An operational method to assess impacts of land clearing on terrestrial biodiversity

Gibbons, Philip; Briggs, Sue; Ayers, Danielle; Seddon, Julian; Doyle, Stuart; Cosier, Peter; McElhinny, Chris; Pelly, Vanessa; Roberts, Kevin C.

doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2008.01.006

Cited by 82 publications

(89 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…We then excluded the constants, multipliers, and weightings used to calculate the metric, so that the site value assessment would represent current condition, rather than the impacts of habitat loss (S. Briggs, NSW OEH, personal communication). This modified metric is described in Gibbons et al (2009) as follows:…”

Section: Rapid Condition Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The BioMetric tool was developed to help the agency determine the impacts of proposed land clearing on terrestrial biodiversity, and it includes a site value component to measure vegetation condition for all vegetation types in NSW (Gibbons et al 2009). The rapid condition assessment is based on 10 attributes ( Table 2) that represent the structure, function, and composition of the vegetation (Gibbons et al 2009). We then excluded the constants, multipliers, and weightings used to calculate the metric, so that the site value assessment would represent current condition, rather than the impacts of habitat loss (S. Briggs, NSW OEH, personal communication).…”

Section: Rapid Condition Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

How accurate is the local ecological knowledge of protected area practitioners?

Cook¹,

Wardell‐Johnson²,

Carter³

et al. 2014

E&S

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ABSTRACT. The scarcity of environmental data means that other sources of information are needed to complement empirical evidence for conservation decisions. By regularly interacting with their local environment, protected area practitioners may generate local ecological knowledge (LEK) that can be used to inform management decisions. However, the accuracy of LEK is generally poorly understood, and no studies have assessed the accuracy of practitioners' personal knowledge, leading to a vital gap in our ability to best use this information to guide management. We measured the accuracy of practitioners' knowledge of the vegetation condition within protected areas, relative to an empirical vegetation condition assessment tool. Despite the vast majority of practitioners having only personal experiences to inform their judgments, we found that almost 60% of practitioners made assessments of vegetation condition that matched the empirical condition estimates. When inaccurate, practitioners tended to be conservative in their estimates of condition. Although underestimating condition in this way may waste resources through unnecessary management actions, this is likely to be preferable to overestimating condition and thus failing to protect biodiversity by prematurely ceasing restoration programs. We found no relationship between the accuracy of practitioners' LEK and their level of experience as a practitioner, their level of education, or their gender. We believe that under many circumstances practitioners can be a valuable and cost-effective source of information about the condition of the protected areas they manage, but that more research is needed to understand the wide range of factors that may contribute to how land managers build LEK and how management agencies can assist practitioners to build a good understanding of the conditions in their reserves.

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Section: Rapid Condition Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Rapid Condition Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

How accurate is the local ecological knowledge of protected area practitioners?

Cook¹,

Wardell‐Johnson²,

Carter³

et al. 2014

E&S

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Focusing agri-environmental investment on patches greater than 10 ha could result in most of the remaining area of this ecological community being lost. This is because most of this ecological community (at least in the southern part of its range) occurs in much smaller patches (Gibbons and Boak 2002), and these smaller patches are more likely to be approved for clearing (Gibbons et al 2009) and are least likely to contain natural regeneration (Weinberg et al 2011). identifies other metrics that result in similar outcomes.…”

Section: The Theory Of Biodiversity Prioritisationmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…It is also important to acknowledge that there is legislation that affords a high level of protection to these sites, and it is important that agri-environment schemes do not undermine this existing duty of care. In contrast, smaller remnants of these ecological communities are very vulnerable to loss because they tend to be on more productive land, under greater threat from land management practices in the agricultural matrix (Driscoll et al 2013), have a lower likelihood of supporting natural regeneration (Weinberg et al 2011), and are more likely to be approved for clearing (Gibbons et al 2009). …”

Section: The Theory Of Biodiversity Prioritisationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning from agri-environment schemes in Australia. Investing in biodiversity and other ecosystem services on farms

Ansell¹,

Gibson²,

Salt³

2016

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“…This problem has lead to an emphasis for developing accurate assessments of ecosystems status (Rapport et al, 1998;Rapport and Singh, 2006;Giordani et al, 2009). In this scope, the need for rapid, standardized and cost-saving assessment methodologies is crucial, namely to predict how anthropogenic environmental changes will affect the abundance of species, guilds and communities (Andreasen et al, 2001; Gibbons et al, 2009). For conservation and management purposes, the use of appropriate biodiversity indicators may reveal the effect of changes in environmental factors (Jackson et al, 2000;Niemeijer and de Groot, 2008) and provide useful data to characterize composition, structure, and function of complex systems (Müller et al, 2000;Jørgensen, 2008;Doren et al, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simulating the Effects of Anthropogenic Disturbances in Landscape Patches: An Application in North Portugal

Santos¹

2011

Appl Ecol Env Res

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Abstract.A simple methodology was applied with the purpose of understanding the effects of anthropogenic disturbances in the biodiversity of landscape patches, namely by using Soil Surface Dwelling Arthropods as relevant indicators in changing scenarios. The goal of the present paper is to apply and extend the above academic concepts to landscape management, and to demonstrate the potential of a Stochastic Dynamic Methodology in implementing the respective actions. Since many of the ecosystem phenomenological aspects are the result of whole-system properties, the main purpose of the Stochastic Dynamic Methodology is to promote a mechanistic understanding of the holistic ecological processes, based on statistical parameter estimation methods. In this perspective, the proposed protocol is compatible with most activities undertaken by conventional ecological science, i.e., pattern seeking, the ability to explain past and present states, and the ability to predict future states. Additionally, in contexts relating to landscape management, the results of the Stochastic Dynamic Methodology applied to monitoring and restoration activities are intuitive and can be easily communicated to non-experts (ranging from students to resource users and senior policy makers).

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An operational method to assess impacts of land clearing on terrestrial biodiversity

Cited by 82 publications

References 32 publications

How accurate is the local ecological knowledge of protected area practitioners?

How accurate is the local ecological knowledge of protected area practitioners?

Learning from agri-environment schemes in Australia. Investing in biodiversity and other ecosystem services on farms

Simulating the Effects of Anthropogenic Disturbances in Landscape Patches: An Application in North Portugal

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