2024-03-29T09:19:38Z
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/cgi/oai2
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:41104
2024-03-04T14:30:55Z
7374617475733D707562
74797065733D61727469636C65
Recovery pathways from small scale disturbance in a temperate Australian seagrass
Smith, Timothy M.
York, Paul H.
Macreadie, Peter I.
Keough, Michael J.
Ross, D. Jeff
Sherman, Craig D.H.
Recovery from disturbance is a key element of ecosystem persistence, and recovery can be influenced by large scale regional differences and smaller local scale variations in environmental conditions. Seagrass beds are an important yet threatened nearshore habitat and recover from disturbance by regrowth, vegetative extension, and dispersive propagules. We described recovery pathways from small-scale disturbances in the seagrass Zostera nigricaulis in Port Phillip Bay, a large embayment in south-eastern Australia and tested whether these pathways differed between five regions with different hydrodynamic conditions and water quality, and between sites within those regions. Recovery pathways were broadly consistent. When above-ground biomass was removed, recovery, defined as the point at which disturbed areas converged with undisturbed controls, took 2 - 8 months, but when we removed above- and below-ground biomass, it took between 2 - 13 months. There was no evidence of recovery from sexual reproduction at any sites regardless of the presence of seeds in the sediment or flower production. We found no regional differences in recovery, but substantial differences between local sites. At some sites rapid recovery occurred because seagrasses grew quickly, but at others, apparent recovery occurred because regrowth coincided with overall declines in cover of undisturbed areas. Recovery time was unrelated to seagrass canopy height, biomass, percentage cover, stem density, seed bank density, epiphyte cover or sediment organic matter in seagrass adjacent to disturbance experiments. This study highlights the importance of understanding fine-scale variation in local recovery mechanisms, which may override or obscure any regional signal.
Inter-Research
2016-01-16
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/41104/1/Smith%20et%20al%202016.pdf
http://dx.doi.org/10.3354/meps11531
Smith, Timothy M., York, Paul H., Macreadie, Peter I., Keough, Michael J., Ross, D. Jeff, and Sherman, Craig D.H. (2016) Recovery pathways from small scale disturbance in a temperate Australian seagrass. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 542. pp. 97-108.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/41104/
open
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:41258
2024-02-29T14:46:23Z
7374617475733D707562
74797065733D61727469636C65
Community perspectives on an internationally funded mangrove restoration project: Kien Giang province, Vietnam
Nguyen, T.P.
Nguyen, Van Tam
Le, Phat Quoi
Parnell, Kevin E.
It is common for environmental restoration projects to be reviewed by the administering organizations but it is much less common for the communities that the projects are meant to serve to detail their experiences and perceptions of the outcomes. We evaluate an internationally funded mangrove restoration project and reflect upon the lessons learned in regard to the project strategies and interventions, particularly from the perspective of the local community.
The Vam Ray coast, Kien Giang Province, Vietnam, was seriously eroded by 2008. In May 2009, a demonstration project was established which achieved a high survival rate of transplanted mangroves and sea mud accumulation. This study used participatory action research methods (literature review, semi-structured interviews, field visits, and peer debriefing) to evaluate the project outcomes. Despite the project being generally very successful, its implementation and results were inadequately documented by agencies involved due in large part to insufficient local involvement during the reporting process, even though the local community was fully involved in the project planning and implementation. Inadequate documentation has led to mistakes being made when attempts have been made to replicate the project elsewhere, and incomplete findings have been incorporated into mangrove management plans at the provincial and regional levels. Using the community knowledge from the time of the project implementation and since, we detail the successes and problems encountered to provide more complete reporting, to assist transferability of the methods to other eroding muddy coasts in Vietnam and potentially elsewhere.
Elsevier
2016-01
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/41258/1/Nguyen%20et%20al%202016.pdf
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2015.10.008
Nguyen, T.P., Nguyen, Van Tam, Le, Phat Quoi, and Parnell, Kevin E. (2016) Community perspectives on an internationally funded mangrove restoration project: Kien Giang province, Vietnam. Ocean & Coastal Management, 119. pp. 146-154.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/41258/
restricted
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:42712
2024-03-02T14:21:51Z
7374617475733D707562
74797065733D61727469636C65
The effect of pre-release captivity on post-release performance in reintroduced eastern bettongs Bettongia gaimardi
Batson, William G.
Gordon, Iain J.
Fletcher, Donald B.
Manning, Adrian D.
Reintroductions are used to re-establish populations of species within their indigenous range, but their outcomes are variable. A key decision when developing a reintroduction strategy is whether to include a temporary period of confinement prior to release. Pre-release confinement is primarily used for the purpose of quarantine or as a delayed-release tactic to influence the performance or behaviour of founders post-release. A common difference between these approaches is that quarantine tends to be conducted in ex situ captivity, whereas delayed releases tend to involve in situ confinement at the release site. Although these practices are commonly viewed independently, it may be possible for a single confinement period to be used for both purposes. We tested whether temporarily holding wild eastern bettongs Bettongia gaimardi in ex situ captivity for 95–345 days prior to release (delayed release) influenced their body mass, pouch occupancy or survival during the first 1.5 years post-release, compared to founders released without confinement (immediate release). Our results suggest that exposing founders to captivity did not alter their body mass or performance post-release, despite being heavier and having fewer pouch young when released. We conclude that, for this species, ex situ captivity does not represent a tactical opportunity to improve post-release performance but can be used for quarantine without affecting the probability of establishment.
Cambridge University Press
2016
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/42712/6/42712%20Batson%20et%20al%202016.pdf
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0030605315000496
Batson, William G., Gordon, Iain J., Fletcher, Donald B., and Manning, Adrian D. (2016) The effect of pre-release captivity on post-release performance in reintroduced eastern bettongs Bettongia gaimardi. Oryx, 50 (4). pp. 664-673.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/42712/
restricted
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:44164
2024-03-03T14:58:23Z
7374617475733D707562
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Sustainable urban stormwater management in the tropics: an evaluation of Singapore's ABC Waters Program
Lim, H.S.
Lu, X.X.
The Active Beautiful Clean (ABC) Waters Program was implemented in 2006 as part of Singapore's stormwater management strategy and reflects the country's move towards Water Sensitive Urbanism through the adoption of Low-Impact Development (LID) ideology and practices. It is the first holistic and comprehensive LID program in the tropics and holds promise for extension to other tropical cities. This paper presents a comprehensive summary of the goals, LID practices (ABC design features) and design considerations as well as results of several monitored sites, including a constructed wetland, two rain gardens, green roofs and three canal restoration projects. We evaluate the ABC Waters Program based on these initial results and consider the challenges, issues and the research needs for it to meet its hydrological and water quality remediation goals. So far, the ABC design features evaluated perform well in removing particulates. Performance in nutrient removal is poor. With over 60 projects completed within 10 years, post-project monitoring and evaluation is necessary and complements on-going laboratory and modelling research projects conducted by local academic institutions.
Elsevier
2016-07
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/44164/1/44164%20Lim%20and%20Lu%202016.pdf
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2016.04.063
Lim, H.S., and Lu, X.X. (2016) Sustainable urban stormwater management in the tropics: an evaluation of Singapore's ABC Waters Program. Journal of Hydrology, 538. pp. 842-862.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/44164/
restricted
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:44682
2024-03-03T14:58:29Z
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Oil spill impacts on mangroves: recommendations for operational planning and action based on a global review
Duke, Norman C.
Mangrove tidal wetland habitats are recognised as highly vulnerable to large and chronic oil spills. This review of current literature and public databases covers the last 6 decades, summarising global data on oil spill incidents affecting, or likely to have affected, mangrove habitat. Over this period, there have been at least 238 notable oil spills along mangrove shorelines worldwide. In total, at least 5.5 million tonnes of oil has been released into mangrove-lined, coastal waters, oiling possibly up to around 1.94 million ha of mangrove habitat, and killing at least 126,000 ha of mangrove vegetation since 1958. However, there were assessment limitations with incomplete and unavailable data, as well as unequal coverage across world regions. To redress the gaps described here in reporting on oil spill impacts on mangroves and their recovery worldwide, a number of recommendations and suggestions are made for refreshing and updating standard operational procedures for responders, managers and researchers alike.
Elsevier
2016-08-30
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/44682/6/44682%20Duke%202016.pdf
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.06.082
Duke, Norman C. (2016) Oil spill impacts on mangroves: recommendations for operational planning and action based on a global review. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 109 (2). pp. 700-715.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/44682/
restricted
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:45549
2024-03-01T15:03:42Z
7374617475733D707562
74797065733D61727469636C65
Mangrove restoration: establishment of a mangrove nursery on acid sulphate soils
Nguyen, T.P.
Tong, V.A.
Quoi, L.P.
Parnell, K.E.
Mangrove restoration requires the cultivation of healthy seedlings and propagules for transplantation. Nurseries established near the restoration sites provide local employment and involvement. Using a participatory action research methodology, this study showed the successful establishment and operation of a mangrove nursery on the landward side of a sea dyke, on acid sulphate soils normally considered unsuitable for mangrove growth. This nursery in Vam Ray area, Kien Giang province, Vietnam produced 37,500 seedlings of five mangrove species, Avicennia marina, Rhizophora apiculata, Bruguiera cylindrica, Sonneratia alba and Nypa fruticans. The seedlings had 100% survival and were available for transplantation within three months, at a reasonable cost. The nursery procedures and techniques were based on local practices and knowledge. The study showed that a successful nursery on acid sulphate soils was achievable. Key differences compared with other mangrove nursery projects were land-based location, use of sea-bed mud to improve acid sulphate soils, use of local resources and locally traded products to minimise cost, reduced waste, local livelihood improvement and planting of multiple individuals per pot for selected species.
Forest Research Institute Malaysia
2016
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/45549/1/45549%20Nguyen%20et%20al%202016.pdf
https://www.jstor.org/stable/43856532?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
Nguyen, T.P., Tong, V.A., Quoi, L.P., and Parnell, K.E. (2016) Mangrove restoration: establishment of a mangrove nursery on acid sulphate soils. Journal of Tropical Forest Science, 28 (3). pp. 275-284.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/45549/
restricted
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:46693
2024-03-02T15:14:16Z
7374617475733D707562
74797065733D61727469636C65
Colonization and shift of mollusc assemblages as a restoration indicator in planted mangroves in the Philippines
Salmo III, Severino G.
Tibbetts, Ian
Duke, Norman C.
We compared the mollusc assemblages of planted mono-specific Rhizophora mangroves of known different ages. As forest age increased, there was a shift in species composition, abundance and biomass of mollusc assemblages for all faunal types (infauna, epifauna and arboreal fauna). This shift was correlated with the changes in vegetation (increasing forest cover and above-ground biomass) and sediment characteristics (increasing organic matter and decreasing sand content). Some species dominate in young plantations (<10 years old; Pirenella cingulata) and in intermediate plantations (10–15 years old; Nerita polita), while other species only occur in mature plantations and natural mangrove stands (>15 years; Terebralia sulcata, Nerita planospira). The two former groups of species are mostly species of infaunal and epifaunal habitats, while the latter group is mainly composed of arboreal species. The shift in mollusc species composition and dominance may serve as a useful indicator of restoration patterns in planted mangroves.
Springer
2017
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/46693/1/46693_Duke_2017.pdf
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10531-016-1276-6
Salmo III, Severino G., Tibbetts, Ian, and Duke, Norman C. (2017) Colonization and shift of mollusc assemblages as a restoration indicator in planted mangroves in the Philippines. Biodiversity and Conservation, 26 (4). pp. 865-881.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/46693/
restricted
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:46717
2024-03-02T14:50:19Z
7374617475733D707562
74797065733D61727469636C65
Incorporating resilience and cost in ecological restoration strategies at landscape scale
Stefanes, Mauricio
Ochoa-Quintero, Jose Manuel
Oliveira Roque, Fabio
Sayuri Moreira, Larissa
Tambosi, Leandro Reverberi
Lourival, Reinaldo
Laurance, Susan
The restoration of deforested or degraded areas can contribute to biodiversity conservation and global resilience given the current and projected impacts of climate change. In recent years, a robust array of ecological restoration frameworks have been generated to address restoration challenges at large scales in different ecosystems around the world. Unfortunately, the costs associated with restoration at such scales greatly challenges the implementation of such frameworks. We used landscape ecology principles with multicriteria optimization of landscape resilience and agricultural productivity as a way to mitigate the trade-offs between production and restoration. We used the Cerrado biome in Mato Grosso do Sul State, Brazil, as a case study to apply our framework. We compared three scenarios: minimal legal compliance (MLC); selection by ecological resilience (SER); and selection by restoration cost (SRC). Our results show that increasing the restoration target from MLC (25%) to SER (30%) means moving from 968,316 to 1592 million hectares, which can represent a huge opportunity cost for agricultural lands. However, because costs and resilience are not homogeneously distributed throughout landscapes, we can select areas of intermediate ecological resilience and low cost, for the same restoration area target. This process can reduce potential conflicts and make restoration a more viable process. Our results also reveal some areas that can be particularly important for reconciling agriculture and landscape restoration. Those areas combined high and intermediate resilience and an above average profitability. This could mean that increasing restoration in this area could be very expensive, assuming that our proxy roughly represents the restoration implementation cost. However, there is another important message here, that some areas can be productive at the same time that they maintain levels of resilience above the legal compliance, which facilitates win-win scenarios in human-dominated landscapes.
Resilience Alliance
2016
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/46717/1/Stefanes%20et%20al%202016%20Ecology%20and%20Society.pdf
https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-08922-210454
Stefanes, Mauricio, Ochoa-Quintero, Jose Manuel, Oliveira Roque, Fabio, Sayuri Moreira, Larissa, Tambosi, Leandro Reverberi, Lourival, Reinaldo, and Laurance, Susan (2016) Incorporating resilience and cost in ecological restoration strategies at landscape scale. Ecology and Society, 21 (4). 54. pp. 1-11.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/46717/
openpub
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:47680
2024-03-02T15:12:30Z
7374617475733D707562
74797065733D61727469636C65
National carbon model not sensitive to species, families and site characteristics in a young tropical reforestation project
Preece, Noel D.
Van Oosterzee, Penny
Hidrobo Unda, Gabriela C.
Lawes, Michael J.
Reforestation and restoration offer critical contributions to addressing climate change and biodiversity decline. Enabling carbon credits to be derived from these activities is important for reforestation, particularly since reforestation does not come cheaply. Australia’s Carbon Farming Initiative is a world-leading policy that allows carbon credits to be obtained by using published methods-based approaches. Here we apply two different approaches to a young mixed species reforestation project in the wet tropics of Queensland, Australia. One approach assesses carbon sequestration from published allometric equations requiring direct field measurements, and the other applies a national carbon accounting model, FullCAM.
Using allometric equations, we found above-ground biomass was influenced significantly by family, species, size class, and the interaction of family and size class. Species in the family Proteaceae out-performed species in other families. Selection of species according to soil nutrient status could enhance growth rates, but if soil nutrients and species responses are not known, then a bet-hedging strategy using mixed species from a variety of families is probably the best option.
For three year old forest plots, FullCAM modelled significantly more carbon mass of trees than published allometric models for mixed tropical forests, suggesting that FullCAM needs adjustment to more accurately reflect species, families, local conditions and small-scale sites.
Current policy settings are at odds with the needs of carbon farmers, considering the importance of forests and landscape restoration in fighting climate change and biodiversity decline. Legislated national methods allowing the development of species-specific allometrics for small mixed plantations do not account for the costs of developing these allometrics, especially in markets that are marginal.
Elsevier
2017
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/47680/1/Preece%20et%20al%202017.pdf
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2017.02.052
Preece, Noel D., Van Oosterzee, Penny, Hidrobo Unda, Gabriela C., and Lawes, Michael J. (2017) National carbon model not sensitive to species, families and site characteristics in a young tropical reforestation project. Forest Ecology and Management, 392. pp. 115-124.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/47680/
restricted
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:47682
2024-03-03T14:57:18Z
7374617475733D707562
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Soil types influence predictions of soil carbon stock recovery in tropical secondary forests
Pandolfo Paz, Claudia
Goosem, Miriam
Bird, Michael
Preece, Noel
Goosem, Steve
Fensham, Rod
Laurance, Susan
Tropical forests are major sinks of terrestrial carbon (C) both above- and below-ground. As a consequence their destruction and degradation is considered the second largest anthropogenic source of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Also contributing to the changing dynamics of the global carbon cycle is the widespread and significant expansion of secondary forest. Secondary forests that colonise abandoned agricultural lands can potentially recover above-ground C stocks to historical levels in a few decades. However, the dynamics of below-ground C stored as soil C stocks are unaccounted for in several tropical regions. Similarly, although parent materials are known to differ in chemical and physical properties, little is known about the relationships of soil C stocks with environmental predictors and whether they interact with soil types during natural forest regeneration. We investigated whether soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks change with secondary forest age in two contrasting soil types (derived from either basalt or granite). Soil and vegetation parameters were analysed to determine the best predictors of SOC stock changes in secondary forests. SOC stocks from 24 secondary forests (up to 69 years since pasture abandonment) were compared with those from active pastures and mature forests. We found that clay-rich soils (originating from basalt parent material) store higher amounts of SOC, although these stocks remain unchanged as secondary forests matured. In contrast, SOC stocks in granite soils tend to be lower in young secondary forests and increase rapidly to levels comparable to mature forests. Moreover, our analysis indicated that soil pH and woody plant diversity are strong candidates as predictors of SOC stock variations, yet it appears this is within the context of soil type. Our results support the contention that models predicting SOC stocks during forest succession should not rely only on secondary forest age. Instead, predictions of SOC stocks can be improved with the inclusion of basic information on vegetation cover and soil type (especially soil texture).
Elsevier
2016
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/47682/1/Paz%20et%20al%202017.pdf
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2016.06.007
Pandolfo Paz, Claudia, Goosem, Miriam, Bird, Michael, Preece, Noel, Goosem, Steve, Fensham, Rod, and Laurance, Susan (2016) Soil types influence predictions of soil carbon stock recovery in tropical secondary forests. Forest Ecology and Management, 376. pp. 74-83.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/47682/
restricted
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:49798
2024-03-02T14:57:51Z
7374617475733D707562
74797065733D61727469636C65
Woody plant richness does not influence invertebrate community reassembly trajectories in a tree diversity experiment
Yeeles, Peter
Lach, Lori
Hobbs, Richard J.
van Wees, Mary
Didham, Raphael K.
Understanding the relationship between plant diversity and diversity at higher trophic levels is important from both conservation and restoration perspectives. Although there is strong evidence for bottom-up maintenance of biodiversity, this is based largely on studies of simplified grassland systems. Recently, studies in the TreeDivNet global network of tree diversity experiments have begun to test whether these findings are generalizable to more complex ecosystems, such as woodlands. We monitored invertebrate community reassembly over 5 yr of experimental woodland restoration at the TreeDivNet Ridgefield site in southwest Australia, testing the effects of woody plant species richness and herb-layer manipulation on invertebrate community structure and ant species composition. From 2010 to 2014, we sampled ground-dwelling invertebrates using pitfall traps in herbicide vs. no-herbicide subplots nested within each of 10 woody plant treatments varying in richness from zero (bare controls) to eight species, which produced a total of 211, 235 invertebrates, including 98, 979 ants belonging to 74 species. In mixed model analyses, the presence of woody plants was an important driver of faunal community reassembly (relative to bare control plots), but faunal responses to woody plant treatment combinations were idiosyncratic and unrelated to woody plant richness across treatments. We also found that a herbicide-induced reduction in herbaceous plant cover and richness had a positive effect on ant richness and caused more rapid convergence of invertebrate community composition toward the composition of a woodland reference site. These findings show that woody plant richness did not have direct positive effects on the diversity and community reassembly trajectories of higher trophic levels in our woodland system. From a management perspective, this suggests that even low-diversity restoration or carbon sequestration plantings can potentially lead to faunal reassembly outcomes that are comparable to more complex re-planting designs.
Ecological Society of America
2017
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/49798/1/Yeeles_et_al-2017-Ecology.pdf
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ecy.1662
Yeeles, Peter, Lach, Lori, Hobbs, Richard J., van Wees, Mary, and Didham, Raphael K. (2017) Woody plant richness does not influence invertebrate community reassembly trajectories in a tree diversity experiment. Ecology, 98 (2). pp. 500-511.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/49798/
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oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:50428
2024-02-27T15:03:19Z
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The role of biochar and biochar-compost in improving soil quality and crop performance: a review
Agegnehu, Getachew
Srivastava, A.K.
Bird, Michael I.
Multiple nutrient deficiencies related to severe soil fertility depletion have emerged as the major constraint to the sustainability of agriculture on a global scale. Use of biocharand biochar-compost mixtures from different alternative organic sources have been proposed as an option for improving soil fertility, restoring degraded land, and mitigating the emissions of greenhouse gasses associated with agriculture. We review the findings of 634 publications in the last decade on biochar and biochar-compost mixtures as soil amendments in order to identify the potential gaps in our understanding of the role of these amendments in agriculture. We found that: i) the majority of published studies have been carried out in developed countries where soils are less impaired in terms of food production capacity than in many developing countries; ii) studies on biochar produced in small kilns are more common than biochars produced at commercial scale in developed countries, whereas biochars produced using traditional techniques are more commonly used than biochars produced in modern pyrolysis units in developing countries; iii) laboratory and greenhouse studies are more common than field studies; and iv) wood and municipal wastes were the major feedstock for the preparation of biochar compared to crop residues and manures. Although, biochar-compost application proved to be more generally effective in improving soil properties and crop yields (field crops and horticulture crops) than biochar alone, along with desired soil properties, could be a feasible alternative to remediate the degraded soils and improve their productivity potential in the long-term. Overall, a lack of long-term, well-designed field studies on the efficacy of biochar and biochar-compost mixtures on different soil types and agro-climatic zones are limiting our current understanding of biochar's potential to enhance crop production and mitigate climate change. We further suggest that greater collaboration between researchers, biochar producers, and policy makers is required to advance the research and uptake of this important technology at a global scale.
Elsevier
2017
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/50428/1/Agegnehu_2017%20compost%20biochar.pdf
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2017.06.008
Agegnehu, Getachew, Srivastava, A.K., and Bird, Michael I. (2017) The role of biochar and biochar-compost in improving soil quality and crop performance: a review. Applied Soil Ecology, 119. pp. 156-170.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/50428/
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oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:50595
2024-02-29T14:34:41Z
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Post-fire plant regeneration across a closed forest-savanna vegetation transition
Araújo, Felipe D.C.
Tng, David Y.P.
Apgaua, Deborah M.G.
Coelho, Polyanne A.
Pereira, Diego G.S.
Santos, Rubens M.
Fire is a major environmental factor influencing vegetation heterogeneity, with closed forest and savanna ecosystems having different management needs due to their different responses to fire disturbance. However, the differences in post-fire vegetation dynamics between these ecosystems have seldom been compared using a uniform set of parameters. Additionally, post-fire dynamics of forest-savanna ecotones is poorly characterized. With the hypothesis that closed forest, savannas and ecotones will exhibit different post-fire responses, we studied the vegetation diversity, structure and dynamics in an upland forest savanna vegetation mosaic in Minas Gerais, Brazil following a fire that occurred in September 2011. In January 2012, we identified, tagged, and measured the basal diameter of all regenerating juvenile tree stems within forty-six 4 m(2) plots in closed forest, savanna and ecotone vegetation, and conducted recensuses in 2013 and 2014. We modelled the relationship between short-term dynamics parameters (recruitment, mortality, basal area loss and gain, and the turnover and net changes in the number of individual stems and basal areas) and vegetation type. Species diversity was higher in closed forests and ecotones than in savanna. Across all vegetation types, stem density decreased and basal area increased. Parameters such as recruitment, net changes in the number of individuals, and the gain, loss and turnover in basal area did not differ across vegetation types. However, stem mortality was higher in closed forest and ecotones combined than in savannas, and the net change in the number of individuals was the lowest in the savanna. Overall, our results support that within a climatically-similar vegetation mosaic, closed forests exhibit different post-fire regeneration dynamics from savanna as expected. Ecotones exhibited post-fire responses and dynamics more similar to closed forests than to savanna, but more studies will be needed to establish if this pattern is applicable to other areas. Understanding the longer-term vegetation dynamics and plant regeneration patterns is a potential next step that will help inform fire management strategies for forest-savanna mosaics.
Elsevier
2017
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/50595/1/50595_Araujo%20et%20al_2017.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2017.05.058
Araújo, Felipe D.C., Tng, David Y.P., Apgaua, Deborah M.G., Coelho, Polyanne A., Pereira, Diego G.S., and Santos, Rubens M. (2017) Post-fire plant regeneration across a closed forest-savanna vegetation transition. Forest Ecology and Management, 400. pp. 77-84.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/50595/
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oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:50769
2024-03-04T14:31:11Z
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Coral propagation: a review of techniques for ornamental trade and reef restoration
Barton, Jonathan A.
Willis, Bette L.
Hutson, Kate S.
Aquaculture of coral offers an alternative to wild harvest for the ornamental trade and shows considerable promise for restoring reefs and preserving biodiversity. Here, we compare advantages and disadvantages of asexually derived fragments versus sexually derived propagules and in situ versus ex situ nursery phases for the ornamental trade and reef restoration. Asexual propagules, sourced from a donor coral colony that is cut into smaller parts and attached to artificial substrate, are most commonly used. The most suitable corals are typically branching species, although fragments from species with other growth forms can be successful, albeit slower growing. Sexually derived propagules are collected from the wild or from colonies in aquaria during spawning, with an artificial substrate provided for settlement. The timing of spawning is known for many broadcast spawning corals, but opportunities for collection of gametes are generally limited to only once or a few times per year. Brooding species with multiple periods of larval release provide better options for culture of sexually derived propagules. Propagation techniques have developed considerably over the past 20 years, yielding faster growth rates, reduced mortality and reduced detachment from substrates. Simple and cost–effective propagation techniques can be used to restore denuded reefs, preserve endangered species, provide live corals to the international ornamental trade, enable livelihood diversification for coastal communities and provide experimental materials for marine research. This review provides a comprehensive synthesis of recent developments in aquaculture propagation techniques for the purpose of ornamental trade and coral reef restoration, including asexual and sexual propagation, nursery and transplantation stages.
Wiley-Blackwell
2017
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/50769/1/50769%20Barton%20et%20al%202017.pdf
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/raq.12135
Barton, Jonathan A., Willis, Bette L., and Hutson, Kate S. (2017) Coral propagation: a review of techniques for ornamental trade and reef restoration. Reviews in Aquaculture, 9 (3). pp. 238-256.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/50769/
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oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:51189
2024-02-29T14:32:21Z
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Nekton communities as indicators of habitat functionality in Philippine mangrove plantations
Salmo, Severino G.
Tibbetts, Ian R.
Duke, Norman C.
In the present study, we investigated the changes to nekton communities with increasing mangrove forest age and relationships between nekton and the mangrove vegetation, mangrove sediments and environmental variables. The nekton community was assessed as a potential indicator for evaluating habitat functionality of mangrove planting programs. In all, 99 species from 52 families were captured, including crabs, shrimp, squid and fish. The crustacean assemblage was dominated by Portunidae and Penaeidae, whereas the fish assemblage was dominated by Atherinidae, Apogonidae, Hemirhamphidae, Tetraodontidae, Congridae, Sphyraenidae, Murraenidae, Ambassidae, Gerreidae, Clupeidae, Platycephalidae, Gobiidae, Mullidae and Plotosidae, with these families accounting for 90% of all individuals collected. The species composition, abundance and biomass of the nekton community were not significantly correlated with mangrove vegetation and sediment variables, but were significantly associated with environmental variables, particularly proximity to reef and tidal inundation. The lack of correlations suggests that the whole nekton assemblage was not a useful indicator in evaluating the progress of restoring habitat functionality in these planted mangroves. However, a significant interaction with mangrove vegetation was found for non-fish components of the nekton. As such, crustaceans, particularly of the Portunidae and Penaeidae families, were useful indicators for determining the habitat functionality of planted mangroves.
CSIRO
2018
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/51189/1/51189%20Salmo%20et%20al%202018.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1071/MF17116
Salmo, Severino G., Tibbetts, Ian R., and Duke, Norman C. (2018) Nekton communities as indicators of habitat functionality in Philippine mangrove plantations. Marine and Freshwater Research, 69 (3). pp. 477-485.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/51189/
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oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:51627
2024-03-01T15:16:16Z
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The need for broader ecological and socioeconomic tools to evaluate the effectiveness of coral restoration programs
Hein, Margaux Y.
Willis, Bette L.
Beeden, Roger
Birtles, Alastair
Coral reef restoration initiatives are burgeoning in response to the need for novel management strategies to address dramatic global declines in coral cover. However, coral restoration programs typically lack rigor and critical evaluation of their effectiveness. A review of 83 peer-reviewed papers that used coral transplantation for reef restoration reveals that growth and survival of coral fragments were the most widely used indicators of restoration success, with 88% of studies using these two indicators either solely (55%) or in combination with a limited number of other ecological factors (33%). In 53% of studies, reef condition was monitored for 1 year or less, while only 5% of reefs were monitored for more than 5 years post-transplantation. These results highlight that coral reef restoration science has focused primarily on short-term experiments to evaluate the feasibility of techniques for ecological restoration and the initial establishment phase post-transplantation, rather than on longer-term outcomes for coral reef communities. Here, we outline 10 socioecological indicators that comprehensively evaluate the effectiveness of coral reef restoration across the four pillars of sustainability (i.e. environmental, sociocultural, governance, and economic contributions to sustainable communities). We recommend that evaluations of the effectiveness of coral restoration programs integrate ecological indicators with sociocultural, economic, and governance considerations. Assessing the efficacy of coral restoration as a tool to support reef resilience will help to guide future efforts and ensure the sustainable maintenance of reef ecosystem goods and services.
Wiley-Blackwell
2017
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/51627/1/51627_Hein%20et%20al_2017.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.12580
Hein, Margaux Y., Willis, Bette L., Beeden, Roger, and Birtles, Alastair (2017) The need for broader ecological and socioeconomic tools to evaluate the effectiveness of coral restoration programs. Restoration Ecology, 25 (6). pp. 873-883.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/51627/
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oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:51673
2024-03-01T14:40:24Z
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Mangrove transplantation in Brebes Regency, Indonesia: lessons and recommendations
Nguyen, Phong Tan
Luom, Thai Thanh
Parnell, Kevin E.
Despite repeated efforts to transplant mangroves to stop coastal erosion, the Brebes coasts were severely eroded between 2010 and 2013. Effective coastal erosion control in Brebes is not possible if the current situation is not adequately addressed and problems not properly identified. This study applied participatory action research methods for critically reviewing current mangrove transplantation projects in Brebes Regency, Indonesia. Mangrove transplantation has had limited success in restoring Brebes eroding coasts. Inefficient nursery operation, the wrong choice of mangrove species, improper transplantation techniques, poor coastal protection, and inadequate ongoing monitoring and evaluation significantly contributed to the limited success. Inadequate monitoring and evaluation meant that few lessons were learnt and the same mistakes continued to be made. Recommendations for production of mangrove seedlings, mangrove transplantation techniques, and monitoring and evaluation are provided to ensure effective mangrove transplantation in the future in Brebes Regency, Indonesia.
Elsevier
2017
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/51673/1/51673_Phong%20et%20al_2017.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2017.09.006
Nguyen, Phong Tan, Luom, Thai Thanh, and Parnell, Kevin E. (2017) Mangrove transplantation in Brebes Regency, Indonesia: lessons and recommendations. Ocean & Coastal Management, 149. pp. 12-21.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/51673/
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oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:52637
2024-02-27T15:18:03Z
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The role of surface charge and pH changes in tropical soils on sorption behaviour of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs)
Oliver, Danielle P.
Li, Yasong
Orr, Ryan
Nelson, Paul
Barnes, Mary
McLaughlin, Michael J.
Kookana, Rai S.
This study investigated the effect of surface charge on the sorption of perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS),
perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS) onto 7 tropical soils as a function of
pH. The net surface charge became less negative with decreasing pH (from 7.5 to 3.5) in all soils. The rate of
change in net surface charge varied from −0.6 to −2.8 (cmol/kg)/pH unit. The effect on sorption behaviour of
PFASs was variable among soils. For two soils, the average sorption increased 54- and 45-fold for PFOS, 33- and 9-fold for PFOA, and 39- and 400-fold for PFHxS, across the pH range 7.5 to 3.5. Sorption in another sandier soil showed negligible change with decreasing pH. Sorption in the other soils did not change significantly until the pH decreased to approximately 5.5. The soils with high contents of sesquioxides (Fe and Al oxides) showed themostmarked increase in sorption with decreasing pH. This study demonstrated that in addition to hydrophobic interactionswith OC and other processes, electrostatic interactions are also important in the sorption process for these chemicals in soils. In acidic, variably charged tropical soils there is the possibility that any PFOS, PFOA or PFHxS sorbed to the soils may become desorbed if management practices (e.g. liming) raised soil pH.
Elsevier
2019
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/52637/1/Oliver2019-STE.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.04.055
Oliver, Danielle P., Li, Yasong, Orr, Ryan, Nelson, Paul, Barnes, Mary, McLaughlin, Michael J., and Kookana, Rai S. (2019) The role of surface charge and pH changes in tropical soils on sorption behaviour of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs). Science of the Total Environment, 673. pp. 197-206.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/52637/
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oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:53966
2024-02-29T14:20:25Z
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Coral larvae are poor swimmers and require fine-scale reef structure to settle
Hata, Tom
Madin, Joshua S.
Cumbo, Vivian R.
Denny, Mark
Figueiredo, Joana
Harii, Saki
Thomas, Christopher J.
Baird, Andrew H.
Reef coral assemblages are highly dynamic and subject to repeated disturbances, which are predicted to increase in response to climate change. Consequently there is an urgent need to improve our understanding of the mechanisms underlying different recovery scenarios. Recent work has demonstrated that reef structural complexity can facilitate coral recovery, but the mechanism remains unclear. Similarly, experiments suggest that coral larvae can distinguish between the water from healthy and degraded reefs, however, whether or not they can use these cues to navigate to healthy reefs is an open question. Here, we use a meta-analytic approach to document that coral larval swimming speeds are orders of magnitude lower than measurements of water flow both on and off reefs. Therefore, the ability of coral larvae to navigate to reefs while in the open-ocean, or to settlement sites while on reefs is extremely limited. We then show experimentally that turbulence generated by fine scale structure is required to deliver larvae to the substratum even in conditions mimicking calm back-reef flow environments. We conclude that structural complexity at a number of scales assists coral recovery by facilitating both the delivery of coral larvae to the substratum and settlement.
Nature Publishing Group
2017
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/53966/1/53966_Hata%20et%20al_2017.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-02402-y
Hata, Tom, Madin, Joshua S., Cumbo, Vivian R., Denny, Mark, Figueiredo, Joana, Harii, Saki, Thomas, Christopher J., and Baird, Andrew H. (2017) Coral larvae are poor swimmers and require fine-scale reef structure to settle. Scientific Reports, 7 (1). 2249.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/53966/
open
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:54342
2024-03-03T14:40:54Z
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Phosphorus dynamics in a tropical forest soil restored after strip mining
Spain, Alister V.
Tibbett, Mark
Ridd, Michael
McLaren, Timothy I.
Background and aims: We hypothesized that successful early ecosystem and soil development in these P-deficient soil materials will initially depend on effective re-establishment of P storage and cycling through organic matter. This hypothesis was tested in a 26-year chronosequence of seven lightly fertilized, oxidic soil materials restored to eucalypt forest communities after bauxite mining.
Methods: Total P (Pt) status, Hedley P fractions and partial chemical speciation (NaOH-EDTA extraction and analysed using solution 31P NMR spectroscopy) were determined in the restored soils.
Results: Concentrations of Pt and most Hedley fractions changed with restoration period, declined with depth and were strongly positively correlated with C and N concentrations. Biological P dominated the Labile and Intermediate P fractions while Long-term P was dominantly inorganic. Organic P concentrations in NaOH-EDTA extracts and their chemical natures were similar in restored and unburned native forest sites. Phosphomonoesters were the dominant class of organic P.
Conclusions: Surprisingly rapid P accretion and fractional changes occurred over 26 years, largely in the surface soils and closely associated with organic matter status. Alkaline hydrolysis products of phosphodiesters and pyrophosphate indicated the importance of microbial P cycling. The important consequences for long-term ecosystem development and biological diversity require further study.
Springer
2018
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/54342/1/54342_Spain_et_al_2018.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-018-3668-8
Spain, Alister V., Tibbett, Mark, Ridd, Michael, and McLaren, Timothy I. (2018) Phosphorus dynamics in a tropical forest soil restored after strip mining. Plant and Soil, 427 (1-2). pp. 105-123.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/54342/
open
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:56855
2024-03-01T14:45:57Z
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Melaleuca entrapping microsites as a nature based solution to coastal erosion: A pilot study in Kien Giang, Vietna
Nguyen, Phong Tan
Accumulation of fine grained sediment and natural regeneration of mangrove species are normally prioritized to control erosion on mangrove dominated muddy coasts. Current solutions to manage eroded mangrove dominated muddy coasts have been not as cost-effective as expected. Entrapping microsites, although mainly used for restoring eroded terrestrial resources, were first tested for restoring an eroded mangrove dominated muddy coast of Vam Ray, Hon Dat, Kien Giang, Vietnam. Entrapping microsites, constructed with a 50cm layer of discarded Melaleuca small sticks that were overlain on the surface of the site, accumulated a high level of fine grained sediment and promoted robust natural regeneration or regrowth of local mangrove species after approximately two years. The effectiveness and efficiency of the VamRay Melaleuca entrapping microsites provide a good basis on which further research and ground works can proceed
Elsevier
2018
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/56855/1/9%20-%20Melaleuca%20entrapping%20microsites%20%20as%20a%20nature%20based%20solution.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2018.02.005
Nguyen, Phong Tan (2018) Melaleuca entrapping microsites as a nature based solution to coastal erosion: A pilot study in Kien Giang, Vietna. Ocean & Coastal Management, 155. pp. 98-103.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/56855/
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oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:57963
2024-02-29T15:09:44Z
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Distinct characteristics of canopy gaps in the subtropical mangroves of Moreton Bay, Australia
Amir, A. Aldrie
Duke, Norman C.
Mangroves often form extensive closed forests characterised by the occurrence of canopy gaps consisting of a group of standing dead trees. This article describes the physical characteristics, micro-environmental changes and the regrowth pattern of the naturally created unique circular canopy gaps in the subtropical Avicennia marina mangroves of Moreton Bay, Southeast Queensland, Australia. A survey on 52 canopy gaps was carried out to quantify the size and shape of canopy openings. We found that gap size ranged from a minimum area of 27 m2 to a maximum area of 474 m2 with an average (±standard deviation) of 134 ± 102 m2. All of the gaps surveyed were circular in shape with the eccentricity of length and width between 0.7 and 1.3. Once a canopy gap is created, the forest physical and biological processes are altered compared with the surrounding forest, such as in an increase in the potential photosynthetic active radiation (PPAR) and canopy openness, and a decrease in leaf area index (LAI). We found that canopy openings also had a significant effect on sediment pore water temperature but not on salinity and pH. The sudden increase in the amount of light following canopy opening stimulated rapid growth of seedlings which were available for the opportunity to take the place of the dead trees. Gap Closure Index (GCI) is introduced to illustrate surveyed gaps in the context of vertical growth of seedlings to fill up gap space to reach the site maximal canopy height, thus demonstrating the phases of gap dynamics in the natural regeneration of the subtropical monospecific mangrove forest.
Elsevier
2019
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/57963/1/2019_AldrieDuke.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2019.04.007
Amir, A. Aldrie, and Duke, Norman C. (2019) Distinct characteristics of canopy gaps in the subtropical mangroves of Moreton Bay, Australia. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 222. pp. 66-80.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/57963/
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oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:59078
2024-02-27T15:18:15Z
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Optimizing return‐on‐effort for coral nursery and outplanting practices to aid restoration of the Great Barrier Reef
Suggett, David J.
Camp, Emma F.
Edmondson, John
Boström‐Einarsson, Lisa
Ramler, Vanessa
Lohr, Kathryn
Patterson, Joshua T.
