Rod Fensham

The effect of exotic pasture development on floristic diversity in central Queensland, Australia

Floristic diversity was compared across boundaries where the trees have been cleared in semi-arid brigalow (Acacia harpophylla), gidgee (A. cambagei) and eucalypt (Eucalyptus populnea, E. melanophloia) woodland and forest in central Queensland. The cleared treatments included Exotic pasture (uncultivated, exotic grasses having more than 10% total cover) and Native pasture (uncultivated, not dominated by exotic grasses). An ordination of presence-absence data did not distinguish the floristic composition of the uncleared pasture and native pasture treatments, however, these treatment types were floristically distinct from the exotic pasture treatment in all three land types. Declines in species richness and diversity were substantial between uncleared and exotic pastures for brigalow and eucalypt lands. Differences were far less substantial for the same comparison in gidgee lands, and between uncleared and native pasture for all three land types. These trends reflected differences in most perennial lifeform groups and the species that show significant declines are identified. There was no significant relationship between native diversity and the age of clearing. This study draws attention to the negative impacts on plant diversity posed by deliberate and inadvertent spread of exotic perennial grasses in tropical forests and woodlands

Aerial photography for assessing vegetation change: a review of applications and the relevance of findings for Australian vegetation history

Studies attempting to calibrate vegetation attributes from aerial photography with field data are reviewed in detail. It is concluded that aerial photography has considerable advantages over satellite-based data because of its capacity to assess the vertical dimension of vegetation and the longer time period the record spans. Limitations of using the aerial photo record as digital data include standardising image contrast and rectification. Some of these problems can be circumvented by manual techniques, but problems of crown exaggeration that varies with photo scale and variation in contrast between the textures of tree crowns and the ground remain. Applications of aerial photography for assessing vegetation change are also reviewed and include deforestation, reforestation, changes in vegetation boundaries, tree density, community composition and crown dieback. These changes have been assessed at scales ranging from individual tree crowns to regional landscapes. In Australia, aerial photography has provided a clear demonstration of deforestation rates and the expansion and contraction of forest and woodland, which is generally attributed to changes in grazing and fire regimes. It is suggested that manual techniques with point-based sampling, digital processing of data for complete spatial coverages and the application of photogrammetric measurements with stereo-plotters are all techniques with great promise for utilising this underrated medium for assessment of vegetation dynamics.

Biodiversity conservation and vegetation clearing in Queensland: principles and thresholds

Clearing of native vegetation is a major threat to biodiversity in Australia. In Queensland, clearing has resulted in extensive ecosystem transformation, especially in the more fertile parts of the landscape. In this paper, we examine Queensland, Australian and some overseas evidence of the impact of clearing and related fragmentation effects on terrestrial biota. The geographic locus is the semi-arid regions. although we recognise that coastal regions have been extensively cleared. The evidence reviewed here suggests that the reduction of remnant vegetation to 30% will result in the loss of 25-35% of vertebrate fauna, with the full impact not realised for another 50-100 years, or even longer. Less mobile, habitat specialists and rare species appear to be particularly at risk. We propose three broad principles For effective biodiversity conservation in Queensland: (i) regional native vegetation retention thresholds of 50910: (ii) regional ecosystem thresholds of 30%: and (iii) landscape design and planning principles that protect large remnants, preferably > 2000 ha, as core habitats. Under these retention thresholds. no further clearing would be permitted in the extensively cleared biogeographic regions such as Brigalow Belt and New England Tablelands. Some elements of the biota. however, will require more detailed knowledge and targeted retention and management to ensure their security. The application of resource sustainability and economic criteria outlined elsewhere in this volume should be applied to ensure that the biogeographic regions in the north and west of Queensland that are largely intact continue to provide extensive wildlife habitat.

