Towards quantifying carrion biomass in ecosystems
- Authors: Barton, Philip , Evans, Maldwyn , Foster, Claire , Pechal, Jennifer , Bump, Joseph
- Date: 2019
- Type: Text , Journal article , Review
- Relation: Trends in Ecology and Evolution Vol. 34, no. 10 (2019), p. 950-961
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: The decomposition of animal biomass (carrion) contributes to the recycling of energy and nutrients through ecosystems. Whereas the role of plant decomposition in ecosystems is broadly recognised, the significance of carrion to ecosystem functioning remains poorly understood. Quantitative data on carrion biomass are lacking and there is no clear pathway towards improved knowledge in this area. Here, we present a framework to show how quantities derived from individual carcasses can be scaled up using population metrics, allowing for comparisons among ecosystems and other forms of biomass. Our framework facilitates the generation of new data that is critical to building a quantitative understanding of the contribution of carrion to trophic processes and ecosystem stocks and flows. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. **Please note that there are multiple authors for this article therefore only the name of the first 5 including Federation University Australia affiliate “Philip Barton” is provided in this record**
A long-term habitat fragmentation experiment leads to morphological change in a species of carabid beetle
- Authors: Evans, Maldwyn , Banks, Sam , Barton, Philip , Davies, Kendi , Driscoll, Don
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Ecological Entomology Vol. 43, no. 3 (2018), p. 282-293
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: 1. Habitat fragmentation and transformation are key drivers of species declines in landscapes. Most of the current understanding of species' responses to environmental change originates from studies of populations and communities. However, phenotypic variation offers another key aspect of species responses and could provide additional insights into the functional drivers of population change. 2. The goal of this study was to address this gap by exploring the morphological changes of a species of carabid beetle (Notonomus resplendens) with a known population response to the Wog Wog Habitat Fragmentation Experiment in Australia. We measured morphological traits associated with body size, head width, and dispersal ability. We quantified patterns of morphological variation over time and between native Eucalyptus forest fragments and the surrounding pine plantation matrix and the continuous intact native Eucalyptus forest controls. 3. We found sexually dimorphic morphological changes in response to the experimental treatments. Males increased in size, had larger legs and had smaller interocular widths in the matrix in both the short and long terms. Conversely, females became comparatively smaller and had increased interocular widths in the same treatments. Effects in the fragments were similar to those in the matrix, but exhibited more uncertainty. 4. Our results demonstrate that species can show morphological change in response to environmental change over very short time periods. We demonstrate that using both population and morphological data allows stronger inferences about the mechanisms behind species responses to environmental change. © 2017 The Royal Entomological Society
Beetle’s responses to edges in fragmented landscapes are driven by adjacent farmland use, season and cross-habitat movement
- Authors: Ng, Katherine , Barton, Philip , Macfadyen, Sarina , Lindenmayer, David , Driscoll, Don
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Landscape Ecology Vol. 33, no. 1 (2018), p. 109-125
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Context: Farming practices influence the degree of contrast between adjoining habitats, with consequences for biodiversity and species movement. Little is known, however, on insect community responses to different kinds of edges over time, and the extent of cross-habitat movement in agricultural landscapes. Objective: To determine temporal changes in beetle responses to different farmland-woodland edges, and document cross-habitat movement. Methods: We examined species richness, abundance, and movement across edges between remnant woodlands and four farmland uses (plantings, fallow, annual crops, woody debris applied over crops post-harvest) in southeastern Australia. We used directional pitfall traps to infer movement, and sampled at edges, and 20 and 200 m on both sides of edges, during spring and summer. Results: Detritivore and predator abundance varied between seasons across the edge between woodlands and all farmlands, but seasonal differences were weaker for fallow-woodland and woody debris-woodland edges. Detritivores moved from farmlands towards woodlands, but not across fallow-woodlands and woody debris-woodlands edges during summer. During summer, predators showed short-range movement towards edges from all farmlands except plantings, and towards woody debris from woodlands. Edges showed temporally stable predator richness and higher herbivore richness than adjoining habitats. Conclusions: Farmland use and season interactively affect beetle abundance across farmland-woodland edges. Woody debris can reduce seasonal fluctuations in beetle edge responses and increase permeability for cross-habitat movement, while plantings provide habitat during summer. Edges provide important resources for beetles in adjoining habitats, however, seasonal movement of predators specifically into edges may affect prey assemblages—a link requiring further study. © 2017, Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
