Age distribution of Slender Cypress-pine (Callitris gracilis) within Pine Plains, Wyperfeld National Park
- Authors: Gibson, Matthew , Florentine, Singarayer
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Report
- Full Text:
- Description: In semi-arid north-west Victoria, Slender Cypress-pine (Callitris gracilis) is an important tree hollow forming species for hollow dependent fauna, particularly the Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo (Lophocroa leadbeateri). Long-term management of the Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo must be based on an understanding of the age distribution of Slender Cypress-pine within important habitat areas and the age at which the trees form suitable nesting hollows. This project involved an investigation of the Slender Cypress-pine population within the Pine Plains section of Wyperfeld National Park, north-west Victoria. The objectives of the project were to determine the relationship between stem diameter and age of Slender Cypress-pine, and investigate the age distribution of the Slender Cypress-pine population within Pine Plains. Determination of the relationship between stem diameter and stem age will enable the determination of the number of years trees require to start forming hollows, and to form large hollows suitable for Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo breeding.
Changes in vegetation condition following Kangaroo population management in Wyperfeld National Park
- Authors: Pegler, P. , Gibson, Matthew , Westbrooke, Martin , Gowans, Stacey
- Date: 2010
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Macropods: The biology of Kangaroos, Wallabies & Rat-kangaroos p. 361-370
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Annual western grey kangaroo (Macropus fuliginsus) management programs have been implemented in Wyperfeld National Park, Victoria, as part of a strategy for the conservation and rehabilitation of vegetation communities. Due to public sensitivity to the culling of native animals is it essential to demonstrate that such activities it is essential to demonstrate that such actions result in environmental improvement. An assessment of the condition of the river red gum/black box woodland, pine/buloke woodland and lakebed herbfield vegation and communities was undertaken in 1998. Floristi and structural data were recorded from 162 quadrats across the park. "From the abstract".
Establishment of the Box-Ironbark ecological thinning trial in north central Victoria
- Authors: Pigott, Patrick , Palmer, Grant , Yen, Alan , Tolsma, Arn , Brown, Geoff , Gibson, Matthew , Wright, John
- Date: 2010
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria Vol. 122, no. 2 (2010), p. 111-122
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: An ecological thinning trial was established in 2003 in north-central Victoria as part of the development of an ecological management strategy to support the newly created Box-Ironbark Parks and Reserves System. The objective of the trial was to restore diversity of habitat structure to declining Box-Ironbark forests and woodlands. Three ecological thinning techniques were designed around several principles: reducing total basal-area of trees and retaining levels of patchiness whilst retaining large trees. Thinning treatments were implemented in 30 ha plots at four conservation reserves south of Bendigo, Victoria. A range of ecosystem components were monitored before and after thinning. A woody-debris removal treatment was also set-up at a 1 ha scale within thinning treatments. Prior to thinning, plots were dominated by high numbers of coppice regenerated trees with few of the trees sampled considered large, resulting in low numbers of tree hollows and low loadings of coarse woody debris. It is anticipated that the establishment of the ecological thinning trial (Phase I), is the beginning of long-term monitoring, as effects of thinning on key habitat values may not be apparent for up to 50 years or more. The vision for restoration of Box-Ironbark forests and woodlands is one of a mosaic landscape with a greater diversity of habitat types including open areas and greater numbers of larger, hollow-bearing trees. This paper summarises the experimental design and the techniques adopted in Phase I of this project during 2003-2008.
Is what you see what you get? Visual vs. measured assessments of vegetation condition
- Authors: Cook, Carly , Wardell-Johnson, Grant , Keatley, Marie , Gowans, Stacey , Gibson, Matthew , Westbrooke, Martin , Marshall, Dustin
- Date: 2010
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Applied Ecology Vol. 47, no. 3 (2010), p. 650-661
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: 1. An important step in the conservation of biodiversity is to identify what exists, its quantity and its quality (i.e. condition). This can be a daunting task at the landscape-scale, so vegetation communities are often used as surrogates for biodiversity. Satellite imagery has improved our ability to rapidly measure vegetation parameters but the need for calibration still requires rapid and cost-effective on-ground condition assessment. Some management agencies address this need by using visual condition assessments, with unknown consequences for the different purposes of condition data. It is therefore vital to examine the comparability of visual and systematic condition assessment methods to guide their use in conservation decision making. 2. We compared visual assessments of vegetation condition with more systematic and higher resolution on-ground assessments, using a method where both assessments were made for the same quadrats. We determined both the condition parameters observers respond to when making visual assessments of condition, and the consequences of any differences for the application of these data. 3. We found that visual assessment of vegetation condition broadly represented measured assessments of the same vegetation, but that observers simplify their assessments by responding to only some of the measured condition parameters. No consistent trends were found in the parameters observers responded to across the different vegetation types sampled. 4. Synthesis and applications. We conclude that visual estimates of vegetation condition are only of sufficient resolution to replace more expensive, high-resolution assessments at a landscape-scale, when condition results are combined over multiple areas and vegetation types. Visual assessment methods potentially can provide an efficient measure of overall condition for conservation management agencies where practitioners can make assessments of condition in the course of their daily management activities - an important step forward. At smaller scales, idiosyncratic effects render visual estimates highly variable when compared with systematic condition assessments. This variability, especially among vegetation types, suggests that more systematic assessments are necessary when management decisions require higher-resolution estimates of changes in individual condition parameters, such as when measuring the success of individual management actions. These findings provide a valuable guide for selecting the most appropriate approach for the different objectives of condition assessments for biodiversity conservation.
