Historical perspectives on some vegetation and soil changes in semi-arid New South Wales

Mitchell, P. B.

doi:10.1007/978-94-011-3264-0_13

Cited by 6 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…In terms of conservation, the area has received little attention relative to the eastern parts of the State, with 2.98% of the Western Division in reserves compared with 9.12% for the Central and Eastern Divisions Taffs 2001a). In addition, climate extremes coupled with human activity and the impacts of feral herbivores and carnivores have resulted in widespread land degradation, resource depletion, and species decline (Allison et al 1990, Benson 1991, Mitchell 1991, Pickard 1991, Graham 1992, Dickman et al 1993, Smith et al 1994, James et al 1999. One prominent conservation area, Sturt National Park, in the extreme northwest of the State, was used as the study area for this project (Fig.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Land Systems as Surrogates for Biodiversity in Conservation Planning

Oliver

Holmes

Dangerfield

et al. 2004

Ecological Applications

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Abstract. Environmental surrogates (land classes) for the distribution of biodiversity are increasingly being used for conservation planning. However, data that demonstrate coincident patterns in land classes and biodiversity are limited. We ask the overall question, ''Are land systems effective surrogates for the spatial configuration of biodiversity for conservation planning?'' and we address three specific questions: (1) Do different land systems represent different biological assemblages? (2) Do biological assemblages on the same land system remain similar with increasing geographic separation? and (3) Do biological assemblages on the same land system remain similar with increasing land system isolation? Vascular plants, invertebrates, and microbiota were surveyed from 24 sites in four land systems in arid northwest New South Wales, Australia. Within each land system, sites were located to give a hierarchy of inter-site distances, and land systems were classified as either ''low isolation'' (large and continuous) or ''high isolation'' (small patches interspersed among other land systems).Each type of land system supported components of biodiversity either not found, or found infrequently, on other land systems, suggesting that land systems function as surrogates for biodiversity, and that conservation-area networks representing land-system diversity will also represent biological diversity. However, the majority of taxa were found on more than one land-system type, suggesting that a large proportion of the plant, arthropod, and microbial biodiversity may be characterized by widespread species with low fidelity to particular land systems. Significant relationships between geographic distance among sites and differences among assemblages were revealed for all taxa except the microbiota. Therefore, as sites on the same land system were located farther apart, the assemblages at those sites became more different. This finding strongly suggests that conservation planning based on land-system diversity should also sample the geographic range occupied by each land system. Land-system isolation was not revealed to be a significant source of variation in assemblage composition. Our research finds support for environmental surrogates for biodiversity in conservation planning, specifically the use of land systems and similarly derived land classifications. However, the need for explicit modeling of geographic distance in conservation planning is clearly indicated.

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Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Land Systems as Surrogates for Biodiversity in Conservation Planning

Oliver

Holmes

Dangerfield

et al. 2004

Ecological Applications

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show abstract

“…Average annual rainfall is about 150 mm in the arid northwest corner and increases to the east and south, the highest rainfall in the Division being about 450 mm in the far north-east. The main landforms and vegetation types have been mapped (Walker, 1991 Historically, the Division has been managed mainly for sheep grazing (Mitchell, 1991;Pickard, 1991), but there has been increasing pressure to clear or thin native vegetation either for agriculture or to increase carrying capacity for stock. Landholders are required to apply for licences to clear or crop (Pressey, 1990;Campbell, 1994).…”

Section: Study Regionmentioning

confidence: 99%