Coral nursery and outplanting practices have grown in popularity worldwide for targeted restoration of degraded “high value” reef sites, and recovery of threatened taxa. Success of these practices is commonly gauged from coral propagule growth and survival, which fundamentally determines the return‐on‐effort (RRE) critical to the cost‐effectiveness and viability of restoration programs. In many cases, RRE has been optimized from past successes and failures, which therefore presents a major challenge for locations such as the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) where no local history of restoration exists to guide best practice. In establishing the first multi‐taxa coral nursery on the GBR (Opal Reef, February 2018), we constructed a novel scoring criterion from concurrent measurements of growth and survivorship to guide our relative RRE, including nursery propagule numbers (stock density). We initially retrieved RRE scores from a database of global restoration efforts to date (n = 246; 52 studies) to evaluate whether and how success commonly varied among coral taxa. We then retrieved RRE scores for Opal Reef using initial growth and survivorship data for six key coral taxa, to demonstrate that RRE scores were high for all taxa predominantly via high survivorship over winter. Repeated RRE scoring in summer is therefore needed to capture the full dynamic range of success where seasonal factors regulating growth versus survivorship differ. We discuss how RRE scoring can be easily adopted across restoration practices globally to standardize and benchmark success, but also as a tool to aid decision‐making in optimizing future propagation (and outplanting) efforts.
Wiley-Blackwell
2019
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/59078/1/59078.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.12916
Suggett, David J., Camp, Emma F., Edmondson, John, Boström‐Einarsson, Lisa, Ramler, Vanessa, Lohr, Kathryn, and Patterson, Joshua T. (2019) Optimizing return‐on‐effort for coral nursery and outplanting practices to aid restoration of the Great Barrier Reef. Restoration Ecology, 27 (3). pp. 683-693.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/59078/
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oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:59080
2024-03-05T14:27:33Z
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Motivations, success, and cost of coral reef restoration
Bayraktarov, Elisa
Stewart-Sinclair, Phoebe J.
Brisbane, Shantala
Boström‐Einarsson, Lisa
Saunders, Megan I.
Lovelock, Catherine E.
Possingham, Hugh P.
Mumby, Peter J.
Wilson, Kerrie A.
Coral reef restoration is an increasingly important part of tropical marine conservation. Information about what motivatescoral reef restoration as well as its success and cost is not well understood but is needed to inform restoration decisions. Wesystematically review and synthesize data from mostly scientific studies published in peer-reviewed and gray literature onthe motivations for coral reef restoration, the variables measured, outcomes reported, the cost per hectare of the restorationproject, the survival of restored corals, the duration of the project, and its overall spatial extent depending on the restorationtechnique employed. The main motivation to restore coral reefs for the projects assessed was to further our ecologicalknowledge and improve restoration techniques, with coral growth, productivity, and survival being the main variablesmeasured. The median project cost was 400,000 US$/ha (2010 US$), ranging from 6,000 US$/ha for the nursery phase ofcoral gardening to 4,000,000 US$/ha for substrate addition to build an artificial reef. Restoration projects were mostly of shortduration (1–2 years) and over small spatial extents (0.01 ha or 108 m2). Median reported survival of restored corals was 60.9%.Future research to survey practitioners who do not publish their discoveries would complement this work. Our findings anddatabase provide critical data to inform future research in coral reef restoration.
Wiley-Blackwell
2019
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/59080/1/Motivations%2C%20succeess%20and%20cost%20of%20coral%20reef%20restoration.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.12977
Bayraktarov, Elisa, Stewart-Sinclair, Phoebe J., Brisbane, Shantala, Boström‐Einarsson, Lisa, Saunders, Megan I., Lovelock, Catherine E., Possingham, Hugh P., Mumby, Peter J., and Wilson, Kerrie A. (2019) Motivations, success, and cost of coral reef restoration. Restoration Ecology, 27 (5). pp. 981-991.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/59080/
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oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:60285
2024-02-29T14:39:18Z
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Identifying restoration priorities for wetlands based on historical distributions of biodiversity features and restoration suitability
Qu, Yi
Sun, Gongqi
Luo, Chunyu
Zeng, Xingyu
Zhang, Hongqiang
Murray, Nicholas
Xu, Nan
Wetland restoration is a major objective of environmental management worldwide. We present a frameworkat the regional level that prioritizes historical biodiversity and restoration suitability. The goal of the framework is to maximize biodiversity gains from restoration while minimizing the cost. We used C-Plan, a prioritization tool for systematic conservation planning (SCP), to balance the biodiversity gains withthe costs of restoration, or restoration suitability. We overlaid historical spatial data from 1995 to estimate historical distributions of 91 biodiversity features. These features were used to conduct an irreplaceability analysis to assess the restoration value of historical biodiversity. We then modelled restoration suitability based on environmental data of six criteria. Finally, we applied a complementarity analysis to achieve the quantitative targets of all biodiversity features while minimizing the cost of restoration. We tested this framework in the highly degraded wetlands ofSanjiang Plain, China. By applying our framework to Sanjiang Plain, we successfully identified areas with both high restoration value and high restoration suitability. The area of this cost-effective plan was an extension of 4620 km2, covering 80% of the disappearing wetlands and 4% of the total Sanjiang Plain. Compared to the restoration value-only plan, which had an extension of 4486 km2, the cost-effective plan covered a little more area to achievethe targets forall biodiversity features but with lower implementation costs where the proportion of high restoration suitability increases from 43% to 50%.Our prioritization framework can be used to analyse regional restoration efforts in other regions and ecosystems, and inform planners on how to maximize biodiversity gains while minimizing costs.
Elsevier
2019
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/60285/1/60285_Qu_et_al_2019.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.10.057
Qu, Yi, Sun, Gongqi, Luo, Chunyu, Zeng, Xingyu, Zhang, Hongqiang, Murray, Nicholas, and Xu, Nan (2019) Identifying restoration priorities for wetlands based on historical distributions of biodiversity features and restoration suitability. Journal of Environmental Management, 231. pp. 1222-1231.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/60285/
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oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:61307
2024-02-28T14:17:02Z
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The forest transformation: planted tree cover and regional dynamics of tree gains and losses
Sloan, Sean
Meyfroidt, Patrick
Rudel, Thomas K.
Bongers, Frans
Chazdon, Robin
Extensions of forest-transition theory to the tropics often depict sustained expansions of planted tree cover and corresponding long-term net gains in total tree cover. To explore the patterns and implications of continued tropical planted tree-cover expansion, we profiled sequences of tree-cover change over 1990-2010 according to Landsat imagery for recently observed (ca. 2014) planted tree-cover areas in 11 tropical countries. Alternative patterns of change emerged from these analyses. Termed the 'reforestation treadmill' and 'forest transformation' narratives, planted tree-cover change featured relatively ephemeral planted covers, modest net gains, and similar tree-cover change dynamics compared to nearby agricultural-forest mosaics. Planted areas were characterised not by unambiguous reforestation but rather combinations of tree-cover losses and gains, with losses typically being more prominent. Contemporary gains and losses during 5-10-year periods regularly distinguished planted areas from non-planted areas, with losses being 1.5-2.3 times more common than gains. Planted areas were only moderately distinguishable from non-planted areas overall with respect to tree-cover change dynamics. Relationships between tree-cover change and the export orientations of planted tree/tree-crop commodities were also examined. Greater export orientations did not significantly associate with tree-cover loss or larger planted patches, with partial exceptions for Southeast Asia. Regional disparities in planted tree-cover dynamics were apparent. In Southeast Asia, dominated by Indonesia, tree-cover declines in planted areas since 1990 were relatively pronounced (20% of planted areas), particularly with respect to progressive transitions from tree cover to cleared lands. Planted areas there were generally indistinguishable from nearby non-planted areas with respect to historical tree-cover change dynamics. In contrast, in South America, dominated by Brazil, tree-cover increases in planted areas since 1990 were more appreciable (at least 14% of planted areas), with most being progressive, stable, 'net' increases (10% of planted areas) and the remainder being dynamic increases entailing short-term losses since 1990 (4% of planted areas). Total tree-cover increases within South American planted areas were equal to or greater than total decreases since 1990. These patterns suggest a forest-transformation narrative in which major planted-area expansion occurs alongside minor net tree-cover change. This narrative appears particularly well suited to Southeast Asia, where planted areas are extensive and expansive but where net tree cover gains are tenuous, reflecting political-economic shifts in forest management and the devaluation of extensive, degraded natural forests.
Elsevier Ltd
2019
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/61307/1/61307.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2019.101988
Sloan, Sean, Meyfroidt, Patrick, Rudel, Thomas K., Bongers, Frans, and Chazdon, Robin (2019) The forest transformation: planted tree cover and regional dynamics of tree gains and losses. Global Environmental Change, 59. 101988.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/61307/
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oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:61962
2024-03-04T14:26:40Z
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Detachment of Porites cylindrica nubbins by herbivorous fishes
Quimpo, Timothy J.R.
Cabaitan, Patrick C.
Hoey, Andrew S.
A form of active restoration for coral assemblages involves culturing coral nubbins at nursery sites before transplantation to recipient reefs. Incidental grazing and/or directed predation by local fish assemblages are major sources of dislodgement and mortality for coral nubbins in nurseries. However, the rate of coral nubbin detachment, how this varies across fish taxa, and whether nubbin size affects rates of detachment warrant further investigation. We used field and aquaria experiments to examine the effect of incidental grazing and predation on the detachment of Porites cylindrica nubbins of different sizes (0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 cm height). Short-term (6 hours) exposure of nubbins to local fish assemblages at Lucero Reef, northwestern Philippines, caused higher detachment (1.93% ± 0.53 SE) compared to caged controls (0.16% ± 0.16 SE), with no detectable effect of nubbin size. To identify the impact of individual fish species, nubbins were exposed to one of four locally abundant herbivorous and corallivorous fish species in aquaria for 8 hours. Nubbin detachment was greater when exposed to Chlorurus spilurus (1.20–36.2%) and Siganus fuscescens (0.00–15.0%) than Chaetodon lunulatus (0.00–4.00%) and Chaetodon kleinii (0.00–1.20%), with the smallest nubbins (0.5 cm) being the most vulnerable. Our results suggest that incidental grazing by herbivorous fishes, especially parrotfishes, may potentially be an important source of detachment and likely mortality of nubbins. Optimizing coral nursery protocols should consider potential trade-offs between excluding grazing fishes and the accumulation of algal material on caging structures to minimize nubbin mortality and improve coral restoration success.
Wiley-Blackwell
2020
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/61962/2/61962.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.13091
Quimpo, Timothy J.R., Cabaitan, Patrick C., and Hoey, Andrew S. (2020) Detachment of Porites cylindrica nubbins by herbivorous fishes. Restoration Ecology, 28 (2). pp. 418-426.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/61962/
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oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:62393
2024-03-04T15:20:10Z
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Ecological restoration in Brazilian biomes: Identifying advances and gaps
Guerra, Angelica
Reis, Leticia Koutchin
Gomes Borges, Felipe Luis
Alves Ojeda, Paula Thais
Manrique Pineda, Daniel Armando
Miranda, Camila Olivera
Furtado de Lima Maidana, Debora Porfiria
Rocha dos Santos, Thiago Mateus
Shibuya, Patricia Sayuri
Marques, Marcia C.M.
Laurance, Susan G.W.
Garcia, Leticia Couto
The Bonn challenge aims at the restoration of 350 million hectares of degraded ladscapes by 2030. In Brazil, the restoration goal for 2030 is 12 million hectares. Despite the great demand for ecological restoration across the whole of Brazil, there have been no analyses of the studies carried out in different biomes. In addition, conservation efforts must cover all biomes, so that different regions can take advantage of the many benefits of restoration. Our aim was to identify advances and gaps in current restoration knowledge in order to guide future efforts in Brazil. Our bibliometric survey in the Web of Science using 23 keywords related to restoration generated a total of 530 papers, of which 291 were included in the analysis. The papers were published in 121 scientific journals between 1988 and 2018, with the largest number of papers in 2016. The Atlantic Forest was the biome with the highest number of studies, as it is one of the most threatened tropical forest regions in the world and maintains the largest number of research institutions and receives the highest level of funding support in the country. Regarding the types of studies, temporal monitoring was more frequent in the Amazon, Cerrado, Castings, and Pampa, while the monitoring at one point in time was more frequent in the Atlantic Forest. From the studies examined, 31% used a reference area for comparing restoration success. The most studied organisms were plants (81%), and among them, trees were the most frequent, followed by fungi, birds, invertebrates, mammals, and reptiles. The pre-restoration degradation differed among biomes, with deforestation for logging the most cited in the Amazon, agriculture, and livestock in the Atlantic Forest and Cerrado, logging and cattle ranching in Caatinga, and livestock in the Pampa and Pantanal. In general, active/assisted natural succession was the most frequent restoration process: planting seedlings more readily occurred in the Amazon, Atlantic Forest, and Caatinga, whereas natural regeneration in the Cerrado and Pantanal and sowing in Pampa. The studies varied among the age of restoration ( > 1 to 67 years for active restoration and > 1 to 120 years for passive/unassisted natural succession), and the number of species planted (1 to 121 species). We identified an important regional knowledge gap for the Pantanal, Caatinga, and Pampa, as well as the need to include reference areas, evaluate different restoration techniques (besides planting seedlings), and the inclusion of other taxa and life forms in biodiversity studies apart from trees. We also identified the need to expand research to assess landscape metrics, prioritization, legislation, and public policies.
Elsevier
2020
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/62393/1/Guerre%20et%20al%202020%20Ecological%20Restoration%20in%20Brazil%20FEM.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2019.117802
Guerra, Angelica, Reis, Leticia Koutchin, Gomes Borges, Felipe Luis, Alves Ojeda, Paula Thais, Manrique Pineda, Daniel Armando, Miranda, Camila Olivera, Furtado de Lima Maidana, Debora Porfiria, Rocha dos Santos, Thiago Mateus, Shibuya, Patricia Sayuri, Marques, Marcia C.M., Laurance, Susan G.W., and Garcia, Leticia Couto (2020) Ecological restoration in Brazilian biomes: Identifying advances and gaps. Forest Ecology and Management, 458. 117802.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/62393/
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oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:63492
2024-03-02T15:03:37Z
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Seagrass habitat in Tarawa Lagoon, Kiribati: service benefits and links to national priority issues
Brodie, G.
Brodie, J.
Maata, M.
Peter, M.
Otiawa, T.
Devlin, M.J.
This paper presents a review around seagrass habitat in Tarawa Lagoon, Kiribati and explores the links between seagrass occurrence and the national priority issues of climate change, urban development, human health, nearshore fisheries, threatened species, ocean policy, research capacity and awareness. The contribution of healthy seagrass habitats to many aspects of these national issues is often overlooked and there is need to establish the knowledge gaps and priority actions that can enable mitigation of issues that impact on valuable seagrass resources and their management. Research data on seagrass habitats in Kiribati, and the wider Pacific Island region, is limited and this hinders informed decisions at local, national and regional levels. We present a comprehensive review on seagrass within a national context to aid prioritisation and uptake of information for resource owners, and wider stakeholders, in Kiribati while acknowledging local expertise. The paper highlights data and knowledge gaps that if addressed, will provide information useful to Kiribati nationals, communities and government stakeholders. Recommendations for actions that fill these gaps and build understanding of seagrass resources in Kiribati are provided.
Elsevier
2020
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/63492/1/Devlin%20et%20al%202020%20Baseline%20assessment%20of%20coastal%20water%20quality%20in%20Vanuatu.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111099
Brodie, G., Brodie, J., Maata, M., Peter, M., Otiawa, T., and Devlin, M.J. (2020) Seagrass habitat in Tarawa Lagoon, Kiribati: service benefits and links to national priority issues. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 155. 111099.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/63492/
open
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:64356
2024-03-02T14:54:57Z
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74797065733D61727469636C65
Restoring fish habitat values on a tropical agricultural floodplain: learning from two decades of aquatic invasive plant maintenance efforts
Waltham, Nathan J.
Coleman, Laura
Buelow, Christina
Fry, Scott
Burrows, Damien
Coastal managers are increasingly challenged with implementing expensive restoration and on-going maintenance programs to reinstate the services and values of floodplains as important fish nursery areas, but access to long-term data to assist with supporting success is lacking. An environmental levy (funded by farmers, Burdekin Shire Council, a local Natural Resource Management group, and Lower Burdekin Water Board) was enacted in 2003 to fund (approximately $20,000/yr AUD) an ongoing aquatic weed removal program (consisting of an aquatic plant weed harvester that removes floating vegetation to a nearby truck for composting in conjunction with boat weed spraying) designed to maintain the delivery of irrigation water as well as promoting productive fish habitat. We repeated a fish and water quality survey first performed in 2001/2002 (September 2017, May 2018) at 10 lagoons (three clear and seven turbid) on the Burdekin floodplain (north Queensland, Australia) to examine whether these maintenance efforts continue delivering the initial values set nearly 20 years ago. A total of 2267 fish from 24 species were caught, May 2018 (post-wet season) survey yielded more fish (24 species) than the September 2017 (late dry season) survey (19 species) which is close to the results of the 2001/02 survey (post-wet season, 17 species; late dry season, 16 species). A Hydrolab (September 2017) revealed that turbid and clear water lagoons had a similar rhythmic diel temperature cycle that posed no thermal risks to fish. Dissolved oxygen had distinct diel periodicity, with clear lagoons having the widest range, reaching established critical minimum thresholds for some floodplain fish, while turbid lagoons were generally less variable (presumably due to less oxygen demand from biological activity). While as long as sugarcane production occurs, excessive nutrients will necessitate continuance of the aquatic weed program; therefore, the funding model in place must remain. This study advocates the need for long-term maintenance programs facilitated by long-term partnerships, and serves as an exemplar model for managers looking to restore coastal floodplains but are challenged with persistent aquatic weed management issues, not only in Australia but also on floodplains elsewhere.
Elsevier
2020
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/64356/1/64356.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2020.105355
Waltham, Nathan J., Coleman, Laura, Buelow, Christina, Fry, Scott, and Burrows, Damien (2020) Restoring fish habitat values on a tropical agricultural floodplain: learning from two decades of aquatic invasive plant maintenance efforts. Ocean and Coastal Management, 198. 105355.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/64356/
restricted
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:64539
2024-02-28T14:43:46Z
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Seagrass restoration is possible: insights and lessons from Australia and New Zealand
Tan, Yi Mei
Dalby, Oliver
Kendrick, Gary A.
Statton, John
Sinclair, Elizabeth A.
Fraser, Matthew W.
Macreadie, Peter I.
Gillies, Chris L.
Coleman, Rhys
Waycott, Michelle
van Dijk, Kor-Jent
Vergés, Adriana
Ross, Jeff D.
Campbell, Marnie L.
Matheson, Fleur E.
Jackson, Emma L.
Irving, Andrew D.
Govers, Laura
Connolly, Rod M.
McLeod, Ian M.
Rasheed, Michael A.
Kirkman, Hugh
Flindt, Morgens R.
Lange, Troels
Miller, Adam D,
Sherman, Craig D.H.
Seagrasses are important marine ecosystems situated throughout the world's coastlines. They are facing declines around the world due to global and local threats such as rising ocean temperatures, coastal development and pollution from sewage outfalls and agriculture. Efforts have been made to reduce seagrass loss through reducing local and regional stressors, and through active restoration. Seagrass restoration is a rapidly maturing discipline, but improved restoration practices are needed to enhance the success of future programs. Major gaps in knowledge remain, however, prior research efforts have provided valuable insights into factors influencing the outcomes of restoration and there are now several examples of successful large-scale restoration programs. A variety of tools and techniques have recently been developed that will improve the efficiency, cost effectiveness, and scalability of restoration programs. This review describes several restoration successes in Australia and New Zealand, with a focus on emerging techniques for restoration, key considerations for future programs, and highlights the benefits of increased collaboration, Traditional Owner (First Nation) and stakeholder engagement. Combined, these lessons and emerging approaches show that seagrass restoration is possible, and efforts should be directed at upscaling seagrass restoration into the future. This is critical for the future conservation of this important ecosystem and the ecological and coastal communities they support.
