collected over seven seasons across open and wooded vegetation types. Generalised Linear Mixed Models (GLMMs) were used to describe relationships between understorey biomass and VIs. Total understorey biomass (live and dead, all growth forms) was best described using the Tasselled Cap (TC) greenness index. The combined TC brightness and Modified Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (MSAVI) ranked best for live understorey biomass (all growth forms), and grass (live and dead) biomass was best described by a combination of TC brightness and greenness indices. Models performed best for grass biomass, explaining 70% of variation in external validation when predicting to the same sites in a new season. However, we found empirical relationships were not transferrable to data collected from new sites. Including other variables (soil moisture, tree cover, and dominant understorey growth form) improved model performance when predicting to new sites. Anticipating a drop in forage availability is critical for the management of grazing pressure for woodland regeneration, however, predicting understorey biomass through space and time is a challenge. Whilst remotely sensed VIs are promising as an easily-available source of vegetation information, additional landscape-scale data are required before they can be considered a cost-efficient method of understorey biomass estimation in this semi-arid landscape.
Public investment does not crowd out private supply of environmental goods on private land
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2014
DOI: 10.1016/J.JENVMAN.2014.01.041
Abstract: In landscapes where private land tenure is prevalent, public funds for ecological landscape restoration are sometimes spent subsidising the revegetation of cleared land, and the protection of remnant vegetation from livestock. However, the total area treated may be unclear because such projects are not always recorded, and landholders may undertake similar activities without subsidisation. In the absence of empirical data, in the state of Victoria, Australia, a reporting assumption has been employed that suggests that wholly privately funded sites match publicly subsidised sites on a hectare for hectare basis (a so-called "x2" assumption). Conversely, the "crowding out" theory of investment in public goods such as environmental benefits suggests that public investment may supplant private motivation. Using aerial photography we mapped the extent of revegetation, native vegetation fencing and restoration on 71 representative landholdings in rural south-eastern Australia. We interviewed each landholder and recorded the age and funding model of each site. Contrary to the local "x2" reporting assumption, about 75% of the total area of the 412 sites was from subsidised sites, and that proportion was far higher for the period after 1997. However, rather than displacing unsubsidised activity, our modelling showed that landholders who had recently been subsidised for a project were more likely to have subsequently completed unsubsidised work. This indicates that, at least in terms of medium-term economic impact, the large increase in public subsidies did not diminish privately funded activity, as might be expected according to the theory of crowding out.
Blowing in the wind? Nutrient enrichment of remnant woodlands in an agricultural landscape
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 14-09-2008
Biological soil crust distribution is related to patterns of fragmentation and landuse in a dryland agricultural landscape of southern Australia
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 19-09-2008
Towards adaptive management of native vegetation in regional landscapes
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Date: 2008
Evaluating the performance of a centralised government geodatabase in capturing publicly-funded natural resource management activities in Victoria, Australia
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 06-2013
Using data calibration to reconcile outputs from different survey methods in long-term or large-scale studies
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 14-02-2022
DOI: 10.1007/S10661-021-09727-2
Abstract: Understanding the impact of management interventions on the environment over decadal and longer timeframes is urgently required. Longitudinal or large-scale studies with consistent methods are best practice, but more commonly, small datasets with differing methods are used to achieve larger coverage. Changes in methods and interpretation affect our ability to understand data trends through time or across space, so an ability to understand and adjust for such discrepancies between datasets is important for applied ecologists. Calibration or double s ling is the key to unlocking the value from disparate datasets, allowing us to account for the differences between datasets while acknowledging the uncertainties. We use a case study of livestock grazing impacts on riparian vegetation in southeastern Australia to develop a flexible and powerful approach to this problem. Using double s ling, we estimated changes in vegetation attributes over a 12-year period using a pseudo-quantitative visual method as the starting point, and the same technique plus point-intercept survey for the second round. The disparate nature of the datasets produced uncertain estimates of change over time, but accounting for this uncertainty explicitly is precisely the objective and highlights the need to look more closely at this very common problem in environmental management, as well as the potential benefits of the double s ling approach.
Related Organisations
Arthur Rylah Institute For Environmental Research
Location: Australia
Related Funding Activities
Linkage Projects - Grant ID: LP110100321
Start Date: 04-2011
End Date: 04-2014
Amount: $240,000.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded Activity