Ongoing failure to resolve how wildlife and people can co-exist on private land contributes to the global decline of wildlife populations. Experience in Tasmania, Australia suggests a disconnect between wildlife researchers, environmental agencies, and private landholders that prevents new scientific insights from translating into improved wildlife management practices. This case study based on a participatory action research model, describes a wildlife conservation initiative called WildTracker. WildTracker created handson collaborations among private landholders, university researchers, and the Tasmanian Land Conservancy (TLC). Landholders from 3 regions (total area 9977 km 2 ) participated in an iterative 2-year research process involving problem-framing workshops, data collection (mammals, birds, and habitat) using wildlife cameras and sound recorders, data analysis, and discussion of results. Participants contributed more than 2,000 hours to the project, resulting in more than 500,000 wildlife observations, with many landholders now implementing research findings, guided by locality-specific data on wildlife populations, feral animals, and habitat condition. WildTracker has evolved from a short-term participatory research project into an ongoing collaborative citizen science program that is documenting and contributing to on-the-ground and evolving wildlife conservation outcomes.
Urban governance in Western societies is increasingly shaped by awareness of the importance of trees in maintaining the environmental function and social livability of cities. Records of change in urban forest composition on public land are generally good. However, a great proportion of trees in western cities occur on private land, where such changes are poorly-documented. The study authors trialed the use of size class analysis, a technique widely used to deduce the dynamics of natural forests, to determine change in the private urban forest. From a sample of blocks in ten suburbs of the Australian cities of Melbourne and Hobart, in which most dwellings have front and back gardens, researchers assessed the implications of changes for the functionality of the urban forest. The height class distributions of a large number of front garden tree taxa were classified. Although the factors affecting height class distributions differ between a natural and an urban forest, those distributions found for most species were so extreme that there was little doubt in interpretation. Tree species that can grow to a large height were under-represented in the smaller height classes, indicating their future decline in the private tree estate. Individuals of glossy-leaved small tree species were over-represented in the smaller height classes, indicating a recent increase in their popularity. The shift toward smaller, denser trees on private land has implications for the functions of the urban forest. A higher level of large tree protection on private land and compensation through planting on public land could mitigate impacts.
was established in September 2011 to bring together staff and the wider non-university community (e.g., non-government organisations, primary and secondary schools) with the goal of embedding sustainability as a core focus of the university curriculum, research activities, operations and community engagement. The establishment of this institution-wide Community of Practice is discussed within the context of engagement with the wider University of Tasmania community to raise awareness of, and participation in, Education for Sustainability initiatives. The paper documents the creation processes and includes opportunities and challenges encountered by Community of Practice members. Areas of discussion include greater collaboration across disciplinary boundaries and between academic and professional staff members. The major themes for these discussions were-the 'idea' of sustainability; the social responsibility of the wider university community; the teaching-research nexus and the student experience; community engagement; institutional leadership.
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