Conservation conundrums and the challenges of managing unexplained declines of multiple species
- Authors: Lindenmayer, David , Wood, Jeff , MacGregor, Christopher , Foster, Claire , Barton, Philip
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Biological Conservation Vol. 221, no. (2018), p. 279-292
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: The conventional approach to conserving threatened biota is to identify drivers of decline, instigate actions to mitigate threatening processes, and monitor interventions to test their effectiveness and ensure target species recover. In Australia, predation by introduced predators is a threatening process for many native mammals. Here we report the results of a 15 year monitoring study in an iconic Australian reserve, Booderee National Park, where exotic Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) populations have been controlled through an intensive poison baiting program since 2003. Unexpectedly, we documented the collapse of native mammal fauna during this period, including fully arboreal species that should be largely unaffected by fox predation – such as the nationally Vulnerable Greater Glider (Petauroides volans) and Common Ringtail Possum (Pseudocheirus peregrinus). We used path analysis to explore potential causes of these unexpected declines. We found no compelling evidence to support hypotheses that competition with increasing native species, native predator release, or increases in native herbivores underpinned mammal declines. Beyond the path analysis, data from other studies completed both inside Booderee National Park and outside (where intensive fox baiting does not occur yet depleted fauna species remain), allowed us to rule out several drivers of change. The temporal declines we documented for arboreal marsupials were not anticipated nor explained by any clear mechanism. We propose the use of experimentally-guided reintroductions and translocations to: (1) restore empty niches such as the currently vacant apex mammal predator niche, (2) reconstruct the now depleted arboreal marsupial guild, and (3) further test key hypotheses associated with mammal decline. We also suggest that given the potential for perverse outcomes following large-scale management interventions (even those where there is high confidence of success), wildlife managers should consider maintaining reference areas (where there is no management intervention). Finally, as the declines we documented were unexpected and rapid, there is a clear need to develop more sensitive early warning signals to alert conservation managers to impending problems, allowing them to alter management regimes before major declines occur. © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. **Please note that there are multiple authors for this article therefore only the name of the first 5 including Federation University Australia affiliate “Philip Barton is provided in this record**
Cross-taxonomic surrogates for biodiversity conservation in human-modified landscapes – A multi-taxa approach
- Authors: Yong, Ding , Barton, Philip , Ikin, Karen , Evans, Maldwyn , Crane, Mason
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Biological Conservation Vol. 224, no. (2018), p. 336-346
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Cross-taxonomic surrogates are often used in conservation planning because inventorying large suites of taxa is either not feasible or too costly. However, cross-taxonomic surrogates are seldom tested rigorously using both correlational and representation-based approaches at the spatial scales at which conservation management occurs. Here, we evaluated the effectiveness of five ecologically contrasting taxa (birds, herpetofauna, wild bees, beetles, trees) as cross-taxonomic surrogates in native woodland patches within a heavily modified, farming and plantation-dominated landscape. We first compared species richness and compositional heterogeneity across taxa before testing for cross-taxonomic congruence using a correlative approach. We then quantified how well each taxon incidentally represented other taxa in their best patch sets, and the costs of doing so using a complementarity-based approach. We found significant pairwise associations between some taxa (birds, bees), but no single taxon was strongly correlated with all other taxa. Woodland patch sets prioritised for beetles represented other taxa best, followed by birds, but were the costliest and required the largest amount of woodland. This contrasted with patch sets prioritised for wild bees or herpetofauna, which achieved higher representation of other taxa at lower costs. Our study highlighted the influence of taxon-specific patterns of diversity and heterogeneity on how remnant vegetation patches should be prioritised for conservation, a consideration not immediately obvious in correlative analyses of surrogacy. Second, taxa that are not the most speciose (e.g. wild bees) can be efficient surrogates, achieving higher incidental representation for other taxa at lower costs. Thus, while species-rich taxa are ideal as surrogates for prioritising conservation, conservation planners should not overlook the potential of less speciose taxa such as bees, while considering the cost-effectiveness of surveying multiple different taxa. © 2018. **Please note that there are multiple authors for this article therefore only the name of the first 5 including Federation University Australia affiliate “Philip Barton" is provided in this record**
