Conference Program 2014

Conference Program & Abstracts

Tuesday 11th November – Friday 14th November 2014The Old Woolstore Apartment HotelHobart, Tasmania

10th Australasian Plant Conservation Conference “Sustaining Plant Diversity - Adapting to a Changing World”

We would like to acknowledge and thank the following APCC10 sponsors:

GPO Box 1777 Canberra ACT 2601 AustraliaABN: 70 861 480 818Telephone: (02) 6250 9509; Fax: (02) 6250 9528; email: [email protected]: http://www.anpc.asn.au

Australian Network for Plant Conservation 10th National Conference11 November to 14 November 2014Hobart, Tasmania

Published by the Australian Network for Plant Conservation .

Copyright © Australian Network for Plant Conservation and individual authors 2014.

This publication is copyright. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying or other, without prior permission of the copyright holder.

Front Cover : Photo credits - RTBGSchouten Boronia (Boronia rozefeldsii) is restricted to a few hill tops on Schouten •

Island, Tasmania. Tetratheca gunnii (Shy Pinkbells), an endangered, endemic species with an extremely •

restricted distribution near Beaconsfield, northern Tasmania. Seedbank manager James Wood and alpine collector Karen Johnson assessing a seed •

collecting site in Cradle Mountain - Lake St. Clair National Park. Tasmanian Rayflower (Cyphanthera tasmanica) going to seed in the RTBG nursery. •

Disclaimer:The opinions expressed in this document are the views of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Australian Network for Plant Conservation Inc.

Printed by: Trendsetting, Canberra

FORTY SOUTH PUBLISHINGMAGA ZINE + BOOK PRODUCTION

110th Australasian Plant Conservation Conference

Table of contents

Organising Committee 2 Welcome from ANPC 3

Conference Program 4 Tuesday 11 November 4 Wednesday 12 November 4

Thursday 13 November 6 Friday 14 November 8

Oral Presentations 9

Index of authors 39

2 10th Australasian Plant Conservation Conference

Organising Committee Mark Fountain Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens Louise Gilfedder Department of Primary Industries, Lorraine Perrins Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens Parks, Water & Environment, Tas. Natalie Tapson Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens Andrew Smith Parks and Wildlife Service, James Wood Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens Tasmania Arin Dean APCC10 Sponsorship Coordinator Nick Fountain-Jones University of Tasmania David Coates ANPC President Peter Harrison University of Tasmania Zoe Knapp ANPC Secretary Magali Wright NRM South, Tas. Jo Lynch ANPC Business Manager Tricia Hogbin ANPC Project Manager Jennie Whinam Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water & Environment, Tas.

Additional Organisational Support Thank you to the many people behind the scenes who have provided support for the conference, particularly:

Staff from the Australian Network for Plant Conservation Inc: Merryl Bradley ANPC Office volunteer Carly Westbye ANPC Office Administrator

Staff from the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, including: Megan Marrison David Marrison Anne Griffin Chris Lang Margot White

Volunteers from the Friends of the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens (FRTBG): Kay Hayes (FRTBG Treasurer and APCC10 volunteer coordinator) Elizabeth Haworth Eileen Maskrey (FTRBG President) Aina Dambitis Michael Maskrey Fran Alexis Rebecca Round Margaret Chestnut Jennifer Parrott Christine Bateman Joan Booth Carolynne Cruise Sally Dabner Cathie Lewis Kate Shaw (Threatened Plants Tasmania) Joan Booth Linda Perrins Eileen Maskrey Vicky von Witt Heather Shaw

Field Trip assistance: Viv Muller (Threatened Plants Tasmania) Doug Clarke Dr Magali Wright (NRM South) Chris Obst Geoff Curry Dr Neil Davidson (Greening Australia) Dr Nigel Swarts Sebastian Burgess (Greening Australia) Mark Wapstra Donna Brown (Hydro Tasmania) Peter Fehre

Photographer at the Bob Brown Lecture: Karen Brown (Karen Brown Photography)

Business Events Tasmania


Welcome from ANPC

Welcome to the Australian Network for Plant Conservation’s 10th Australasian Plant Conservation Conference. 2014 is the ANPC’s twenty third year of promoting and working for plant conservation in Australia. In 1993 the ANPC held its first national conference in Hobart “Cultivating Conservation”. We very much look forward to celebrating this return to Hobart 21 years later.

The theme for this conference is “Sustaining Plant Diversity - Adapting to a Changing World”. When considering this theme it is of interest to look back at how the ANPC has developed as Australia’s key plant conservation organisation. In 1991 the Australian National Botanic Gardens in Canberra acted to co-ordinate the ex situ conservation of rare and threatened plants by organising the conference “Protective Custody? - Ex Situ Plant Conservation in Australasia”. The conference had among its primary outcomes the intention to encourage communication and networking so that the diverse range of groups involved in plant conservation can be better informed and coordinate their efforts. Out of this came a proposal for the establishment of the Australian Network for Plant Conservation. While the initial focus of the ANPC was ex situ conservation this rapidly evolved encompassing all aspects of plant conservation and in particular bridging the gap between ex situ and in situ conservation approaches.

The ANPC is unique in Australia in many ways as an organisation consisting of a diverse range of members including scientists, land managers, State and Commonwealth Departments, industry, the volunteer conservation movement and the broader community dedicated specifically to the conservation of plant species communities and ecosystems. It plays a key role in promoting linkages between all these interest groups. For example, the ANPC maintains Australia’s only non-government website dedicated to plant conservation knowledge.

The ANPC has held regular National Conferences addressing a broad range of key biodiversity conservation issues such as invasive species, habitat fragmentation, threatened species and communities, and urban expansion. It is interesting to note that while all these issues still prevail as major concerns in plant conservation we now face new significant challenges. These include the threat of climate change and extensive habitat degradation, how we might deal with the technological demands of broad scale restoration and the successful translocation or re-introduction of species under rapidly changing environmental scenarios.

This conference will bring together a diverse range of stakeholders to explore, review and highlight plant conservation achievements in Australia over the last two decades, evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of our existing approaches, consider current major issues and identify new directions in Australia for the coming decades. The sub-themes for this conference 1) Securing Biodiversity, 2) Partnerships for Biodiversity, 3) Prioritising Actions, 4) Animals in Plant Conservation and 5) Engagement and Communication in the Modern World reflect the many directions and advances in plant conservation in Australia and its surrounds. Perhaps more importantly they reflect the need for participation of a broad range of professional and community groups if realistic on ground advances are going to be made to prevent the extinction of species and conservation of our flora.

On behalf of the ANPC I’d like to thank the conference sponsors who have made this event possible: in particular our major sponsors the RTBG, Cradle Mountain Hotel, Freycinet Lodge, The Maria Island Walk, The Old Woolstore Apartment Hotel, Natural Area Consulting Management Services, Business Events Tasmania and the Earth Welfare Foundation. These organisations have recognised the value of supporting the ANPC in facilitating communication and networking among scientists, land managers, community groups, government and industry for improved flora conservation in Australia.

This is going to be an excellent conference and on behalf of the entire ANPC membership I would like to thank the conference organising committee listed on Page 3 and especially Mark Fountain, Lorraine Perrins, Natalie Tapson and Arin Dean from the RTBG, as well as the ANPC Head Office staff Jo Lynch, Carly Westbye and Merryl Bradley. They have worked tirelessly to ensure that this conference will be a success and more importantly that the findings from the conference are translated into successful flora conservation initiatives and outcomes.

David CoatesPresidentAustralian Network for Plant Conservation Inc.


Conference ProgramTUESDAY 11TH NOVEMBER 2014

4:00 - 5:00 pm Registration @ The Old Woolstore Apartment Hotel6:00 - 7:00 pm Welcome Reception @ Government House (invited guests only)6:00 - 8:00 pm Welcome drinks and Tours at the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens at the Conservatory

WEDNESDAY 12TH NOVEMBER 20148:00 - 8:50 am Registrations @ The Old Woolstore Apartment Hotel8:50 - 11:20 am Full Merino Room8:50 - 9:00 am Welcome to Country - Mark Fountain - Deputy Director, Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens9:00 - 9:05 am Welcome to Conference/Housekeeping Mark Fountain - Deputy Director, Royal Tasmanian

Botanical Gardens9:05 - 9:25 am ANPC Presidential Address Dr David Coates - President, Australian Network for Plant Conservation9:25 - 10:10 am KEYNOTE ADDRESS - Professor Ian Lunt (Charles Sturt University) – “Conservation science will be very different

in 50 years’ time. Do you find this scary or exciting?”Chair : Mark Fountain (Deputy Director, RTBG)

10:10 - 10:25 am Questions10:25 - 10:55 am MORNING TEA11:00 - 11:20 am PLENARY LECTURE “Prioritising Actions” theme - Dr Terry Walshe (Australian Institute of Marine Science

and Honorary Fellow at the School of Botany, University of Melbourne.) - “Sacred values and filthy lucre - taboo trade-offs in conservation.”Chair: Dr Zoe Knapp (Secretary, Australian Network for Plant Conservation)

CONCURRENT SESSIONS Merino Room split into half Merino and Shearers Room and Theatrette

LOCATION “PRIORITISING ACTIONS” Half Merino Room Chair: Dr Zoe Knapp (Secretary, Australian Network for Plant Conservation)

“ANIMALS IN PLANT CONSERVATION” Shearers Room Chair: Dr Stephen Harris (Manager, Invasive Species DPIPWE)

“SECURING BIODIVERSITY”Theatrette Chair: Professor Jamie Kirkpatrick (Univer-sity of Tasmania)

11:25 - 11:45 am Fred Duncan & Mark Wapstra (The Plant Press; Environmental Consulting Options) - “Through the Tasmanian Looking Glass: Conservation of Plant Diversity in a Temperate Wonderland”

Dr Jenny Scott & Chris Howard (University of Tasmania; Tas Parks & Wildlife Service) -“Subantarctic Macquarie Island - Vegetation Changes after Rabbit Eradication”

Dr David Coates (WA Department of Parks and Wildlife) - “Incorporating genetic diversity and evolutionary processes into plant conservation policy and management : A Western Australian perspective”

11:45 - 12:05 pm Dr Arko Lucieer (University of Tasmania) – “Recent advances in the developments of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) for environmental mapping and monitoring”

Dr Peter McQuillan (University of Tasmania) - “A small moth Symphygas nephaula (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) mediates seed production in Orites (Proteaceae) shrubs in alpine Tasmania, acting as a pollinator and seed predator”

Dr Linda Broadhurst (CSIRO) - “Using Seed Production Areas to help meet restoration targets”

12:05 - 12:15 pm Questions Questions Questions

12:15 - 1:15 pm LUNCH12:15 - 1:00 pm ANPC 2014 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING - LOCATION: Drovers Room1:20 - 1:50 pm LOCATION: Full Merino Room


1:20 – 1:50 pm PLENARY LECTURE “Animals in Plant Conservation” theme - Professor Jonathon Majer (Curtin University, WA)Chair: Ms Jo Lynch (Business Manager, Australian Network for Plant Conservation)


LOCATION “PRIORITISING ACTIONS” Half Merino Room Chair: Mr Mark Fountain (Deputy Director, RTBG)

“ANIMALS IN PLANT CONSERVATION” Shearers Room Chair: Mr Phil Watson (NRM PlannerClarence City Council)

“SECURING BIODIVERSITY”Theatrette Chair: Dr Paul Gibson-Roy (Greening Australia)

1:55 - 2:15 pm Nick Bell (University of Melbourne) – “Multi-taxa Phylogenomic Analysis of Alpine Plant Communities”

Dr Melinda Moir (University of Western Australia)- “Managing for coextinction of plant-dwelling invertebrates”

John Turnbull (Tweed Shire Council) - “Moving from Monoculture to Multiculture on the Tweed Coast Northern NSW”

