Climate change and the future of Australia's country towns
- Beer, Andrew, Tually, Selina, Kroehn, Michael, Martin, John, Gerritsen, Rolf, Taylor, Mike, Graymore, Michelle, Law, Julia
- Authors: Beer, Andrew , Tually, Selina , Kroehn, Michael , Martin, John , Gerritsen, Rolf , Taylor, Mike , Graymore, Michelle , Law, Julia
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Applied Studies in Climate Adaptation p. 332-341
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: This chapter presents the future of Australia's country towns in the context of anticipated climate change, where it is assumed Australia faces moderate climate change as predicted by the CSIRO's MK3.5 model. It argues that the future of Australia's country towns is not simply a product of climate change and its manifestation in terms of altered rainfall patterns, increased average temperatures and more frequent extreme events. The chapter discusses Australia's country towns within the context of contemporary and anticipated social, economic and climatic trends, before moving on to discuss the estimation of vulnerability within these communities. It describes both the implications for rural communities and the paths potentially available to governments across Australia. The adaptation and future of Australia's country towns is not simply a story of a changing climate and its impacts. © 2015 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. All rights reserved.
Drivers of seedling establishment success in dryland restoration efforts
- Shackelford, Nancy, Paterno, Gustavo, Winkler, Daniel, Erickson, Todd, Wong, Megan
- Authors: Shackelford, Nancy , Paterno, Gustavo , Winkler, Daniel , Erickson, Todd , Wong, Megan
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Nature Ecology and Evolution Vol. 5, no. 9 (2021), p. 1283-1290
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Restoration of degraded drylands is urgently needed to mitigate climate change, reverse desertification and secure livelihoods for the two billion people who live in these areas. Bold global targets have been set for dryland restoration to restore millions of hectares of degraded land. These targets have been questioned as overly ambitious, but without a global evaluation of successes and failures it is impossible to gauge feasibility. Here we examine restoration seeding outcomes across 174 sites on six continents, encompassing 594,065 observations of 671 plant species. Our findings suggest reasons for optimism. Seeding had a positive impact on species presence: in almost a third of all treatments, 100% of species seeded were growing at first monitoring. However, dryland restoration is risky: 17% of projects failed, with no establishment of any seeded species, and consistent declines were found in seeded species as projects matured. Across projects, higher seeding rates and larger seed sizes resulted in a greater probability of recruitment, with further influences on species success including site aridity, taxonomic identity and species life form. Our findings suggest that investigations examining these predictive factors will yield more effective and informed restoration decision-making. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited. **Please note that there are multiple authors for this article therefore only the name of the first 5 including Federation University Australia affiliate “Megan Wong” is provided in this record** Author Correction: Drivers of seedling establishment success in dryland restoration efforts (Nature Ecology & Evolution, (2021), 5, 9, (1283-1290), 10.1038/s41559-021-01510-3). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01544-7
- Description: Restoration of degraded drylands is urgently needed to mitigate climate change, reverse desertification and secure livelihoods for the two billion people who live in these areas. Bold global targets have been set for dryland restoration to restore millions of hectares of degraded land. These targets have been questioned as overly ambitious, but without a global evaluation of successes and failures it is impossible to gauge feasibility. Here we examine restoration seeding outcomes across 174 sites on six continents, encompassing 594,065 observations of 671 plant species. Our findings suggest reasons for optimism. Seeding had a positive impact on species presence: in almost a third of all treatments, 100% of species seeded were growing at first monitoring. However, dryland restoration is risky: 17% of projects failed, with no establishment of any seeded species, and consistent declines were found in seeded species as projects matured. Across projects, higher seeding rates and larger seed sizes resulted in a greater probability of recruitment, with further influences on species success including site aridity, taxonomic identity and species life form. Our findings suggest that investigations examining these predictive factors will yield more effective and informed restoration decision-making. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited. **Please note that there are multiple authors for this article therefore only the name of the first 5 including Federation University Australia affiliate “Megan Wong” is provided in this record**
Managing consequences of climate-driven species redistribution requires integration of ecology, conservation and social science
- Bonebrake, Timothy, Brown, Christopher, Bell, Johann, Blanchard, Julia, Chauvenet, Alienor, Champion, Curtis, Chen, I-Ching, Clark, Timothy, Colwell, Robert, Danielsen, Finn, Dell, Anthony, Donelson, Jennifer, Evengård, Birgitta, Ferrier, Simon, Frusher, Stewart, Garcia, Raquel, Griffis, Roger, Hobday, Alistair, Jarzyna, Marta, Lee, Emma, Lenoir, Jonathan, Linnetved, Hlif, Martin, Victoria, McCormack, Phillipa, McDonald, Jan, McDonald-Madden, Eve, Mitchell, Nicola, Mustonen, Tero, Pandolfi, John, Pettorelli, Nathalie
- Authors: Bonebrake, Timothy , Brown, Christopher , Bell, Johann , Blanchard, Julia , Chauvenet, Alienor , Champion, Curtis , Chen, I-Ching , Clark, Timothy , Colwell, Robert , Danielsen, Finn , Dell, Anthony , Donelson, Jennifer , Evengård, Birgitta , Ferrier, Simon , Frusher, Stewart , Garcia, Raquel , Griffis, Roger , Hobday, Alistair , Jarzyna, Marta , Lee, Emma , Lenoir, Jonathan , Linnetved, Hlif , Martin, Victoria , McCormack, Phillipa , McDonald, Jan , McDonald-Madden, Eve , Mitchell, Nicola , Mustonen, Tero , Pandolfi, John , Pettorelli, Nathalie
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Biological Reviews Vol. 93, no. 1 (2018), p. 284-305
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Climate change is driving a pervasive global redistribution of the planet's species. Species redistribution poses new questions for the study of ecosystems, conservation science and human societies that require a coordinated and integrated approach. Here we review recent progress, key gaps and strategic directions in this nascent research area, emphasising emerging themes in species redistribution biology, the importance of understanding underlying drivers and the need to anticipate novel outcomes of changes in species ranges. We highlight that species redistribution has manifest implications across multiple temporal and spatial scales and from genes to ecosystems. Understanding range shifts from ecological, physiological, genetic and biogeographical perspectives is essential for informing changing paradigms in conservation science and for designing conservation strategies that incorporate changing population connectivity and advance adaptation to climate change. Species redistributions present challenges for human well-being, environmental management and sustainable development. By synthesising recent approaches, theories and tools, our review establishes an interdisciplinary foundation for the development of future research on species redistribution. Specifically, we demonstrate how ecological, conservation and social research on species redistribution can best be achieved by working across disciplinary boundaries to develop and implement solutions to climate change challenges. Future studies should therefore integrate existing and complementary scientific frameworks while incorporating social science and human-centred approaches. Finally, we emphasise that the best science will not be useful unless more scientists engage with managers, policy makers and the public to develop responsible and socially acceptable options for the global challenges arising from species redistributions. © 2017 Cambridge Philosophical Society **Please note that there are multiple authors for this article therefore only the name of the first 30 including the now Federation University Australia affiliate “Emma Lee” is provided in this record**
- Authors: Bonebrake, Timothy , Brown, Christopher , Bell, Johann , Blanchard, Julia , Chauvenet, Alienor , Champion, Curtis , Chen, I-Ching , Clark, Timothy , Colwell, Robert , Danielsen, Finn , Dell, Anthony , Donelson, Jennifer , Evengård, Birgitta , Ferrier, Simon , Frusher, Stewart , Garcia, Raquel , Griffis, Roger , Hobday, Alistair , Jarzyna, Marta , Lee, Emma , Lenoir, Jonathan , Linnetved, Hlif , Martin, Victoria , McCormack, Phillipa , McDonald, Jan , McDonald-Madden, Eve , Mitchell, Nicola , Mustonen, Tero , Pandolfi, John , Pettorelli, Nathalie
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Biological Reviews Vol. 93, no. 1 (2018), p. 284-305
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Climate change is driving a pervasive global redistribution of the planet's species. Species redistribution poses new questions for the study of ecosystems, conservation science and human societies that require a coordinated and integrated approach. Here we review recent progress, key gaps and strategic directions in this nascent research area, emphasising emerging themes in species redistribution biology, the importance of understanding underlying drivers and the need to anticipate novel outcomes of changes in species ranges. We highlight that species redistribution has manifest implications across multiple temporal and spatial scales and from genes to ecosystems. Understanding range shifts from ecological, physiological, genetic and biogeographical perspectives is essential for informing changing paradigms in conservation science and for designing conservation strategies that incorporate changing population connectivity and advance adaptation to climate change. Species redistributions present challenges for human well-being, environmental management and sustainable development. By synthesising recent approaches, theories and tools, our review establishes an interdisciplinary foundation for the development of future research on species redistribution. Specifically, we demonstrate how ecological, conservation and social research on species redistribution can best be achieved by working across disciplinary boundaries to develop and implement solutions to climate change challenges. Future studies should therefore integrate existing and complementary scientific frameworks while incorporating social science and human-centred approaches. Finally, we emphasise that the best science will not be useful unless more scientists engage with managers, policy makers and the public to develop responsible and socially acceptable options for the global challenges arising from species redistributions. © 2017 Cambridge Philosophical Society **Please note that there are multiple authors for this article therefore only the name of the first 30 including the now Federation University Australia affiliate “Emma Lee” is provided in this record**
Epistemic uncertainties in the assessment of regional soil acidification
- Benke, Kurt, Robinson, Nathan, Norng, Sorn, Rees, David, O’Leary, Garry
- Authors: Benke, Kurt , Robinson, Nathan , Norng, Sorn , Rees, David , O’Leary, Garry
- Date: 2022
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Environments - MDPI Vol. 9, no. 8 (2022), p.
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: The increasing acidification of soil due to pollution and agricultural management practices is a growing problem worldwide, where food production is already under threat by climate change, more frequent droughts, and soil nutrient depletion. Soil acidification is quantified by pH measurements and is a primary metric for soil health. High soil acidity is a constraint on the production of grains and other crops because it decreases the bioavailability of important plant nutrients while increasing soil toxicity arising from an imbalance of essential soil elements. Field pH can be estimated by colour test kits which are very cost-effective and particularly suitable for developing countries where laboratory services are not available or fail to provide timely results. Because the pH test kit is based on visual colour matching between a colour card scale and a soil sample in solution, there are epistemic uncertainties, such as variability in expert opinion, differences in colour vision, measurement error, instrumentation, and changes in daylight spectral content. In this study, expert human observers were compared in experiments conducted using a standard pH test kit under a range of environmental conditions. A significant difference in uncertainty in colour discrimination was evident between male and female experts, whereas changes in daylight conditions had lower impact on the variance of pH estimates. In a group of subject matter experts, the male standard error (0.35 pH) was 57% higher on average over the range of pH values (pH = 4
- Authors: Benke, Kurt , Robinson, Nathan , Norng, Sorn , Rees, David , O’Leary, Garry
- Date: 2022
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Environments - MDPI Vol. 9, no. 8 (2022), p.
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: The increasing acidification of soil due to pollution and agricultural management practices is a growing problem worldwide, where food production is already under threat by climate change, more frequent droughts, and soil nutrient depletion. Soil acidification is quantified by pH measurements and is a primary metric for soil health. High soil acidity is a constraint on the production of grains and other crops because it decreases the bioavailability of important plant nutrients while increasing soil toxicity arising from an imbalance of essential soil elements. Field pH can be estimated by colour test kits which are very cost-effective and particularly suitable for developing countries where laboratory services are not available or fail to provide timely results. Because the pH test kit is based on visual colour matching between a colour card scale and a soil sample in solution, there are epistemic uncertainties, such as variability in expert opinion, differences in colour vision, measurement error, instrumentation, and changes in daylight spectral content. In this study, expert human observers were compared in experiments conducted using a standard pH test kit under a range of environmental conditions. A significant difference in uncertainty in colour discrimination was evident between male and female experts, whereas changes in daylight conditions had lower impact on the variance of pH estimates. In a group of subject matter experts, the male standard error (0.35 pH) was 57% higher on average over the range of pH values (pH = 4
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