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1
Kitchingman, Adrian, Zeb Tonkin, Renae M. Ayres, Jarod Lyon, Justin C. Stout, Ian D. Rutherfurd, and Paul Wilson. "Predicting natural instream woody-habitat loads across large river networks." Marine and Freshwater Research 67, no. 12 (2016): 1844. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/mf15246.
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Past waterway management practices worldwide involved extensive removal of instream woody habitat (IWH) and riparian vegetation. The importance of instream woody habitat for healthy aquatic ecosystems has now been recognised, with management approaches reversed to reintroduce instream woody habitat and replant riverbanks. Knowledge of natural or pre-disturbance IWH loads is useful to guide such restoration programs; however, such datasets are often unavailable. In this study, natural IWH loads were mapped along 105km of undisturbed rivers in south-eastern Australia. This field dataset was modelled, using boosted regression trees, against geomorphic, environmental and climatic variables to predict natural IWH loads in rivers across Victoria. Mapped natural IWH loads averaged 0.029m3m–2 (±0.005), ranging from 0.083 to 0.002m3m–2. Natural IWH volumes were predicted to range from 0 to 0.102m3m–2. Distinct IWH loading trends were noticeable over larger spatial scales. Eastern Victoria showed relatively lower natural IWH loads than did western Victoria. Because many stream restoration efforts do not have a quantifiable knowledge of natural IWH load, the results of the present study provide some guidance. The predicted IWH loadings are a useful first step in identifying broad areas for further investigation and a natural condition base for current IWH condition modelling.
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Metcalfe, Jenni, and Michelle Riedlinger. "Identifying and Testing Engagement and Public Literacy Indicators for River Health." Science, Technology and Society 14, no. 2 (July 2009): 241–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/097172180901400203.
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Natural resource management (NRM) organisations in Australia are increasingly recognising the need for complement studies of biophysical condition of the environment with studies of social condition, such as values, understanding, and participation related to the environment. Relevant and reliable social indicators that can be scaled and measured on a regular basis are essential to meet this need. In this study, we identified four indicators to test the social condition of the public in the State of Victoria in Australia with regard to river health. These indicators were river use, river knowledge and literacy, values and aspirations, and river health behaviours. We tested the four indicators through telephone and web-based surveys with over 1000 people in three areas of Victoria. We analysed the survey data statistically and gathered baseline data on the social condition of river health in the three regions. We made recommendations for how this data could be interpreted and used in community engagement and science communication programmes about river health. We also examined the limitations of the methodology and recommended modifications to the survey design and application for an anticipated roll-out of the survey across the entire State of Victoria. The Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) will use this survey instrument to test social indicators on a regular basis.
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Sosa-Guerrero, Oscar, José I. Campos-Rodríguez, Xhail Flores-Leyva, Paola Yáñez-López, and Leticia A. Mora-Villa. "REGISTROS NOTABLES DE MAMÍFEROS PARA LA RESERVA DE LA BIÓSFERA SIERRA GORDA DE GUANAJUATO, MÉXICO." Revista Mexicana de Mastozoología (Nueva Epoca) 1, no. 1 (December 14, 2017): 52. http://dx.doi.org/10.22201/ie.20074484e.2017.1.1.241.
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ABSTRACTWe present distribution range extentions for five species of mammals from the Sierra Gorda de Guanajuato Biosphere Reserve in state of Guanajuato, Mexico. These are two felids: Lynx rufus and Puma concolor, as well as the western speckled skunk Spilogale gracilis, the peccari Dicotyles crassus, and the coati Nasua narica. The presence of these records reflects the importance of the Sierra Gorda de Guanajuato Biosphere Reserve as one of the main protected natural areas of Guanajuato, Mexico, since this area constitutes a natural bridge between species of neartic and neotropical affinity. This type of study reaffirms the need to continue conducting regional and local biological inventories in Mexico.Key words: Range extensión, camera-traps, Victoria, Guanajuato, biological corridor.Palabras clave: Distribución, cámaras trampa, Victoria, Guanajuato, corredores biológicos.