2:15 - 2:35 pm Dr Greg Jordan (University of Tasmania) & Oberon Carter (DPIPWE) - “An Objective View of Ancient, Relictual, Primitive, Gondwanan (Finally)”

Prof Paulo de Souza (CSIRO) – “Swarm Sensing: the new Frontier in Environmental Sciences”

David Hancock (Natural Area Consulting Management Services) – “Progress towards new nursery industry protocols for Phytophthora control”


2:55 - 3:15 pm AFTERNOON TEACONCURRENT SESSIONS Merino Room split into half Merino and Shearers Room and Theatrette

LOCATION “PRIORITISING ACTIONS” Half Merino Room Chair: Dr Jennie Whinam (Senior Ecologist, DPIPWE)

“ANIMALS IN PLANT CONSERVATION” Shearers Room Chair: Paul Adam (University of NSW)

“SECURING BIODIVERSITY”Theatrette Chair: Mr James Wood (Tasmanian Seed Conservation Centre Manager, RTBG)

3:15 - 3:35 pm Mark Wapstra (Environmental Consulting Options Tasmania) & Dr Nigel Swarts (University of Tasmania) - “Influence of Taxonomy on Conservation Management of Tasmanian Orchids: A look to the Past with a View to the Future”

Dr Nicholas Beeton (University of Tasmania) – “Predicting the future range and abundance of fallow deer in Tasmania”

Dr Marie Keatley (University of Melbourne) -“Phenology and its contribution in understanding how plants adapt to changing world”

3:35 - 3:55 pm Roger Good (Australian National University) - “Ecological Restoration – Identifying Needs and Determining Priorities”

Dr Sean Tomlinson (University of Western Australia) - “Ecological Energetic Models of Pollination Restoration in Thermo- energetic Island Landscapes”

Anne Cochrane (WA Department of Parks and Wildlife) – “Understanding plant responses to changing climates – seed germination, seedling emergence and early growth”

3:55 - 4:15 pm Dr Justine Shaw (Australian Antarctic Division) - “Conserva-tion Decision-making in Australia’s sub-Antarctic: Complex Ecosystem Interactions and Island Restoration”

Tanya Bailey (University of Tasmania) – “Feral deer damage in Tasmanian biodiverse restora-tion plantings”

Rebecca Durant (The Murray-Darling Freshwater Research Centre) - “Estimating the diversity and abundance of wetland seed banks”

4:15 - 4:35 pm Kate Brown (Department of Parks and Wildlife, WA) - “The biggest problem with fences; weeds, herbivores and prescribed fire in a Banksia woodland”

Dr Carole Elliott (University of Western Australia and Kings Park Botanic Garden) – “Landscape structure and pollinator behaviour do not predict reproductive connectivity.”

Emma Dalziell (University of Western Australia) - “Ex situ seed storage of Australian Nymphaea (water lilies): Implications for Conservation”


4:35 – 4:55 pm Bob Makinson (The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust) - “Myrtle Rust - a theoretical threat becomes real”

Nicholas Fountain-Jones (University of Tasmania) – ““Understanding plant-animal interactions using species, functional and phylogenetic tools”

Natalie Tapson (Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens) - “Azorella macquariensis – battling for survival in the subantarctic”


7:00 - 9:00 pm CONFERENCE DINNER in Merino Room

THURSDAY 13TH NOVEMBER 20148:30 - 9:00 am Registration @ The Old Woolstore Apartment Hotel

LOCATION Full Merino Room9:00 - 9: 10 am Housekeeping and Welcome to new delegates ANPC Rep: TBC9:10 - 9:40 am PLENARY LECTURE “Securing Biodiversity” theme - Professor David Bowman (University of Tasmania) –

“Conservation in the Anthropocene”Chair: Dr Magali Wright (NRM South Biodiversity Coordinator)


LOCATION “Partnerships for Biodiversity” Half Merino Room Chair: Mr Mark Fountain (Deputy Director, RTBG)

“Engagement and Communication in the Modern World” Shearers Room Chair : Mr Andrew Smith (Manager Community Programs, Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife)

“Securing Biodiversity”Theatrette Chair: Ms Louise Gilfedder (Senior Conservation Scientist, DPIPWE)

9:40 - 10:00 am David Hancock (Natural Area Consulting Management Services) - “Plant Conservation in a Commercial Context – Can conservation and commerce combine to do it better?”

Dr Gretta Pecl (Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies) – “Citizen science as a tool for ecological monitoring, community engagement and two-way communication”

Dr John Morgan (La Trobe University) - “Beyond the ‘extinction debt’: how lessons from plant demographic studies can contribute to strategies for reversing declines in once-common grassland species”

10:00 – 10:20 am Jim Begley (Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority) - “A holistic approach to saving flora species in the Goulburn Broken Catch-ment of Victoria and beyond”

Peter Boyer (Science Journalist and Commentator) – “Life in the fast lane: Selling climate policy in the 21st century”

Ben Zeeman (La Trobe University) - “Vegetation change in an increasingly urbanised grassland reserve system”

10:20 - 10:40 am Questions Questions Questions

10:40 – 11:00 am MORNING TEA11:00 - 11:20 am LOCATION : Full Merino Room11:00 – 11:20 am PLENARY LECTURE “Engagement and Communication in the Modern World” theme - Andrew Smith

(Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service) - “Communicating, connecting, inspiring, acting in the modern world.” Chair : Ms Natalie Tapson (RTBG)



LOCATION “Partnerships for Biodiversity” Half Merino Room Chair: Dr Magali Wright (NRM South Biodiversity Coordinator)

“Engagement and Communication in the Modern World” Shearers Room Chair: Mr Huw Morgan (Department of the Environment & Edi-tor, Australian Plant Conservation)

“Securing Biodiversity”Theatrette Chair: Dr Neil Davidson (Restoration Ecologist, Greening Australia)

11:25 - 11:45 am Ms Viv Muller (Threatened Plants Tasmania, Wildcare Inc.) – “Volunteer Commitment in Threatened Plants Tasmania”

Bob Dixon (Botanic Gardens & Parks Authority) - “Teaming with volunteers”

Karina Salmon (La Trobe University) – “What role does grassland fire history play in fire behaviour and grassland recovery?”

11:45 - 12:05 am Dr David Coates (ANPC) - “The ANPC Orchid Conservation Program”

Dr Paul Gibson-Roy (Greening Australia) - “Linking Schools to Biodiversity Restoration: Stories of the Cumberland Plain”

Wolfgang Lewandrowski (University of Western Australia) – “Unravelling the recruitment bottleneck in dominant Triodia species for arid zone restoration in the Pilbara, Western Australia”

12:05 - 12:25 am Questions Questions Questions

12:25 - 1:00 pm LUNCH


LOCATION “Partnerships for Biodiversity” Half Merino Room Chair: Dr David Coates (Program Leader, Flora Conservation and Herbarium Depart-ment of Parks and Wildlife, WA

“Engagement and Communication in the Modern World” Shearers Room Chair: Mr Peter Boyer, Science Journalist and Commentator

“Securing Biodiversity”Theatrette Chair: Mr Roger Good (Australian National University)

1:00 - 1:20 pm Professor Brad Potts (UTAS) -“Assessing the risk of gene flow from plantation to native eucalypts: A long-term partnership in biodiversity management”

Dr Marie Keatley (University of Melbourne + Earthwatch Institute) – “ClimateWatch: engaging the public and making a difference through citizen science”

Neil Davidson (Greening Australia) - “Reconnecting fragmented vegetation remnants across the agricultural belt of the Midlands, Tasmania”

1:20 - 1:40 pm Iona Mitchell (Dept. of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment, Tasmania) – “Gardens for Wildlife - promoting biodiversity conservation in urban areas”

Michael Clarke (University of Newcastle) – “Acknowledgement of Aboriginal Cultures, Community Engagement Through Learning Circles”

Peter Harrison (University of Tasmania) - “The effect of forest fragmentation, geography and climate on forest tree reproductive success”

1:40 - 2:00 pm Doug Bickerton (Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources, SA) & Dr Christophe Tourenq (Banrock Station, Accolade Wines) – “Translocating the Spiny Daisy: Partnerships with Winning Outcomes”

Daniel Duval (Botanic Gardens of Adelaide) - “The Schools Threatened Species Custodian Project – a plant conservation initiative for South Australian Schools”

Catherine Ross (Greening Australia) - “What’s Killing the Trees?”

2:00 – 2:20 pm Rewi Elliot (Otari Native Botanic Garden and Wilton’s Bush Reserve) – “The NZ Plant Conservation Network”

Dianne Brown (NSW Office of Environment and Heritage) – “The Jaliigirr Biodiversity Alliance - connecting corridors through community and culture”

Paul Gibson-Roy (Greening Australia) - In defence of ferals and weeds: are they the real villains?

2:20 – 2:40 pm Questions Questions Questions

2:40 - 3:05 pm AFTERNOON TEA3:10 - 4:30 pm TECHNOLOGY PRACTICAL SESSION – Gadgets, Data Management and Accessibility.

LOCATION : The Baha’i Centre of Learning Auditorium


Professor Paulo de Souza (CSIRO) “Micro-sensing Technologies and Systems, Office of the Chief Executive Science Leader on CSIRO Computational Informatics”

Naomi Lawrence (DPIPWE) “Natural Values Atlas”Rian Taylor “Unmanned aerial vehicles eg drones”

Dr Arko Lucieer (University of Tasmania)

“A range of remote sensing equipment used by the TerraLuma Project www.terraluma.net and demonstrate its application for researchers”

James Wood/David Marrison (Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens)

“Flickr photo sharing site and potential to engage”

4:30 - 5:00 pm Final Discussion and closure - Location : Full Merino Room

6:00 - 7:00 pm PUBLIC LECTURE - Dr Bob Brown LOCATION : The Baha’i Centre of Learning Auditorium

FRIDAY 14TH NOVEMBER 2014CONFERENCE FIELD TRIPS

Field Trip One Field Trip Two Field Trip three

9:00 am - 2:30 pm Full Day 9:00 am – 5:00 pm Full Day 8:00 am – 6:00 pmCoordinators - Dr Magali Wright (NRM South) and Viv Muller (Threatened Plants Tasmania)

Coordinators - Neil Davidson and Sebastian Burgess (Greening Australia, Tasmania) Chris Lang and Anne Griffin (RTBG)

Coordinators - Natalie Tapson and David Marrison (RTBG)

Tasmanian orchid conservation in action – Join Threatened Plants Tasmania Wildcare Inc. (TPT), at the Tasmanian Seed Conservation Centre to learn about the Threatened Orchid Project. Fol-lowed by a trip to the Peter Murrell Reserve near Hobart where many of Tasmania’s native orchid species can be found.

Buffering and reconnecting native vegetation across the Northern Midlands of Tasmania – Join Greening Australia to look at work to revegetate the Macquarie River in Tasmania’s Northern Midlands. This project is part of the 1,000 hectares Biodiverse Restoration Research Project.

Central Plateau Lagoon of Islands Project and the Miena Cider Gum - Join staff from the RTBG on a trip to the Tasmania’s Central Plateau to view Hydro Tasmania’s Lagoon of Islands Rehabilitation Project. The project’s aim is to rehabilitate the unique floating ecosystem of the Lagoon of Islands wetland. It will also include a visit to a population of the critically endangered Miena cider gum to discuss efforts to conserve this species.