Frontiers Research Foundation
2020
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/64539/1/64539_Tan_et_al_2020.pdf
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2020.00617
Tan, Yi Mei, Dalby, Oliver, Kendrick, Gary A., Statton, John, Sinclair, Elizabeth A., Fraser, Matthew W., Macreadie, Peter I., Gillies, Chris L., Coleman, Rhys, Waycott, Michelle, van Dijk, Kor-Jent, Vergés, Adriana, Ross, Jeff D., Campbell, Marnie L., Matheson, Fleur E., Jackson, Emma L., Irving, Andrew D., Govers, Laura, Connolly, Rod M., McLeod, Ian M., Rasheed, Michael A., Kirkman, Hugh, Flindt, Morgens R., Lange, Troels, Miller, Adam D,, and Sherman, Craig D.H. (2020) Seagrass restoration is possible: insights and lessons from Australia and New Zealand. Frontiers in Marine Science, 7. 617.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/64539/
open
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:64814
2024-03-05T14:43:48Z
7374617475733D707562
74797065733D61727469636C65
Blue restoration - building confidence and overcoming barriers
Stewart-Sinclair, Phoebe J.
Purandare, Jemma
Bayraktarov, Elisa
Waltham, Nathan
Reeves, Simon
Statton, John
Sinclair, Elizabeth A.
Brown, Benjamin M.
Shribman, Zoë I.
Lovelock, Catherine E.
Marine coastal (or “blue”) ecosystems provide valuable services to humanity and the environment, but global loss and degradation of blue ecosystems necessitates ecological restoration. However, blue restoration is an emerging field and is still relatively experimental and small-scale. Identification of the key barriers to scaling-up blue restoration will enable targeted problem solving and increase the likelihood of success. Here we describe the environmental, technical, social, economic, and political barriers to restoration of blue ecosystems, including saltmarsh, mangroves, seagrass, shellfish reefs, coral reefs, and kelp forests. We provide managers, practitioners, and decision-makers with solutions to construct barrier-informed blue restoration plans and illustrate these solutions through the use of case studies where barriers were overcome. We offer a way forward to build confidence in blue restoration for society, government, and restoration practitioners at larger and more ambitious scales.
Frontiers Research Foundation
2020
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/64814/1/Stewart-Sinclair%20et%20al%20Frontiers%20Mar%20Sci%202020%20Blue%20restoration%20barriers.pdf
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2020.541700
Stewart-Sinclair, Phoebe J., Purandare, Jemma, Bayraktarov, Elisa, Waltham, Nathan, Reeves, Simon, Statton, John, Sinclair, Elizabeth A., Brown, Benjamin M., Shribman, Zoë I., and Lovelock, Catherine E. (2020) Blue restoration - building confidence and overcoming barriers. Frontiers in Marine Science, 7. 541700.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/64814/
open
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:66188
2024-03-03T14:35:02Z
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Resilience of a native soil seed bank in a floodplain lake subjected to cropping, grazing and extended drought
Kelleway, Jeffrey J.
Iles, Jordan A.
Kobayashi, Tsuyoshi
Ling, Joanne
Ephemeral floodplain lakes are an integral component of inland wetland ecosystems and experience highly variable hydrology and prolonged dry periods. Although wetland soil seed banks are highly resilient to drought and floods, anthropogenic land use may add an additional stress. Understanding the recovery potential of wetland soil seed banks to different historical land uses helps manage and prioritise environmental water. In this study we explored the resilience of the wetland plant community in an ephemeral floodplain lake (Ita Lake, NSW, Australia). We collected soil samples during an extended dry phase (10 years) from two distinct zones within the lake, one of which was subjected to historical grazing and the other to lakebed ploughing and cropping. The samples were inundated under multiple inundation regimes to assess soil seed bank response. We found that the soil seed bank was viable, indicating a level of resilience not previously recorded for some plant species, namely Ricciocarpus natans, Chara spp., Nitella spp., Alternanthera denticulata and Eleocharis acuta. Although the results highlight the resilience of ephemeral wetland plant communities, intensive land uses such as ploughing and cropping will limit the availability of seeds to germinate, and the inundation regime will influence species composition and the subsequent likelihood of restoration.
CSIRO
2021
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/66188/1/MF19386
https://doi.org/10.1071/MF19386
Kelleway, Jeffrey J., Iles, Jordan A., Kobayashi, Tsuyoshi, and Ling, Joanne (2021) Resilience of a native soil seed bank in a floodplain lake subjected to cropping, grazing and extended drought. Marine and Freshwater Research, 72 (6). pp. 787-799.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/66188/
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oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:66268
2024-03-05T14:50:38Z
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Rehabilitation effects on gully sediment yields and vegetation in a savanna rangeland
Koci, Jack
Wilkinson, Scott N.
Hawdon, Aaron A.
Kinsey-henderson, Anne E.
Bartley, Rebecca
Goodwin, Nicholas R.
Gully rehabilitation can contribute to catchment management by stabilising erosion and reducing downstream sediment yields, yet the globally observed responses are variable. Developing the technical basis for gully rehabilitation and establishing guidelines for application requires studies that evaluate individual rehabilitation measures in specific environments. An eight-year field experiment was undertaken to evaluate sediment yield and vegetation responses to several gully rehabilitation measures. The rehabilitation measures aimed to reduce surface runoff into gully head cuts, trap sediment on gully floors and increase vegetation cover on gully walls and floors. The study occurred in a savanna rangeland in northeast Australia. Two gullies were subject to treatments while four gullies were monitored as untreated controls. A runoff diversion structure reduced headcut erosion from 4.3 to 1.2 m2 y-1. Small porous check dams and cattle exclusion reduced gully total sediment yields by more than 80 percent, equivalent to a reduction of 0.3–2.4 t ha-1 y-1, but only at catchment areas less than 10 ha. Fine sediment yields (silt and clay) were reduced by 7 and 19 percent from the two treated gullies, respectively. The porous check dam deposits contained a lower percentage of the fine fraction than the parent soil. Significant regeneration of gully floor vegetation occurred, associated with trapping of organic litter and fine sediment. Increases in vegetation cover and biomass were comprised of native perennial grasses, trees and shrubs. In variable climates, long-term gully rehabilitation will progress during wetter periods, and regress during droughts. Understanding linkages between rehabilitation measures, their hydrologic, hydraulic and vegetation effects and gully sediment yields is important to defining the conditions for their success.
John Wiley & Sons
2021
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/66268/1/66268_Koci_et_al_2021.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.5076
Koci, Jack, Wilkinson, Scott N., Hawdon, Aaron A., Kinsey-henderson, Anne E., Bartley, Rebecca, and Goodwin, Nicholas R. (2021) Rehabilitation effects on gully sediment yields and vegetation in a savanna rangeland. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 46 (5). pp. 1007-1025.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/66268/
restricted
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:66624
2024-02-29T14:37:46Z
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Holocene palaeohydrology of the East Alligator River, for application to mine site rehabilitation, Northern Australia
Saynor, Mike
Wasson, Robert
Erskine, Wayne
Lam, Daryl
As a contribution to the estimation of extreme floods and rainfall, palaeofloods in the East Alligator River in tropical Australia were examined to derive estimates of palaeodischarges and their frequency. Nine extreme floods have occurred over 8400 years in a non-stationary series, the youngest five of which are stationary, and the youngest three of which occurred during wet periods produced by variations of the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) modulated by the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). The magnitudes of these floods are similar, with one possible exception (in 2007 CE). The extreme floods in the region lie close to, or above, the Australian flood envelope curve showing that floods larger than the expected are possible. Their magnitudes also approximate the Probable Maximum Flood (PMF) but with a much higher frequency than expected. The annual exceedance probability (AEP) of the palaeofloods is 0.3%, which may also be the AEP for the rainfall. These results will be used as input to the design of an artificial landform at the Ranger uranium mine, within the East Alligator catchment, that has to last for 10,000 years. The 2007 CE flood was probably the most extreme flood (and associated rainfall) likely to occur in the vicinity of Ranger under the current climate and will occur in the future along with climate change. Because of the uncertainties associated with projections of future extremes the best design rainfall AEP for the Ranger landform is 0.3%.
Elsevier
2020
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/66624/1/1-s2.0-S027737912030514X-main.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106552
Saynor, Mike, Wasson, Robert, Erskine, Wayne, and Lam, Daryl (2020) Holocene palaeohydrology of the East Alligator River, for application to mine site rehabilitation, Northern Australia. Quaternary Science Reviews, 249. 106552.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/66624/
restricted
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:66657
2024-02-29T14:38:01Z
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Restoration potential of Asian oysters on heavily developed coastlines
Lau, Sally C.Y.
Thomas, Marine
Hancock, Boze
Russell, Bayden D.
Reef-building oysters historically provided the main structural and ecological component of temperate and subtropical coastal waters globally. While the loss of oyster reefs is documented in most regions globally, assessments of the status of Asian oyster reefs are limited. The feasibility of restoration within the regional biological and societal contexts needs to be assessed before implementation. Here, we quantified the current distribution of natural oyster reefs (Crassostrea spp.) in the shallow coastal waters of Hong Kong, assessed the biological feasibility of reestablishing reefs using natural recruitment, and examined their current and potential water filtration capacity as a key ecosystem service provided by restoration. We found natural low-relief oyster beds in the low intertidal coastal areas at a subset of the locations surveyed. These areas are, however, degraded and have sparse densities of oysters generally <2 years old. Recruitment was high in some areas (>500,000 indiv./m2) and while survival to maturity varied across sites there was adequate larval supply and survival for restoration. Filtration rates for a 1-year-old recruit (90 mm length, approximately 30 L/hour per individual) at summer temperatures (30°C) meant that even the small remnant populations are able to provide some filtration services (up to 31.7 ML/hour). High natural recruitment means that oyster reef restoration can be achieved with the addition of hard substrate for recruitment, increased protection of restoration sites, and would not only increase the ecological value of reefs regionally but also serve as a model for future restoration in Asia.
Wiley-Blackwell
2020
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/66657/1/rec.13267.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.13267
Lau, Sally C.Y., Thomas, Marine, Hancock, Boze, and Russell, Bayden D. (2020) Restoration potential of Asian oysters on heavily developed coastlines. Restoration Ecology, 28 (6). pp. 1643-1653.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/66657/
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oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:66712
2024-02-29T14:38:28Z
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Facilitating better outcomes: how positive species interactions can improve oyster reef restoration
Reeves, Simon E.
Renzi, Julianna J.
Fobert, Emily K.
Silliman, Brian R.
Hancock, Boze
Gillies, Chris L.
Over 85% of the world's oyster reefs have been lost in the past two centuries, triggering a global effort to restore shellfish reef ecosystems and the ecosystem services they provide. While there has been considerable success in re-establishing oyster reefs, many challenges remain. These include: high incidence of failed restoration, high cost of restoration per unit area, and increasing stress from climate change. In order to leverage our past successes and progress the field, we must increase restoration efficiencies that not only reduce cost per unit area, but also increase the resilience of restored ecosystems. To help address this need, we qualitatively review the literature associated with the structure and function of oyster reef ecosystems to identify key positive species interactions (i.e., those species interactions where at least one partner benefits and no partners are harmed). We classified positive inter- and intraspecific interactions between oysters and organisms associated with oyster ecosystems into the following seven functional categories: (1) physical reef creation, (2) positive density dependence, (3) refugia from physical stress, (4) refugia from biological stress, (5) biodiversity enhancement, (6) settlement improvement, and (7) long-distance facilitation. We discuss each category of positive interaction and how restoration practitioners can use knowledge of such processes to enhance restoration success. We propose that systematic incorporation of positive species interactions into restoration practice will both enhance ecological services provided by restored reefs and increase restoration success.
Frontiers Research
2020
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/66712/1/fmars-07-00656.pdf
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2020.00656
Reeves, Simon E., Renzi, Julianna J., Fobert, Emily K., Silliman, Brian R., Hancock, Boze, and Gillies, Chris L. (2020) Facilitating better outcomes: how positive species interactions can improve oyster reef restoration. Frontiers in Marine Science, 7. 656.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/66712/
open
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:66782
2024-02-29T14:39:09Z
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Priorities and motivations of marine coastal restoration research
Bayraktarov, Elisa
Brisbane, Shantala
Hagger, Valerie
Smith, Carter S.
Wilson, Kerrie A.
Lovelock, Catherine E.
Gillies, Chris
Steven, Andrew D.L.
Saunders, Megan I.
Active restoration is becoming an increasingly important conservation intervention to counteract the degradation of marine coastal ecosystems. Understanding what has motivated the scientific community to research the restoration of marine coastal ecosystems and how restoration research projects are funded is essential if we want to scale-up restoration interventions to meaningful extents. Here, we systematically review and synthesize data to understand the motivations for research on the restoration of coral reefs, seagrass, mangroves, saltmarsh, and oyster reefs. We base this analysis off a published database of marine restoration studies, originally designed to estimate the cost and feasibility of marine coastal restoration, derived from mostly scientific studies published in peer-reviewed and some gray literature. For the present study, the database was updated with fields aimed at assessing the motivations, outcomes, and funding sources for each project. We classify restoration motivations into five categories: biotic, experimental, idealistic, legislative, and pragmatic. Moreover, we evaluate the variables measured and outcomes reported by the researchers and evaluate whether projects adhered to the Society for Ecological Restoration's (SER) standards for the practice of ecological restoration. The most common motivation of the scientific community to study restoration in marine coastal ecosystems was experimental i.e., to seek experimental data to answer ecological research questions or improve restoration approach, as expected since mostly peer-reviewed literature was evaluated here. There were differences in motivations among the five coastal ecosystems. For instance, biodiversity enhancement was the most common case for a biotic motivation in mangrove restoration projects. The most common metrics evaluated were growth/productivity, survivorship, habitat function, physical attributes, and reproduction. For most ecosystems, ecological outcomes were frequently reported, with socio-economic implications of the restoration rarely mentioned, except for mangroves. Projects were largely funded by governmental grants with some investment from private donations, non-governmental organizations, and the involvement of volunteers. Our findings and database provide critical data to align future research of the scientific community with the real social, economic and policy needs required to scale-up marine coastal restoration projects.
Frontiers Research
2020
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/66782/1/fmars-07-00484.pdf
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2020.00484
Bayraktarov, Elisa, Brisbane, Shantala, Hagger, Valerie, Smith, Carter S., Wilson, Kerrie A., Lovelock, Catherine E., Gillies, Chris, Steven, Andrew D.L., and Saunders, Megan I. (2020) Priorities and motivations of marine coastal restoration research. Frontiers in Marine Science, 7. 484.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/66782/
open
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:66843
2024-03-01T15:10:17Z
7374617475733D707562
74797065733D61727469636C65
Effects of coral restoration on fish communities: snapshots of long-term, multiregional responses and implications for practice
Hein, Margaux Y.
Beeden, Roger
Birtles, R. Alastair
Chase, Tory J.
Couture, Fanny
Haskin, Elouise
Marshall, Nadine
Ripple, Kayla
Terry, Lisa
Willis, Bette L.
Willis, Reanna
Gardiner, Naomi M.
,
Coral restoration is widely used around the world to address dramatic declines in coral cover; however, very few studies have looked specifically at the temporal response of fish assemblages (i.e. abundance and diversity) to coral restoration. Several critical reef functions and processes are driven by fishes, thereby making their recovery and responses around restoration structures key indicators of success. This study evaluates fish abundance and community composition on restoration plots following 8–12 years of restoration activity, in four locations (two Caribbean and two Indo‐Pacific). Responses were very complex with region‐, site‐, and body size‐specific patterns. Overall, fish abundance only increased in Indo‐Pacific sites where damselfish responded positively to increased coral cover and topographic complexity. Restoration effects on other fish families and particularly on larger bodied reef fish were negative or neutral at all locations. If restoration initiatives are going to substantively improve the condition and recovery of degraded reef fish communities, restoration efforts need to be planned, designed, and monitored based on fish‐specific habitat requirements and locally specific community dynamics.
Wiley-Blackwell
2020
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/66843/2/rec.13177.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.13177
Hein, Margaux Y., Beeden, Roger, Birtles, R. Alastair, Chase, Tory J., Couture, Fanny, Haskin, Elouise, Marshall, Nadine, Ripple, Kayla, Terry, Lisa, Willis, Bette L., Willis, Reanna, Gardiner, Naomi M., and UNSPECIFIED (2020) Effects of coral restoration on fish communities: snapshots of long-term, multiregional responses and implications for practice. Restoration Ecology, 28 (5). pp. 1158-1171.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/66843/
restricted
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:66850
2024-02-28T15:07:55Z
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Coral restoration effectiveness: multiregional snapshots of the long-term responses of coral assemblages to restoration
Hein, Margaux Y.
Beeden, Roger
Birtles, Alastair
Gardiner, Naomi M.
Le Berre, Thomas
Levy, Jessica
Marshall, Nadine
Scott, Chad M.
Terry, Lisa
Willis, Bette L.
Coral restoration is rapidly becoming a mainstream strategic reef management response to address dramatic declines in coral cover worldwide. Restoration success can be defined as enhanced reef functions leading to improved ecosystem services, with multiple benefits at socio-ecological scales. However, there is often a mismatch between the objectives of coral restoration programs and the metrics used to assess their effectiveness. In particular, the scales of ecological benefits currently assessed are typically limited in both time and space, often being limited to short-term monitoring of the growth and survival of transplanted corals. In this paper, we explore reef-scale responses of coral assemblages to restoration practices applied in four well-established coral restoration programs. We found that hard coral cover and structural complexity were consistently greater at restored compared to unrestored (degraded) sites. However, patterns in coral diversity, coral recruitment, and coral health among restored, unrestored, and reference sites varied across locations, highlighting differences in methodologies among restoration programs. Altogether, differences in program objectives, methodologies, and the state of nearby coral communities were key drivers of variability in the responses of coral assemblages to restoration. The framework presented here provides guidance to improve qualitative and quantitative assessments of coral restoration efforts and can be applied to further understanding of the role of restoration within resilience-based reef management.
MDPI
2020
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/66850/1/diversity-12-00153%20%281%29.pdf
https://doi.org/10.3390/d12040153
Hein, Margaux Y., Beeden, Roger, Birtles, Alastair, Gardiner, Naomi M., Le Berre, Thomas, Levy, Jessica, Marshall, Nadine, Scott, Chad M., Terry, Lisa, and Willis, Bette L. (2020) Coral restoration effectiveness: multiregional snapshots of the long-term responses of coral assemblages to restoration. Diversity, 12 (4). 153.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/66850/
open
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:67052
2024-03-05T14:50:45Z
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74797065733D61727469636C65
Protected mangrove forests and aquaculture development for livelihoods
Luom, Thai Thanh
Phong, Nguyen Tan
Smithers, Scott
Van Tai, Tang
The coastal province of Kien Giang exposes some of the challenges of mangrove-based aquaculture (MBA) and coastal protection, both within the Mekong Delta and more broadly. Kien Giang was therefore selected as a case study to explore in detail the relationship between MBA and mangrove protection. This was achieved through a combination of spatial analysis of coastline change from Google Earth imagery, ground truthing and field visits, semi-structured interviews, participatory community meetings, and focus group interviews. The results indicate that the current MBA does not guarantee mangrove protection. The current MBA strategies are shown to be sustainable on stable or progradational coasts, where ponds are adequately protected by 700 m wide mangrove belts. However, ponds developed on erosional coasts commonly fail, and frequently accelerate coastal retreat as the degraded mangrove belts less effectively protect the coast. Therefore, the legislation, or its implementation should be revised to ensure that mangrove allocations for MBA can only be allowed where the shoreline is stable or prograding, and where protection is provided by minimum 40 m wide mangrove belts. As mangrove forests on the Mekong Delta face additional threats associated with rising sea levels and climate change, the revision of current practices is critically urgent.