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Comino, E., B. P. Miller, and N. J. Enright. "Soil seedbanks in natural and restored boxironbark forests at Stawell Gold Mine, Victoria." Pacific Conservation Biology 10, no. 1 (2004): 9. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/pc040009.
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Natural communities have the capacity to regenerate themselves, and this functional ecosystem attribute must be regarded as a key indicator of success for revegetation programmes. The accumulation of species (and individuals) as dormant propagules in a soil seedbank, representing potential future states for the vegetation, is one possible index of revegetation success. Here, we investigate the soil seedbanks for five natural vegetation (Box-Ironbark forest) remnants, a topsoil stockpile and three revegetated mine-site areas associated with gold mining at Stawell (Victoria, Australia). The revegetation efforts largely date from 1987 and, in terms of their composition and structure, are relatively similar to natural vegetation remnants. Soil samples were treated with heat or smoke (plus control) and were monitored for seedling emergence, species composition and density in the glasshouse for 150 days. Seedling densities in treated seedbank samples were high (2 200 to 17 500 seedlings m-2) while species richness was low, ranging from 10 to 20 species per sample. Exotic species made up 22?61 % of emergents and 33?50% of species observed. Correlation of seedbank composition and density with chemical attributes of soils, and with above ground (extant) vegetation at sites showed few significant relationships. Total species richness and the proportion of exotic species varied significantly between natural bushland remnants and revegetation areas. Richness was highest, and the proportion of exotic species was lowest in natural bushland samples. Total emergent numbers and the density of exotic emergents did not vary significantly between remnant bushland and revegetation areas. Declining vigour of some woody species in revegetation sites that are well represented in the seedbank, including Acacia pycnantha and A. genistifolia, indicates that the reintroduction of fire might be an appropriate management practice to facilitate long-term recovery of a functional community on these revegetated surfaces, but the potential for the establishment of weed species from the seed-bank following fire may pose a challenge to management.
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Ford, John R., and Paul Hamer. "The forgotten shellfish reefs of coastal Victoria: documenting the loss of a marine ecosystem over 200 years since European settlement." Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria 128, no. 1 (2016): 87. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/rs16008.
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Victoria has lost vast areas (>95%) of native flat oyster (Ostrea angasi, Sowerby 1871) and blue mussel (Mytilus edulis galloprovinicialis, Lamarck 1819) reefs from estuarine and coastal waters since European settlement. We document the decline of these reefs by examining indigenous use of shellfish, the decimation of oyster reefs by dredge fishing in early colonial days (1840s–1860s) and later removal of mussel reefs by the mussel and scallop dredging industry (1960s‒1990s). Review of current scientific information reveals no notable areas of continuous oyster reef in Victoria and we consider this habitat to be functionally extinct. While the large-scale removal and destructive fishing practices that drove the rapid declines have not occurred since the mid-1990s, a natural recovery has not occurred. Recovery has likely been hampered historically by a host of factors, including water quality and sedimentation, lack of shell substrate for settlement, chemical pollution impacts, disease of native flat oysters (Bonamia), and more recently introduced species that compete with or prey on shellfish. However, research in the United States has demonstrated that, by strategic selection of appropriate sites and provision of suitable settlement substrates, outplanting of aquaculture-reared oysters and mussels can re-establish shellfish reefs. While a long-term sustained and structured approach is required, there is potential to re-establish shellfish reefs as a functioning ecological community in Victoria’s coastal environment.
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Дорофеев, Александр Александрович. "COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE SYSTEMS OF PROTECTED NATURAL AREAS OF THE TVER REGION AND THE AUSTRALIAN STATE OF VICTORIA." Вестник Тверского государственного университета. Серия: География и геоэкология, no. 2(38) (June 17, 2022): 25–42. http://dx.doi.org/10.26456/2226-7719-2022-2-25-42.