10:30 - 11:30 am Guided Tours of the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens

6:00 - 8:00 pm Casual BBQ at the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens at the Fuchsia House


Oral PresentationsAPCC10 Conference presenter abstracts - November 2014

Conservation science will be very different in 50 years time. Do you find that scary or exciting?Keynote Speaker Professor Ian Lunt (Charles Sturt University)

In 1967, Alan ‘Jock’ Marshall, a pioneering ecologist and communicator, wrote The Great Extermination – arguably of similar importance for conservation in Australia as Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring was in the USA. No one reads or remembers it now. In the last 50 years, conservation has evolved to a degree that Marshall would find difficult to comprehend. In the next 50 years our approaches to ‘conservation’, ‘restoration’, ‘sustainable management’ and associated discourses will change even more. Climate change, population, energy and technology use will force us to reconsider our goals, strategies and techniques. We have as little ability as Marshall did to foresee those changes, despite our shared desire to corral them. Rapid change has also affected the way we communicate. Social media provides new ways to acquire, view and interpret ‘news’ and information, as readers absorb posts on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and blogs rather than papers, magazines or newsletters. In this talk, I want to explore the conference theme of dramatic change through the lens of an ecologist, educator and (more recently) science communicator. And frankly, if there’s a single take home message about how you should deal with all of this impending change, I don’t know what it is. Which, for me at least, makes everything really, really exciting.

Prioritising Actions Theme

Sacred Values and Filthy Lucre – taboo trade-offs in conservation.Plenary – Dr Terry Walshe (Australian Institute of Marine Science and

Honorary Fellow at the School of Botany, University of Melbourne)

The imperative to secure threatened species is a ‘sacred’ duty for those with a conservation ethic. In many circumstances, we’re obliged to consider this sacred duty alongside the monetary costs of management intervention. Psychologists describe trade-offs between sacred and secular values as ‘taboo’ trade-offs. They leave us feeling grubby, or at least vaguely compromised, and so we tend to invest considerable energy avoiding the internal conflict that taboo trade-offs incite. In this talk, I’ll explore the need for taboo trade-offs in conservation, how they might be meaningfully addressed, and how they might help to make more resources available in future. After touching on recent applications involving use of cost-efficiency as a decision criterion for allocation of conservation resources, I’ll describe a framework we developed for Parks Australia that emphasises the place of value judgments in coherent decision-making.


1) Through the Tasmanian looking glass: conservation of plant diversity in a temperate wonderland Fred Duncan (The Plant Press; ECOtas) and Mark Wapstra (Environmental Consulting Options Tasmania)

Tasmania has been described as a botanical wonderland – its flora has relatively high species diversity for temperate latitudes and 28% of its 1,902 higher plant taxa are endemic. fifty percent of the State’s terrestrial area (6.8 million hectares) is in public reserves (96%) or private reserves (4%). Off-reserve management by public and private landowners is facilitated by land management organisations, researchers and motivated individuals. However, 466 Tasmanian higher plant taxa (25%) and 39 vegetation communities (25% of recognised communities) are listed as threatened. Have our conservation processes and priorities been successful?We consider plant conservation in Tasmania since the 1970s – the beginning of rigorous assessments of the distributions and conservation status of species and communities. Subsequent decades saw programs of targetted reservation; integration of research findings into land use decisions and practices; increased commitment to off-reserve management – and significant modification of native vegetation. State and Commonwealth policies and agreements on biodiversity and land use became as complex and interwoven as the species and plant communities themselves. Partisan groups and land managers, often with opposing views, brought their own hats to the tea party.By holding a mirror to four decades of our actions, we get some perspective of their success in maintaining our floral wonderland. These reflections show distortions, imperfections and perverse outcomes, and some extraordinary achievements. We conclude by discussing some issues that will affect the persistence and functioning of Tasmania’s plant diversity in the future.

2) Recent advances in the development of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) for environmental mapping and monitoring Dr Arko Lucieer (University of Tasmania)

The TerraLuma research project at the University of Tasmania develops novel tools and algorithms for environmental remote sensing applications and aerial surveys using Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), also known as UAVs or drones. Up-to-date and accurate spatial data are of crucial importance for sustainable management of our eco- and agrosystems. UAS offer an exciting and novel opportunity to map and understand the environment in greater detail than ever before. TerraLuma is a university team of three senior academics, a postdoc, eight PhD students, and a CASA certified UAS operator. One of the unique aspects of our project is that we operate and integrate multiple sensors to “make the invisible visible”. These specialised sensors include multispectral and hyperspectral (VNIR), thermal, and LiDAR sensors to map and monitor different aspects of the environment at centimetre resolution. The primary advantage of UAS-based remote sensing is the ability to bridge the scale gap between field-based observations and full-scale airborne or satellite observations. The key advantages of UAS for agricultural and environmental remote sensing are their capacity to: 1) collect ultra-high spatial resolution imagery (1 – 20 cm), 2) acquire data on-demand at critical times, and 3) carry multiple sensors that can collect imagery outside of the human visible range. We have worked on a range of applications, including precision agriculture and viticulture; mapping and monitoring vegetation in remote locations such as Antarctica; deriving 3D tree structure for forest inventories; landslide deformation monitoring; assessment of coastal erosion; mapping of geological structures; better understanding functions of natural vegetation communities such as saltmarshes; transforming images into knowledge. This presentation will provide an overview of UAS technology with a focus on remote sensing of vegetation illustrated by several real-world applications.


3) Multi-taxa Phylogenomic Analysis of Alpine Plant Communities Mr Nick Bell ( University of Melbourne) Global change poses significant and urgent challenges for biodiversity conservation. Species persistence under a changing environment ultimately depends on dispersal to favourable habitats or in situ adaptation by plastic or evolutionary mechanisms. For Australian Alpine species with limited and rapidly diminishing suitable habitat, there is pressing need to prioritise actions based on the best available evidence.Conservation strategies preserving endemism and adaptive potential are critical. Where resources are limited, conservation efforts should focus on the preservation of general evolutionary patterns. We investigated the phylogeographic history of several alpine plants using high-density genetic markers. Multi-taxa genomic data was compared to determine common phylogeographic patterns and identify evolutionary processes shaping contemporary biodiversity. Spatial patterns of genetic structure were used to delineate evolutionary bioregions and refugia of high conservation value.Differences in life-history traits across taxa impacted on patterns of genetic structure on fine spatial scales, while common patterns were observed at broad scales regardless of life-history traits. This has implications for lineage conservation and the maintenance of genetic variation and adaptive capacity within species. These issues have commonly been examined through specific plastid or nuclear sequences coupled with microsatellites, these approaches are time consuming and expensive when applied across multiple species within a community. The nascent developments in genomic sequencing and bioinformatics are delivering increasingly time and cost effective means to inform conservation strategies.

4) An objective view of ancient, relictual, primitive, Gondwanan (finally) Dr Greg Jordan (University of Tasmania) & Oberon Carter (DPIPWE)

How do we objectively assess values used to prioritise biodiversity management? The concepts of “ancient”, “primitive”, “relictual” and “Gondwanan” are important criteria but are particularly problematic. Critical appraisal shows that it is virtually impossible to directly attribute these values to species or areas objectively.

This talk describes a way to elegantly capture the spirit of these concepts. Palaeoendemics are species or groups of related species (clades) that are old but geographically restricted. It is now possible to identify palaeoendemics objectively using species distribution databases and DNA-based phylogenetic methods. This is currently practicable for some major groups of organisms in some regions, and our capacity for such analyses is expanding rapidly. We present perhaps the first such analysis. We identified all the terrestrial palaeoendemic species and clades of flowering plants and conifers in Tasmania, a region famous for retaining ancient and unusual biota. The rule was that the age of the species/clade should be at least 10 million years old, and have a palaeoendemism “score” (its age divided by the square root of the number of 10 x 10 km grid cells occupied worldwide) greater than 50,000 years per km.

Tasmanian palaeoendemics are strongly associated with areas near the tree line in central and south-western Tasmania. The areas have high rainfall with low incidences of fire. Although some rainforest plants are palaeoendemics, most high scoring palaeoendemics in Tasmania live in open vegetation. All of eastern Tasmania and lowland areas in the west had low to very low levels of palaeoendemism.


5) Influence of taxonomy on conservation management of Tasmanian orchids: a look to the past with a view to the future Mr Mark Wapstra (Environmental Consulting Options Tasmania) and Dr Nigel Swarts (University of Tasmania)

In Tasmania 78 of our approximately 214 species of native orchid are listed as threatened on the Tasmanian Threatened Species Protection Act 1995 and 40 species are listed on the Commonwealth Environment Protection Biodiversity Act 1999. The act of listing would usually confer an assumption of some degree of confidence that the taxon can be identified in the field and therefore appropriately managed. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that some of our listed species (let alone our unlisted species) are taxonomically confused, with “experts” often unable to confidently assign specimens to a recognised taxon. Genera with particularly striking problems include Caladenia, Prasophyllum and Thelymitra. Tasmanian orchidologists long-recognised the inadequacy of early floras but the flurry of descriptions of new species since the mid 1990s has left many botanists confused. Management (and especially management with social/economic consequences such as “lock-up” of land, restriction of trade, or resource-hungry long-term monitoring) must be based on confident identification of what is being managed. Case studies are presented supporting this argument. We argue that a critical action over the next decade is to undertake a thorough review of selected Tasmanian genera that combines molecular-based techniques with statistically valid morphometrics and ecological (habitat, phenology, pollinator) studies to direct conservation priorities to maximise utilisation of ever-shortening resources. Commonwealth and State government funding will be vital to complete this research: continuing to rely on the goodwill and motivation of volunteers to undertake monitoring and small-scale on-ground actions will not be adequate to provide security to this critical component of the State’s biodiversity.


6) Ecological Restoration – Identifying Needs and Determining Priorities Roger Good (Australian National University), Stuart Johnston, Adrienne Nicotra, and Jennie Whinam. For many decades the restoration of natural vegetation communities and ecosystems had a primary objective of restoring a stable vegetation cover that was similar to the original native vegetation, with little cognisance being given to the physical and ecological features of the community being restored. This approach could be considered to be more rehabilitation than restoration with success often being measured by how stable the community was and how much a site looked like its presumed original condition. Many well-documented failures accrued from restoration works based on this simplistic objective together with a lack of appreciation of the role of the ecosystem; its location in the landscape and basic ecology of the plant species impacted by one or more external perturbations, such that restoration was required. This has been most evident in the alpine areas of the mainland (NSW and Victoria), where millions of dollars have been expended since the early 1960s on restoration, to achieve stable soils and vegetation over the upper catchments of the major rivers of the south east of the country with little concern for the ecosystem services the communities contribute to the environment.

Alpine plant communities are very sensitive to disturbance, as they are at the edge of their ecological range, often geographically localised; genetically impoverished and are slow or poor reproducers due to their specific phenology and relatively low seed production, often with low viability. Plant ecology and restoration techniques research of recent years in the alpine areas of the mainland and in Tasmania, together with the application of ‘restoration’ models such as the ‘state and transition’ model now provide for effective restoration planning and identification of priority sites for restoration and priority techniques for individual sites.

The state and transition model enables an understanding of the successional dynamics of alpine communities, particularly the alpine herbfields and groundwater communities, where it has been applied most commonly in restoration planning. The dynamics of any alpine ecosystem can be described as a set of discrete states with a set of discrete transitions between them. The change from one state to another can involve a number of events or a single event depending on the change, duration and effects on the interactive controls, leading to a series of transition states.

This approach to alpine area restoration works over recent years has been complemented and supported by the alpine seed ecology and germination research project which has focussed on the assessment of seed germination rates and percentages; dormancy patterns of alpine plant seeds, including variation in seed and seedling traits within species and along elevational gradients together with the role of maternal environments in seed traits; variation in quality, longevity and viability of stored seed.