Elsevier
2021
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/67052/1/67052_Luom_et_al_2021.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2021.105553
Luom, Thai Thanh, Phong, Nguyen Tan, Smithers, Scott, and Van Tai, Tang (2021) Protected mangrove forests and aquaculture development for livelihoods. Ocean & Coastal Management, 205. 105553.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/67052/
restricted
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:67253
2024-03-05T14:21:28Z
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74797065733D61727469636C65
Mangroves diversity and erosion mitigation performance in a low salinity soil area: case study of Vinh City, Vietnam
Van Tang, Tai
Rene, Eldon R,
Binh, Tran Ngoc
Behera, Shishir Kumar
Nguyen, Tan Phong
This study aims to investigate the diversity of mangrove species and their soil erosion mitigation performance in Hung Hoa Mangrove Forest, Vinh City, Vietnam. Under high rainfall climatic condition, the mangrove plants were found to reduce soil erosion due to storm runoff during dry season. The soil organic matter in the covered and uncovered part by species of the mangrove forest was 141.1 ± 37.6 g/kg and 95.2 ± 19.2 g/kg, respectively. The percentage of clay and silt in the mangrove forest, covered and uncovered by mangrove species were found to be 55.7 ± 2.4% and 45.5 ± 2.2%, respectively. The increase in distance from 10,045 to 14,378 m was correlated to the decrease in soil salinity from 5.9 ± 0.8 to 3.8 ± 0.5 ppt (r2 = 0.546; P < 0.05). A total of 11 mangrove species were detected in the mangrove forest. The number of species ascribed to dicotyledons, monocotyledons and pteridophytes in the mangrove forest community were 17, 12 and 3, respectively. Based on the result obtained from this field study, it was observed that the mangrove forest plays an important role to provide growth and reproduction habitat for the local flora and protect the land from the effects of high precipitation.
Springer
2020
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/67253/1/647253.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-019-09704-0
Van Tang, Tai, Rene, Eldon R,, Binh, Tran Ngoc, Behera, Shishir Kumar, and Nguyen, Tan Phong (2020) Mangroves diversity and erosion mitigation performance in a low salinity soil area: case study of Vinh City, Vietnam. Wetlands Ecology and Management, 28. pp. 163-176.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/67253/
restricted
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:67931
2024-03-05T14:58:05Z
7374617475733D707562
74797065733D61727469636C65
Scaling up the global reef restoration activity: avoiding ecological imperialism and ongoing colonialism
Gibbs, Mark T.
Gibbs, Bridget L.
Newlands, Maxine
Ivey, Jordan
The health and condition of the world’s reefs are in steep decline. This has triggered the development of fledgling micro-scale coral reef restoration projects along many reef coastlines. However, it is increasingly recognised that the scale and productivity of micro-scale coral gardening projects will be insufficient to meet the growing global threats to reefs. More recently, efforts to develop and implement restoration techniques for application at regional scales have been pursued by research organisations. Coral reefs are mostly located in the unindustrialised world. Yet, most of the funding, and scientific and engineering method development for larger-scale methods will likely be sourced and created in the industrialised world. Therefore, the development of the emerging at-scale global reef restoration sector will inevitably involve the transfer of methods, approaches, finances, labour and skills from the industrialised world to the unindustrialised world. This opens the door to the industrialised world negatively impacting the unindustrialised world and, in some cases, First Nations peoples. In Western scientific parlance, ecological imperialism occurs when people from industrialised nations seek to recreate environments and ecosystems in unindustrialised nations that are familiar and comfortable to them. How a coral reef ’should’ look depends on one’s background and perspective. While predominately Western scientific approaches provide guidance on the ecological principles for reef restoration, these methods might not be applicable in every scenario in unindustrialised nations. Imposing such views on Indigenous coastal communities without the local technical and leadership resources to scale-up restoration of their reefs can lead to unwanted consequences. The objective of this paper is to introduce this real and emerging risk into the broader reef restoration discussion.
Public Library of Science
2021
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/67931/1/journal.pone.0250870.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0250870
Gibbs, Mark T., Gibbs, Bridget L., Newlands, Maxine, and Ivey, Jordan (2021) Scaling up the global reef restoration activity: avoiding ecological imperialism and ongoing colonialism. PLoS ONE, 16 (5). e0250870.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/67931/
open
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:68800
2024-02-29T14:23:17Z
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Financial incentives for large-scale wetland restoration: beyond markets to common asset trusts
Canning, Adam D.
Jarvis, Diane
Costanza, Robert
Hasan, Syezlin
Smart, James C.R.
Finisdore, John
Lovelock, Catherine E.
Greenhalgh, Suzie
Marr, Helen M.
Beck, Michael W.
Gillies, Christopher L.
Waltham, Nathan J.
Wetlands provide $47.4 trillion/year worth of ecosystem services globally and support immense biodiversity, yet face widespread drainage and pollution, and large-scale wetlands restoration is urgently needed. Payment for ecosystem service (PES) schemes provide a viable avenue for funding large-scale wetland restoration. However, schemes around the globe differ substantially in their goals, structure, challenges, and effectiveness in supporting large-scale wetland restoration. Here, we suggest wetland-based PES schemes use common asset trusts (CATs) to build investment portfolios of wetlands across landscapes that sustain and enhance overall provision of multiple ecosystem services. CATs can meet the needs of multiple investors, permit bundled payments, and provide flexibility to invest in the restoration of numerous services/values, all using a coordinated, highly collaborative, prioritized, and transparent process. CATs would support financial viability, facilitate efficiency to reduce administrative burdens, and enable credibility and social licence building to restore wetland values and services globally.
Elsevier
2021
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/68800/1/mmc2.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2021.06.006
Canning, Adam D., Jarvis, Diane, Costanza, Robert, Hasan, Syezlin, Smart, James C.R., Finisdore, John, Lovelock, Catherine E., Greenhalgh, Suzie, Marr, Helen M., Beck, Michael W., Gillies, Christopher L., and Waltham, Nathan J. (2021) Financial incentives for large-scale wetland restoration: beyond markets to common asset trusts. One Earth, 4 (7). pp. 937-950.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/68800/
open
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:68953
2024-03-03T14:15:58Z
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Pharmaceutical companies should pay for raiding nature's medicine cabinet
Canning, Adam D.
Death, Russell G.
Waltham, Nathan J.
[Extract] In 2019, the pharmaceutical industry profited from US$1·2 trillion of global spending on medicines. Most of this is simply a cut of the $125 trillion worth of services provided by nature every year. Almost two-thirds of all small molecules approved by the US Food and Drug Administration between 1981 and 2014 were either inspired by, derived from, or mimicked natural resources or consisted of natural products. Even the COVID-19 pandemic solution could be derived from nature, with a vaccine developed from the blue blood of a living fossil—the horseshoe crab. After having existed for 450 million years, the horseshoe crab faces a declining population attributed to deteriorating coastlines, commercial fishing, and now blood harvesting for pharmaceutical benefit.
Elsevier
2021
Article
NonPeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/68953/1/PIIS014067362101686X.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)01686-X
Canning, Adam D., Death, Russell G., and Waltham, Nathan J. (2021) Pharmaceutical companies should pay for raiding nature's medicine cabinet. Lancet, 398 (10303). pp. 840-841.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/68953/
restricted
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:70128
2024-03-01T14:22:20Z
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Challenges and opportunities for assisted regional ecosystem adaptation: international experience and implications for adaptation research
Vella, Karen
Baresi, Umberto
Lockie, Stewart
Taylor, Bruce
Maintaining the functional integrity of ecosystems as climate pressures exceed natural rates of adaptation requires new knowledge and new approaches to governance and management. However, research into management interventions to assist regional ecosystem adaptation has generated both scientific and ethical debate. This paper reviews experience to date in order to identify the challenges and opportunities for assisted regional ecosystem adaptation and reflect on the implications for ongoing adaptation research. The review was informed by a database and structured analysis of some 450 reports, peer-reviewed manuscripts and books on participation theory and experience with novel technology development and assisted ecosystem adaptation. We identified five classes of challenges to adaptation research: 1) scientific conflicts and debates over the "facts", 2) social challenges, 3) governance challenges, 4) epistemic challenges, and 5) ontological conflicts. We argue that engagement strategies linked to the multiple objectives of adaptation research provide opportunities for ecosystem adaptation.
Public Library of Science
2021
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/70128/1/Vella%20et%20al%20adaptation%20review%20PLOS%20ONE%202021.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257868
Vella, Karen, Baresi, Umberto, Lockie, Stewart, and Taylor, Bruce (2021) Challenges and opportunities for assisted regional ecosystem adaptation: international experience and implications for adaptation research. PLoS ONE, 16 (9). e0257868.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/70128/
open
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:70157
2024-03-01T14:22:37Z
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On the potential for improving water quality entering the Great Barrier Reef lagoon using constructed wetlands
Wallace, Jim
Waltham, Nathan J.
The Reef 2050 Plan has identified a range of measures aimed at reducing end-of-catchment loads of sediment and nutrient and recognizes the role that freshwater wetlands may have in achieving this. However, quantitative information on the potential for tropical wetlands to filter agricultural runoff is scarce, so this paper describes a study that combines field data from a 10 ha wetland constructed on land previously used for sugar cane near Babinda, north Queensland with a water balance and denitrification model. During the 12-month monitoring period (from October 2017 to September 2018) we estimate that the nitrogen filtering capacity of the wetland was 52% (26% lost as gaseous denitrification from the water and soil, and 26% as sedimentation of particulate nitrogen, PN). The remaining nitrogen (48%) left in the drainage water and this emphasises the importance of the wetland hydrology in determining denitrification and filtering. The current estimates are highly variable, so we have also identified the key parameters that need to be measured in order to improve long-term wetland filtering capacity estimation. Babinda is in the Mulgrave-Russell catchment, where the Reef 2050 Water Quality Improvement Plan has set target reductions in DIN of 300 t and PN of 53 t by 2025. 10% of the DIN reduction target could be achieved from ~593 ha of wetland with the same mean denitrification properties as currently estimated for the Babinda wetland (i.e. 51 kg N ha−1 year−1). This amounts to 2.3% of the total sugarcane area in this catchment that, as wetland, would also remove 56% of the 2025 PN reduction target.
Elsevier
2021
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/70157/1/70157.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.112627
Wallace, Jim, and Waltham, Nathan J. (2021) On the potential for improving water quality entering the Great Barrier Reef lagoon using constructed wetlands. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 170. 112627.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/70157/
restricted
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:70551
2024-03-02T15:34:44Z
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Rapid assessment of the biodiversity impacts of the 2019–2020 Australian megafires to guide urgent management intervention and recovery and lessons for other regions
Legge, Sarah
Woinarski, John C.Z.
Scheele, Ben C.
Garnett, Stephen T.
Lintermans, Mark
Nimmo, Dale G.
Whiterod, Nick S.
Southwell, Darren M.
Ehmke, Glenn
Buchan, Anne
Gray, Jenny
Metcalfe, Dan J.
Page, Manda
Rumpff, Libby
van Leeuwen, Stephen
Williams, Dick
Ahyong, Shane T.
Chapple, David G.
Cowan, Mitch
Hossain, Md Anwar
Kennard, Mark
Macdonald, Stewart
Moore, Harry
Marsh, Jessica
McCormack, Robert B.
Michael, Damian
Mitchell, Nicola
Newell, David
Raadik, Tarmo A.
Tingley, Reid
Aim: The incidence of major fires is increasing globally, creating extraordinary challenges for governments, managers and conservation scientists. In 2019–2020, Australia experienced precedent-setting fires that burned over several months, affecting seven states and territories and causing massive biodiversity loss. Whilst the fires were still burning, the Australian Government convened a biodiversity Expert Panel to guide its bushfire response. A pressing need was to target emergency investment and management to reduce the chance of extinctions and maximise the chances of longer-term recovery. We describe the approach taken to rapidly prioritise fire-affected animal species. We use the experience to consider the organisational and data requirements for evidence-based responses to future ecological disasters.
Location: Forested biomes of subtropical and temperate Australia, with lessons for other regions.
Methods: We developed assessment frameworks to screen fire-affected species based on their pre-fire conservation status, the proportion of their distribution overlapping with fires, and their behavioural/ecological traits relating to fire vulnerability. Using formal and informal networks of scientists, government and non-government staff and managers, we collated expert input and data from multiple sources, undertook the analyses, and completed the assessments in 3 weeks for vertebrates and 8 weeks for invertebrates.
Results: The assessments prioritised 92 vertebrate and 213 invertebrate species for urgent management response; another 147 invertebrate species were placed on a watchlist requiring further information.
Conclusions: The priority species lists helped focus government and non-government investment, management and research effort, and communication to the public. Using multiple expert networks allowed the assessments to be completed rapidly using the best information available. However, the assessments highlighted substantial gaps in data availability and access, deficiencies in statutory threatened species listings, and the need for capacity-building across the conservation science and management sectors. We outline a flexible template for using evidence effectively in emergency responses for future ecological disasters.
Blackwell Publishing
2022
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/70551/1/70551.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.13428
Legge, Sarah, Woinarski, John C.Z., Scheele, Ben C., Garnett, Stephen T., Lintermans, Mark, Nimmo, Dale G., Whiterod, Nick S., Southwell, Darren M., Ehmke, Glenn, Buchan, Anne, Gray, Jenny, Metcalfe, Dan J., Page, Manda, Rumpff, Libby, van Leeuwen, Stephen, Williams, Dick, Ahyong, Shane T., Chapple, David G., Cowan, Mitch, Hossain, Md Anwar, Kennard, Mark, Macdonald, Stewart, Moore, Harry, Marsh, Jessica, McCormack, Robert B., Michael, Damian, Mitchell, Nicola, Newell, David, Raadik, Tarmo A., and Tingley, Reid (2022) Rapid assessment of the biodiversity impacts of the 2019–2020 Australian megafires to guide urgent management intervention and recovery and lessons for other regions. Diversity and Distributions, 28. pp. 571-591.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/70551/
open
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:70924
2021-11-22T23:38:38Z
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74797065733D6D6F6E6F6772617068
Reef Restoration Foundation Fitzroy Island Coral Nursery Monitoring: methods and results April - October 2020
Carter, A.B.
Kish, H.
Chartrand, K.
This document outlines the methods, analysis and results that answer one of the key questions for the Reef Restoration Foundation: How do different species perform in the nursery?
Data was collected in April, July and October 2020 to answer these questions in the Fitzroy Island nursery.
For Acropora species, net and relative growth was significantly different between 3 and 6 months in the nursery, but no one species was a stand out in terms of growth.
For Pocillopora species, growth after 3 months was similar, but after 6 months net growth of P. damicornis was approximately double that of P. meandrina. Relative growth of fragments was 54 – 61% after 3 months in the nursery and 193 – 288% after 6 months.
Predation and disease were rare and recorded on only a few fragments.
Bleaching affected a low proportion of fragments; <3% in April and July which was significantly less than 6% in October.
Percent tissue mortality of fragments differed among species, with A. millepora mortality significantly greater than other species. This species should be monitored carefully to see if better handling can improve A. millepora fragment survivorship rates or else discontinue the propagation of this species.
Slow initial growth rates in the Fitzroy Island nursery mimic patterns found at the Hastings Reef nursery, indicating fragment recovery from propagation and handling occurs before growth rates increase significantly.
Acropora species did not vary significantly in growth rates and therefore a broad assemblage of species from this genus should continue to be used in the nursery to enhance diversity during outplanting.
Temperature loggers added to the nursery should assist with interpretation of growth rates related to seasonal effects.
While differences were observed in Pocillopora growth among species in the nursery, other factors have led us to recommend discontinuing the propagation of corals from this genus.
We recommend the focus at the Fitzroy Island site is shifted to outplant monitoring, ensuring suitable substrate is available, and developing techniques for securing corals on the reef following the nursery stage, to ensure greatest benefit to reef restoration.
James Cook University
2021
Report
NonPeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/70924/2/Final%20Report%20RRF%20Fitzroy%20Nursery%20Monitoring%20July%202021.pdf
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6nquy19c1yuze0e/21%2042%20Final%20Report%20RRF%20Fitzroy%20Nursery%20Monitoring%20July%202021.pdf?dl=0
Carter, A.B., Kish, H., and Chartrand, K. (2021) Reef Restoration Foundation Fitzroy Island Coral Nursery Monitoring: methods and results April - October 2020. Report. James Cook University, Cairns, QLD, Australia.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/70924/
openpub
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:70925
2021-11-22T23:42:56Z
7374617475733D707562
74797065733D6D6F6E6F6772617068
Reef Restoration Foundation Hastings Reef Coral Nursery Monitoring: December 2019 - July 2020
Carter, A.B.
Kish, H.
Chartrand, K.
This document outlines the methods, analysis and results that answer three key questions for the Reef Restoration Foundation:
1. Is there an impact of harvesting fragments on donor colonies?
2. Do nursery corals perform better than reef corals in the natural reef environment?
3. How do different species perform in the nursery?
Data was collected in December 2019/ January 2020, April 2020 and July 2020 to answer these questions at Hastings Reef.
For question 1, we found that harvesting fragments from donor colonies had no significant detrimental effects on those donors. Net and relative growth was not affected, colony mortality did not increase, and colonies were not more susceptible to adverse health outcomes in terms of bleaching, predation and disease.
For question 2, we found there were significant linear growth advantages for corals within the nursery. Net linear growth after 6 months in the nursery was more than double the linear growth of reef corals. Importantly, nursery benefits in net linear growth were not realised at 3 months. Relative linear growth also was significantly greater in the nursery than on the reef. We also found that nursery corals appear less susceptible to predation and disease than reef corals, with none observed on any nursery corals. Nursery corals were, however, more susceptible to bleaching. Bleaching was almost 3 times greater in the nursery than for reef colonies. Mortality increased significantly over time for nursery corals but not reef corals. However, the variation around mortality estimates for reef corals was large due to the much smaller sample size than in the nursery. It should be noted that within each of the three sampling periods mortality did not differ significantly between nursery and reef corals.
For question 3, we found that no one species was a stand out in terms of linear growth. A. muricata was the best performing species for net linear growth, adding significantly more linear growth to that species’ fragments, particularly compared to A. cerealis which had the smallest net linear growth. This result was likely in part due to different starting points in fragment size: A. muricata fragments were the largest when placed in the nursery and A. cerealis were the smallest. Because of this, relative linear growth is likely a better indicator metric when comparing species. In addition, A. muricata findings were somewhat expected; this species is known to have one of the fastest linear growth rates of all Acropora spp. in the Indo-Pacific (Jinendradasa and Ekaratne 2002). Relative linear growth indicated that after 3 months A. microphthalma lagged significantly behind all other species; however, after 6 months in the nursery this species had caught up and all four species had similar relative linear growth. There was significant bleaching in the nursery in April 2020, with 54% of fragments bleached. This was a significant increase from 25% bleaching in January. By July, no bleaching was recorded in the nursery. A. elseyi was the most resistant species to bleaching. Mortality of fragments increased significantly in the first 3 months in the nursery, from 3% at the time of attachment to 28% after 3 months. Mortality then plateaued between 3 and 6 months. No species was significantly more (or less) prone to mortality. No predation or disease was recorded on any nursery fragments.
James Cook University
2020
Report
NonPeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/70925/1/Final%20RRF%20Hastings%20Reef%20report%202020.pdf
https://www.dropbox.com/s/up3yp72antl4fwj/20%2041%20Final%20RRF%20Hastings%20Reef%20report%202020.pdf?dl=0
Carter, A.B., Kish, H., and Chartrand, K. (2020) Reef Restoration Foundation Hastings Reef Coral Nursery Monitoring: December 2019 - July 2020. Report. James Cook University, Cairns, QLD, Australia.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/70925/
openpub
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:71351
2024-02-28T14:44:26Z
7374617475733D707562
74797065733D61727469636C65
A framework for the practical science necessary to restore sustainable, resilient, and biodiverse ecosystems
Miller, Ben P.
Sinclair, Elizabeth A.
Menz, Myles H.M.
Elliott, Carole P.
Bunn, Eric
Commander, Lucy E.
Dalziell, Emma
David, Erica
Davis, Belinda
Erickson, Todd E.
Golos, Peter J.
Krauss, Siegfried L.
Lewandrowski, Wolfgang
Mayence, C. Ellery
Merino-Martín, Luis
Merritt, David J.
Nevill, Paul G.
Phillips, Ryan D.
Ritchie, Alison L.
Ruoss, Sacha
Stevens, Jason C.