Disentangling the effects of farmland use, habitat edges, and vegetation structure on ground beetle morphological traits
- Authors: Ng, Katherina , Barton, Philip , Blanchard, Wade , Evans, Maldwyn , Lindenmayer, David
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Oecologia Vol. 188, no. 3 (2018), p. 645-657
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Land-use change due to agriculture has a major influence on arthropod biodiversity, and may influence species differently depending on their traits. It is unclear how species traits vary across different land uses and their edges, with most studies focussing on single habitat types and overlooking edge effects. We examined variation in morphological traits of carabid beetles (Coleoptera:Carabidae) on both sides of edges between woodlands and four adjoining, but contrasting farmland uses in an agricultural landscape. We asked: (1) how do traits differ between woodlands and different adjoining farmland uses (crop, fallow, restoration planting, and woody debris applied over crop), and do effects depend on increasing distances from the farmland–woodland edge? (2) Does vegetation structure explain observed effects of adjoining farmland use and edge effects on these traits? We found that carabid communities varied in body size and shape, including traits associated with diet, robustness, and visual ability. Smaller sized species were associated with woodlands and larger sized species with farmlands. Farmland use further influenced these associations, where woodlands adjoining plantings supported smaller species, while fallows and crops supported larger species. Vegetation structure significantly influenced body size, flying ability, and body shape, and helped explain the effects of farmland use and distance from edges on body size. We highlight the important role of vegetation structure, farmland use, and edge effects in filtering the morphological traits of carabid assemblages across a highly modified agricultural landscape. Our findings suggest that farmland management can influence body size and dispersal-related traits in farmland and adjacent native vegetation. © 2018, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature. **Please note that there are multiple authors for this article therefore only the name of the first 5 including Federation University Australia affiliate “Philip Barton” is provided in this record**
Dynamic effects of ground-layer plant communities on beetles in a fragmented farming landscape
- Authors: Ng, Katherina , McIntyre, Sue , Macfadyen, Sarina , Barton, Philip , Driscoll, Don , Lindenmayer, David
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Biodiversity and Conservation Vol. 27, no. 9 (2018), p. 2131-2153
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Vegetation effects on arthropods are well recognized, but it is unclear how different vegetation attributes might influence arthropod assemblages across mixed-agricultural landscapes. Understanding how plant communities influence arthropods under different habitat and seasonal contexts can identify vegetation management options for arthropod biodiversity. We examined relationships between vegetation structure, plant species richness and plant species composition, and the diversity and composition of beetles in different habitats and time periods. We asked: (1) What is the relative importance of plant species richness, vegetation structure and plant composition in explaining beetle species richness, activity-density and composition? (2) How do plant-beetle relationships vary between different habitats over time? We sampled beetles using pitfall traps and surveyed vegetation in three habitats (woodland, farmland, their edges) during peak crop growth in spring and post-harvest in summer. Plant composition better predicted beetle composition than vegetation structure. Both plant richness and vegetation structure significantly and positively affected beetle activity-density. The influence of all vegetation attributes often varied in strength and direction between habitats and seasons for all trophic groups. The variable nature of plant-beetle relationships suggests that vegetation management could be targeted at specific habitats and time periods to maximize positive outcomes for beetle diversity. In particular, management that promotes plant richness at edges, and promotes herbaceous cover during summer, can support beetle diversity. Conserving ground cover in all habitats may improve activity-density of all beetle trophic groups. The impacts of existing weed control strategies in Australian crop margins on arthropod biodiversity require further study. © 2018, Springer Science+Business Media B.V., part of Springer Nature.