7) Conservation decision-making in Australia’s sub-Antarctic: complex ecosystem interactions and island restoration Dr Justine Shaw (Australian Antarctic Division)

The sub-Antarctic Islands are some of the most isolated protected areas in the world. Australia’s two sub-Antarctic islands are both World Heritage Areas with no permanent human settlements or land based industries. These islands support some of the rarest mid to high southern latitude vegetation communities and are home to endemic plants.While there are relatively few invasive species on the islands, those that are present have damaging impacts on the islands’ flora. The high protection status of the islands, and recent innovations in technology and research, have led to new management actions, including biosecurity improvements, eradication and restoration. Here we report on advances in management of these invasive species, and the prioritisation of conservation efforts and decision-making associated with island restoration. Scientists and managers are beginning to understand that in order to undertake successful large-scale ecosystem restoration programs and prioritise conservation efforts, considerations must be given to all species interactions (both native and non-native), ecosystem structure and off-target impacts. We present two case studies; firstly, the successful rabbit and rodent eradication on Macquarie Island and the associated ecosystem impacts of such a large scale program, and secondly, a feasibility assessment for the eradication of an invasive grass on Heard Island. We focus specifically on the decision-making around the conservation of native vegetation in the context of invasive species eradication. In doing so, we highlight the complexities of large-scale restoration for high conservation, remote island ecosystems.

8) The biggest problem with fences; weeds, herbivores and prescribed fire in a Banksia woodland Ms Kate Brown (Department of Parks and Wildlife, WA)

Managing bushland remnants in urban landscapes can be challenging. Prescribed burning to reduce fire risk to human life and infrastructure is often necessary. While prescribed fire can be used as an important restoration tool for target species and communities it can also lead to adverse impacts on biodiversity including recruitment of invasive species and intensive grazing by herbivores.Paganoni Swamp a 700 hectare remnant of Banksia/Tuart (Eucalyptus gomphocephala) Woodland on the southern Swan Coastal Plain in south-western Australia had been unburnt for more than 30 years when a prescribed burn to part of the reserve was undertaken by the Department of Parks and Wildlife in autumn 2011. A series of paired monitoring sites in the burnt and unburnt vegetation were established, including fenced and unfenced sites, to examine the susceptibility of these woodlands to weed invasion and the impacts of kangaroo grazing, post fire. Some of the results were surprising. In the unfenced plots kangaroo grazing post fire significantly reduced the establishment of native understorey shrubs and herbs but unexpectedly it also prevented establishment of some of most serious weeds in the south west. These included Perennial veldt grass (Ehrharta calycina) Rose Pelargonium (Pelargonium capitatum) and Geraldton Carnation Weed (Euphorbia terracina). So fencing out kangaroos is going to protect the regenerating understorey but it’s also going to facilitate establishment of some serious weeds post fire. Work is continuing with researchers, land managers and the local community to address the implications for managing weeds, herbivores and prescribed fire in Banksia/Tuart Woodlands.


9) Myrtle Rust - a theoretical threat becomes real Mr Bob Makinson (Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust)

The exotic fungal pathogen Puccinia psidii (Eucalyptus Rust, Myrtle Rust) was first detected in Australia in April 2010. The pathogen has since naturalised along most of the eastern seaboard. It has already proved capable of infecting nearly 400 native taxa in the family Myrtaceae. Effects vary with climate, host species, and life/growth stages, but a considerable number of species are highly susceptible. Hard evidence of substantial decline is now available for a few species that have been systematically monitored, and reasonable forecasts of serious impact can be made for several more. At least two hitherto common and widespread shrub species are threatened with extinction in the next 5--10 years. The disease remains a very serious threat to Myrtaceae in moister areas of all States and Territories, and to neighbours in the south-west Pacific and Asia.Institutional responses have been uneven. Commonwealth support for some basic research on the pathogen finished in mid-2013. There is currently no formal national coordination mechanism. The lead role in all jurisdictions has rested with primary industries (PI) agencies, which have disease expertise, but their natural focus is more on production system impacts and mitigation than on wild biodiversity (although nearly all serious impact monitoring so far has been by PI personnel). Environmental agencies have mostly been inactive at other than a desk-top level, with no initiatives or funding for data-baselining and post-arrival impact assessment. This paper summarises biological and institutional factors, and the roles to date of the ANPC, botanic gardens and seedbanks.


Animals in Plant Conservation

Plant and animal conservation: you can’t have one without the other! Plenary – Professor Jonathan Majer (Curtin University and Biomonitoring International Pty Ltd)

For every plant species in Australia there exist over 13 times as many invertebrate and 0.3 times as many chordate species, ratios which tend to be found in any given ecosystem. Loss of plants usually results in the loss of a corresponding quotient of the fauna assemblage. In addition to the reasons for this Conference, this is of concern because most animals play some role in the functioning of the ecosystem in which they occur; for example, pollination systems may break down or propagules may not be adequately dispersed. Thus, conservation of animals is as important as that of plants as a result of utilitarian reasons, moral obligations, Commonwealth and State legislative requirements and, as mentioned, their essential role in the structuring and functioning of ecosystems. Examples of how animals contribute to the various ecosystem functions and processes will be provided and consideration will be given to the potential for using various groups of animals for monitoring the efficacy of plant conservation efforts. It is concluded that plant and animal conservation are intertwined activites; you cannot have one without the other.

1) Subantarctic Macquarie Island – Vegetation Changes after Rabbit Eradication Dr Jenny Scott (School of Land and Food, University of Tasmania) & Chris Howard (Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service)

Rabbits and rodents have now been removed from subantarctic World Heritage listed Macquarie Island after a large and complex Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife eradication program which ended when success was formally declared in April 2014. Several long-term monitoring programs measuring changes in vegetation and landscapes on the island are already indicating significant changes, some of which were predicted while others are a surprise, and further surprises could be predicted. Release from the effects of feral vertebrates plus the influence of changing climate are combining to influence the paths of vegetation recovery in ways not always easy to untangle. I report on one of the long-term monitoring programs, which has studied changes in the steep coastal slope vegetation, dominated by large tussock grasses and megaherbs and influenced by differing rabbit-grazing regimes, over the past 34 years. The most recent data for this program were collected during the 2013-14 summer, and represent a recovery in the native vegetation on the steep slopes mostly as predicted. I also discuss new, and not always predicted, changes which were recorded in the island’s vegetation during the 2013-14 summer.


2) A small moth Symphygas nephaula (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) mediates seed production in Orites (Proteaceae) shrubs in alpine Tasmania, acting as a pollinator and seed predator Dr Peter B. McQuillan, Ejay Tan and Tamari Yu (University of Tasmania), We describe a symbiotic relationship between the poorly-known tortricid moth Symphygas nephaula and two sympatric Orites shrubs in the Tasmanian alpine highlands. Symphygas is a monophagous ‘seed-ovipositor’ moth, with a life history closely tied to its hostplants for which it serves as both as a pollinator and seed parasite. The phenology of the life-cycle stages of Symphygas is closely synchronised with the anthesis and seeding cycle of its hostplants which flower early in the season relative to most of the alpine shrub community. The stressful environmental conditions of the alpine habitat may have promoted a compressed adult moth activity period and rapid larval development, culminating with extended diapause in the prepupal stage from mid-autumn until spring. Field observations, seed collection, and lab rearing were conducted on populations from two montane areas in southern Tasmania. Seed parasitism predation rates were assessed against habitat, altitude, and plant species. Seed parasitism predation by Symphygas did not seem to affect seed and seed pod development, and accounted for 10-40% of predispersal seed loss in Orites, comparable to rates inflicted by other seed parasites in Proteaceae elsewhere. O. revoluta had consistently higher levels of seed parasitism loss compared to O. acicularis, and there was a weak trend towards increased seed predation rates at higher altitudes overall.

3) Managing for coextinction of plant-dwelling invertebrates Dr Melinda Moir ( University of Western Australia)

Coextinction, the loss of dependent species due to the decline or removal of a host species, is possibly one of the greatest threats to biodiversity. Here I review the evidence and identify the gaps in current knowledge. I present a case study of managing a host and dependent species against coextinction, using a critically endangered plant and insect from southwest Australia. Finally I present key steps for land managers to help mitigate the extinction of dependent species, with specific focus towards insects on threatened plants.


4) Swarm Sensing: the new Frontier in Environmental Sciences Professor Paulo de Souza (CSIRO)

CSIRO’s Swarm Sensing Project is aiming at developing cutting-edge technologies that would enable us to tag and track insects as well as sense environmental parameters. As a starting point the research group is deploying thousands of micro-sensors to bees in Tasmania and in the Brazilian Amazon. The data is providing insights to bee behaviour as a response to the presence of other hives, to environmental conditions and stress factors such as the exposure to pesticides. This talk will present some of the results obtained so far and present a technology roadmap about what is available for insect monitoring and environmental sensing in the sub-mm scale.

5) Predicting the future range and abundance of fallow deer in Tasmania Dr Nicholas Beeton (University of Tasmania)

Like other feral large herbivores, feral deer can adversely affect plant communities by defoliation, trampling, ring-barking, dispersing weeds, fouling water sources and contributing to soil erosion. They are internationally recognised as a strong potential threat to plant ecosystems and biosecurity, and as such effective planning is crucial to avoid impacts. The fallow deer Dama dama was introduced into Tasmania in the 1830s, and currently exists in a strange compromise between protection as a recreational hunting resource and recognition of its invasive status. Their population has recently increased dramatically both in abundance and range from 7 500 deer over 4 000 km2 in the 1970s up to 25 000 occupying 21 000 km2 by the early 2000s. We use a spatially explicit population model to estimate their likely future growth based on studies of their biology, current location and the likely areas of suitable climate over the next century. Assuming the current annual cull of 13 500 is maintained through hunting and crop protection permits, abundance is estimated to increase 39% over the next ten years, and has the potential to reach over a million animals this century. This would see fallow deer spread over the majority of mainland Tasmania with potentially devastating consequences for crops and native plants – especially sphagnum bogs in World Heritage sites in the Central Plateau.


6) Ecological Energetic Models of Pollination Restoration in Thermo-energetic Island Landscapes Dr Sean Tomlinson (University of Western Australia)

Ecological restoration of anthropogenically disturbed landscapes often involves the reconnection of isolated fragments in a disturbed matrix. For fauna-mediated ecological connections, these fragments represent islands in a sea of disturbance that are often disconnected or loosely connected by rare dispersals of individual animals. Thus, the restoration of fauna-mediated ecosystem services and connections is limited by the constraints of the fauna in the habitat, and remnants can be considered as ecologically energetic optima in an otherwise thermo-energetically inhospitable matrix. This is especially the case for insect-mediated services, by virtue of the limited dispersal capacity of insects, and their potentially high vulnerability to thermo-energetic constraints. I present data on the thermo-energetic constraints of a suite of hymenopteran pollinators in an anthropogenically fragmented landscape, showing differences in levels of thermal tolerance between species. Within species I will also explore large variation on the basis of sexual dimorphism and developmental stages, showing the substantial impacts implied by small changes well below the thresholds that are currently considered to be critical. I use these data as a demonstration of how diverse pollination outcomes can be constrained by the physiological patterns of diverse pollination vectors. I will also extend these data to generate hypotheses about restoration trajectories and ecological energetic disconnects under variable scenarios.

7) Feral deer damage in Tasmanian biodiverse restoration plantings Tanya G Bailey (University of Tasmania), A Gauli, P Tilyard, NJ Davidson, BM Potts.

In a partnership between the University of Tasmania and Greening Australia, a network of translocation trials, using key native eucalypt and shrub species, has been embedded in broader environmental plantings in the Tasmanian Midlands. Damage to planted seedlings by feral, but legally protected, Fallow Deer (Dama dama) became evident at the first trial site (established in October 2010) approximately 16 months after planting. Assessments of deer damage have been periodically undertaken in a replicated Eucalyptus pauciflora genetics trial since that time. Damage appeared to be due to males rubbing their heads on stems during antler shedding. Young trees across the trial site have been rubbed, resulting in stripping of bark and snapping of branches. From April to November 2012, the percentage of trees exhibiting damaged increased from 2% to 18%. By May 2013 (2.5 years after planting), 33% of trees had received damaged in one or other year. Faster growing plants and provenances were targetted, but no significant mortality arising from this damage is as yet evident. A trial of provenance block plantings of Eucalyptus tenuiramis and E. pauciflora, assessed in February 2014 (3 years and 3 months after planting), showed that E. tenuiramis was more susceptible to rubbing damage than E. pauciflora. E. tenuiramis is the taller species, and a higher percentage of trees were assessed as having been killed by deer, compared with E. pauciflora. In order to prevent such damage occurring at more recently established trial sites, deer proof fencing and caging have been installed. Providing protection from deer for both the translocation trials and the broader environmental plantings is estimated to have doubled establishment costs.