Spring wetlands of the Great Artesian Basin, Queensland, Australia

The Great Artesian Basin is an aquifer system that underlies a large area of north-eastern Australia. The spring wetlands in the Great Artesian Basin are of conservation significance because they provide habitat for endemic species including fish, invertebrates and plants. Since European settlement massive quantities of water have been artificially extracted through bores, reducing spring-flows. Records of the springs of the Queensland section of the Great Artesian Basin (excluding Cape York Peninsula) were compiled from a range of historical sources. Most remaining active springs were visited and surveyed, the physical attributes of the springs described and their current status determined. Recharge springs occur in areas where the evidence suggests the basin is recharged by rainfall and 93% of the original 245 spring-groups in these areas are still active. Discharge springs occur in sections of the Basin down-gradient of the recharge areas and only 36% of the original 300 spring-groups in these areas have at least some springs that are still active. The capping of bores could provide a partial restoration of artesian pressure and enhance spring flows. Of the active spring-groups surveyed 26% have suffered major or total damage as a result of excavation of the wetlands. An emerging threat is the use of exotic grasses as ponded pastures, which have the ability to dominate the habitat of spring wetlands. The potential impacts of other threats including those associated with stock, exotic animals and fire are also discussed. Mitigating these threats requires a conservation strategy that seeks to protect remaining springs with high conservation values.

Drought-related tree death of savanna eucalypts: Species susceptibility, soil conditions and root architecture

Abstract Questions: For eucalypt savanna in northeast Australia subject to multi-year rainfall deficits this paper asks whether (1) dominant tree species (Ironbarks, Boxes) are more drought susceptible than the sub-dominant Bloodwoods; (2) whether soil moisture is beyond wilting point in surface soil layers but available at depth; (3) soil conditions (moisture availability and texture) are related to tree death during drought; (4) the root systems of the Boxes and Ironbarks are shallower than the Bloodwoods; and the survivors of drought within species have deeper root systems than those that died. Location: Central Queensland, Australia. Methods: Patterns of tree death between eucalypt species were compared from field data collected after drought. Soil conditions during drought were described and compared with patterns of tree death for the Ironbark Eucalyptus melanophloia, The basal area and orientation of coarse roots were measured on upturned trees after broad-scale tree clearing, and compared between species, and between live and dead trees with tree size as a covariate. Results: Drought-induced tree death was higher for dominant Ironbark-Box than for sub-dominant Bloodwoods. During a moderate to severe drought in 2004, 41% of 100 cm deep sub-soils had soil matric potential less than −5600 kPa. The drought hardy Bloodwoods had a greater root basal area and particularly so for vertical roots compared to the drought sensitive Ironbark-Box. Within species there was no significant difference in root basal area characteristics between trees that were recently killed by drought and those that remained relatively healthy. Surface soil moisture availability was lower where tree densities were high, and tree death increased as surface soil moisture became less available. Tree death was also greater as the clay content of sub-soils increased. Discussion: The study suggests species with roots confined to upper soil layers will suffer severe water stress. The results strongly indicate that root architecture, and the way it facilitates water use during drought, is important for the relative dominance of the tree species. Patchiness in drought-induced tree death seems to be at least partially a product of heterogeneity in sub-soil conditions and competition for soil moisture. Nomenclature: Because of the complex nomenclature of the taxa to be treated here vernacular names as elucidated in Table 1 will be used (see also Henderson 2002).

Assessing woody vegetation cover change in north-west Australian savanna using aerial photography

Models to calibrate tree and shrub cover assessed from aerial photography with field measurements were developed for a range of vegetation types in north-western Australia. The models verify previous studies indicating that woody cover can be successfully determined from aerial photography. The calibration models were applied to estimates of woody vegetation cover determined for 279 randomly located sample areas in the Ord–Victoria Rivers region using aerial photography from 1948 to 1950 and 1988 to 1997. Overstorey cover increased from a regional average of 11.5% to 13.5% and understorey cover increased from 1.3% to 2.0%. Downs, Limestone Hills and Alluvia land-types showed the most substantial increases in overstorey cover while overstorey cover in the Limestone plains land-type decreased. Relatively open structured vegetation is most susceptible to thickening. Rainfall records reveal an extreme multi-year rainfall deficit in the study area in the 1930s and relatively wet times in the 1970s and 1980s. Interpretation of a limited set of aerial photographs taken between 1964 and 1972 suggests that most of the increases in cover have occurred since this time. The study highlights the possibility that the average trend of vegetation thickening represents recovery during the relatively wet times after the 1970s. There was no relationship between structural change and a grazing intensity surrogate (distance of sample points to stock watering-points). However, the causes of structural change are undoubtedly multi-factored and the relative contributions of climate, fire and grazing vary for different landscapes and tree species.

