Socio-ecological value of wetlands: The dilemma of balancing human and ecological water needs
- Authors: Graymore, Michelle , McBride, Dawn
- Date: 2013
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australasian Journal of Environmental Management Vol. 20, no. 3 (2013), p. 225-241
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- Description: Humans' need for water has changed flow regimes, degraded ecosystems and depleted water resources. In the Wimmera Mallee in Victoria, the dilemma between human and ecological water requirements began in the colonial era when a channel and dam system was built to transport water. Prolonged drought prompted government to replace this with the Wimmera Mallee Pipeline. This pipeline produced a closed system, reducing water available for the environment, including on-farm wetlands. This study identifies the socio-ecological values of on-farm wetlands and the impact the changed water regime had on these. An interpretative landscape approach was used to integrate geophysical, ecological and social information on nine on-farm wetlands. This identified a range of socio-ecological values on-farm wetlands provide, including aesthetic, amenity, production and biodiversity, that are impacted by the pipeline system. A range of implications for on-farm wetland management were also identified. © 2013 Copyright Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand Inc.
- Description: C1
Livestock grazing effects on riparian bird breeding behaviour in agricultural landscapes
- Authors: Hansen, Birgita , Fraser, Hannah , Jones, Christopher
- Date: 2019
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment Vol. 270-271, no. (2019), p. 93-102
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- Description: Globally, many bird species that rely on native woodland or forest environments are declining due to vegetation clearing for livestock pastures and cereal cropping. In many landscapes, woodland remnants are restricted to waterways and roadsides in narrow, sometimes degraded patches, and not all patches can necessarily provide the resources required to support bird populations. This study investigated the influence of livestock grazing and vegetation characteristics on bird breeding activity in riparian zones in northern Victoria, Australia, where much of the landscape is used for production and has experienced significant loss of woodland. Birds were broadly categorised as ‘woodland’ or ‘non-woodland’ species, based on dependency on woodlands for breeding. The majority of woodland species detected were relatively common, and where riparian zones were heavily grazed, there was significantly lower woodland bird breeding activity compared to non-woodland bird breeding activity (the latter increasing with grazing intensity). Woodland and non-woodland birds had consistently opposite responses to grazing intensity, vegetation and landscape characteristics, suggesting that the factors influencing breeding differ markedly between these two groups. Thus, where riparian zones are intensively grazed, the bird community shifts from predominantly woodland to largely non-woodland species. This has implications for the conservation of both rare and common woodland bird species in southern Australia. Simple changes in land management, for example, livestock exclusion from important breeding habitat, may confer large gains for population persistence of woodland bird species.