Demand for restoration of resilient, self-sustaining, and biodiverse natural ecosystems as a conservation measure is increasing globally; however, restoration efforts frequently fail to meet standards appropriate for this objective. Achieving these standards requires management underpinned by input from diverse scientific disciplines including ecology, biotechnology, engineering, soil science, ecophysiology, and genetics. Despite increasing restoration research activity, a gap between the immediate needs of restoration practitioners and the outputs of restoration science often limits the effectiveness of restoration programs. Regrettably, studies often fail to identify the practical issues most critical for restoration success. We propose that part of this oversight may result from the absence of a considered statement of the necessary practical restoration science questions. Here we develop a comprehensive framework of the research required to bridge this gap and guide effective restoration. We structure questions in five themes: (1) setting targets and planning for success, (2) sourcing biological material, (3) optimizing establishment, (4) facilitating growth and survival, and (5) restoring resilience, sustainability, and landscape integration. This framework will assist restoration practitioners and scientists to identify knowledge gaps and develop strategic research focused on applied outcomes. The breadth of questions highlights the importance of cross-discipline collaboration among restoration scientists, and while the program is broad, successful restoration projects have typically invested in many or most of these themes. Achieving restoration ecology's goal of averting biodiversity losses is a vast challenge: investment in appropriate science is urgently needed for ecological restoration to fulfill its potential and meet demand as a conservation tool.
Wiley-Blackwell
2017
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/71351/1/71351.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.12475
Miller, Ben P., Sinclair, Elizabeth A., Menz, Myles H.M., Elliott, Carole P., Bunn, Eric, Commander, Lucy E., Dalziell, Emma, David, Erica, Davis, Belinda, Erickson, Todd E., Golos, Peter J., Krauss, Siegfried L., Lewandrowski, Wolfgang, Mayence, C. Ellery, Merino-Martín, Luis, Merritt, David J., Nevill, Paul G., Phillips, Ryan D., Ritchie, Alison L., Ruoss, Sacha, and Stevens, Jason C. (2017) A framework for the practical science necessary to restore sustainable, resilient, and biodiverse ecosystems. Restoration Ecology, 25 (4). pp. 605-617.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/71351/
open
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:71355
2024-02-28T14:44:40Z
7374617475733D707562
74797065733D61727469636C65
Cooperative Extension: A Model of Science-Practice Integration for Ecosystem Restoration
David, Erica
Dixon, Kingsley W.
Menz, Myles H.M.
Restoration ecology is a science, driven by practical application. Despite the well-recognized disconnect between the science and practice of ecological restoration, there is a lack of practical solutions. In 2014, US agriculture marked the 100th anniversary of the Cooperative Extension Service, providing a timely reminder that the divide between science and practice can be bridged successfully. Major restoration efforts are underway across the globe and integrated science-practice communication is required to avoid project failure and a significant waste of resources. Here, we propose a three-tiered approach, re-emphasizing the integration of science-based practice in restoration utilizing the structure, function, and potential for success of the Cooperative Extension Service of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) as a model for connecting science and practice in ecosystem restoration. The gap between science and practice is a long-recognized concern in restoration ecology, but there is a lack of practical solutions. Without successful communication, significant resources will be wasted on potentially misguided global restoration efforts. The Cooperative Extension Service successfully bridged the science-practice gap in American agriculture. Here, we discuss how such a framework could be applied to bridge the science-practice gap in restoration ecology.
Elsevier Ltd.
2016
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/71355/1/71355.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2016.01.001
David, Erica, Dixon, Kingsley W., and Menz, Myles H.M. (2016) Cooperative Extension: A Model of Science-Practice Integration for Ecosystem Restoration. Trends in Plant Science, 21 (5). pp. 410-417.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/71355/
restricted
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:72253
2024-03-04T14:54:28Z
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Removal of macroalgae from degraded reefs enhances coral recruitment
Smith, Hillary A.
Brown, Dylan A.
Arjunwadkar, Chaitanya V.
Fulton, Stella E.
Whitman, Taylor
Hermanto, Bambang
Mastroianni, Elissa
Mattocks, Neil
Smith, Adam K.
Harrison, Peter L.
Boström-Einarsson, Lisa
McLeod, Ian M.
Bourne, David G.
Declining coral cover on tropical coral reefs often results in a concomitant increase in macroalgae. When proliferation of macroalgae persists outside regular seasonal growth, it can shift the ecosystem dominance away from corals into a permanently altered system. Such an altered system is unlikely to recover naturally, despite ample supply of coral larvae, as coral settlement and survival is reduced by the presence of macroalgae. Physical removal of macroalgae has been proposed to overcome this biotic barrier to recovery, although empirical evidence demonstrating the effects of removal on phase-shifted reefs is lacking. Here, we manually removed macroalgae from twelve 25 m(2) experimental plots (88.5 +/- 6.2 kg wet weight per plot; 90% benthic cover decrease) on a degraded reef prior to coral mass spawning across 2 years and recorded the number of coral recruits to settlement tiles and natural substrata. Four months after each spawning event, we found a threefold increase in coral recruits to tiles in plots where macroalgae had been removed (n = 12 plots; February 2019: mean 45.9 +/- 12.7 recruits per tile; February 2020: mean 53.9 +/- 5.9 recruits per tile) compared to control plots where macroalgae remained (n = 12 plots; February 2019 mean: 13.6 +/- 2.8 recruits per tile; February 2020 mean: 17.5 +/- 3.5 recruits per tile). These results suggest that, at small scales, macroalgae removal may be a useful intervention to boost recruitment on degraded reefs. Longer-term monitoring is needed to document if coral survivorship, growth, and subsequent reef recovery occurs.
Wiley-Blackwell
2022
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/72253/1/72253.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.13624
Smith, Hillary A., Brown, Dylan A., Arjunwadkar, Chaitanya V., Fulton, Stella E., Whitman, Taylor, Hermanto, Bambang, Mastroianni, Elissa, Mattocks, Neil, Smith, Adam K., Harrison, Peter L., Boström-Einarsson, Lisa, McLeod, Ian M., and Bourne, David G. (2022) Removal of macroalgae from degraded reefs enhances coral recruitment. Restoration Ecology, 30 (7). e13624.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/72253/
restricted
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:72548
2022-03-17T00:38:16Z
7374617475733D707562
74797065733D626F6F6B5F73656374696F6E
Coastal habitat restoration, invasive species and remote monitoring solutions
Walker, Sophie
Waltham, Nathan
Buelow, Christina
Iles, Jordan
The success of ecosystem restoration depends on a multitude of factors related to both the properties of the ecosystem and resources available for the restoration. The ecological and management characteristics of the site may influence the success of restoration, including the presence of invasive species or existing and continued management practices. Key to the ability to assess success of restoration is monitoring, which is increasingly being undertaken using remote sensing technology. In this chapter, we focus on invasive species management to restore intertidal wetland vegetation, and present a case study from North Queensland, Australia, where exclusion fences have been constructed to control feral pigs and restore intertidal vegetation. Physical vegetation sampling using quadrats and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imagery were used to determine vegetation change at five sites using image classification and ground truthing. Wetlands were fenced in an attempt to prevent feral pigs accessing the sites, but was ultimately unsuccessful owing to existing management practices allowing cattle to graze in fenced wetlands, which presumably allowed feral pig access. Learnings here suggest that restoration initiatives cannot be implemented without first considering existing land management practices and how the two interact or compete with each other. While the use of UAV technology was useful for monitoring, restoration projects still need to be carefully designed with the ecological and management practices in mind in order to be successful.
Pelagic Publishing
Humphreys, John
Little, Sally
2022
Book Chapter
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/72548/1/Estuarine%20and%20Coastal%20Science.11%20Walker.POD.2022-01-31.pdf
https://doi.org/10.53061/BDDZ5865
Walker, Sophie, Waltham, Nathan, Buelow, Christina, and Iles, Jordan (2022) Coastal habitat restoration, invasive species and remote monitoring solutions. In: Humphreys, John, and Little, Sally, (eds.) Challenges in Estuarine and Coastal Science: Estuarine and Coastal Sciences Association 50th anniversary volume. Pelagic Publishing, Exeter, UK, pp. 160-176.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/72548/
restricted
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:73251
2024-03-05T14:19:11Z
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74797065733D61727469636C65
Tidal Marsh Restoration Optimism in a Changing Climate and Urbanizing Seascape
Waltham, Nathan J.
Alcott, Caitlin
Barbeau, Myriam A.
Cebrian, Just
Connolly, Rod
Deegan, Linda A.
Dodds, Kate
Goodridge Gaines, Lucy
Gilby, Ben
Henderson, Christopher J.
McLuckie, Catherine M.
Minello, Thomas
Norris, Gregory
Ollerhead, Jeff
Pahl, James
Reinhardt, James F.
Rezek, Ryan J.
Simenstad, Charles
Smith, Joseph A.M.
Sparks, Eric
Staver, Lorie W.
Ziegler, Shelby
Weinstein, Michael
Tidal marshes (including saltmarshes) provide remarkable value for many social (cultural, recreational) and environmental (fish production, water quality, shoreline protection, carbon sequestration) services. However, their extent, condition, and capacity to support these services are threatened by human development expansion, invasive species, erosion, altered hydrology and connectivity, and climate change. The past two decades have seen a shift toward working with managers to restore tidal marshes to conserve existing patches or create new marshes. The present perspective examines key features of recent tidal marsh restoration projects. Although optimism about restoration is building, not all marshes are the same; site-specific nuances require careful consideration, and thus, standard restoration designs are not possible. Restoration projects are effectively experiments, requiring clear goals, monitoring and evaluation, and adaptive management practices. Restoration is expensive; however, payment schemes for ecosystem services derived from restoration offer new ways to fund projects and appropriate monitoring and evaluation programs. All information generated by restoration needs to be published and easily accessible, especially failed attempts, to equip practitioners and scientists with actionable knowledge for future efforts. We advocate the need for a network of tidal marsh scientists, managers, and practitioners to share and disseminate new observations and knowledge. Such a network will help augment our capacity to restore tidal marsh, but also valuable coastal ecosystems more broadly.
Springer
2021
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/73251/1/Tidal%20Marsh%20Restoration%20optimism%20in%20a%20changing%20climate%20and%20ubanising%20seascape.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-020-00875-1
Waltham, Nathan J., Alcott, Caitlin, Barbeau, Myriam A., Cebrian, Just, Connolly, Rod, Deegan, Linda A., Dodds, Kate, Goodridge Gaines, Lucy, Gilby, Ben, Henderson, Christopher J., McLuckie, Catherine M., Minello, Thomas, Norris, Gregory, Ollerhead, Jeff, Pahl, James, Reinhardt, James F., Rezek, Ryan J., Simenstad, Charles, Smith, Joseph A.M., Sparks, Eric, Staver, Lorie W., Ziegler, Shelby, and Weinstein, Michael (2021) Tidal Marsh Restoration Optimism in a Changing Climate and Urbanizing Seascape. Estuaries and Coasts, 44. pp. 1681-1690.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/73251/
restricted
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:74233
2024-03-02T14:25:23Z
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74797065733D61727469636C65
Ambitious global targets for mangrove and seagrass recovery
Buelow, Christina A.
Connolly, Rod M.
Turschwell, Mischa P.
Adame, Maria F.
Ahmadia, Gabby N.
Andradi-brown, Dominic A.
Bunting, Pete
Canty, Steven W.J.
Dunic, Jillian C.
Friess, Daniel A.
Lee, Shing Yip
Lovelock, Catherine E.
McClure, Eva C.
Pearson, Ryan M.
Sievers, Michael
Sousa, Ana
Worthington, Thomas A.
Brown, Christopher J.
There is an urgent need to halt and reverse loss of mangroves and seagrass to protect and increase the ecosystem services they provide to coastal communities, such as enhancing coastal resilience and contributing to climate stability.1,2 Ambitious targets for their recovery can inspire public and private investment in conservation,3 but the expected outcomes of different protection and restoration strategies are unclear. We estimated potential recovery of mangroves and seagrass through gains in ecosystem extent to the year 2070 under a range of protection and restoration strategies implemented until the year 2050. Under a protection-only scenario, the current trajectories of net mangrove loss slowed, and a minor net gain in global seagrass extent (∼1%) was estimated. Protection alone is therefore unlikely to drive sufficient recovery. However, if action is taken to both protect and restore, net gains of up to 5% and 35% of mangroves and seagrasses, respectively, could be achieved by 2050. Further, protection and restoration can be complementary, as protection prevents losses that would otherwise occur post-2050, highlighting the importance of implementing protection measures. Our findings provide the scientific evidence required for setting strategic and ambitious targets to inspire significant global investment and effort in mangrove and seagrass conservation.
Elsevier
2022
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/74233/1/74233.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.02.013
Buelow, Christina A., Connolly, Rod M., Turschwell, Mischa P., Adame, Maria F., Ahmadia, Gabby N., Andradi-brown, Dominic A., Bunting, Pete, Canty, Steven W.J., Dunic, Jillian C., Friess, Daniel A., Lee, Shing Yip, Lovelock, Catherine E., McClure, Eva C., Pearson, Ryan M., Sievers, Michael, Sousa, Ana, Worthington, Thomas A., and Brown, Christopher J. (2022) Ambitious global targets for mangrove and seagrass recovery. Current Biology, 32 (7). 1641-1649.e3.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/74233/
restricted
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:74471
2024-02-28T14:27:16Z
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Community-specific "desired" states for seagrasses through cycles of loss and recovery
Carter, Alex B.
Collier, Catherine
Coles, Robert
Lawrence, Emma
Rasheed, Michael A.
Seagrass habitats provide critical ecosystem services, yet there is ongoing concern over mounting pressures and continuing degradation. Defining a desired state for these habitats is a key step in implementing appropriate management but is often difficult given the challenges of available data and an evaluation of where to set benchmarks. We use more than 20 years of historical seagrass biomass data (1995–2018) for the diverse seagrass communities of Australia's Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area (GBRWHA) to develop desired state benchmarks. Desired state for seagrass biomass was estimated for 25 of 36 previously defined seagrass communities with the remainder having insufficient data. Desired state varied by more than one order of magnitude between community types and was influenced by the mix of species in the communities and the range of environmental conditions. We identify a historical, decadal-scale cycle of decline with recovery to desired state in coastal intertidal communities. In contrast a number of the estuary and coastal subtidal communities have not recovered to desired state biomass. Understanding a historical context is critically important for setting benchmarks and making informed management decisions on the present state of seagrass in the GBRWHA. The approach we have developed is scalable for monitoring, management and assessment of pressures for other management areas and for other jurisdictions. Our results guide conservation planning through prioritization of the at-risk seagrass communities that are continuing to fall below their desired state.
Elsevier
2022
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/74471/1/74471.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.115059
Carter, Alex B., Collier, Catherine, Coles, Robert, Lawrence, Emma, and Rasheed, Michael A. (2022) Community-specific "desired" states for seagrasses through cycles of loss and recovery. Journal of Environmental Management, 314. 115059.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/74471/
open
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:74611
2024-02-28T14:28:51Z
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Coral reef restoration in Indonesia: A review of policies and projects
Razak, Tries B.
Bostrom-Einarsson, Lisa
Alisa, Cut Aja Gita
Vida, Rindah Talitha
Lamont, Timothy A.C.
Indonesia's coral reefs have been severely damaged by global and local stressors, and a range of active restoration techniques are now being used in attempts to rebuild degraded reefs. However, it is difficult to summarise Indonesia's restoration efforts as a whole due to a lack of consistent reporting. Here, we first discuss Indonesia's legal policy framework concerning reef restoration; this is included in the agenda of two government ministries (Marine Affairs and Fisheries, and Environment and Forestry), and comprises national laws and governmental, presidential and ministerial regulations. We then provide an extensive review of reef restoration projects in Indonesia, documenting 533 records across the country between 1990 and 2020. Most (73%) of these records come from the past ten years, and many (42%) are reported in online news articles rather than scientific reports or papers. This review identified 120,483 units of artificial reef installed across Indonesia, along with 53,640 units of coral transplantation (including both coral nurseries and direct out-planting onto reefs); in total, 965,992 fragments of hard coral have been planted across Indonesia. The most favoured restoration materials are concrete (46%) and steel structures (24%). Projects are organised by a diverse range of governmental, NGO, private and community-led organisations. This review demonstrates that Indonesia's policy has encouraged a diverse range of practitioners to implement reef restoration, but projects are often not coordinated with wider networks of restoration practitioners or scientists, and only 16% of the identified projects included a post-installation monitoring framework. Incorporating clear objectives and long-term monitoring programmes in project planning stages, while prioritising knowledge exchange and engagement with international scientific community, will substantially improve restoration outcomes in Indonesia. This will allow the country to fulfil its considerable potential as a global leader in rebuilding damaged coral reefs.
Elsevier
2022
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/74611/1/74611.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2021.104940
Razak, Tries B., Bostrom-Einarsson, Lisa, Alisa, Cut Aja Gita, Vida, Rindah Talitha, and Lamont, Timothy A.C. (2022) Coral reef restoration in Indonesia: A review of policies and projects. Marine Policy, 137. 104940.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/74611/
open
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:74716
2024-02-28T14:29:45Z
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Translating the 10 golden rules of reforestation for coral reef restoration
Quigley, Kate M.
Hein, Margaux
Suggett, David J.
Efforts are accelerating to protect and restore ecosystems globally. With trillions of dollars in ecosystem services at stake, no clear framework exists for developing or prioritizing approaches to restore coral reefs even as efforts and investment opportunities to do so grow worldwide. Restoration may buy time for climate change mitigation, but it lacks rigorous guidance to meet objectives of scalability and effectiveness. Lessons from restoration of terrestrial ecosystems can and should be rapidly adopted for coral reef restoration. We propose how the 10 golden rules of effective forest restoration can be translated to accelerate efforts to restore coral reefs based on established principles of resilience, management, and local stewardship. We summarize steps to undertake reef restoration as a management strategy in the context of the diverse ecosystem service values that coral reefs provide. Outlining a clear blueprint is timely as more stakeholders seek to undertake restoration as the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration begins.
Wiley-Blackwell
2022
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/74716/1/74716.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13890
Quigley, Kate M., Hein, Margaux, and Suggett, David J. (2022) Translating the 10 golden rules of reforestation for coral reef restoration. Conservation Biology, 36 (4). e13890.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/74716/
open
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:75742
2024-02-28T14:26:28Z
7374617475733D707562
74797065733D61727469636C65
When nature needs a helping hand: Different levels of human intervention for mangrove (re-)establishment
Zimmer, Martin
Ajonina, Gordon N.
Amir, A. Aldrie
Crgagg, Simon M.
Crooks, Stephen
Dahdouh-guebas, Farid
Duke, Norman C.
Fratini, Sara
Friess, Daniel A.
Helfer, Véronique
Huxham, Mark
Kathiresan, Kandasamy
Kodikara, K.A. Sunada
Koedam, Nico
Lee, Shing Yip
Mangora, Mwita M.
Primavera, Jurgenne
Satyanarayana, Behara
Yong, Jean Wan Hong
Wodehouse, Dominic
Protecting existing mangrove forests is a priority for global conservation because of the wide range of services that these coastal forests provide to humankind. Despite the recent reduction in global rates of mangrove loss, high historical loss rates mean that there are at least 800,000 ha globally that are potentially suitable for mangrove re-establishment. Recently deposited mud banks or intertidal, previously terrestrial, land might provide additional habitat for expanding mangrove areas locally. There is a long history of mangrove rehabilitation. However, despite numerous good examples of, and growing expertise in, natural or assisted (re-)establishment activities, most mangrove planting efforts, for instance, either fail entirely or meet with only limited success. Exposed to waves and currents and subject to tidal inundation, mangroves differ from terrestrial forests, and approaches to, or tools for, terrestrial forest restoration cannot easily be transferred to mangrove forests. Successful mangrove (re-)establishment usually requires a robust understanding of the abiotic and biotic conditions of the chosen site, the ecological requirements of the mangrove species used or facilitated, the reasons for previous mangrove loss or degradation, as well as the barriers–both societal and ecological–that have prevented natural recovery to date. Because most mangrove forests are socio-ecological systems, with which local human populations are intimately engaged, (re-)establishment will normally require the support of, and engagement with, local communities and other local stakeholders. Here, we summarize where, when and why (re-)establishment of mangroves is needed and how to assess this need. We discuss a range of potential aims and goals of mangrove (re-)establishment along with potential pitfalls along the way from conceiving the initial idea to its realization. We compare different technical and conceptual approaches to mangrove (re-)establishment, their challenges and opportunities, and their design and financial requirements, as well as potential solutions. We ground our final outlook and recommendations on examples of successful efforts and the factors that rendered (re-)establishment successful in the past.