8) Landscape structure and pollinator behaviour do not predict reproductive connectivity Dr Carole Elliott (University of Western Australia and KPBG)

Understanding how the structural connectivity of remnant vegetation translates to functional connectivity is important, especially from a management perspective, because they are often managed structurally but it is the functional connectivity that is the desired conservation management outcome. To investigate this relationship we assessed connectivity in fragmented landscapes in south-eastern Australia, by examining plant-pollinator interactions of a common, bird-pollinated, autohexaploid shrub (Eremophila glabra subsp. glabra). We contrasted populations occupying three replicated landscape contexts that ranged from large intact vegetation patches to small isolated linear strips. We compared the response of pollinator communities and plant reproduction to these conditions, and measured functional connectivity by linking the movement of pollinators and pollen together. Reduced structural connectivity resulted in significantly different pollinator communities and lower seed set in the small linear strips compared to large intact patches. However, two lines of evidence suggested this did not translate into reduced functional connectivity. First, pollinator behaviour of the different communities was similar among the different populations, and second, all had similarly high levels of pollen immigration as assessed by paternity analysis. We attribute this maintenance of high functional connectivity to notably mobile pollinators and a self-incompatibility system that enhanced the genetic connectivity among populations by favouring foreign pollen. Therefore, we conclude that reduced structural connectivity did not result in equivalent loss of functional connectivity, and pollinators were key to maintaining the current immigrant gene flow crucial for these highly fragmented plant populations.

9) Understanding plant-animal interactions using species, functional and phylogenetic tools. Nicholas Fountain-Jones (UTAS)

How animal and plant communities recover after disturbance is a central question in ecology, and is still the focus of much debate. Recently ecologists have augmented traditional species-based approaches by coupling phylogenetic and functional trait methods to gain further insights into community dynamics and recovery. Phylogenetic and functional trait approaches, however, have rarely been applied to beetles or other invertebrate groups, even though they are the most diverse groups of organisms on earth and are key indicators of ecosystem health. In my PhD I assessed how forest beetle communities in Tasmania recovered after logging over time using species, phylogenetic and functional trait approaches. This talk will focus on this work and illustrate how ecologists and land managers can use these tools to better understand community dynamics. Furthermore, I will outline how these methods could be applied broadly to increase our understanding of animal-plant interactions in the future.


Securing Biodiversity

Conservation in the AnthropocenePlenary – Professor David Bowman (University of Tasmania)

The ‘Anthropocene’ is a term increasingly used to mark the historically unprecedented biogeochemical scope and global scale of environmental change. Such rapid change confronts assumptions about the aims and objectives ‘ of nature conservation’. I illustrate this crisis with consideration of the likely fate giant trees globally. A range of data sources from around the world suggest that the surviving stands of old growth giant trees are unlikely to survive the rapid warming that will occur in the next 50 to 100 years. Options to conserve these extraordinary plants include storing seeds, assisted migration to establish new forests, and ‘life-support’ interventions on existing stands (such as irrigation), yet none of these options can ensure future generations will experience the awe of giant forests. This raises the question: what information we should be collecting to provide an appreciation of these natural wonders for future generations living in a world bereft of giant trees?

1) Incorporating genetic diversity and evolutionary processes into plant conservation policy and management: A Western Australian Perspective David Coates ( Dept of Parks and Wildlife WA), Margaret Byrne, Donna Bradbury, Tanya Llorens, and Melissa Millar

To be effective plant conservation policies and management should not only aim to preserve current levels of species diversity, but should also consider intraspecific variation and the evolutionary and ecological processes associated with the generation and maintenance of that variation. Management of species on and of reserves, translocation of threatened species and reintroduction of species for ecological restoration are part of a range of conservation activities that can be greatly assisted by a better understanding of patterns of genetic diversity within and among populations at local and landscape scales. Importantly this understanding can give valuable insights into those evolutionary and ecological processes that are critical for the persistence of plant species and communities. A number of examples are presented based on studies on Western Australian plant species, ranging from extremely localised endemics to widespread species, which demonstrate how data from population genetic and evolutionary studies can be used to assist planning and implementation of both in situ and ex situ conservation activities.


2) Using Seed Production Areas to help meet restoration targets Dr Linda Broadhurst (CSIRO)

Vegetation clearing as well as land use change and intensification have depleted many natural communities and land managers are now faced with the task of restoring complex ecosystems. A major impediment to the success of rebuilding these communities is having regular access to sufficient quantities of high quality seed. Seed production areas (SPAs) can help generate this seed, but must be underpinned by a broad genetic base to maximise the evolutionary potential of restored populations. However, genetic bottlenecks can occur at the collection, establishment and production stages in SPAs, limiting their use as high quality seed sources. We will present the findings of genetic evaluations of SPAs for three key restoration species - Acacia montana, Dodonaea viscosa and Eucalyptus melliodora as well as chromosomal studies of SPAs for several grassland herbs.

3) Moving from Monoculture to Multiculture on the Tweed Coast Northern NSW John Turnbull (Tweed Shire Council)

By 2002 the 37km of Tweed Shire coastline was dominated by the invasive weed Bitou Bush which was planted to stabilise sand dunes following sand mining. This highly invasive weed occupied 97% or 929ha of the coastline, 172ha as a dense monoculture. It had also invaded remnants of littoral rainforest, heathland and Banksia woodland which were not mined.To manage this threat to biodiversity, Council commissioned a Bitou Bush Control Strategy (2003) to: reduce the occurrence of Bitou and minimise its impacts. Further impetus came when the National Northern Containment Zone (NNCZ) project commenced in 2009 funding the control of Bitou on the Fingal Peninsula. In 2011 the NNCZ was extended to include the whole of the Tweed Coast.By 2014 Bitou has been reduced to low densities on approximately 10% of the coastline and replaced by naturally recruited or planted local coastal species. Areas once dominated by dense Bitou are planted with a diversity of species. Monitoring data has recorded over 50 naturally recruited groundcovers, shrubs and trees. In the south where Bitou cover ranged from dense to sparse the SEPP 26 littoral rainforest has naturally expanded into gaps replacing the Bitou. The plantings and expanded forests, woodlands, heathlands and grassland have resulted in a significant increase in the diversity and abundance of native plants including the threatened plant the Pink Nodding Orchid (Geodorum densiflorum). The improved and increased native vegetation has resulted in increased habitat for native fauna including threatened fauna such as the Glossy Black Cockatoo and Eastern Blossom Bat.


4) Progress towards new nursery industry protocols for Phytophthora control David J. Hancock (Natural Area Consulting Management Services)

The threat to Australian plant life and biodiversity from existing and potential additional forms of Phytophthora is real and well documented. Whilst there is a range of potential methods of pathogen transfer to valuable conservation estate areas, a very obvious and likely source is transmission via nursery sourced plant stock. The past nursery Accreditation standards and compliance are no longer considered adequate to address the current and prospective threat to Australian flora posed by Phytophthora and other soil borne pathogens.The need for nurseries and buyers of plant stock to know and understand their responsibilities to the environment, the nursery industry and each other, has required broad stakeholder engagement and consultation. This presentation will go to the core of these issues.This presenter will outline the latest progress to improve nursery Phytophthora control and its relevance to the work of plant conservationists and provides an update following his presentation on restoration plant quality at the ANPC 2010 Perth conference.

5) Phenology and its contribution in understanding how plants adapt to a changing world Dr Marie Russell Keatley (University of Melbourne)

Climate shapes the rhythm of life on earth. It influences, directly and indirectly, the timing of key life stages—such as growth, flowering and fruiting —of all plants. These events, in turn, drive a wide range of processes at the community and population levels, at local and regional spatial scales, and at ecological and evolutionary time scales. Phenology is the study of these patterns—how environmental conditions such as climate affect the timing of key biological processes. Not surprisingly, phenological studies have received considerable attention in recent years, as evidence for and concerns about changes to the global climate system have grown. Life stages are “pinch points” for adaptation in a changing climate. The evidence for phenotypic adaptation in Australian plants is sparse, in part, because of limited long-term records. However, there is evidence; and this talk will present an overview of it as well examples of legacy data which provide baseline data. One example is the change in first flowering dates in the understorey of lowland forest in Victoria where there has been a shift of 4.5 days/decade to earlier flowering – primarily in response to temperature. The Royal Society of Tasmania provides one of the earliest examples of legacy data. The Society recorded the leafing, flowering and fruiting of standard plants in the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens between 1864 and 1885. Examination of the records has found that that 53% of the 48 species have at least one life stage driven by changes in rainfall, minimum temperature, or both.


6) Understanding plant responses to changing climates – seed germination, seedling emergence and early growth Ms Anne Cochrane (Department of Parks and Wildlife WA), Gemma L. Hoyle, Colin J. Yates and Adrienne B. Nicotra

Projected warmer and drier climates are expected to impact heavily on plant diversity in seasonally dry Mediterranean-climate ecosystems, in particular on early life history stages. In this paper we examine morphological, physiological and allocational plant traits related to recruitment and their response to heat and/or drought stress in a series of empirical experiments that included field, laboratory and glasshouse studies. Seeds were collected from multiple populations of four Banksia species from along a climate gradient in south-west Western Australia. We hypothesised that populations of each species at the warm, dry end of the gradient would respond more favourably to heat and/or drought stress as demonstrated by greater homeostasis of emergence, growth and performance relative to populations from the cool, wet end of the gradient. The results demonstrate the species- and population-specific nature of plant responses to gradients of environmental change. Some common responses occurred across experiments: well-established cross-species patterns generally upheld along the gradient, but decoupling of patterns occurred at the local level. Against expectations, population variation was not reliably associated with geographical location on the rainfall gradient, suggesting that selection for local adaptation in response to water availability or other climate factors has been minimal. Despite this outcome, species expressing phenotypic variation along environmental gradients may have greater capacity to respond to global change. We discuss the value of ex situ conservation of populations across a species geographic range and caution the use of mean species values when modelling the impact of a changing climate on species persistence.

7) Estimating the diversity and abundance of wetland seed banks. Ms Rebecca Durant (he Murray-Darling Freshwater Research Centre)

The existence of a dormant seed bank that has an important role in maintaining both species and genetic diversity has been well documented for many aquatic and terrestrial plant communities. Estimation of seed banks is generally conducted through the seedling germination method; however estimates are often variable and vary in response to the environmental conditions imposed. In this study we compare estimates of seed banks from wetlands associated with the Murray River using three complementary methods (i) germination trial; (ii) seed separation and counting and (iii) DNA barcoding. We compare the results obtained from these estimates to the communities observed in the wetlands over a nine year period from which 348 species had been identified. In general the germination trial indicated that the abun-dance of seeds in the wetlands varied between 1,000 and 20,000 per m2 of sediment comprising 78 species. In comparison direct counting of seeds estimate the size of the seed bank between 73,000 and 250,000 seeds per m2 of sediment comprising 129 morphotypes. While DNA barcoding is unable to estimate the size of the seed bank it did indicate the presence of 509 unique plant groups. While the results from each method were variable they all indicated the presence of a diverse and abundant seed bank. If used in combination the three methods have the potential to provide a powerful management tool in which the abundance of seeds and species present can be estimated.


8) Ex situ seed storage of Australian Nymphaea (water lilies): Implications for Conservation Ms Emma Dalziell (University of Western Australia)

Wetlands are among the most highly threatened ecosystems in the world. Processes including water diversion, draining, eutrophication, competition with weeds and climate change are contributing to a reduction in aquatic species’ diversity worldwide. In Northern Australia, wetland ecosystems remain relatively pristine and intact, however increasing development, introduced weeds and the potential impact of climate change (through altered hydrologic regimes and saltwater intrusion) may prove detrimental to these unique systems. Investment in other conservation measures, such as ex situ seed banking, forms an essential component of biodiversity management for the continued preservation of important species. Seed banking is considered a simple yet cost effective method of storing seed; however, entirely dependent on a seed’s ability to survive desiccation and subsequent storage. Previous studies regarding seed banking and ex situ conservation have predominantly focussed on storage of terrestrial species, as seed from aquatic species are often small and dispersed under water. The aquatic, basal angiosperms of the genus Nymphaea (water lilies) are cosmopolitan in distribution with a total of 18 species in Australia. The aim of this study was to investigate the desiccation tolerance and storage behaviour of Australian Nymphaea and develop an appropriate ex situ storage protocol. Seeds of the seven species tested showed sensitivity to storage and are extremely short-lived in comparison with other terrestrial Australian species. As such, other conservation measures must be considered.

9) Azorella macquariensis – battling for survival in the subantarctic Ms Natalie Tapson (Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens)

Azorella macquariensis is a cushion plant which is endemic to Macquarie Island. It is the major structural component of the feldmark that occurs on the windswept plateau of the island. Azorella has undergone a catastrophic decline across the island since 2008 and as yet no definitive cause has been found for the dieback. As a result of the decline, the species is now listed at the highest level of threat under state and federal legislation.A trial seed orchard of 9 plants, established by the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens (RTBG) in 2010, was successful and funding was sought to increase the orchard to at least 50 plants to capture the genetic variability within the species. The seed will be collected for long-term storage in the Tasmanian Seed Conservation Centre and research will be undertaken to elucidate the germination requirements. The ex situ potted conservation collection on the island will also be used as a control for research into possible causes for the dieback on Macquarie Island.RTBG botanist Natalie Tapson spent 7 weeks on Macquarie Island between October and December 2013 to increase the orchard to 54 genotypes. This was largely achieved in such a short time with the help of many of the other expeditioners on the island, especially the members of Macquarie Island Pest Eradication Program who collected over half the new plants. Survivorship of the transplants has been good and seed collected down the track will help to work towards securing the future of the species.


10) Beyond the ‘extinction debt’: how lessons from plant demographic studies can contribute to strategies for reversing declines in once-common grassland species Dr John Morgan (La Trobe University)

Habitat loss and small populations create challenges for conservation. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the temperate grasslands of Melbourne where 80% of native grassland plants exist in fewer than 20% of remnants. While there are still lots of native plant biodiversity in Melbourne, much of it is perhaps on the brink of extinction because populations are small and sparse. These species may have an ‘extinction debt’, i.e. time delays between impacts of fragmentation and the species’ ultimate disappearance from a patch. So, what can we learn about small populations to reverse the loss? Focusing on once-common grassland daisies, using revisitation studies spanning more than a decade, we test ideas about small populations in highly modified environments (i.e. probability of survival, demographic declines, recruitment success) and make recommendations for reversing declines. We show that small populations do struggle to persist in the long-term relative to large populations; this isn’t because they don’t attract pollinators, nor set viable seed. Habitat quality is a key determinant of persistence. Strong, asymmetrical competition means that dominant grasses win the battle with small forbs when left undisturbed. Rather than just maintaining adult plants (the thing that we see in grasslands), it is imperative that mechanisms that allow seedling recruitment are well-understood and, more importantly, the conditions for regeneration maximised. Enhancing small populations will not be an easy task – two scales of herbivory challenge the establishment of new individuals in remnant grasslands.

11) Vegetation change in an increasingly urbanised grassland reserve system Ben J. Zeeman (La Trobe University), Mark J. McDonnell, Dave Kendal, John W. Morgan

Over the past 20 years, the landscape surrounding Melbourne’s endangered grasslands has become increasingly urbanised and the frequency of disturbance events has declined, yet no regional scale monitoring has been undertaken to examine how the ecosystem may have responded. We proposed and tested three hypotheses explaining the direction in which the vegetation may have changed:

1. Convergent hypothesis: similarity between reserves has increased over time 2. Divergent hypothesis: similarity between reserves has declined over time 3. Shift hypothesis: similarity between reserves has remained unchanged, but shifted from the historical state

Twenty-nine grassland reserves were examined for species composition in 2013, and compared to site-level species lists produced prior to 1994. Our results supported the convergent hypothesis, with similarity between reserves increasing over time, largely driven by the homogenisation of exotic composition. We recorded that 65% of native species are in decline, while 27% are increasing. Forty-eight percent of exotic species are also in decline; however, this has been offset by the 46% which have increased. Reserves with the most species prior to 1994 had the largest losses, while those with the fewest species demonstrated gains. Exotic species increased most where the proportion of native species was highest prior to 1994, and native species increased most where the proportion of exotics was initially low. As Melbourne’s grassland reserve system becomes increasingly homogenised, temporal change can be explained through plant functional traits. Advantageous traits in a competitive environment such as tall growth form have been favoured, and randomly distributed across native and exotic species.


12) What role does grassland fire history play in fire behaviour and grassland recovery? Ms Karina Salmon and Dr John Morgan, (La Trobe University)

Fire is a key ecological disturbance in lowland grasslands. Although fire-vegetation responses are well documented, fire behaviour studies are rare and the links between fire behaviour, grassland composition and post-fire vegetation recovery requires greater attention. Fire behaviour is affected by fuel loads and, to a lesser extent, by species composition. Both are affected by fire history. In temperate grasslands in southern Australia, two grassland states occur: species rich C4 grasslands dominated by Themeda triandra (Kangaroo Grass) that are burned very frequently, and; disclimax C3 grasslands dominated by Austrostipa spp. (Spear Grasses) where fire suppression has occurred for decades. We asked: how does an understanding of fire behaviour in C4 grasslands, and the subsequent recovery of grasses, translate to grasslands where fire has been excluded for long periods? This is an important question (with little data to guide us) as C3 grasslands are being acquired for vegetation offsets. Whether fire can be used to improve biodiversity outcomes in these offsets is largely unknown. We experimentally implemented fire in the two grassland types, quantified fire behaviour and monitored initial effects of fire on tussock survival. We found that despite the changes to grassland composition, fire behaviour (rate of spread, residence time and in-tensity) was similar in C3 and C4 grasslands. Importantly, tussock survival was high in both grassland types, indicating resilience to fire despite very different fire exposure history. We caution, however, that fire regimes - rather than a single fire event - need to be understood when interpreting the effects of repeated fire on C3 grasslands.

13) Unraveling the recruitment bottleneck in dominant Triodia species for arid zone restoration in the Pilbara, Western Australia. Mr Wolfgang Lewandrowski (The University of Western Australia) Seedling recruitment bottlenecks, primarily caused by unpredictable moisture and extreme temperature conditions, contribute to significant failures in restoration of arid ecosystems. Due to low establishment rates (<10%) in post-mining landscapes in Western Australia, re-instating target densities of the dominant grass Triodia are one of the major priorities of restoration practitioners. In a series of in situ and ex situ studies, we investigated the contributions of seed dormancy, available moisture, and temperature thresholds on Triodia plant establishment, focusing on the sequential recruitment phases of germination, emergence and early seedling growth. Germination and emergence thresholds varied across levels of moisture availability. Germination of non-dormant seeds required less moisture to enable radicle protrusion (-0.6Mpa, <48 hrs), whilst emergence required more moisture over longer time periods (> -0.15Mpa, >96 hrs) to allow cotyledon protrusion from the soil substrate. High temperatures (35-40°C) generally exacerbated the germination-emergence bottleneck, with germinated seeds failing to emerge even under non-limiting moisture conditions. Once emerged, seedling establishment was limited by moisture across varying temperature environments (20/15°C; 25/20°C; 30/25°C), with drought at the higher temperatures consistently contributing to low survival and growth rates. Repeat field observations after a simulated rainfall trial suggest recruitment for Triodia species is most vulnerable between the seed germination and seedling emergence phases (>60% loss of sown seed). With limited restoration knowledge in arid ecosystems, particularly for re-instating perennial grasses, the steps we have taken to address seedling recruitment bottlenecks will help improve understanding of the factors contributing to significant seed losses in restoration sites.


14) Reconnecting fragmented vegetation remnants across the agricultural belt of the Midlands, Tasmania Dr Neil Davidson (Greening Australia)

The Midlands of Tasmanian is a low, broad, dry valley (approx. 40km wide) separating the Central Highlands and the Eastern Tiers. Most of Tasmania’s threatened native vegetation communities and species are present on private land in these dry agricultural zones, and are now represented in fragmented and degraded remnants as result of 200 years of livestock grazing.In an ambitious project Greening Australia is restoring the connections between these native vegetation remnants across the Northern Midlands to create ‘corridors’ and ‘stepping stones’ of native vegetation to facilitate species movement in the face of climate change. The initial phase is a $4,000,000 project to establish a 1000ha of restoration in which is imbedded $1,000,000 of ecological research funded by ARC-linkage. Research addresses questions about the use of local native provenance seed the in a changing climate’ and ‘patterns of movement of native marsupials and birds in fragmented landscapes’ which will assist design of restoration in the future. The project is designed to create an asset for farmers and the proponent in the form of carbon and biodiversity credits.

To meet objectives the project had to develop: - links with key stakeholders in natural resource management and reservation - minimum cost pathway models to maximise the benefit of restoration - novel agreements with farmers which allowed the proponent and landholders share in the cost and benefit of restoration - novel broad-scale and patch scale restoration techniques for harsh open woodland and riparian habitats

15) The effect of forest fragmentation, geography and climate on forest tree reproductive success Mr Peter Harrison (University of Tasmania)

We studied the effect of forest fragmentation, geography and climate on the reproductive success of Eucalyptus ovata growing in native forests in Tasmania. At each of the 79 sites from across its natural distribution in Tasmania, fecundity was quantified as the average density of capsules in the canopy of all trees assessed on a multinomial scale. A fine scale assessment of six to ten trees was similarly undertaken at 51 of the 79 sites (total of 393 trees) and seed capsules harvested to examine the factors affecting the number of germinates (per gram of seed and chaff), and the proportion of malformed and hybrid seedlings. There was significant spatial autocorrelation in the fecundity scores due to fecundity increasing with latitude. Along with latitude, climate and topographical features were important in describing the variation in fecundity amongst sites. Univariate modelling using a moving window regression with monthly climate steps found that fecundity was lower on sites with higher rainfall and lower temperatures during bud and flower development. While forest fragmentation did not affect fecundity, isolated paddock trees and small fragmented patches had significantly fewer germinates and seedlings tended to be less vigorous compared to those from more continuous woodland patches. This finding is consistent with fragmentation altering pollinator patterns and increasing inbreeding rates in this species. Our study argues that both forest fragmentation and changing climates will influence the reproductive fitness of E. ovata through independent effects on different components of its reproduction.