Effects of fire regime on plant species richness and composition differ among forest, woodland and heath vegetation
- Authors: Foster, Claire , Barton, Philip , MacGregor, Christopher , Catford, Jane , Blanchard, Wade , Lindenmayer, David
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Applied Vegetation Science Vol. 21, no. 1 (2018), p. 132-143
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Question: Do the effects of fire regimes on plant species richness and composition differ among floristically similar vegetation types?. Location: Booderee National Park, south-eastern Australia. Methods: We completed floristic surveys of 87 sites in Sydney Coastal dry sclerophyll vegetation, where fire history records have been maintained for over 55 years. We tested for associations between different aspects of the recent fire history and plant species richness and composition, and whether these relationships were consistent among structurally defined forest, woodland and heath vegetation types. Results: The relationship between fire regime variables and plant species richness and composition differed among vegetation types, despite the three vegetation types having similar species pools. Fire frequency was positively related to species richness in woodland, negatively related to species richness in heath, and unrelated to species richness in forest. These different relationships were explained by differences in the associations between fire history and species traits among vegetation types. The negative relationship between fire frequency and species richness in heath vegetation was underpinned by reduced occurrence of resprouting species at high fire frequency sites (more than four fires in 55 years). However, in forest and woodland vegetation, resprouting species were not negatively associated with fire frequency. Conclusions: We hypothesize that differing relationships among vegetation types were underpinned by differences in fire behaviour, and/or biotic and abiotic conditions, leading to differences in plant species mortality and post-fire recovery among vegetation types. Our findings suggest that even when there is a high proportion of shared species between vegetation types, fires can have very different effects on vegetation communities, depending on the structural vegetation type. Both research and management of fire regimes may therefore benefit from considering vegetation types as separate management units. © 2017 International Association for Vegetation Science
Reptiles and frogs use most land cover types as habitat in a fine-grained agricultural landscape
- Authors: Pulsford, Stephanie , Barton, Philip , Driscoll, Don , Kay, Geoffrey , Lindenmayer, David
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Austral Ecology Vol. 43, no. 5 (2018), p. 502-513
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Agricultural landscapes comprise much of the earth's terrestrial surface. However, knowledge about how animals use and move through these landscapes is limited, especially for small and cryptic taxa, such as reptiles and amphibians. We aimed to understand the influence of land use on reptile and frog movement in a fine-grained grazing landscape. We surveyed reptiles and frogs using pitfall and funnel traps in transects located in five land use types: 1) woodland remnants, 2) grazed pastures, 3) coarse woody debris added to grazed pastures, 4) fences in grazed pastures and 5) linear plantings within grazed pastures. We found that the different land cover types influenced the types and distances moved by different species and groups of species. Reptiles moved both within, and out of, grazed paddocks more than they did in woodland remnants. In contrast, frogs exhibited varying movement behaviours. The smooth toadlet (Uperoleia laevigata) moved more often and longer distances within remnants than within paddocks. The spotted marsh frog (Limnodynastes tasmaniensis) moved out of grazed pastures more than out of pastures with coarse woody debris added or fences and were never recaptured in plantings. We found that most recaptured reptiles and frogs (76.3%) did not move between trapping arrays, which added to evidence that they perceived most of the land cover types as habitat. We suggest that even simple fences may provide conduits for movement in the agricultural landscape for frogs. Otherwise, most reptile and frog species used all land cover types as habitat, though of varying quality. Reptiles appeared to perceive the woodland remnants as the highest quality habitat. This landscape is fine-grained which may facilitate movement and persistence due to high heterogeneity in vegetation cover over short distances. Therefore, intensification and increasing the size of human land use may have negative impacts on these taxa. © 2018 Ecological Society of Australia
Seal carrion is a predictable resource for coastal ecosystems
- Authors: Quaggiotto, Maria-Martina , Barton, Philip , Morris, Christopher , Moss, Simon , Pomeroy, Patrick
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Acta Oecologica Vol. 88, no. (2018), p. 41-51
