How bioregional history could shape the future of agriculture
- Authors: Brown, Julian , Barton, Philip , Cunningham, Saul
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Advances in Ecological Research p. 149-189
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Biodiversity conservation and agriculture are becoming intimately intertwined. Wildlife-friendly agriculture is promoted as a way to conserve biodiversity, connect nature reserves, facilitate climate-driven range shifts and enhance ecosystem services to agriculture. Yet some approaches that increase native biodiversity in agricultural landscapes, such as tropical agroforestry, may support a suite of species that is distinct from nearby remnant habitat. Wildlife-friendly farming, therefore, does not necessarily facilitate native species persistence through landscape conversion to agriculture or facilitate the movement of local species among nature reserves. We argue the historical composition of native species in agricultural landscapes can be maintained by enhancing ecological similarity between production land uses and natural ecosystems. Some agricultural systems already support native species from, and share some ecological attributes with, natural grasslands, wetlands and forests. However, we suggest there are benefits to be gained by focusing on the finer details of similarities in structure, floristic composition (e.g. crop species) and disturbance regimes occurring across natural and modified habitat types. A key advancement of this approach is that the composition of agricultural diversity and its spatio-temporal dynamics are selected and managed according to the spatial and temporal habitat requirements of the wildlife species naturally inhabiting the local area. We argue that ensuring ecological similarity between agricultural systems and the ecosystems they replaced or lie between will strengthen the capacity of agricultural landscapes to maintain historical species pools and provide spatial and temporal connectivity between nature reserves and analogous future climatic zones. © 2021 Elsevier Ltd
Carrion decomposition
- Authors: Barton, Philip , Bump, Joseph
- Date: 2019
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Carrion Ecology and Management p. 101-124
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
Invertebrate scavenging communities
- Authors: Anderson, Gail , Barton, Philip , Archer, Melanie , Wallace, John
- Date: 2019
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Carrion Ecology and Management p. 45-69
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Invertebrate scavengers of terrestrial and aquatic carrion include a broad and enormously diverse grouping of various arthropods, nematodes, and molluscs. By far the most functionally important in terrestrial ecosystems are insects, especially the flies, with crustaceans performing this role in marine ecosystems, although a multi-trophic foodweb of numerous invertebrate taxa can be found at most carcasses in most environments. The occurrence of different taxa, and the dynamics of their colonization and various competitive interactions varies across terrestrial and aquatic realms, and is greatly influenced by geographic region, climate, habitat, season, and other biotic factors. This sub-chapter focuses on the invertebrate use of carrion in both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and highlights the role of different groups of invertebrates, and the biotic and abiotic factors that influence their occurrence and succession at decaying carcasses.
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: