List of Titles

Littoral macroinvertebrates in relation to native and exotic riparian vegetation in streams of central Victoria, Australia

- Jayawardana, Chandamali

Authors: Jayawardana, Chandamali
Date: 2006
Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
Full Text: false
Description: "Exotic willows (Salix spp.) are widespread riparian tree species of streams in temperate Australian and New Zealand. In Australian willow species are declared weeds of national significance, yet little is known about the novel habitats they create not the impact on aquatic biota of vegetation change following willow management programs ..." [leaf i]
Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Description: "Exotic willows (Salix spp.) are widespread riparian tree species of streams in temperate Australian and New Zealand. In Australian willow speicies are declared weeds of national significance, yet little is known about the novel habitats they create not the impact on aquatic biota of vegetation change following willow management programs ..." [leaf i]

Littoral macroinvertebrates in relation to native and exotic riparian vegetation in streams of central victoria, Australia

- Jayawardana, Chandamali

Authors: Jayawardana, Chandamali
Date: 2011
Type: Text , Journal article
Relation: International Journal of Energy, Environment and Economics Vol. 19, no. 6 (2011), p. 635-651
Full Text: false
Reviewed:
Description: Exotic willows (Salix spp.) are widespread riparian tree species of rivers in temperate Australia and New Zealand. Willow removal is an integral part in riparian management of rivers in temperate Australia. Reeds (Phagmites australis) and shrubs (Leptospermum spp. and Callistemon spp.) are common vegetation in the riparian zone of Victorian streams and considered suitable for planting along channels in revegetation programmes following willow removal. Little is known about the novel habitats created by willows and the impact on aquatic biota of vegetation successional process following willow management programmes. Macroinvertebrate fauna in willow, Phragmites australis, Leptospermum/ Callistemon and bare bank habitats were examined in three central Victorian streams in Australia to understand the effect of such littoral habitats on macroinvertebrates taxa richness, abundance and community composition. Data were analysed using a two way ANOVA with habitat and season as main effects. Habitats had a significant effect (p<0.05) on macroinvertebrate taxa richness. Willow and Phragmites habitats generally contained more taxa and total number of individuals than Leptospermum/ Callistemon or bare bank habitats though the absolute rank order of habitats differed among seasons. In Phragmites habitats species richness was higher during winter and spring. In willow habitats it was higher during spring and autumn and in Leptospermum/ Callistemon habitats during summer. Multivariate analysis showed that community composition within the habitats was significantly different, with willow and Phragmites separating from Leptospermum/ Callistemon and bare bank habitats in seasons with high flow. It appears that a vegetation transition from willows to bare banks or shrubs alone would be potentially more disruptive to macroinvertebrate communities than a transition from willows to a combination of littoral reeds and native riparian vegetation. This result suggests that exploration of techniques to guide a transition from willow to native littoral and riparian vegetation without a disruptive clearing phase is therefore desirable. Â© 2011 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Bird responses to riparian management of degraded lowland streams in southeastern Australia

- Hale, Robin, Reich, Paul, Johnson, Matthew, Hansen, Birgita, Lake, Philip, Thomson, James, Mac Nally, Ralph

Authors: Hale, Robin , Reich, Paul , Johnson, Matthew , Hansen, Birgita , Lake, Philip , Thomson, James , Mac Nally, Ralph
Date: 2015
Type: Text , Journal article
Relation: Restoration Ecology Vol. 23, no. 2 (2015), p. 104-112
Full Text: false
Reviewed:
Description: We assessed the degree to which fencing, livestock exclusion, and replanting of riparian zones affected avian assemblages in massively cleared landscapes. Measurements were made at three creeks in the southern Murray-Darling Basin in southeastern Australia, each of which had circa 1-km long treated sections and paired "untreated" circa 1-km sections, where no fencing, planting, or stock exclusion was done. We measured the change in vegetation characteristics and abundances of native birds for up to 8 years after works were completed. Prior to data collection, we developed expected responses of bird species based on the anticipated time-courses of change in vegetation structure. We used hierarchical Bayesian models to explore the effects of the management actions, and to account for within-site variation in vegetation characteristics. There were major changes in vegetation structure (reductions in bare ground and increases in shrubs and tree recruitment) but avian responses generally were small and not as expected. There are at least four possible reasons for the limited avian responses: (1) there has been a long-term decline in woodland birds across the region; (2) the study was conducted during the longest drought in the instrumental record in the study region; (3) the total amount of replanted vegetation was small in a massively denuded region; and (4) monitoring may have been over too short a term to detect responses to longer-term changes in structural vegetation. © 2014 Society for Ecological Restoration.

The Current Status Of Different Age, Direct-Seeded Revegetation Sites In An Agricultural Landscape In The Burrumbeet Region, Victoria, Australia

- Florentine, Singarayer, Graz, Patrick, Ambrose, Graeme, O'Brien, L.