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Одним из инструментов экологической политики в разных государствах является создание сети особо охраняемых природных территорий (ООПТ). Кроме сохранения биоразнообразия некоторые объекты ООПТ выполняют рекреационную функцию. Во многих странах система охраняемых территорий имеет два уровня: государственный и решиональный. В статье проводится сравнение системы ООПТ Австралии и России на примере двух территориально-административных образований этих государств: штата Виктория и Тверской области. Объектом анализа стали структура сети ООПТ и количество объектов. Затрагиваются вопросы организации и функционирования элементов сети ООПТ, предназначенных для туризма и рекреации. Выявлены положительные и отрицательные аспекты сформированной системы охраняемых природных объектов в обоих государствах. Сделаны предложения по совершенствованию сети ООПТ в Тверской области. One of the tools of environmental policy in different states is the creation of a network of specially protected natural areas (PAs). In addition to preserving biodiversity, some objects of protected areas perform a recreational function. In many countries, the system of protected areas has two levels: state and resolute. The article compares the system of protected areas of Australia and Russia on the example of two territorial-administrative entities of these states: the state of Victoria and the Tver region. The object of the analysis was the structure of the network of protected areas and the number of objects. The issues of organization and functioning of elements of the network of protected areas intended for tourism and recreation are touched upon. Positive and negative aspects of the formed system of protected natural objects in both states are revealed. Proposals were made to improve the network of protected areas in the Tver region.
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Kiem, A. S., and D. C. Verdon-Kidd. "Towards understanding hydroclimatic change in Victoria, Australia – why was the last decade so dry?" Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discussions 6, no. 5 (October 1, 2009): 6181–206. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/hessd-6-6181-2009.
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Abstract. Since the mid-1990s Victoria, located in southeast Australia, has experienced severe drought conditions characterized by streamflow that is the lowest on record in many areas. While severe decreases in annual and seasonal rainfall totals have also been observed, this alone does not seem to explain the observed reduction in flow. In this study, we investigate the large-scale climate drivers for Victoria and demonstrate how these modulate the regional scale synoptic patterns, which in turn alter the way seasonal rainfall totals are compiled and the amount of runoff per unit rainfall that is produced. The hydrological implications are significant and illustrate the need for robust hydrological modelling, which takes into account insights into physical mechanisms that drive regional hydroclimatology, in order to properly understand and quantify the impacts of climate change (natural and/or anthropogenic) on water resources.
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Armstrong, Patricia, and Jim Grant. "How Research Helped Us To Move From Awareness to Action and Then to Systems Development." Australian Journal of Environmental Education 20, no. 1 (2004): 13–24. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0814062600002263.
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AbstractHow can an organisation move from awareness raising, in the form of natural history poster production, to the development of systems that change organisations? Through close integration of research and practice, the Gould League has achieved this transformation. It began with extensive research into best practice environmental education, going beyond the traditional boundaries of environmental education to areas that included the psychology of culture change, business management, systems thinking, governance, drug education, marketing and organisational psychology. This broad approach to research has led to the development of highly effective sustainability education programs, such as Waste Wise Schools and Sustainable Schools.The Waste Wise Schools Program, funded by EcoRecycle Victoria and managed in consultation with the Gould League, is an action-based waste education program. Originating in Victoria in 1998, it has been adopted by over a third of Victorian schools and has led to widespread outcomes, including waste reductions of up to 95%. There is strong evidence from surveys that this program is sustainable in schools over time and research confirms that the program is contributing to changes in the waste-wise thinking and behaviour of the families of the children at these schools.A model for culture change in schools, based on the experiences of the Waste Wise Schools Program, has also been developed. This model, a valuable tool in the continual improvement of Waste Wise Schools, has applications to sustainability education in general.
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S. Koss, R., K. Miller, G. Wescott, A. Bellgrove, A. Boxshall, J. McBurnie, A. Bunce, P. Gilmour, and D. Ierodiaconou. "An evaluation of Sea Search as a citizen science programme in Marine Protected Areas." Pacific Conservation Biology 15, no. 2 (2009): 116. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/pc090116.
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Citizen science involves collaboration between multi-sector agencies and the public to address a natural resource management issue. The Sea Search citizen science programme involves community groups in monitoring and collecting subtidal rocky reef and intertidal rocky shore data in Victorian Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), Australia. In this study we compared volunteer and scientifically collected data and the volunteer motivation for participation in the Sea Search programme. Intertidal rocky shore volunteer-collected data was found to be typically comparable to data collected by scientists for species richness and diversity measures. For subtidal monitoring there was also no significant difference for species richness recorded by scientists and volunteers. However, low statistical power suggest only large changes could be detected due to reduced data replication. Generally volunteers recorded lower species diversity for biological groups compared to scientists, albeit not significant. Species abundance measures for algae species were significantly different between volunteers and scientists. These results suggest difficulty in identification and abundance measurements by volunteers and the need for additional training requirements necessary for surveying algae assemblages. The subtidal monitoring results also highlight the difficulties of collecting data in exposed rocky reef habitats with weather conditions and volunteer diver availability constraining sampling effort. The prime motivation for volunteer participation in Sea Search was to assist with scientific research followed closely by wanting to work close to nature. This study revealed two important themes for volunteer engagement in Sea Search: 1) volunteer training and participation and, 2) usability of volunteer collected data for MPA managers. Volunteer-collected data through the Sea Search citizen science programme has the potential to provide useable data to assist in informed management practices of Victoria?s MPAs, but requires the support and commitment from all partners involved.
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Onyango, Dancan Otieno, Christopher O. Ikporukpo, John O. Taiwo, and Stephen B. Opiyo. "Land Use and Land Cover Change as an Indicator of Watershed Urban Development in the Kenyan Lake Victoria Basin." International Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning 16, no. 2 (April 23, 2021): 335–45. http://dx.doi.org/10.18280/ijsdp.160213.
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The socio-economic and ecological value of Lake Victoria is threatened by significant regional development and urbanization. This study analyzed spatial-temporal land use/land cover changes in the Kenyan Lake Victoria basin from 1978–2018 using Landsat 3, 4-5 and 8 imagery, with a view to identifying the extent and potential impacts of urbanization on the basin. Supervised image classification was undertaken following the Maximum Likelihood algorithm to generate land use/land cover maps at ten-year intervals. Results indicate that the basin is characterized by six main land use/land cover classes namely, agricultural land, water bodies, grasslands and vegetation, bare land, forests and built-up areas. Further, the results indicate that the basin has experienced net increases in built-up areas (+97.56%), forests (+17.30%) and agricultural land (+3.54%) over the last 40 years. During the same period, it experienced net losses in grassland and vegetation (-37.36%), bare land (-9.28%) and water bodies (-2.19%). Generally, the changing landscapes in the basin are characterized by conversion of natural environments to built-up environments and driven by human activities, urban populations and public policy decisions. The study therefore recommends the establishment of a land use system that creates a balance between the ecological realm and sustainable development.
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Dufty, AC. "Habitat and spatial requirements of the eastern barred bandicoot (Perameles gunnii) at Hamilton, Victoria." Wildlife Research 21, no. 4 (1994): 459. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/wr9940459.
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Perameles gunnii was greatly affected by the introduction of European agriculture to the volcanic plains in Victoria. At Hamilton, agricultural areas possessed little structural complexity and supported a fairly homogeneous composition of pasture species that were generally shorter than 100 mm because of heavy stock grazing. No P. gurznii were caught in agricultural areas at Hamilton. At the Hamilton Municipal Tip, most captures and nest sites occurred where food resources and structural complexity were greatest. Descriptions of 16 diurnal nest sites indicated that a range of natural and artificial materials was used for shelter, including fallen branches, sawn timber, cement culverts, galvanised iron, and scrap metal. Earthworms were most frequently observed in faecal and stomach material, while beetles and crickets were also common. Optimal habitat for P. gunnii was defined by high structural complexity and habitat heterogeneity. Older P. gunnii may usurp optimal habitat and force subordinate adult females into sub-optimal habitat. Associated with their occupation of optimal habitat, older P. gunnii may utilise smaller nocturnal foraging areas. Analysis of the movement of P. gunnii within the Hamilton Municipal Tip indicated that males occupied significantly larger nocturnal foraging areas than females. Mean female and male home ranges (defined by Minimum Convex Polygon analysis) were 1.6 ha (n = 13, range 0.02-5.9 ha) and 4 ha (n = 18, range 0.8-9.0 ha), respectively. Also, nocturnal foraging areas were analysed on the basis of pattern of use of an area, and these were referred to as utilisation distributions. The mean utilisation distributions (defined by Minimum Area v. Probability [0.95] analysis) for females and males were 0.64 ha (n = 13, range 0.01-4.7 ha) and 4.0 ha (n = 18, range 0.01-19.6 ha), respectively. Mean female and male observed range lengths were 173 m (tz = 26, range 0-364 m) and 249 m (n = 34, range 50430 m), respectively. Mean ( +/-s.e ) observed range length (214+/-20, n = 60, range 50-430 m) was less than half the grid width (500 m), which suggests that grid size did not negatively bias the calculated home-range sizes.