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: The timing, magnitude, and spatial distribution of resource inputs can have large effects on dependent organisms. Few studies have examined the predictability of such resources and no standard ecological measure of predictability exists. We examined the potential predictability of carrion resources provided by one of the UK's largest grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) colonies, on the Isle of May, Scotland. We used aerial (11 years) and ground surveys (3 years) to quantify the variability in time, space, quantity (kg), and quality (MJ) of seal carrion during the seal pupping season. We then compared the potential predictability of seal carrion to other periodic changes in food availability in nature. An average of 6893 kg of carrion ∙yr−1 corresponding to 110.5 × 103 MJ yr−1 was released for potential scavengers as placentae and dead animals. A fifth of the total biomass from dead seals was consumed by the end of the pupping season, mostly by avian scavengers. The spatial distribution of carcasses was similar across years, and 28% of the area containing >10 carcasses ha−1 was shared among all years. Relative standard errors (RSE) in space, time, quantity, and quality of carrion were all below 34%. This is similar to other allochthonous-dependent ecosystems, such as those affected by migratory salmon, and indicates high predictability of seal carrion as a resource. Our study illustrates how to quantify predictability in carrion, which is of general relevance to ecosystems that are dependent on this resource. We also highlight the importance of carrion to marine coastal ecosystems, where it sustains avian scavengers thus affecting ecosystem structure and function. © 2018 Elsevier Masson SAS. **Please note that there are multiple authors for this article therefore only the name of the first 5 including Federation University Australia affiliate “Philip Barton" is provided in this record**
Species co-occurrence networks show reptile community reorganization under agricultural transformation
- Authors: Kay, Geoffrey , Tulloch, Ayesha , Barton, Philip , Cunningham, Saul , Driscoll, Don , Lindenmayer, David
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Ecography Vol. 41, no. 1 (2018), p. 113-125
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Agricultural transformation represents one of the greatest threats to biodiversity, causing degradation and loss of habitat, leading to changes in the richness and composition of communities. These changes in richness and composition may, in turn, lead to altered species co-occurrence, but our knowledge of this remains limited. We used a novel co-occurrence network approach to examine the impact of agricultural transformation on reptile community structure within two large (> 172 000 km2; 224 sites) agricultural regions in southeastern Australia. We contrasted assemblages from sites surrounded by intact and modified landscapes and tested four key hypotheses that agricultural transformation leads to (H1) declines in species richness, (H2) altered assemblages, (H3) declines in overall co-occurrence, and (H4) complex restructuring of pairwise associations. We found that modified landscapes differed in composition but not richness compared with intact sites. Modified landscapes were also characterized by differences in co-occurrence network structure; with species sharing fewer sites with each other (reduced co-occurrence connectance), fewer highly-connected species (truncation of the frequency distribution of co-occurrence degree) and increased modularity of co-occurrence networks. Critically, overall loss of co-occurrence was underpinned by complex changes to the number and distribution of pair-wise co-occurrence links, with 41–44% of species also gaining associations with other species. Change in co-occurrence was not correlated with changes in occupancy, nor by functional trait membership, allowing a novel classification of species susceptibility to agricultural transformation. Our study reveals the value of using co-occurrence analysis to uncover impacts of agricultural transformation that may be masked in conventional studies of species richness and community composition. © 2017 The Authors
Tests of predictions associated with temporal changes in Australian bird populations
- Authors: Lindenmayer, David , Lane, Peter , Westgate, Martin , Scheele, Ben , Barton, Philip
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Biological Conservation Vol. 222, no. (2018), p. 212-221
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Global biodiversity loss is the cumulative result of local species declines. To combat biodiversity loss, detailed information on the temporal trends of at-risk species at local scales is needed. Here we report the results of a 13-year study of temporal change in bird occupancy in one of the most heavily modified biomes worldwide; the temperate woodlands of south-eastern Australia. We sought to determine if temporal changes in bird species were different between three broad native vegetation types (old-growth woodland, regrowth woodland and restoration plantings) and between species traits (body size, migratory status, rarity, woodland dependency, or diet). We found evidence of decline for over a quarter of all bird species for which we had sufficient data for detailed analysis (30 out of 108 species). In contrast, only 14 species increased significantly. Temporal change of birds was linked to life-history attributes, with patterns often being habitat-dependent. Nectarivores and large-bodied birds declined across all vegetation types, whereas small-bodied species increased, particularly in restoration plantings. Contrasting with patterns documented elsewhere, resident but not migratory species declined, with this trend strongest in restoration plantings. Finally, our analyses showed that, as a group, common birds tended to decline whereas rare birds tended to increase, with effects for both most pronounced in restoration plantings. Our results highlight the benefit of targeted restoration planting for some species, but also demonstrate that many common species that have long-persisted in human-dominated landscapes are experiencing severe declines. © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. **Please note that there are multiple authors for this article therefore only the name of the first 5 including Federation University Australia affiliate “Philip Barton” is provided in this record**
Contrasting beetle assemblage responses to cultivated farmlands and native woodlands in a dynamic agricultural landscape
- Authors: Ng, Katherina , Driscoll, Don , MacFadyen, Sarina , Barton, Philip , McIntyre, Sue , Lindenmayer, David
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Ecosphere Vol. 8, no. 12 (2017), p.