Frontiers Research
2022
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/75742/1/75742.pdf
https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2022.784322
Zimmer, Martin, Ajonina, Gordon N., Amir, A. Aldrie, Crgagg, Simon M., Crooks, Stephen, Dahdouh-guebas, Farid, Duke, Norman C., Fratini, Sara, Friess, Daniel A., Helfer, Véronique, Huxham, Mark, Kathiresan, Kandasamy, Kodikara, K.A. Sunada, Koedam, Nico, Lee, Shing Yip, Mangora, Mwita M., Primavera, Jurgenne, Satyanarayana, Behara, Yong, Jean Wan Hong, and Wodehouse, Dominic (2022) When nature needs a helping hand: Different levels of human intervention for mangrove (re-)establishment. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, 5. 784322.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/75742/
open
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:75827
2024-02-29T15:10:23Z
7374617475733D707562
74797065733D61727469636C65
Restoring habitat for fire-impacted species' across degraded Australian landscapes
Ward, Michelle
Tulloch, Ayesha
Stewart, Romola
Possingham, Hugh P.
Legge, Sarah
Gallagher, Rachael V.
Graham, Erin M.
Southwell, Darren
Keith, David
Dixon, Kingsley
Yong, Chuanji
Carwardine, Josie
Cronin, Tim
Reside, April E.
Watson, James E.M.
In the summer of 2019-2020, southern Australia experienced the largest fires on record, detrimentally impacting the habitat of native species, many of which were already threatened by past and current anthropogenic land use. A large-scale restoration effort to improve degraded species habitat would provide fire-affected species with the chance to recover and persist in burnt and unburnt habitat. To facilitate this, decision-makers require information on priority species needs for restoration intervention, the suite of potential restoration interventions, and the priority locations for applying these interventions. We prioritize actions in areas where restoration would most likely provide cost-effective benefits to priority species (defined by each species proportion of habitat burned, threat status, and vulnerability to fires), by integrating current and future species habitat suitability maps with spatially modelled costs of restoration interventions such as replanting, removing invasive species, and implementing ecologically appropriate fire management. We show that restoring the top similar to 69% (112 million hectares) of the study region (current and future distributions of priority species) accounts for, on average, 95% of current and future habitat for every priority species and costs similar to AUD$73 billion yr(-1) (AUD$650 hectare(-1) yr(-1)) annualized over 30 years. This effort would include restoration actions over 6 million hectares of fire-impacted habitat, costing similar to AUD$8.8 billion/year. Large scale restoration efforts are often costly but can have significant societal co-benefits beyond biodiversity conservation. We also show that up to 291 MtCO2 (similar to 150 Mt DM) of carbon could be sequestered by restoration efforts, resulting in approximately AUD$253 million yr(-1) in carbon market revenue if all carbon was remunerated. Our approach highlights the scale, costs, and benefits of targeted restoration activities both inside and outside of the immediate bushfire footprint over vast areas of different land tenures.
Institute of Physics Publishing
2022
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/75827/1/75827.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac83da
Ward, Michelle, Tulloch, Ayesha, Stewart, Romola, Possingham, Hugh P., Legge, Sarah, Gallagher, Rachael V., Graham, Erin M., Southwell, Darren, Keith, David, Dixon, Kingsley, Yong, Chuanji, Carwardine, Josie, Cronin, Tim, Reside, April E., and Watson, James E.M. (2022) Restoring habitat for fire-impacted species' across degraded Australian landscapes. Environmental Research Letters, 17 (8). 084036.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/75827/
open
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:75893
2024-02-28T14:21:34Z
7374617475733D707562
74797065733D61727469636C65
How to prioritize species recovery after a megafire
Ward, Michelle
Carwardine, Josie
Watson, James E.M.
Pintor, Anna
Stuart, Stephanie
Possingham, Hugh P.
Rhodes, Jonathan R.
Carey, Alexander R.
Auerbach, Nancy
Reside, April
Yong, Chuan Ji
Tulloch, Ayesha I.T.
Due to climate change, megafires are increasingly common and have sudden, extensive impacts on many species over vast areas, leaving decision makers uncertain about how best to prioritize recovery. We devised a decision-support framework to prioritize conservation actions to improve species outcomes immediately after a megafire. Complementary locations are selected to extend recovery actions across all fire-affected species' habitats. We applied our method to areas burned in the 2019-2020 Australian megafires and assessed its conservation advantages by comparing our results with outcomes of a site-richness approach (i.e., identifying areas that cost-effectively recover the most species in any one location). We found that 290 threatened species were likely severely affected and will require immediate conservation action to prevent population declines and possible extirpation. We identified 179 subregions, mostly in southeastern Australia, that are key locations to extend actions that benefit multiple species. Cost savings were over AU$300 million to reduce 95% of threats across all species. Our complementarity-based prioritization also spread postfire management actions across a wider proportion of the study area compared with the site-richness method (43% vs. 37% of the landscape managed, respectively) and put more of each species' range under management (average 90% vs. 79% of every species' habitat managed). In addition to wildfire response, our framework can be used to prioritize conservation actions that will best mitigate threats affecting species following other extreme environmental events (e.g., floods and drought).
Wiley-Blackwell
2022
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/75893/1/75893.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13936
Ward, Michelle, Carwardine, Josie, Watson, James E.M., Pintor, Anna, Stuart, Stephanie, Possingham, Hugh P., Rhodes, Jonathan R., Carey, Alexander R., Auerbach, Nancy, Reside, April, Yong, Chuan Ji, and Tulloch, Ayesha I.T. (2022) How to prioritize species recovery after a megafire. Conservation Biology, 36 (5). e13936.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/75893/
open
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:77597
2024-03-03T15:08:10Z
7374617475733D707562
74797065733D61727469636C65
Coral restoration and adaptation in Australia: The first five years
McLeod, Ian M.
Hein, Margaux Y.
Babcock, Russell
Bay, Line
Bourne, David G.
Cook, Nathan
Doropoulos, Christopher
Gibbs, Mark
Harrison, Peter
Lockie, Stewart
van Oppen, Madeleine J.H.
Mattocks, Neil
Page, Cathie A.
Randall, Carly J.
Smith, Adam
Smith, Hillary A.
Suggett, David J.
Taylor, Bruce
Vella, Karen J.
Wachenfeld, David
Boström-Einarsson, Lisa
While coral reefs in Australia have historically been a showcase of conventional management informed by research, recent declines in coral cover have triggered efforts to innovate and integrate intervention and restoration actions into management frameworks. Here we outline the multi-faceted intervention approaches that have developed in Australia since 2017, from newly implemented in-water programs, research to enhance coral resilience and investigations into socio-economic perspectives on restoration goals. We describe in-water projects using coral gardening, substrate stabilisation, coral repositioning, macro-algae removal, and larval-based restoration techniques. Three areas of research focus are also presented to illustrate the breadth of Australian research on coral restoration, (1) the trans-disciplinary Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program (RRAP), one of the world’s largest research and development programs focused on coral reefs, (2) interventions to enhance coral performance under climate change, and (3) research into socio-cultural perspectives. Together, these projects and the recent research focus reflect an increasing urgency for action to confront the coral reef crisis, develop new and additional tools to manage coral reefs, and the consequent increase in funding opportunities and management appetite for implementation. The rapid progress in trialling and deploying coral restoration in Australia builds on decades of overseas experience, and advances in research and development are showing positive signs that coral restoration can be a valuable tool to improve resilience at local scales (i.e., high early survival rates across a variety of methods and coral species, strong community engagement with local stakeholders). RRAP is focused on creating interventions to help coral reefs at multiple scales, from micro scales (i.e., interventions targeting small areas within a specific reef site) to large scales (i.e., interventions targeting core ecosystem function and social-economic values at multiple select sites across the Great Barrier Reef) to resist, adapt to and recover from the impacts of climate change. None of these interventions aim to single-handedly restore the entirety of the Great Barrier Reef, nor do they negate the importance of urgent climate change mitigation action.
Public Library of Science
2022
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/77597/1/77597.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0273325
McLeod, Ian M., Hein, Margaux Y., Babcock, Russell, Bay, Line, Bourne, David G., Cook, Nathan, Doropoulos, Christopher, Gibbs, Mark, Harrison, Peter, Lockie, Stewart, van Oppen, Madeleine J.H., Mattocks, Neil, Page, Cathie A., Randall, Carly J., Smith, Adam, Smith, Hillary A., Suggett, David J., Taylor, Bruce, Vella, Karen J., Wachenfeld, David, and Boström-Einarsson, Lisa (2022) Coral restoration and adaptation in Australia: The first five years. PLoS ONE, 17 (11). e0273325.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/77597/
open
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:77697
2024-03-03T15:09:23Z
7374617475733D707562
74797065733D61727469636C65
Consequences of the Australian 2019/20 wildfires for sites important for biodiversity and other world heritage values
Ward, Michelle
Watson, James E.M.
Greenville, Aaron
Maurer, Golo
Todd, Stephanie
Geary, William
Tulloch, Ayesha
The 2019/20 wildfire season was devastating for Australia's biodiversity and unprecedented in its extent and severity, yet the consequences for sites important for biodiversity and other world heritage values remain unknown. Here, we summarise the 2019/20 wildfire impacts on key sites set aside for, or identified as being important for, biodiversity, with specific reference to nationally designated protected areas, World Heritage Listings, and Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs). We also explore patterns between burn extent or severity, and underlying landscape characteristics. Over seven months, approximately 10 million hectares (ha) of native vegetation burned. Of these burned landscapes, ~3.2 million ha (41%) were within the Australian protected area estate (n = 815 and impacted >0.1% of each protected area). Six Australian World Heritage Listings were impacted by the 2019/20 wildfires, with the largest impact being in the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area (680, 000 ha or 67% was affected by the fires). The 2019/20 fires impacted over 2 million ha across 69 KBAs. Of these, 18 KBAs had >15% of their area burned. Critically, for the management of intact and recovering forests, we show that the degree of forest integrity and ecosystem intactness affected fire severity: more degraded forests and ecosystems experienced higher severity burns in the protected area estate and KBAs. Recovery for many of these places will require targeted effort and resources to help reduce the likelihood of future megafires, as well as increased resilience in the face of other catastrophic environmental events.
Royal Zoological Society of New South wales
2022
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/77697/1/77697.pdf
https://doi.org/10.7882/AZ.2022.034
Ward, Michelle, Watson, James E.M., Greenville, Aaron, Maurer, Golo, Todd, Stephanie, Geary, William, and Tulloch, Ayesha (2022) Consequences of the Australian 2019/20 wildfires for sites important for biodiversity and other world heritage values. Australian Zoologist, 42 (2). pp. 182-198.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/77697/
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oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:78459
2024-02-29T14:27:54Z
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The framework species method: Harnessing natural regeneration to restore tropical forest ecosystems
Elliott, Stephen
Tucker, Nigel I.J.
Shannon, Dia Panitnard
Tiansawat, Pimonrat
As interest in restoring tropical forests surges, so does the need for effective methods to ensure success. The framework species method (FSM) restores forest ecosystems by densely planting open sites, close to natural forest, with woody species, indigenous to the reference ecosystem and selected for their ability to accelerate ecological succession. Criteria for selecting framework species include: (i) representative of the reference forest ecosystem, (ii) tolerant of open conditions, (iii) ability to suppress weeds, (iv) attractiveness to seed-dispersing animals and (v) easily propagated. The method is effective where forest remnants and viable populations of seed dispersers remain. The origins and elements of the FSM are discussed. We review its adoption in 12 countries. Adherence to original principles was mostly high, but some misuse of the term was evident. The need for clearer definitions was identified. We place the FSM on a scale of restoration methods, matched with degradation levels and compare its establishment costs with those of other methods. Obstacles to its wider adoption, both technical and socio-economic, are discussed, along with how these might be overcome. Finally, the FSM is more clearly defined to facilitate its use in contributing towards the goals of the UN Decade on Restoration. This article is part of the theme issue 'Understanding forest landscape restoration: reinforcing scientific foundations for the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration'.
Royal Society
2023
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/78459/1/78459.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2021.0073
Elliott, Stephen, Tucker, Nigel I.J., Shannon, Dia Panitnard, and Tiansawat, Pimonrat (2023) The framework species method: Harnessing natural regeneration to restore tropical forest ecosystems. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 378 (1867). 20210073.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/78459/
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oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:78860
2024-03-05T14:52:36Z
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Eco-hydrology as a driver for tidal restoration: Observations from a Ramsar wetland in eastern Australia
Glamore, William
Rayner, Duncan
Ruprecht, Jamie
Sadat-Noori, Mahmood
Khojasteh, Danial
Land reclamation projects and the installation of drainage infrastructure has impacted coastal wetlands worldwide. By altering water levels and inundation extent, these activities have changed the viable ecosystems onsite and resulted in the proliferation of freshwater species. As more than 50% of tidal wetlands have been degraded globally over the last 100 years, the importance of this issue is increasingly being recognised and tidal wetland restoration projects are underway worldwide. However, there are currently limited sites where large-scale reintroduction of tidal flushing has been implemented with the explicit aim to foster the growth of a threatened ecosystem. In this study, the tidal restoration of an internationally recognised Ramsar listed wetland in eastern Australia is described to highlight how coastal saltmarsh can be targeted by mimicking inundation depths and hydroperiod across the 410-ha site. Coastal saltmarsh is particularly important to this site as it is part of the east Australasian flyway for migratory birds and the minimum saltmarsh extent, as listed within the Ramsar's limits of acceptable change, have been breached. To recreate coastal saltmarsh habitat onsite, water level and hydroperiod criteria were established based on similar vegetation patterns within the adjacent estuary. A calibrated 2D hydrodynamic model of the site was then used to test how the preferred inundation criteria could be applied to the largest possible restored wetland area. Once optimised, a synthetic tidal signal was implemented onsite via automated hydraulic controls. The onsite vegetation response over an 8- year period was assessed to highlight the ecosystem response to controlled tidal inundation and denoted substantial saltmarsh expansion during the period. The techniques applied onsite have successfully met the restoration targets and can be applied at similar sites worldwide, offsetting sea level rise impacts to natural inundation hydroperiod.
Public Library of Science
2021
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/78860/1/78860.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254701
Glamore, William, Rayner, Duncan, Ruprecht, Jamie, Sadat-Noori, Mahmood, and Khojasteh, Danial (2021) Eco-hydrology as a driver for tidal restoration: Observations from a Ramsar wetland in eastern Australia. PLoS ONE, 16 (8). e0254701.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/78860/
open
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:78951
2024-03-04T14:47:51Z
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Economics and optics influence funding for ecological restoration in a nation-wide program
Engert, Jayden E.
Laurance, Susan G.W.
Australia is a world leader in habitat loss and species extinction, and for many species, ecological restoration will be necessary for continued persistence. Between 2014 and 2018, the Australian federal government allocated a substantial portion of funding for threatened species recovery to a nation-wide ecological restoration program called ‘20 Million Trees Land-care Program’, which included a competitive grant round. By comparing successful and unsuccessful grant applications, we were able to identify factors associated with restoration funding allocation. We then assessed the Program’s ability to provide benefits to threatened species by analyzing the overlap between restoration projects and threatened species habitat. We found that funding allocation under the 20 Million Trees Program was primarily driven by ‘value for money’ factors, specifically ‘cost per tree’ and number of trees planted. Additionally, projects were more likely to be funded if they mentioned threatened species in the description, but less likely to be funded if they actually overlapped with areas of high threatened species richness. Of the 1960 threatened species assessed, we found that only 9 received funding for restoration projects covering more than 1% of their range. Conversely, we found that utilizing alternative project selection schemes, such as alternative ‘value for money’ metrics or spatial planning methods, could have delivered better outcomes for some of the threatened species most impacted by habitat loss. Our results show that inopportune selection criteria for awarding of funding for ecological restoration can significantly reduce the benefits delivered by programs.
Institute of Physics Publishing
2023
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/78951/1/78951.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/accdf2
Engert, Jayden E., and Laurance, Susan G.W. (2023) Economics and optics influence funding for ecological restoration in a nation-wide program. Environmental Research Letters, 18 (5). 054020.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/78951/
open
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:79195
2024-03-04T14:43:07Z
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An integrative framework for sustainable coral reef restoration
Suggett, David J.
Edwards, Melissa
Cotton, Deborah
Hein, Margaux
Camp, Emma F.
Restoration of coral reef ecosystems as a management aid has accelerated globally in response to ever-degrading reef health under climate change. As of 2021, more than US$0.25 billion has been invested into reef restoration activities that are often established without the necessary sustained operational or financial strategies in place to meet their longer-term measurable ecological or social restoration goals. Here we consider that restoration programs must be structured as locally tailored, but globally applicable, social-ecological systems, and hence framed as social-ecological restoration. Such a step is arguably critical for restoration activities to define the economic flows and feedbacks needed for leveraging—and adapting to—diverse finance portfolios that underpin sustained operations. We propose a framework integrating scalability and financing of restoration with the social-ecological system using community-led restoration activity on the Great Barrier Reef. Developing such integrated frameworks must be prioritized to ensure effective reef restoration as global efforts accelerate.
Elsevier
2023
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/79195/1/79195.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2023.05.007
Suggett, David J., Edwards, Melissa, Cotton, Deborah, Hein, Margaux, and Camp, Emma F. (2023) An integrative framework for sustainable coral reef restoration. One Earth, 6 (6). pp. 666-681.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/79195/
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oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:79196
2024-03-04T14:43:08Z
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Principles for coral reef restoration in the anthropocene
Hughes, Terry P.
Baird, Andrew H.
Morrison, Tiffany H.
Torda, Gergely
Coral reefs are critically important ecosystems that support coastal societies and economies throughout the tropical oceans. However, many of the word's coral reefs are already seriously degraded, especially by over-fishing, pollution, and anthropogenic climate change. Consequently, a resurgence of ecological restoration programs is underway in an attempt to halt or reverse reef degradation and to develop new approaches in anticipation of further declines in coming decades. Some forms of rehabilitation of assemblages of corals may be feasible, affordable, and ethical—using currently available methods and capabilities—for very small areas (typically ≪1 km2) of high economic value, such as tourist sites. However, our review of the current and proposed restoration interventions indicates that more ambitious outcomes remain elusive and may even be counter-productive. In light of these challenges, we provide recommendations and a conceptual framework to guide future restoration projects and emerging approaches, highlighting that coral restoration is likely to continue to fail even at small scales unless climate change and other anthropogenic impacts are urgently reduced.
Elsevier
2023
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/79196/1/79196.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2023.04.008
Hughes, Terry P., Baird, Andrew H., Morrison, Tiffany H., and Torda, Gergely (2023) Principles for coral reef restoration in the anthropocene. One Earth, 6 (6). pp. 656-665.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/79196/
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oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:79366
2023-08-11T05:47:59Z
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Refining fine sediment source identification through integration of spatial modelling, concentration monitoring and source tracing: A case study in the Great Barrier Reef catchments
Bainbridge, Zoe
Olley, Jon
Wilkinson, Scott
Bartley, Rebecca
Lewis, Stephen
Dougall, Cameron
Khan, Sana
Kuhnert, Petra
Burton, Joanne
Excess fine sediment delivery is a major contributor to the declining health of the Great Barrier Reef and identifying the
dominant source areas of fine sediment has been critical to prioritising erosion remediation programs. The Bowen
River catchment within the Burdekin Basin has been recognised as a major contributor and hence received considerable
research investment over the last two decades. This study adopts a novel approach to integrate three independently
derived sediment budgets produced from a catchment scale sediment budget model (Dynamic SedNet),
targeted tributary water quality monitoring and geochemical sediment source tracing to refine and map the sediment
source zones within the Bowen catchment. A four year study of water quality monitoring combined with modelled discharge
estimates and geochemical source tracing both identified that the Little Bowen River and Rosella Creek were
the largest sources of sediment in the Bowen River catchment. Both data sets contradicted initial synoptic sediment
budget model predictions due to inadequate representation of hillslope and gully erosion. Recent improvements in
model inputs have resulted in predictions that are consistent with the field data and are of finer resolution within
the identified source areas. Priorities for further investigation of erosion processes are also revealed. Examining the
benefits and limitations of each method indicates that these are complimentary methods which can effectively be used as multiple lines of evidence. An integrated dataset such as this provides a higher level of certainty in the prediction
of fine sediment sources than a single line of evidence dataset or model. The use of high quality, integrated
datasets to inform catchment management prioritisation will provide greater confidence for decision makers when
investing in catchment management.