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Riffkin, Penny A., Paul E. Quigley, Fiona J. Cameron, Mark B. Peoples, and Janice E. Thies. "Annual nitrogen fixation in grazed dairy pastures in south-western Victoria." Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 50, no. 2 (1999): 273. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/a98034.
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Amounts of biologically fixed nitrogen (kg N/ha) were determined in grazed dairy pastures in 3 different areas of south-western Victoria over 12 months between October 1995 and 1996 using measurements of pasture growth, botanical composition, and the 15N natural abundance of white clover (Trifolium repens) and non-legume components. Estimates of the amounts of N fixed, based on N in clover shoots, were similar in each pasture (11, 16, and 18 kg N/ha.year), despite different environmental and management conditions. These on-farm determinations were low compared with experimental studies on N fixation by white clover undertaken in New Zealand (224–291 kg N/ha.year) and elsewhere in Australia (44–135 kg N/ha). Low fixation levels were attributed to low pasture yields (average 8.2 t dry matter (DM)/ha.year) and poor legume content in the swards (average 8%). Despite this, most of the white clover N was derived from atmospheric N2 (65%), and therefore, N fixation could potentially be playing an important role in the N economy of milk production on these farms.
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Ernest, Siwa, Martine Hagai, and Japhet J. Kasahigili. "Water and Pasture Availability on Livestock Routes Under a Changing Climate: A Case of Ilemela and Magu Districts in Tanzania." JOURNAL OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL ASSOCIATION OF TANZANIA 36, no. 2 (July 10, 2021): 35–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.56279/jgat.v36i2.146.
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The beef cattle production system practiced in the Lake Victoria Basin ismainly extensive, which involves cattle grazing on natural pastures. Thissystem is characterized by overgrazing, low livestock production and soildegradation. Under the effects of global climate change, these pastoralmanagement challenges are expected to increase. As the impacts of climatechange to beef cattle production over the Lake Victoria Basin is unknown,this study used participatory mapping method and focus group discussions toassess spatial changes in livestock routes in relation to water and pastureavailability in the Ilemela and Magu districts of the Mwanza region, Tanzania. GIS technology was used for the formalization of spatial layers. It was revealed that there were many changes in livestock routes such that some have become roads, some have been lost, and others narrowed. These changes were due to an increase in settlements and cultivated areas, and more specifically a general decline of water sources and grazing land. This implies that appropriate strategies such as a land-use planning, stock routings modification, education on effective cattle farming, and intervention by rainwater harvesting should be designed so as to adapt to climate change effects, and improve livestock production in Ilemela and Magu districts
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Zárate, Belizario A., Rachid El Hamdouni, and Tomás Fernández. "GNSS and RPAS Integration Techniques for Studying Landslide Dynamics: Application to the Areas of Victoria and Colinas Lojanas, (Loja, Ecuador)." Remote Sensing 13, no. 17 (September 3, 2021): 3496. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rs13173496.
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This research tests the application of GNSS and RPAS techniques to the spatiotemporal analysis of landslide dynamics. Our method began by establishing non-permanent GNSS networks on the slope surfaces to perform periodic measurements by differential GNSS. Similarly, RPAS flights were made to acquire high-resolution images, which were oriented and georeferenced using ground control points and structure-from-motion algorithms to ultimately obtain digital surface models and orthophotos. Based on GNSS measurements, the direction and velocity of displacements were accurately calculated, and orthophotos and DSMs were used to calculate horizontal and vertical displacements in a set of significant points throughout the study area, reaching accuracies higher than 0.035 m in the GNSS data and 0.10 m in the RPAS data. These values were within the accuracy required for such studies. Based on the field observations and the results from the photogrammetric studies, the two studied landslides were classified as very slow flows. These techniques are the basis for establishing early warning systems in areas of natural hazards based on the calculation of displacement speeds of the surface of slopes.