Quantitative assessment of vegetation structural attributes from aerial photography

Cover of vegetation understorey and overstorey was determined from aerial photography at 1:25 000 and 1:40 000 scales by a grid sampling technique. Models were developed relating values of aerial cover to field cover as determined by intensive field measurement. The influence of photo-scale, photo colour, the angle of the image, shadow, the hiatus between aerial and field sampling, crown width, crown height, proportion of dead trees, drought prior to aerial sampling, land type, previously cleared vegetation and incline on explanatory models was also examined. The only variables that could be clearly interpreted as influencing the models were vegetation height, photo-scale and land type. Only the latter two variables are useful for predictive models. The smaller the scale of photography the greater the exaggeration of the aerial image of tree crowns. This probable result of photo graininess would be most significant when tree crowns are small, an inverse surrogate of tree height. Two-phase models were developed for predicting basal area and biomass from aerial cover. In most instances models were successful for predicting overstorey and understorey cover and for predicting total basal area and biomass. The technique offers a powerful and cost-effective method of assessing vegetation change over long time periods in a way that no other technique can duplicate.

Drought and resprouting plants

Many species have the ability to resprout vegetatively after a substantial loss of biomass induced by environmental stress, including drought. Many of the regions characterised by ecosystems where resprouting is common are projected to experience more frequent and intense drought during the 21st Century. However, in assessments of ecosystem response to drought disturbance there has been scant consideration of the resilience and post-drought recovery of resprouting species. Systematic differences in hydraulic and allocation traits suggest that resprouting species are more resilient to drought-stress than nonresprouting species. Evidence suggests that ecosystems dominated by resprouters recover from disturbance more quickly than ecosystems dominated by nonresprouters. The ability of resprouters to avoid mortality and withstand drought, coupled with their ability to recover rapidly, suggests that the impact of increased drought stress in ecosystems dominated by these species may be small. The strategy of resprouting needs to be modelled explicitly to improve estimates of future climate-change impacts on the carbon cycle, but this will require several important knowledge gaps to be filled before resprouting can be properly implemented.

An ecoclimatic framework for evaluating the resilience of vegetation to water deficit

The surge in global efforts to understand the causes and consequences of drought on forest ecosystems has tended to focus on specific impacts such as mortality. We propose an ecoclimatic framework that takes a broader view of the ecological relevance of water deficits, linking elements of exposure and resilience to cumulative impacts on a range of ecosystem processes. This ecoclimatic framework is underpinned by two hypotheses: (i) exposure to water deficit can be represented probabilistically and used to estimate exposure thresholds across different vegetation types or ecosystems; and (ii) the cumulative impact of a series of water deficit events is defined by attributes governing the resistance and recovery of the affected processes. We present case studies comprising Pinus edulis and Eucalyptus globulus, tree species with contrasting ecological strategies, which demonstrate how links between exposure and resilience can be examined within our proposed framework. These examples reveal how climatic thresholds can be defined along a continuum of vegetation functional responses to water deficit regimes. The strength of this framework lies in identifying climatic thresholds on vegetation function in the absence of more complete mechanistic understanding, thereby guiding the formulation, application and benchmarking of more detailed modelling.

A morphological cline in Eucalyptus: a genetic perspective

The putative hybrid zone between Eucalyptus populnea and E. brownii is examined using morphological and molecular techniques. This species complex displays continuous morphological variation across the study area, which has been previously interpreted as the product of hybridization between allopatric species. A microsatellite analysis indicates that there was little genetic structuring across the morphological cline and only low levels of population differentiation. The nested clade analysis of the JLA+ region of the chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) indicates that the geographical distribution of cpDNA haplotypes is unlikely to be the result of historical hybridization events, and that restricted seed‐mediated gene flow with isolation by distance is responsible for the phylogeographical distribution. A more plausible explanation for the origin and persistence of the morphological cline is that the process of continuous morphological diversification has been promoted by a directional selection gradient. This study addresses species status within Eucalyptus and the belief that hybridization is widespread and is an important process in the groups evolution.