16) What’s Killing the Trees? Is climate change the cause of Eucalyptus viminalis (Ribbon Gum) dieback in the Monaro region of NSW? Ms Catherine Ross (Greening Australia)

Over the last decade, vast stands of Eucalyptus viminalis across the Monaro plains in south-east NSW have been declining in health. The affected area is estimated to cover around 2000km2, with almost all E. viminalis within that area now either dead or severely affected. An initial investigation suggests that ‘traditional’ causes of rural and forest dieback such as agricultural practices or altered fire regimes have no effect on the severity of the dieback, but points to climate change and extreme weather events as the underlying cause. The harsh climate of the Monaro is at the edge of the climatic range of E. viminalis, and the recent drought and changes in climate may have pushed the species beyond a critical threshold. There are many ecological and climatic similarities to rural dieback occurring in the Midlands of Tasmania, which has also been associated with drought and water stress.With no apparent recovery and little regeneration occurring, E. viminalis may be lost entirely from the Monaro region, leaving it largely devoid of trees and radically altered. The management and rehabilitation of this devastated landscape will be a huge challenge over the coming decades. The lack of any relationship between the dieback severity and differences in land use or fire history suggests that current management practices aimed at increasing structural complexity are unlikely to be effective. This raises a number of ecological and ethical questions around the level of intervention we should take in assisting the movement of species as their climatic ranges shift, and what our goals for these ‘novel’ landscapes should be.

17) In defence of ferals and weeds: are they the real villains? Dr Paul Gibson-Roy, (Greening Australia)

Pest animals and weeds are great challenges for conservationists and society alike. Often they are described as the greatest threat to native ecosystems and biodiversity, not only in Australia but world-wide. However, humans have done much to alter the terrestrial biosphere, and in this process have dramatically altered degraded and simplified ecological systems. More often this has been done to produce food, resources or to expand the footprint of our cities and associated infrastructure. The consequences of human actions and their unbalancing of natural systems have had significant implications for other species and humans alike. This presentation will explore why there is so much vitriol and blame targetted at certain plant and animal species and limited reflection on the root causes behind their perceived undesirable behaviours.


Engagement and Communication in the Modern World

Communicating, connecting, inspiring, acting in the modern world.Plenary – Mr Andrew Smith (Manager Community Programs, Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service)

Flooded with information, right there on our screens. But is all that information worth anything if there is no passion to utilize it? Does it mean anything without a context? So many options, how do we promote those that will really make a difference?It seems that today we have so many more ways to communicate with people, instantly, where they are. There is so much information at our finger tips. Does this make us more connected or less connected when it comes to connecting with nature, conservation, threatened species and plants?This presentation will introduce some thoughts, themes and stories that will be further explored by the speakers in the Communicating and Engaging in the modern world stream.

1) Citizen science as a tool for ecological monitoring, community engagement and two-way communication Dr Gretta Pecl (Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies) Chris Gillies (Earthwatch), Philip Roetman (University of South Australia) , Carla Sbrocchi (University of Technology Sydney) Jemina Stuart-Smith + Peter Walsh (Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies)

Australian ‘citizen scientists’ have recently discovered new species, advanced breakthroughs on debilitating diseases, identified and classified distant galaxies, and contributed to new ecological theories. However, citizen science is not a new phenomenon. From amateur astronomers tracking the transit of Venus in 1874, to the century-long Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count, ordinary citizens have always contributed to both mundane and extraordinary science. Moreover, the field of citizen science has matured and advanced rapidly over the last twenty years, with a proliferation of projects that have enabled a wide variety of methods to be tested and formalised. Consequently, there has been an exponential increase in the number of journal publications utilising citizen science approaches, and a growing appreciation of the societal benefits to research, education, community engagement, and policy. As with any scientific approach, the utility of citizen science in addressing a given problem needs to be thoroughly evaluated for appropriateness. However, increasing technology now enables accuracy and precision in data collection by citizens in a way previously not possible; with appropriate quality assurance measures, citizen science can generate high quality environmental data. Smartphones for example, can equip untrained citizens with the capacity for a high degree of accuracy in observations, allowing automated data collection (reducing transcription errors, e.g. recording of GPS location) and/or creating rigour through the potential of post-processing of photographic data. This presentation provides a brief synopsis of the extent and breadth of citizen science within Australia, its key methodologies and benefits, and some of the fundamental challenges in utilising citizen science.


2) Life in the Fast Lane: Selling Climate Policy in the 21st Century. Mr Peter Boyer (Journalist)

With the science around climate change - global warming, ocean acidification, changing weather patterns - having broad professional agreement, how people have responded to this information and how this plays into government action (or inaction, as the case may be) are the main concern of climate policymakers everywhere. While print, broadcast and online media are important in helping to mould public opinion, our biggest need is to acknowledge and respond to a deeper problem: the ingrained tendencies of all people to avoid actions with immediate negative connotations and to stand aside and avoid personal responsibility. The psychology around climate change has big implications for the political response.

3) Teaming with volunteers Mr Bob Dixon, (Manager Biodiversity and Extensions, Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority)

Professionals responsible for rare flora translocations are generally under resourced financially, time poor and short of people power. Therefore, without the help of volunteers many rare flora translocations would not even get off the ground. Volunteer assistance allows poorly funded projects to proceed, a bonus for our rare flora, rather than seeing the species perish in their natural environment, and often continue for many years without adequate funding for paid employees. They have the passion, time, commitment and many of the skills already required so why not ‘skill up’ a range of willing volunteers. My team the ‘Kings Park Volunteer Master Gardeners’ initially go through a long training course and then receive extra skilling specifically relating to the translocations. Keeping the volunteers happy by giving a sense of ownership or empowerment, there are many born leaders within the group, is crucial to the success of the project. Skills already within the group, mainly highly skilled well organised professionals who don’t mind getting their hands dirty, include statistical analysis, database entry and brilliant organisational abilities. There is a great sense of comradely on the field trips, often with a pick up at 5.00am, which are usually oversubscribed so the unlucky ones have to wait until the next visit. Examples of some of the successful projects and tasks undertaken by the volunteers will be illustrated.


4) Linking Schools to Biodiversity Restoration: Stories of the Cumberland Plain Dr Paul Gibson-Roy, (Greening Australia )

A great challenge for conservationists is to better articulate why society should be concerned about the plight of our natural world. If this is ever to be achieved in a meaningful way we have no choice but to harness the support, understanding and input of the broader community. Critically, we must engage our youth as the citizens of tomorrow as they inherit the problems of today. For this reason Greening Australia initiated a program called Connecting the Cumberland in partnership with Willmot Public School and The University of Western Sydney. Its goal was to harness the energy and enthusiasm of young people and involve them in ecological restoration. It also sought to increase their understanding of the native and built landscapes of Western Sydney. Over several months, students developed visual, oral, written and musical outputs focussing on the plants, animals and humans of the region, from earliest times through to the present day. Students were able to showcase their considerations and deliberations through artworks, visuals, audio and musical projects at a major public exhibition at the UWS Discovery Centre - all collated and showcased in a published book ‘Because Ecosystems Matter : Stories of the Cumberland Plain”. The program’s restoration component entailed a strong biodiversity focus at the school itself. Over one thousand plants from more than twenty locally rare groundlayer species were supplied providing a unique learning and experiential opportunity for students and the school community to restore diverse wildflower Cumberland Plain Woodland literally in their own backyard.

5) ClimateWatch: Engaging the public and making a difference through citizen science Dr Marie Keatley and Chris Gillies, (Earthwatch Australia)

Citizen science is a growing field in which members of the public contribute to scientific research. Citizens working with scientists to answer real life questions can lead to valuable scientific outcomes, as well as a meaningful engagement and education experience. The ClimateWatch program is one example of citizen science in action. Developed in 2009 by Earthwatch Institute with the Bureau of Meteorology and The University of Melbourne, ClimateWatch studies the impact of rainfall and temperature changes on Australia’s plants and animals. ClimateWatch encourages all Australians to observe the world around them and record the location and life stage of 170 indicator species, including 45 plants. The plant species range from native orchids to introduced trees, and were selected by scientists because they are easy to identify, display climate-related seasonality in their life cycle, and are expected to be impacted by changing temperature and rainfall patterns. Participating in ClimateWatch gives people the chance to engage with their local environment, and become more aware of neighbourhood biodiversity. Submitting ClimateWatch sightings through the website or smartphone app also provides a fun and easy way for families, stu-dents and members of the public to contribute to real scientific research. In this presentation we will discuss the benefits of using citizen science to engage the community, and how ClimateWatch is increasing public awareness of plant taxonomy and environmental climate impacts. Different communication approaches for various community groups will be discussed, with a special focus on primary schools and the tertiary education sector.


6) Acknowledgement of Aboriginal Cultures, Community Engagement Through Learning Circles. Mr Michael Clarke (NSW TAFE)

For NSW Hunter TAFE to realise its full potential to manage its physical, social, economic and natural resources it needs to acknowledge and integrate Aboriginal values and beliefs into daily business. This view realises that decision-making needs to be solidly founded and built upon our indigenous history and culture. Hence, in more recent times, opportunities for learning about indigenous culture have emerged to create a platform and learning space that facilitates a willingness to let the Aboriginality show. Aboriginal learning circles provide an equal space for traditional voices to both speak and be listened to. The circle also acknowledges the link between people and country by proposing to renew the surrounding natural space dampened since colonial arrival and management. Effectively, the space renews the bonds between people and earth. Such bonds are then expressed via stories, yarns, ceremonies, dancing, art and singing. An underlying message is that the establishment linkages are needed not just for people but for country suggesting that health is an interwoven fabric of people and earth relationships. The learning circle is an example of a tool that Hunter TAFE uses to provide opportunity to engage community, renew, transmit and share factual information on nature that is thousands of years in age and look at Aboriginal ways in their own terms and space. The circle correctly recognises Aboriginal ways of knowing the surrounding environment and understanding and managing the relationships between people and the world.

7) The Schools Threatened Species Custodian Project – a plant conservation initiative for South Australian Schools. Mr Daniel Duval (Adelaide Botanic Garden)

Of the 4000+ species of flora currently recognised in South Australia, nearly 25% are listed as threatened in their natural environment. The South Australian Seed Conservation Centre has collected and banked more than 500 threatened species which represents more than 60% of the State’s listed flora. The focus of the seed bank program during the past ten years has been to safeguard these species in long term ex-situ conservation for use by future generations. We now appreciate that we need to educate the next generation about the utilisation of this significant resource today rather than wait until many of these little known species are in further decline tomorrow. Through a partnership between the Department for Education and the Botanic Gardens of Adelaide, the SEEDS Project established a trial in 2014 with 15 schools. The SEEDS Project assigns stewardship of a threatened species to each school and educates students and teachers about their species. The students study the biology of their species and learn how to collect, germinate & propagate plants for reintroduction. This process is passed on to subsequent year classes through a mentoring program. The stewardship plants will also be planted in the school garden with interpretation to create awareness about the SEEDS program and the threatened species within the local community. A regional ecologist or practitioner with knowledge of threatened species has been partnered with each school to provide expertise, oversight and links with current on-ground projects. The project aims to conserve threatened species, involve students in authentic science, increase knowledge about threatened species and empower a generation through environmental custodianship.


8) The Jaliigirr Biodiversity Alliance – Connecting Corridors through Community and Culture Ms Dianne Brown (Office of Environment and Heritage, Coffs Harbour)

“Jaliigirr” is the Gumbayngirr Aboriginal nation’s word for “tree”. This is used as a symbol of connectivity by the Jaliigirr Biodiversity Alliance (JBA), which is made up of 19 different partner agencies involved with conservation works. The JBA encompasses the Coffs Harbour and Bellingen Local Government Areas and was formed in late 2011. It is primarily a vehicle for furthering conservation practise in the area, as well as developing community engagement strategies to promote environmental awareness. Partner agencies include the Office of Environment and Heritage, Local Land Services, Bellingen and Coffs Harbour Councils, Aboriginal Land Councils and environmental restoration groups. Funds were secured through the Commonwealth Government’s Biodiversity Fund and the Great Eastern Ranges Initiative to undertake regeneration and rehabilitation works to protect and enhance corridor and landscape connectivity. As well as on-ground works, the Alliance is investigating innovative techniques to promote cultural change through engagement strategies such as promoting a sense of place, working with the Aboriginal community to restore landscapes, and social marketing techniques. Regular themed partner’s workshops further the development of these techniques. I will present a case study of threatened flora conservation supported by the JBA, which is investigating appropriate techniques to promote greater awareness in the community.