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Adams, Jessie, Susan Brumby, Kate Kloot, Tim Baker, and Mohammadreza Mohebbi. "High-Heat Days and Presentations to Emergency Departments in Regional Victoria, Australia." International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19, no. 4 (February 14, 2022): 2131. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19042131.
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Heat kills more Australians than any other natural disaster. Previous Australian research has identified increases in Emergency Department presentations in capital cities; however, little research has examined the effects of heat in rural/regional locations. This retrospective cohort study aimed to determine if Emergency Department (ED) presentations across the south-west region of Victoria, Australia, increased on high-heat days (1 February 2017 to 31 January 2020) using the Rural Acute Hospital Data Register (RAHDaR). The study also explored differences in presentations between farming towns and non-farming towns. High-heat days were defined as days over the 95th temperature percentile. International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision, Australian Modification (ICD-10-AM) codes associated with heat-related illness were identified from previous studies. As the region has a large agricultural sector, a framework was developed to identify towns estimated to have 70% or more of the population involved in farming. Overall, there were 61,631 presentations from individuals residing in the nine Local Government Areas. Of these presentations, 3064 (5.0%) were on days of high-heat, and 58,567 (95.0%) were of days of non-high-heat. Unlike previous metropolitan studies, ED presentations in rural south-west Victoria decrease on high-heat days. This decrease was more prominent in the farming cohort; a potential explanation for this may be behavioural adaption.
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Zhang, Shihao, Junhe Tan, Junhang Liu, Jiaqi Wang, and Ata Tara. "Suitability Prediction and Enhancement of Future Water Supply Systems in Barwon Region in Victoria, Australia." Land 11, no. 5 (April 23, 2022): 621. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/land11050621.
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Intensive agricultural production accompanied by the climate change impacts in post-Colonial rural landscapes have continuously increased the demand for water resources and coastal areas, showing an unprecedented water supply crisis. By taking extreme weather conditions and rainfall events for future trends, a resilient water storage facility for the landscape requires the collaborative approach of natural systems and simulation modelling techniques to develop sustainable future scenarios. In this study, an ecological suitability model is used to identify potential sites for the construction of multi-purpose dams. As part of the model structure, multi factors are classified using the patterns of changing landscapes, and then weighted overlay analysis is conducted on a Geographic Information System (GIS) platform. Compared to previous studies, this paper derives its principal impact parameters and projections based on historical land cover information. The suitability maps that are generated visually guide the geographical location of the multi-purpose dams and indicate the areas from highly suitable to least suitable, clarifying the possibility of building blue infrastructure alongside the waterways in west-central Barwon. The workflow proposes a resilient water system based on existing land characteristics and measures that future water storage capacity will be a valid increase of approximately 1.5 times. This strategy alleviates water scarcity during the dry season to benefit traditional agricultural activities. Digital calculations are utilized to demonstrate the feasibility of the experimental results, providing a methodology for regulating the distribution and supply of river flows throughout the year while retaining runoff in a hierarchical pattern at precipitation periods.
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Vivian, L. M., K. A. Ward, D. J. Marshall, and R. C. Godfree. "Pseudoraphis spinescens (Poaceae) grasslands at Barmah Forest, Victoria, Australia: current distribution and implications for floodplain conservation." Australian Journal of Botany 63, no. 6 (2015): 526. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/bt15090.