- Description: 2003008171
Post-wildfire seedling colonisation patterns in a Eucalyptus delegatemsis (Myrtaceae) windthrow site at Snowy Rover National Park, Victoria
- Authors: Florentine, Singarayer , Westbrooke, Martin , Milberg, Per , Gibson, Matthew
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australian Forestry Vol. 71, no. 1 (2008), p. 48-53
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: During June 1998, a severe windstorm caused significant damage to a sub-alpine stand of Eucalyptus delegatensis (Myrtaceae) at the Snowy River National Park. In 2002, about 4.5 y after the windstorm, a study documented the effects on E. delegatensis and early understorey succession. In February 2003, wildfire burnt across the windthrow site and we examined the seedling recruitment patterns at windthrow–burn and burn-only sites. Our aim was to document the regeneration of the canopy-dominant E. delegatensis and to confirm that Acacia dealbata is a pioneer species that potentially interferes with or prevents regeneration of E. delegatensis. Permanent transects were established within the windthrow–burn and burn-only sites. The data suggest that the heavily disturbed (mounded) soil at the windthrow site had a strong positive influence on regeneration of both species. By providing favourable growing conditions, the disturbed soil appears to have assisted seedling survival and subsequent growth of the E. delegatensis, despite competition from dense, concurrently established A. dealbata.
- Description: C1
Reliable automation of bat call identification for eastern New South Wales, Australia, using classification trees and AnaScheme software
- Authors: Adams, Maria , Law, Bradley , Gibson, Matthew
- Date: 2010
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Acta Chiropterologica: International journal of bat biology Vol. 12, no. 1 (2010), p. 231-245
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Accurate and efficient identification of bat (Microchiroptera) echolocation calls has been hampered by poor knowledge of the intraspecific variability in calls (including regional variation), a lack of call parameters for use in separating species and the amount of time required to manually identify individual calls or call sequences We constructed and tested automated bat call identification keys for three regions in New South Wales, Australia, using over 4,000 reference calls in approximate to 300 call sequences per region. We used the program AnaScheme to extract time, frequency and shape parameters from calls recorded with the Anabat system Classification trees were built to separate species using these parameters and provided the decision rules for construction of the keys An 'Unknown' category was included in the keys for sequences that could not be confidently identified to species The reliability of the keys was tested automatically with AnaScheme, using independent ! sets of reference call sequences, and keys were refined before further testing on additional test sequences Regional keys contained 18-19 species or included species groups We report rates of sequence misidentification (accuracy) and correct identification (detection) relative to all sequences (including 'unknowns') used to test each version of a key. Refined versions of the keys were accurate, with total misidentification rates of 0 5-5 3% for the three regions Additionally, total correct identifications for regions were 56-75% (>= 50% for most species), an overall high rate of detection. When 'unknowns' were ignored, as is common in many published studies, correct identification for regions increased to 91-99%, rates which compare favourably to the most successful classifiers tested to date The future use of AnaScheme for automated bat call identification is promising, especially for the large-scale temporal and spatial acoustic sampling to which Anabat is particularly suited.
The vegetation of Peery Lake area, Paroo-Darling National Park, western New South Wales
- Authors: Westbrooke, Martin , Leversha, J. , Gibson, Matthew , O’Keefe, M. , Milne, Robert , Gowans, Stacey , Harding, C. , Callister, Katrina
- Date: 2003
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Cunninghamia Vol. 8, no. 1 (2003), p. 111–128
- Full Text: false
- Description: The vegetation of Peery Lake area, Paroo-Darling National Park (32°18’–32°40’S, 142°10’–142°25’E) in north western New South Wales was assessed using intensive quadrat sampling and mapped using extensive ground truthing and interpretation of aerial photograph and Landsat Thematic Mapper satellite images. 378 species of vascular plants were recorded from this survey from 66 families. Species recorded from previous studies but not noted in the present study have been added to give a total of 424 vascular plant species for the Park including 55 (13%) exotic species. Twenty vegetation communities were identified and mapped, the most widespread being Acacia aneura tall shrubland/tall open-shrubland, Eremophila/Dodonaea/Acacia open shrubland and Maireana pyramidata low open shrubland. One hundred and fifty years of pastoral use has impacted on many of these communities.
- Description: 2003000642