Biodiversity and Environmental Change [OP]: Monitoring, Challenges and Direction

by David B. Lindenmayer (Editor), Emma Burns (Editor), Nicole Thurgate (Editor), Andrew Lowe (Editor)

Overview

Long-term ecological data are critical for informing long-term trends in biodiversity and trends in environmental change. The Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) is a major initiative of the Australian Government and one of its key areas of investment is to provide funding for a network of long-term ecological research plots around Australia (LTERN).

This book highlights some of the temporal changes in the environment and/or in biodiversity that have occurred in different ecosystems, ranging from tropical rainforests, wet eucalypt forests and alpine regions through to rangelands and deserts. Many important trends and changes are documented and they often provide new insights that were previously poorly understood or unknown. These data are precisely the kinds of data so desperately needed to better quantify the temporal trajectories in the environment and biodiversity in Australia.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780643108561
Publisher:	CSIRO Publishing
Publication date:	04/28/2014
Pages:	624
Product dimensions:	7.88(w) x 10.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Professor David B. Lindenmayer AO has worked as a researcher on Australian farms for more than 23 years. He has a particular interest in improving environmental conditions on farm properties, including protecting remnant native vegetation as well as restoring and replanting it. He specializes in establishing and maintaining ecological large-scale, long-term research and monitoring programs on farms. He has co-authored a number of other books, including Natural Asset Farming and Restoring Farm Woodlands for Wildlife.

Emma Burns is a conservation biologist in the Fenner School of Environment and Society and Executive Director of the Long Term Ecological Research Network (LTERN) within TERN.

Nicole Thurgate is an Associate Professor of Research at the University of Adelaide and the director of the Multi-Scale Plot Network within TERN.

Andrew Lowe is Professor of Plant Conservation Biology and Director of the Australian Centre for Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity at the University of Adelaide, Head of Science for the South Australian Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources, and Associate Science Director of TERN.

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgements
References
List of contributors

Part 1 - Introductory chapters
1) General overview: David Lindenmayer, Emma Burns, Nicole Thurgate, and Andrew Lowe
2) The value of long-term research and how to design effective ecological research and monitoring: David Lindenmayer, Emma Burns, Nicole Thurgate and Andrew Lowe
3) Our capacity to tell an Australian ecological story: Ben Sparrow, Eleanor Dormontt, Nicole Thurgate, Emma Burns, David Lindenmayer and Andrew Lowe
4) The cultural imperative: broadening the vision of longterm ecological monitoring to enhance environmental policy and management outcomes: Emilie Ens, Emma Burns, Jeremy Russell-Smith, Ben Sparrow and Glenda M Wardle

Part 2 - Data chapters
5) Tropical rainforests of Eastern Australia: Daniel J Metcalfe, Michael J Liddell, Matt G Bradford and Peter T Green
6) Alpine ecosystems: Richard J Williams, Warwick A Papst , Keith L McDougall, Ian M Mansergh, Dean Heinze, James S Camac, Michael A Nash, John W Morgan and Ary A Hoffmann
7) Heathlands: David A Keith, David Lindenmayer, Andrew Lowe, Jeremy Russell-Smith, Sarah Barrett, Neal J Enright, Barry J Fox, Greg Guerin, David C Paton, Mark G Tozer, Colin J Yates
8) Temperate eucalypt woodlands: David Lindenmayer, Suzanne Prober, Mason Crane, Damian Michael, Sachiko Okada, Geoff Kay, David Keith, Rebecca Montague-Drake and Emma Burns
9) North Australian tropical savannas: the Three Parks Savanna Fire-Effects Plot Network: Jeremy Russell-Smith, Andrew C Edwards, John CZ Woinarski, Alaric Fisher, Brett P Murphy, Mike J Lawes, Beth Crase and Nicole Thurgate
10) Desert complex environments: Christopher R Dickman, Glenda M Wardle, Jeff Foulkes and Nicki D de Preu
11) Chenopod and acacia shrublands: Jeff Foulkes, Nicki de Preu, Russell Sinclair, Nicole Thurgate, Ben Sparrow and Andrew White
12) Tussock grasslands: Andrew White, David Orr, Paul Novelly and Gary Bastin
13 Tall eucalypt forests: Sam Wood, David Bowman, Lynda Prior, David Lindenmayer, Tim Wardlaw and Richard Robinson

Part 3 - Synopsis
14 Synopsis: David Lindenmayer, Emma Burns, Nicole Thurgate, Andrew J Lowe, Chris Dickman, Eleanor Dormontt, Emilie Ens, Jeff Foulkes, Ary Hoffman, David A Keith, Michael J Liddell, Daniel J Metcalfe, Jeremy Russell-Smith, Ben Sparrow, Glenda M Wardle, Andrew White, Richard Williams and Sam Wood

Final