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: There is an urgent need to identify ways of managing agricultural landscapes for biodiversity conservation without reducing food production. Farming practices that consider spatiooral heterogeneity of farm fields may be a feasible alternative to large-scale revegetation of farmlands for maintaining arthropod biodiversity and their important ecological function. We examined seasonal differences in beetle assemblages in woodland remnants and four adjoining farmland uses in a highly modified agricultural landscape in southeastern Australia. The farmland uses were crops, fallows, and two restoration treatments (fine woody debris applied over harvested crop fields, and restoration plantings). Unexpectedly, overall species richness was significantly lower in remnants than in adjacent farmlands. Remnants and farmlands supported significantly different assemblages, with a third of species found in both habitats. Abundance responses were taxon-specific and influenced by interactions between land use and season. In particular, predator abundance was significantly higher in plantings and fallows during spring compared to summer. Detritivore abundance was significantly higher in the woody debris compared to the adjacent remnants. Herbivore abundance did not differ between remnants and farmlands over time. Complex responses provide strong support for a mosaic of land uses to effectively conserve different beetle groups. Species richness results suggest that further agricultural intensification, in farm fields and through the removal of remnant vegetation, risks reducing beetle diversity in this region. Maintaining farmland heterogeneity with a mix of low-intensity land uses, such as conservation tillage, crop-fallow rotation, restoration plantings, and the novel application of fine woody debris over cultivated fields, may provide seasonal refuge and resources for beetles. © 2017 Ng et al.
Direct and indirect effects of herbivore activity on Australian vegetation
- Authors: Eldridge, Davied , Travers, Samantha , Manning, Adrian , Barton, Philip
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Australian vegetation p. 135-155
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
Does wing morphology affect recolonization of restored farmland by ground-dwelling beetles?
- Authors: Gibb, Heloise , Retter, Bryony , Cunningham, Saul , Barton, Philip
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Restoration Ecology Vol. 25, no. 2 (2017), p. 234-242
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Revegetation of previously cleared land is widely used to increase habitat area and connectivity of remnant vegetation for biodiversity conservation. Whether new habitat attracts or supports fauna depends on the dispersal traits of those fauna as well as the structure and composition of the surrounding landscape. Here, we examined wing morphology as a key dispersal trait for beetles in a revegetated landscape and asked, first, how it was related to phylogeny (family), trophic position, and body size. Second, we asked if wing morphology of recolonizing (or persisting) beetles varied with habitat characteristics at multiple scales, from microhabitat to landscape context. Third, we examined how common winged and wingless species responded to habitat at multiple scales. We measured the wing morphology of ground-dwelling beetles from a restoration chronosequence, including paddocks, “young” revegetation (8–11 years old), “old” revegetation (14–19 years old), and fenced remnant vegetation. We found that body size and family membership were significant predictors of winglessness, with wingless species of carabids and curculionids being larger than their winged counterparts. We found no difference in the number of sites occupied by winged and wingless species, and no relationship between the wing morphology traits represented in different locations and habitat characteristics or landscape context. Furthermore, the most abundant species of both winged and wingless ground-dwelling beetles had relatively little affinity to any habitat successional stage. Thus, despite intrinsic differences in wing morphology among species of ground-dwelling beetle, we found no evidence that flight-related dispersal limitations influenced recolonization (or persistence) in this landscape. © 2016 Society for Ecological Restoration
Effects of a large wildfire on vegetation structure in a variable fire mosaic
- Authors: Foster, C. , Barton, Philip , Robinson, N. , MacGregor, C. , Lindenmayer, David
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Ecological Applications Vol. 27, no. 8 (2017), p. 2369-2381