Partnerships for Biodiversity

1) Plant Conservation in a Commercial Context.- Can Conservation and Commerce combine to do it better? Mr David J. Hancock (Natural Areas Consulting Management Services)

The overwhelming majority of plant conservation work takes place within the government, academic and volunteer sectors of the community, with most commercial investment in plant development opportunities directed mainly at the urban landscape and biomedical sectors.This presentation will provide a summary of the national situation across the plant conservation community and the current status of the conservation-in-commerce relationship. As economic pressures increase on both government and voluntary sectors, it is timely to reas-sess the role of commerce in helping to achieve the ecological and socioeconomic outcomes expected of successful conservation projects.The research underpinning this presentation will focus on actual and potential cases for commercial plant conservation and how they can be shaped to improve protection and fund work in the future. Entrepreneurial ideas will be put forward as to how investment may be sourced, directed and managed to better deliver the ANPC ‘s objectives.

2) A holistic approach to saving flora species in the Goulburn Broken Catchment of Victoria and beyond. Mr Jim Begley (Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority)

The fragmentation of flora species in Australia raises a number of questions: Are the genetics of fragmented species limited? Can these species continue to survive and adapt without intervention? What can we do now to improve the survival of species populations into the future? In 2001, staff at the Goulburn Broken Indigenous Seedbank and Euroa Arboretum began collecting seed from species of multiple fragmented populations to establish seed production areas (SPA’s). The intention was to build genetic diversity of species thought to be once historically connected through the landscape. Direct seeding was gaining momentum at the time, and it was clear a supply of quality, healthy seed from a diversity of species would be required to increase viability of revegetation into the future. Today, we are seeing the benefits of these early actions, with large quantities of seed collected from SPA’s and an increased diversity of species being readily available. However, we were still uncertain if the genetic diversity was improving in SPA’s? A partnership with Dr Linda Broadhurst of CSIRO is now determining the genetic composition of the seed production species.Yorta Yorta Nation Aboriginal Corporation also got involved, and are working with local landholders, and the many partner Agencies to re-establish sand ridge woodland species along the river Murray system. This project has increased the opportunity for cultural heritage protection and understanding of the historic plant use by Indigenous people, the species we work with are cultural species. The Woka Walla Indigenous NRM crew are delivering the on ground species restoration component of the Project through seed collection, planting and direct seeding.The diversity of partnerships has been the key to success.


3) Volunteer Commitment in Threatened Plants Tasmania Ms Viv Muller (Threatened Plants Tasmania, Wildcare inc.)

The Wildcare Inc group Threatened Plants Tasmania (TPT) was established in 2008 to assist the small group of threatened species botanists in the Department of Primary Industry, Parks, Water and the Environment. Over the intervening years TPT has become a self-sustaining group of volunteers who organise and run a seasonal field trip program within the broad categories of (1) on-ground works; (2) extension surveys; and (3) population monitoring. Recently activities have extended to the lab with ex situ orchid propagation. TPT has materially improved the resources for its activities by (1) successful funding applications; (2) partnering with the local NRM regions; and (3) recent involvement in a State-wide MOU formalising a “Threatened Flora Link” collaboration. Whilst TPT has clearly developed a sense of purpose and key partnerships with related organisations, its success depends critically on attracting and sustaining a group of committed volunteers. Research on satisfaction in groups with similar aims highlights the importance of volunteers feeling that they are making a contribution and gaining new knowledge and/or skills, with somewhat less importance attached to social engagement. The TPT organisation plays a pivotal role in facilitating safe, well organised activities, which also requires committed volunteers and a close relationship with our professional partners. In this paper we compare insights from previous research with results from a survey of TPT members. This leads to discussion about ways that TPT can enhance our policies and activities to encourage greater commitment and satisfaction from group members.

4) ANPC Orchid Conservation Program Dr David Coates (Dept of Parks and Wildlife, WA), Ms Noushka Reiter (ANPC), WA, Bedggood, MA Argall, GA Pollard, RB Thomson, NB Anderton, PB Kiernan, L&JB Carrigan

Australian terrestrial orchids are unique in our flora forming complex relationships with the environment, mycorrhizal fungi, pollinators, and the surrounding vegetation. To conduct successful reintroductions an understanding of all these interdependent processes is required. The Orchid Conservation Program in partnership with the Wimmera Catchment Management Authorities (CMA), Mallee (CMA), Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne (RBGM), Parks Victoria, Trust for Nature, Deakin University, RMIT University, Australian National University, Department of Environment and Primary Industries (DEPI) various regions, ALCOA/Portland Aluminium, Office of Environment and Heritage (N.S.W) and Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources (SA) and many community groups is propagating federally endangered orchids across several states for reintroduction.A backbone to the program is the ongoing enthusiasm of community groups which provide consistency through government funding cycles. The Australasian Native Orchid Society (ANOS) take part in all aspects of the program in Victoria and ANOS have been directly involved with the reintroduction of each species outlined in this paper.

The partnership with WCMA in 2012-2013 reintroduced 6 federally listed species to 8 sites. The species reintroduced include: Caladenia xanthochila, Caladenia versicolor, Caladenia colorata, Pterostylis xerophila, Thelymitra epipactoides and Thelymitra mackibinii. This paper highlights the propagation results to date and the re-emergence from the first year of these reintroduction, each reintroduction increasing our knowledge.


5) Assessing the risk of gene flow from plantation to native eucalypts: A long-term partnership in biodiversity management Professor Brad Potts (UTAS) Brad M Potts, Matthew J Larcombe, Tim Leaman and René E Vaillancourt

The large-scale translocation of species for agricultural, forestry or fisheries purposes has created numerous environmental issues world-wide which require management for industry sustainability and certification purposes. One such issue is ‘exotic gene flow’, which in Australia may occur from plantation to native eucalypts. The last 25 years has seen a rapid expansion of eucalypt plantations in Australia. The estate is nearing 1 million ha, is mainly in temperate regions, and is dominated by Eucalyptus globulus and E. nitens (subgenus Symphyomyrtus), which are now mainly grown outside their natural range. While eucalypt species from the major subgenera do not hybridise, hybrids within subgenera are often reported, including hybrids with these plantation species.Concerns were raised in the late 1990’s that pollen flow from plantation eucalypts may threaten the genetic integrity of adjacent native forests. It thus became important to implement long-term research to enable the development of risk assessment and management strategies to minimise the offsite genetic effects of plantations.In partnership with the forest industry, Government land managers and the Tasmanian Forest Practices Authority we have provided this re-search for 15 years and backed its application to management. Our initial focus was the island of Tasmania where E. nitens was introduced. We have assessed pre- and post-zygotic barriers to hybridisation between E. nitens and all of the Tasmanian Symphyomyrtus species, and devel-oped a risk assessment framework which is operational. We have now expanded this research to E. globulus plantations on mainland Australia, where gene flow by both pollen and seed dispersal are being assessed.


6) Gardens for Wildlife - promoting biodiversity conservation in urban areas Ms Iona Mitchell (DPIPWE, Conservation Partnership Section)

The ‘Gardens for Wildlife’ scheme aims to support, encourage and recognise landholders who are providing wildlife-friendly gardens and environment-friendly sustainable practices. It also shows that biodiversity conservation is for everyone not just large landholders, national parks or reserves. It was developed in recognition of a need to achieve broad community engagement in support of biodiversity conservation on private land. There have been few schemes directed at urban landowners, particularly those with limited space. Enhancing biodiversity in urban environments can have a positive impact on the quality of life of urban dwellers, which increases environmental awareness and can in turn encourage greater preservation of biodiversity more broadly. The majority of Australians live in urban environments; so many people will form their ethic of care for our native wildlife, their concern for conservation of remnant vegetation and interest in restoring degraded habitats in the suburbs and outskirts of cities. The overwhelming message for why people wished to register for the scheme is because people love to see wildlife in their garden, native birds in particular, but many welcome bandicoots, lizards, frogs, wallabies and yes, possums! Many have used native plant species to provide habitat and to attract wildlife to their gardens. Encouragingly, many people have found that growing native plant species has attracted a greater variety of wildlife, especially native birds, into their garden which they gain great enjoyment from seeing. Members are recognised through display of an attractive ‘Garden for Wildlife’ sign, which promotes the scheme and encourages others to join.

7) Translocating the Spiny Daisy: Partnerships with Winning Outcomes Mr Doug Bickerton (Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources, SA) and Dr Christophe Tourenq (Banrock Station, Accolade Wines)

The Spiny Daisy (Acanthocladium dockeri) is a low-growing perennial shrub, currently known only from extant wild populations in South Australia’s Mid-North. The species is listed as Critically Endangered under the EPBC Act. First described from specimens collected on the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition in western NSW in 1861, it was 50 years before a second collection was made in South Australia’s Riverland. By the 1980s, after concerted efforts to find the plant, the Spiny Daisy was thought to be extinct; until roadside populations were discovered near Laura in the Mid-North in the 1990’s.The Spiny Daisy Recovery Project has successfully increased the likelihood of survival for the species, mainly by translocation, and through strong partnerships firstly between Government and NGOs such as the Threatened Plant Action Group (TPAG) and the Foundation for Australia’s Most Endangered (FAME). Most recently, the Spiny Daisy has been re-introduced to the Riverland region, and the partnership formed with Banrock Station winery has been both successful and rewarding. This presentation tells the story.


Index of authors

Anderton, NB 36 Argall, MA 36 Bailey, TG 19 Bedggood, WA 36 Beeton, N 18 Begley, J 35 Bell, N 11 Bickerton, D 38 Bowman, D 21 Boyer, P 31 Bradbury, D 21 Broadhurst, L 22 Brown, D 34 Brown, K 14 Byrne, M 21 Carrigan L & JB 36 Carter, O 11 Clarke, M 33 Coates, D 21, 36 Cochrane, A 24 Dalziell, E 25 Davidson, NJ 19 Davidson, N 28 De Souza, P 18 Dixon, B 31 Duncan, F 10 Durant, R 24 Duval, D 33 Elliot, C 20 Fountain-Jones, N 20 Gauli, A 19 Gibson-Roy, P 29, 32 Gillies, C 30, 32 Good, R 13 Hancock, DJ 23, 35 Harrison, P 28 Howard, C 16 Hoyle, GL 24 Johnston, S 13 Jordan, G 11 Keatley, MR 23, 32 Keirnan, PB 36 Kendal, D 26 Larcombe, MJ 37 Leaman, T 37 Lewandrowski, W 27


Llorens, T 21 Lucieer, A 10 Lunt, I 9 Majer, J 16 Makinson, B 15 McDonnell, MJ 26 McQuillan, PB 17 Millar, M 21 Mitchell, I 38 Moir, M 17 Morgan, J 26, 27 Morgan, JW 26 Muller, V 36 Nicotra, A 13 Nicotra, AB 24 Pecl, G 30 Pollard, GA 36 Potts, B 37 Potts, BM 19, 37 Reiter, N 36 Roetman, P 30 Ross, C 29 Sbrocchi, C 30 Salmon, K 27 Scott, J 16 Shaw, J 14 Smith, A 30 Stuart-Smith, J 30 Swarts, N 12 Tan, E 17 Tapson, N 25 Thomson, RB 36 Tilyard, P 19 Tomlinson, S 19 Tourenq, C 38 Tumbull, J 22 Vaillancourt, R E 37 Walshe, T 9 Walsh, P 30 Wapstra, M 10, 12 Whinam, J 13 Yates, CJ 24 Yu, T 17 Zeeman, BJ 26

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Contact Information

Australian Network for PlantConservation Inc.

Postal: GPO Box 1777, Canberra ACT 2601 AustraliaEmail: [email protected]: www.anpc.asn.au

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Conference Program 2014

Documents

Transcript of Conference Program 2014