Elsevier
2023
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/79366/1/79366.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164731
Bainbridge, Zoe, Olley, Jon, Wilkinson, Scott, Bartley, Rebecca, Lewis, Stephen, Dougall, Cameron, Khan, Sana, Kuhnert, Petra, and Burton, Joanne (2023) Refining fine sediment source identification through integration of spatial modelling, concentration monitoring and source tracing: A case study in the Great Barrier Reef catchments. Science of the Total Environment, 10. 164731.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/79366/
open
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:79408
2023-08-18T19:30:08Z
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The role of community-based Hubs in reef restoration: Collaborative monitoring at Moore Reef
Scott, Abbi
Chartrand, Katie
Curnock, Matt
Taylor, Bruce
Loder, Jennifer
Forster, Rebecca
Randall, Carly
Fisher, Eric
Donnelly, Ryan
Kish, Hannah
Murgha, Brian
The Cairns-Port Douglas region is home to multiple coral rehabilitation and stewardship projects supported by scientists, Traditional Owners, and a range of local stakeholders. The Cairns-Port Douglas Reef Hub has been a platform for collaboration across Traditional Owners, tourism operators, not-for-profits and scientists from the Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program (AIMS and CSIRO) to design and deliver a project at Moore Reef that assesses how new techniques for assisted coral recovery can be applied in rubble habitats. The collaborative project evaluates the viability of newly engineered coral seeding devices developed by AIMS, for deploying coral recruits that were spawned in the National Sea Simulator in December 2022 to sites at Moore Reef close to tourist pontoons. This project provides important data to inform future scaling up of restoration activities and provides a model for active involvement of a range of partners. Through this work, the project builds understanding around key ingredients for best-practice, place-based engagement opportunities for Reef communities and the general public.
Australian Marine Sciences Association
2023
Conference Item
NonPeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/79408/1/79408.pdf
Scott, Abbi, Chartrand, Katie, Curnock, Matt, Taylor, Bruce, Loder, Jennifer, Forster, Rebecca, Randall, Carly, Fisher, Eric, Donnelly, Ryan, Kish, Hannah, and Murgha, Brian (2023) The role of community-based Hubs in reef restoration: Collaborative monitoring at Moore Reef. In: [Presented at the Australian Marine Sciences Association Conference 2023]. From: Australian Marine Sciences Association Conference 2023: Science in Sea Country, 2-7 July 2023, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/79408/
open
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:79568
2023-07-27T01:36:46Z
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The evolving landscape of sea-level rise science from 1990 to 2021
Khojasteh, Danial
Haghani, Milad
Nicholls, Robert
Moftakhari, Hamed
Sadat Noori, Mahmood
Mach, Katharine J.
Fagherazzi, Sergio
Vafeidis, Athanasios T.
Barbier, Edward
Shamsipour, Abbas
Glamore, William
As sea-level rise (SLR) accelerates due to climate change, its multidisciplinary field of science has similarly expanded, from 41 articles published in 1990 to 1475 articles published in 2021, and nearly 15,000 articles published in the Web of Science over this 32-year period. Here, big-data bibliometric techniques are adopted to systematically analyse this large literature set. Four main research clusters (themes) emerge: (I) geological dimensions and sea-level indicators, (II) impacts, risks, and adaptation, (III) physical components of sea-level change, and (IV) coastal ecosystems and habitats, with 16 associated sub-themes. This analysis provides insights into the evolution of research agendas, the challenges and opportunities for future assessments (e.g. next IPCC reports), and growing focus on adaptation. For example, the relative importance of sub-themes evolves consistently with a relative decline in pure science analysis towards solution-focused topics associated with SLR risks such as high-end rises, declining ecosystem services, flood hazards, and coastal erosion/squeeze.
Nature Publishing Group
2023
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/79568/2/79568.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-00920-4
Khojasteh, Danial, Haghani, Milad, Nicholls, Robert, Moftakhari, Hamed, Sadat Noori, Mahmood, Mach, Katharine J., Fagherazzi, Sergio, Vafeidis, Athanasios T., Barbier, Edward, Shamsipour, Abbas, and Glamore, William (2023) The evolving landscape of sea-level rise science from 1990 to 2021. Communications Earth & Environment, 4. 257.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/79568/
open
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:80195
2023-08-29T02:04:56Z
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74797065733D6D6F6E6F6772617068
Reef Restoration Foundation Fitzroy Island Coral Habitat Assessment: June 2021
Chartrand, K.M.
Carter, A.B.
[Extract] This document outlines the results of a rapid baseline habitat assessment completed in June 2021 of a subsection of Welcome Bay under consideration for coral outplanting and the trialing of new outplanting methods by Reef Restoration Foundation (RRF). The objective of this survey was to produce a baseline assessment benthic habitat composition to inform planning for outplanting of both fragments directly onto consolidated reef structure as well as to trial new outplanting techniques developed by RRF in suitable areas of open substrate. Data was collected in June 2021 by the TropWATER research team in collaboration with Reef Restoration staff.
TropWATER, James Cook University
2021
Report
NonPeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/80195/1/Final%20Report%20RRF%20Fitzroy%20Habitat%20Assessment%20June%202021.pdf
https://www.tropwater.com/publications/technical-reports/
Chartrand, K.M., and Carter, A.B. (2021) Reef Restoration Foundation Fitzroy Island Coral Habitat Assessment: June 2021. Report. TropWATER, James Cook University, Cairns, QLD, Australia.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/80195/
restricted
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:80196
2023-08-31T00:08:09Z
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Progress Report: MARRS Monitoring Trial at Moore Reef – June 2022
Chartrand, K.M.
Carter, A.B.
Hoffmann, L.
Smith, T.
This report outlines the initial findings from an ongoing pilot study of the Mars Assisted Reef Restoration System (MARRS) at Moore Reef. The study is a collaboration between Mars Sustainable Solutions, Experience Co. and TropWATER (James Cook University). This review includes all data collected from May 2020 through November 2021 and includes the analysis of seven different indicators to assess the effectiveness and impact the Reef Star installation is having to date.
The MARRS method employs coated steel structures (Reef Stars), to which coral fragments are attached, to fill gaps between remaining natural live coral rubble and provides a base for habitat recovery and natural increases in coral biodiversity over time.
TropWATER, James Cook University
2022
Report
NonPeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/80196/1/FINAL_MARRS%20report%20July2022.pdf
Chartrand, K.M., Carter, A.B., Hoffmann, L., and Smith, T. (2022) Progress Report: MARRS Monitoring Trial at Moore Reef – June 2022. Report. TropWATER, James Cook University, Cairns, QLD, Australia.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/80196/
restricted
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:80207
2023-08-30T02:01:33Z
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Scaling up coral restoration using innovative Symbiodinium co‐culture and mass larval supply on reefs
Harrison, Peter
Chartrand, Katie
Suggett, David
This report provides details of the research and outcomes from the Great Barrier Reef Innovation Challenge Proof of Concept 2019-20120 Research Project TF6.7.7 ‘Scaling up coral restoration using innovative Symbiodinium co‐culture and mass larval supply on reefs’. This project is a collaboration between Professor Peter Harrison (Southern Cross University, Lismore), Katie Chartrand (James Cook University, Cairns), Associate Professor David Suggett (University of Technology, Sydney) with Aroona Boat Charters (Ross Miller) and Reef Magic Cruises (Eric Fisher). During the project we also further developed active partnership networks with Citizens of the GBR, Biopixel, local Yirrganydji and Gunggandji Land and Sea Rangers, and other small businesses in the Cairns region, enabled by a GBRMPA research permit.
The aim of the project is to further develop innovative methods for scaling up coral restoration by mass culturing reef coral larvae and Symbiodiniaceae microalgal photosymbionts, co‐culturing larvae and photosymbionts, and enhancing larval supply on damaged reefs to significantly increase the settlement and recruitment success of juvenile corals. Additional objectives include expanding the use of LIFT‐FRRf fluorometry for diagnosing ‘desired’ types of heat‐tolerant Symbiodiniaceae and quantifying photosynthetic performance, and expanding partnerships with local reef tourism operators, Traditional Owners and media groups.
James Cook University
2020
Report
NonPeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/80207/7/80207.pdf
Harrison, Peter, Chartrand, Katie, and Suggett, David (2020) Scaling up coral restoration using innovative Symbiodinium co‐culture and mass larval supply on reefs. Report. James Cook University, Cairns, QLD, Australia.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/80207/
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oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:80224
2023-08-30T19:30:13Z
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Reef Cooperative Coming Together as One
Singleton, Tarquin
Concannon, Tess
Singleton, Gavin
McArdle, Alicia
Chartrand, Katie
Ridley, Andy
Fisher, Eric
Cameron, Kerry
Murgha, Brian
The Reef Cooperative is a group of colleagues with a shared vision coming together to look after Sea Country and to better understand the reef through the combination of traditional ecological knowledge and contemporary science. The mutual partners of the Reef Cooperative are First Nations Corporations, Reef Tourism Operators, Conservationists, Universities, and Corporate Enterprises. Our philosophy is recognition first, inform early, seek consent, inclusion and follow Traditional Owners protocols. The objective is to present a 21 century conservation model, which has created two fulltime positions. All projects are co-designed and co-managed with Traditional Owners. The Reef Cooperative currently operates on both Yirrganydji and Gunggandji Sea Country off the coast of Cairns and Yarrabah. Our achievements to date includes are the fabrication and installation of Mars Reef Stars and Coral Larval Reseeding. These projects involved both Yirrganydji and Gunggandji rangers, consultations, community days, cultural awareness, and approvals from Traditional Owners. These are the building blocks of our partnership. The key objective to this partnership is to have Traditional Owners involved at all levels of management and making sure cultural knowledge is recognised and safeguarded. This presentation will cover how the partnership works and the barriers we’ve overcome.
Australian Marine Sciences Association
2023
Conference Item
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/80224/1/AMSA2023_Reef%20Cooperative%20Coming%20Together%20as%20One.pdf
Singleton, Tarquin, Concannon, Tess, Singleton, Gavin, McArdle, Alicia, Chartrand, Katie, Ridley, Andy, Fisher, Eric, Cameron, Kerry, and Murgha, Brian (2023) Reef Cooperative Coming Together as One. In: [Presented at the Australian Marine Sciences Association Conference 2023]. From: Australian Marine Sciences Association Conference 2023: Science in Sea Country, 2-7 July 2023, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/80224/
restricted
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:80225
2023-08-30T01:08:35Z
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Stay or spray? Evaluating larval delivery strategies in a multi-partner coral reef restoration project across Gunggandji and Yirrganydji Sea Country
Cameron, Kerry
Chartrand, Katie
Cameron, Grant
Miller, Ross
Shepherd, Lloyd
Concannon, Tess
Singleton, Tarquin
Coral reef ecosystems are declining globally, accelerating development and uptake of coral reef restoration methodologies. Supplying coral larvae directly to natural substrata can re-establish corals on degraded coral reefs and is one of the reef restoration methods being applied through the Reef Co-operative, a new collaboration between Traditional Owners, scientists, tourism operators and a conservation group. Working together, we captured coral spawn at Moore Reef on Gunggandji Sea Country, raised the larvae until competent, then transferred 6 million to recruitment-limited Hastings Reef on Yirrganydji Sea Country for settlement. We investigated the effect of different larval delivery methods on settlement, including under two sizes of larval containment net and spraying larvae directly onto the reef with no containment. Settlement was highest when larvae were delivered under the smallest nets placed over the least irregular natural substratum. The manageable size of these nets was a positive attribute for our diverse team with varying prior experience in field work like this, but they were also the most resource intensive to produce and deploy. Our results illustrate the trade-offs between high larval settlement rates, cost-effectiveness and manageability of larval delivery methods, particularly for multi-partner projects with social as well as environmental objectives.
Australian Marine Science Association
2023
Conference Item
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/80225/1/Cameron%20et%20al%20Stay%20or%20spray%20AMSA%202023.pdf
Cameron, Kerry, Chartrand, Katie, Cameron, Grant, Miller, Ross, Shepherd, Lloyd, Concannon, Tess, and Singleton, Tarquin (2023) Stay or spray? Evaluating larval delivery strategies in a multi-partner coral reef restoration project across Gunggandji and Yirrganydji Sea Country. In: [Presented at the Australian Marine Sciences Association Conference 2023]. From: Australian Marine Sciences Association Conference 2023: Science in Sea Country, 2-7 July 2023, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/80225/
restricted
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:80531
2024-03-04T14:16:08Z
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74797065733D61727469636C65
Sea-weeding: Manual removal of macroalgae facilitates rapid coral recovery
Smith, Hillary A.
Fulton, Stella E.
McLeod, Ian M.
Page, Cathie A.
Bourne, David G.
Coral reef ecosystems globally are under threat, leading to declining coral cover and macroalgal proliferation. Manually removing macroalgae (i.e. ‘sea-weeding’) may promote local-scale coral recovery by reducing a biological barrier, though the impact of removal on community composition of benthic reef organisms has not been quantified. In this three-year study (2018–2021), fleshy macroalgae (predominantly Sargassum spp.) were periodically removed from 25 m2 experimental plots on two inshore fringing reefs of Yunbenun (Magnetic Island) in the central Great Barrier Reef. By the end of the study, coral cover in removal plots (n = 12 plots) assessed through in-field transects increased by at least 47% (2019 mean: 25.5%, 2021 mean: 37.4%), and macroalgal cover decreased by more than half. In contrast, in control plots (n = 12 plots), there was no change in macroalgal cover while coral cover remained stable (2019 mean: 16.4%, 2021 mean: 13.6%). Changes in benthic cover were supported by photoquadrat data, with Bayesian probability modelling indicating a 100% likelihood that coral cover more than doubled in removal plots over the study period, compared to only a 29% chance of increased coral cover in control plots. Synthesis and applications. Manual macroalgal removal can provide rapid benefits and enhance inshore coral reef recovery. Through involvement of community groups and citizen scientists, larger scale removal of macroalgae is a low-tech, high-impact, and achievable method for local reef management.
Wiley-Blackwell
2023
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/80531/1/80531.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.14502
Smith, Hillary A., Fulton, Stella E., McLeod, Ian M., Page, Cathie A., and Bourne, David G. (2023) Sea-weeding: Manual removal of macroalgae facilitates rapid coral recovery. Journal of Applied Ecology. (In Press)
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/80531/
open
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:80928
2024-02-29T15:11:55Z
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Restoring Tropical Forests: Lessons Learned from Case Studies on Three Continents
Tucker, Nigel I.J.
Elliott, Stephen
Holl, Karen D.
Zahawi, Rakan A.
Restoring the structural complexity and functional diversity of tropical rainforest is not possible in human time scales but knowledge of the process has significantly increased over the past three decades. Strategies to restore tropical forests must build on theories of community assembly and succession, as well as understanding of both the local ecological and human communities. In this chapter, we discuss three long-term tropical forest restoration case studies in Australia, Costa Rica, and Thailand, each using specific approaches tailored to overcome local ecological, cultural, and socioeconomic constraints. Differences are apparent in the intensity of restoration intervention adopted to manage ecological issues, and in the way local cultures, prevailing socioeconomic conditions, and therefore costs can influence outcomes. Based on the unifying threads identified, we detail key factors essential to recovering tropical biodiversity whilst protecting the livelihoods of landholders on whose land restoration is most likely to occur.
Springer Cham
Florentine, Singarayer
Broadhurst, Linda
Gibson-Roy, Paul
Dixon, Kingsley
2023
Book Chapter
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/80928/1/80928.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25412-3_3
Tucker, Nigel I.J., Elliott, Stephen, Holl, Karen D., and Zahawi, Rakan A. (2023) Restoring Tropical Forests: Lessons Learned from Case Studies on Three Continents. In: Florentine, Singarayer, Broadhurst, Linda, Gibson-Roy, Paul, and Dixon, Kingsley, (eds.) Ecological Restoration: Moving Forward Using Lessons Learned. Springer Cham, Cham, Switzerland, pp. 63-101.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/80928/
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oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:80929
2024-02-29T15:11:57Z
7374617475733D707562
74797065733D626F6F6B5F73656374696F6E
Using Degree of Natural Regeneration Potential to Guide Selection of Plant Community Restoration Approaches at a Restoration Site
McDonald, Tein
Chazdon, Robin
Prach, Karel
Tucker, Nigel
Venkataraman, Ramesh
Graham, Laura
Rinaudo, Tony
Shono, Kenichi
Polster, David
Cook, Damien
This chapter draws on global case study literature and eight case studies (from seven continents) to argue the benefits of adopting a resilience-based approach to plant community restoration site assessment and treatment prescription. We propose that identifying a range of restoration ‘approaches’ to returning plant species to a site (involving levels of natural regeneration and/or levels of reintroduction) can help practitioners better match their interventions to the site’s degree of degradation. The chapter’s literature review and case studies show that (i) high biodiversity outcomes can be achieved, often at lower cost, in cases where natural regeneration potential persists and is harnessed and that (ii) resilience assessment will help refine understanding about what species are missing and guide effective and efficient strategies for reintroduction on sites where resilience is fully or partially depleted.
Springer Cham
Florentine, Singarayer
Broadhurst, Linda
Gibson-Roy, Paul
Dixon, Kingsley
2023
Book Chapter
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/80929/1/80929.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25412-3_7
McDonald, Tein, Chazdon, Robin, Prach, Karel, Tucker, Nigel, Venkataraman, Ramesh, Graham, Laura, Rinaudo, Tony, Shono, Kenichi, Polster, David, and Cook, Damien (2023) Using Degree of Natural Regeneration Potential to Guide Selection of Plant Community Restoration Approaches at a Restoration Site. In: Florentine, Singarayer, Broadhurst, Linda, Gibson-Roy, Paul, and Dixon, Kingsley, (eds.) Ecological Restoration: Moving Forward Using Lessons Learned. Springer Cham, Cham, Switzerland, pp. 241-285.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/80929/
restricted
oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:81525
2024-03-27T01:30:32Z
7374617475733D707562
74797065733D61727469636C65
Lessons learned implementing mineral accretion and coral gardening at Agincourt Reef, Great Barrier Reef
Cook, Nathan
Cook, Kailash
Harris, Kaitlyn J.
Songcuan, Al
Smith, Adam
The health and diversity of coral reefs are critically important to the stability and value of the marine tourism industry. Declines in coral reef health through climate change impacts and cyclones, and associated media coverage, have impacted tourism visitation. In January 2018, a major change in Australian Government policy included a Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program to investigate the best science and technology options for helping the Great Barrier Reef recover and adapt to the changing environment. We report on a trial of two intervention methods, mineral accretion and coral gardening, to improve hard coral recovery at a popular site on the Great Barrier Reef. We installed six artificial reef substrates onto which an equal number of coral fragments of seven species were transplanted over the course of two years. During this time, three of the six treatments were connected to a low-voltage power source to encourage mineral accretion and enhance coral growth. Electrolysis resulted in substantial mineral accretion on the steel substrate, however, the technology had no positive effect on the survival or growth of transplanted coral colonies. After 13 months, a second round of transplanted coral fragments was undertaken, and the electrolysis was discontinued. Over a four-year period, mean live coral cover increased significantly in both treatment locations, from 1.7% and 0% to 80.8% and 75.8%, respectively. Control locations increased insignificantly from a mean of 5% to 14.2%. The mineral accretion technology proved technically challenging and did not support the growth or health of transplanted corals, providing no evidence to support the use of mineral accretion technology for this purpose. The technology may, however, have applications in the creation of new, solid substrates and for initial rubble stabilisation efforts. These results demonstrate the effective use of artificial substrates in conjunction with coral gardening techniques for the recovery of hard coral at degraded tourism sites.
Wiley-Blackwell
2023
Article
PeerReviewed
application/pdf
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/81525/1/81525.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1111/emr.12585
Cook, Nathan, Cook, Kailash, Harris, Kaitlyn J., Songcuan, Al, and Smith, Adam (2023) Lessons learned implementing mineral accretion and coral gardening at Agincourt Reef, Great Barrier Reef. Ecological Management & Restoration, 24 (2-3). pp. 107-118.
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/81525/
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