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Management guidelines for many fire-prone ecosystems highlight the importance of maintaining a variable mosaic of fire histories for biodiversity conservation. Managers are encouraged to aim for fire mosaics that are temporally and spatially dynamic, include all successional states of vegetation, and also include variation in the underlying "invisible mosaic" of past fire frequencies, severities, and fire return intervals. However, establishing and maintaining variable mosaics in contemporary landscapes is subject to many challenges, one of which is deciding how the fire mosaic should be managed following the occurrence of large, unplanned wildfires. A key consideration for this decision is the extent to which the effects of previous fire history on vegetation and habitats persist after major wildfires, but this topic has rarely been investigated empirically. In this study, we tested to what extent a large wildfire interacted with previous fire history to affect the structure of forest, woodland, and heath vegetation in Booderee National Park in southeastern Australia. In 2003, a summer wildfire burned 49.5% of the park, increasing the extent of recently burned vegetation (<10 yr post-fire) to more than 72% of the park area. We tracked the recovery of vegetation structure for nine years following the wildfire and found that the strength and persistence of fire effects differed substantially between vegetation types. Vegetation structure was modified by wildfire in forest, woodland, and heath vegetation, but among-site variability in vegetation structure was reduced only by severe fire in woodland vegetation. There also were persistent legacy effects of the previous fire regime on some attributes of vegetation structure including forest ground and understorey cover, and woodland midstorey and overstorey cover. For example, woodland midstorey cover was greater on sites with higher fire frequency, irrespective of the severity of the 2003 wildfire. Our results show that even after a large, severe wildfire, underlying fire histories can contribute substantially to variation in vegetation structure. This highlights the importance of ensuring that efforts to reinstate variation in vegetation fire age after large wildfires do not inadvertently reduce variation in vegetation structure generated by the underlying invisible mosaic. © 2017 by the Ecological Society of America.
Effects of ecological restoration on soil microbial diversity in a temperate grassy woodland
- Authors: Hamonts, Kelly , Bissett, Andrew , Macdonald, Ben , Barton, Philip , Manning, Adrian , Young, Andrew
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Applied Soil Ecology Vol. 117-118, no. (2017), p. 117-128
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Soil microbial communities are often overlooked in the context of ecological restoration. Given their central role in a broad range of ecosystem processes, however, understanding their response to restoration activities is critical to predicting restoration trajectories. In this study, we quantified the response of soil bacterial and fungal communities to restoration treatments, variation in microhabitat elements and vegetation in a critically endangered Australian box-gum grassy woodland ecosystem. Restoration treatments included the addition of coarse woody debris (CWD) and reduced grazing pressure. Four years after applying restoration treatments, we found no significant effect of CWD addition on soil microbial diversity, while reduced grazing significantly affected composition of the fungal, but not the bacterial, communities. Both bacterial and fungal communities responded to microhabitat element (open ground vs. old logs and trees), overlying vegetation and soil edaphic properties, and strong aboveground-belowground linkages were observed. Plant alpha diversity was positively correlated to soil bacterial, but not fungal, alpha diversity and plant community composition was a good predictor of both soil bacterial and fungal beta diversity. Co-occurrence network analysis identified numerous complex, non-linear associations between soil bacteria, fungi, edaphic properties and overlying plants. Soil microbes affected by restoration treatments included fungal saprotrophs and Actinobacteria, likely involved in litter breakdown, as well as bacteria likely involved in soil N cycling. Although the directions of the observed plant-microbe relationships remain unclear, we demonstrated the possibility of inducing changes to soil microbial communities to enhance restoration outcomes in box-gum grassy woodland ecosystems. © 2017 Elsevier B.V.