Authors: Florentine, Singarayer , Graz, Patrick , Ambrose, Graeme , O'Brien, L.
Date: 2013
Type: Text , Journal article
Relation: Land Degradation and Development Vol. 24, no. 1 (2013), p. 81-89
Full Text: false
Reviewed:
Description: Many vegetation restoration works have been undertaken in Australia but only a few of those projects have been assessed for effectiveness. Revisiting earlier restoration attempts and analysing data from them is fundamental to the development of evidence-based prescriptions for future restoration work. Therefore, this study's objectives were to (I) compare plant species composition of different age direct-seeded revegetated sites and (II) determine the effect, if any, of different ages of revegetated sites on the natural recruitment of native plants. The study investigated four fenced restoration sites, dating from 2000, 2001, 2004 and 2005. Results showed that the density of plants surviving varied widely between plots of different ages. The highest density was found in the 2001 plot (2195Â·.7 stemsha-1), followed by 2000 (1877Â·8 stemsha-1), 2004 (197Â·6 stemsha-1) and 2005 (195Â·4 stemsha-1). An ANOVA showed that the overall amount of seed broadcast does not play a significant (p=0Â·437) role in the establishment rate. Overall, Eucalyptus ovata was found to be dominant in the 2000 (794Â·4ha-1) and 2001 (971ha-1) sites. In contrast, Eucalyptus camaldulensis and Eucalyptus viminalis densities were highest in the 2004 (41ha-1) and 2005 (60Â·4ha-1) sites, respectively. PERMANOVA showed highly significant differences in the present plant composition between plots (p<0Â·0001), despite similar species mixes used in sowing. Recruitment was not found in any of the sites. The least weed cover and the highest litter cover were found in the 2001 plot. A similar trend was found in the 2000 plot. In contrast, high weed cover and low litter cover were found in the 2004 and 2005 plots. Since one of the major impediments to developing better restoration strategies is the inadequate documentation of past practices, studies such as these may shed some light on how the direct-seeded technique operates in a farm situation. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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An extreme case of epitoky in an australian collembolon : Isotopenola perterrens sp.n. (Hexapoda : Collembola : Isotomidae)

- Greenslade, Penelope, Potapov, Mikhail

Authors: Greenslade, Penelope , Potapov, Mikhail
Date: 2012
Type: Text , Journal article
Relation: Arthropod Systematics and Phylogeny Vol. 70, no. 2 (2012), p. 85-94
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Reviewed:
Description: Isotopenola perterrens sp.n. is described from a 40 year old Eucalyptus plantation in Victoria, Australia, and its occurrence in an adjacent site of remnant native vegetation is reported. Fully adult males are armed with numerous strong spine-like macrochaetae on lateral parts of head and body tergites and with fields of long bristles on latero-ventral and ventral areas of abdomen. Antennae of epitokous males are of normal shape but bear thickened chaetae. This is the second and most extreme case of epitoky recorded in the genus. The occurrence of sexual dimorphism, of which epitoky is a subset, is summarised for Australian Collembola. Environmental factors that appear to facilitate successful recolonisation of native fauna onto revegetated sites in Australia are proposed. © Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung.

Does wing morphology affect recolonization of restored farmland by ground-dwelling beetles?

- Gibb, Heloise, Retter, Bryony, Cunningham, Saul, Barton, Philip

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

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Reclamation of salt-affected land: A review

- Shaygan, Mandana, Baumgartl, Thomas

Authors: Shaygan, Mandana , Baumgartl, Thomas
Date: 2022
Type: Text , Journal article
Relation: Soil systems Vol. 6, no. 3 (2022), p. 61
Full Text:
Reviewed:
Description: Reclamation of salt-affected soil has been identified by the FAO as being critical to meet the needs to increase agricultural productivity. This paper reviews commonly used reclamation methods for salt-affected soils, and provides critical identifiers for an effective reclamation practice of salt-affected soil. There are widely used methods to reduce salinity and sodicity of salt-affected soils, including salt leaching, addition of amendments, revegetation using halophytes and salt scrapping. Not all reclamation techniques are suitable for salt-affected land. The reclamation strategy must be tailored to the site, and based on understanding the soil, plant and climate interactions. On some occasions, a combination of techniques may be required for reclamation. This can include salt scrapping to remove salts from the surface soil, the addition of physical amendments to improve soil pore systems and enhance salt leaching, followed by amelioration of soil by chemical amendments to preserve soil physical conditions, and then halophyte establishment to expand the desalinization zone. This study reveals that soil hydro-geochemical models are effective predictive tools to ascertain the best reclamation practice tailored to salt-affected land. However, models need to be calibrated and validated to the conditions of the land before being applied as a tool to combat soil salinity.

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