Effects of past and present livestock grazing on herpetofauna in a landscape-scale experiment
- Authors: Kay, Geoffrey , Mortelliti, Alessio , Tulloch, Ayesha , Barton, Philip , Florance, Daniel
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Conservation Biology Vol. 31, no. 2 (2017), p. 446-458
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Livestock grazing is the most widespread land use on Earth and can have negative effects on biodiversity. Yet, many of the mechanisms by which grazing leads to changes in biodiversity remain unresolved. One reason is that conventional grazing studies often target broad treatments rather than specific parameters of grazing (e.g., intensity, duration, and frequency) or fail to account for historical grazing effects. We conducted a landscape-scale replicated grazing experiment (15,000 km2, 97 sites) to examine the impact of past grazing management and current grazing regimes (intensity, duration, and frequency) on a community of ground-dwelling herpetofauna (39 species). We analyzed community variables (species richness and composition) for all species and built multiseason patch-occupancy models to predict local colonization and extinction for the 7 most abundant species. Past grazing practices did not influence community richness but did affect community composition and patch colonization and extinction for 4 of 7 species. Present grazing parameters did not influence community richness or composition, but 6 of the 7 target species were affected by at least one grazing parameter. Grazing frequency had the most consistent influence, positively affecting 3 of 7 species (increased colonization or decreased extinction). Past grazing practice affected community composition and population dynamics in some species in different ways, which suggests that conservation planners should examine the different grazing histories of an area. Species responded differently to specific current grazing practices; thus, incentive programs that apply a diversity of approaches rather than focusing on a change such as reduced grazing intensity should be considered. Based on our findings, we suggest that determining fine-scale grazing attributes is essential for advancing grazing as a conservation strategy. © 2016 Society for Conservation Biology. **Please note that there are multiple authors for this article therefore only the name of the first 5 including Federation University Australia affiliate “Philip Barton” is provided in this record**
Environmental and spatial drivers of spider diversity at contrasting microhabitats
- Authors: Barton, Philip , Evans, Maldwyn , Foster, Claire , Cunningham, Saul , Manning, Adrian
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Austral Ecology Vol. 42, no. 6 (2017), p. 700-710
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: The relative importance of environmental and spatial drivers of animal diversity varies across scales, but identifying these scales can be difficult if a sampling design does not match the scale of the target organisms' interaction with their habitat. In this study, we quantify and compare the effects of environmental variation and spatial proximity on ground-dwelling spider assemblages sampled from three distinct microhabitat types (open grassland, logs, trees) that recur across structurally heterogeneous grassy woodlands. We used model selection and multivariate procedures to compare the effects of different environmental attributes and spatial proximity on spider assemblages at each microhabitat type. We found that species richness and assemblage composition differed among microhabitat types. Bare ground cover had a negative effect on spider richness under trees, but a positive effect on spider richness in open grassland. Turnover in spider assemblages from open grassland was correlated with environmental distance, but not geographic distance. By contrast, turnover in spiders at logs and trees was correlated with geographic distance, but not environmental distance. Our study suggests that spider assemblages from widespread and connected open grassland habitat were more affected by environmental than spatial gradients, whereas spiders at log and tree habitats were more affected by spatial distance among these discrete but recurring microhabitats. Deliberate selection and sampling of small-scale habitat features can provide robust information about the drivers of arthropod diversity and turnover in landscapes. © 2017 Ecological Society of Australia
Fine-scale drivers of beetle diversity are affected by vegetation context and agricultural history
- Authors: Ross, Catherine , Barton, Philip , McIntyre, Sue , Cunningham, Saul , Manning, Adrian
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Austral Ecology Vol. 42, no. 7 (2017), p. 831-843
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Environmental gradients have been shown to affect animal diversity, but knowledge of fine-scale drivers of insect diversity is, in many cases, poorly developed. We investigated the drivers of beetle diversity and composition at different microhabitats, and how this may be mediated by past agricultural activities. The study was undertaken in temperate eucalypt grassy woodland near Canberra, south-eastern Australia, with a 200-year history of pastoral land use. We sampled beetles using pitfall traps at three microhabitats (open grassland, logs and under trees). We analysed the effects of soil properties, vegetation structure, and plant composition on beetle composition, and compared beetle responses among the microhabitats. We found that microhabitat was a strong determinant of the way beetle communities responded to their environment. Soil nutrients (C, N and P) were the strongest drivers of beetle species richness, abundance and composition at open and log microhabitat, however vegetation structure (tree basal area) was more important for beetle richness, abundance and biomass under trees. We also found significant differences in beetle composition among distinct ground-layer plant communities at log and tree microhabitat. We show that prior agricultural land use, particularly fertilization, has altered soil and plant communities, and that these effects continue to flow through the system affecting beetle assemblages. These findings have implications for future management of microhabitat structures in temperate grassy woodlands with a history of agricultural use. © 2017 Ecological Society of Australia