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Floodplain grasslands are highly productive ecosystems that are becoming increasingly degraded and fragmented because of changes to natural flood regimes. In this work, we mapped and quantified the distribution of Pseudoraphis spinescens – an ecologically important mat-forming grass – in treeless floodplain grasslands in the Barmah Forest, Victoria, Australia, across two seasons. Although P. spinescens was once widespread in the forest, there has been a decline in its extent, particularly since the Millennium Drought (2001–09) and subsequent unseasonal and prolonged La Niña-associated flooding from late 2010 to 2012. Our detailed on-ground surveys show that only 182 ha of P. spinescens grassland remain in treeless areas of Barmah Forest, representing ~12% of the total area of treeless plains and lakes. Critically, just 51 ha of the thick monospecific P. spinescens swards that were a historically important part of the floodplain vegetation was located and mapped. Although there was a small increase in the area of P. spinescens in some treeless areas following a favourable flood season in 2013–14, the boundaries of most grassland patches remained relatively stable during this period. Potential drivers of the overall decline in P. spinescens across Barmah Forest include the direct and indirect impacts of altered flood regimes, drought, and grazing pressure. Improved understanding of these drivers and their interactions, as well as the status of the seedbank, will be crucial for future management and conservation of these floodplain grasslands.
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Johnson, Matthew, Paul Reich, and Ralph Mac Nally. "Bird assemblages of a fragmented agricultural landscape and the relative importance of vegetation structure and landscape pattern." Wildlife Research 34, no. 3 (2007): 185. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/wr06103.
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Many of the world’s agricultural areas have greatly reduced levels of natural vegetation. This results in highly fragmented mosaic landscapes with multiple land-use types. We examined the importance of vegetation and landscape pattern by comparing the bird assemblages of riparian zones, non-riparian forest patches, and pasture in a fragmented agricultural landscape in south-eastern Australia. Bird surveys were conducted every four weeks at 27 sites in the Goldfields region of central Victoria for one year. The landscape context (position and shape of patches) and vegetation attributes were measured for each site. We found that bird assemblages strongly differed among these landscape elements. Mean abundance was significantly greater at forested patches, and there was a three-fold reduction in species richness at pasture sites. Bird assemblage structure was influenced substantially more by vegetation than by the landscape context of sites. Our results indicate that riparian vegetation is a key element for avian diversity, even in massively altered landscapes. The restoration of riparian vegetation and its connectivity with adjacent forest types would greatly benefit bird assemblages in agricultural areas.
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Schinagl, Harley, Wendy Wright, and Philip Rayment. "Recruitment of Eucalyptus strzeleckii (Myrtaceae) in remnant patches of native vegetation in the Latrobe Valley and South Gippsland, Victoria." Australian Journal of Botany 61, no. 8 (2013): 654. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/bt13097.
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Eucalyptus strzeleckii K.Rule (Strzelecki gum) is a medium to tall, forest swamp gum endemic to the foothills and flats of southern Victoria. It is listed as Vulnerable at State (Victoria) and Federal levels. Many of the existing populations are dominated by mature, senescing trees in highly degraded habitats and recruitment of the species is rarely observed. The present study assessed the natural recruitment of Strzelecki gum at locations where mature Strzelecki gums are present and habitat degradation is not a significant limiting factor. The number of mature and recruiting Strzelecki gum individuals was assessed within gradient-oriented belt transects (gradsects) and a range of variables considered to be likely to affect recruitment were measured and correlated with the results of the recruitment study. Strzelecki gum recruits (<5 m tall) were found in 68.8% of gradsects and recruits accounted for 8–14% of the total stems counted for this species. Areas that had been recently burnt (within the past 5 years) had 15 times the number of Strzelecki gum recruits. Disturbance by flooding may also be positively associated with recruitment. Litter cover, habitat quality and density of intermediate-sized Strzelecki gums were all strong positive predictors for the density of Strzelecki gum recruits. Results from the present survey have provided a basis for land managers to estimate quantities of mature and recruiting Strzelecki gums in large populations.
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Donadío, Laura Ester, and Martha Jeannette Torrez-Virviescas. "Políticas neoliberales y reconfiguraciones urbanas. Victoria, San Fernando, provincia de Buenos Aires, una ciudad entendida desde la teoría." Revista Perspectivas 1, no. 1 (January 13, 2016): 50. http://dx.doi.org/10.22463/25909215.1141.
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Resumen: El presente artículo pretende explicar desde un acercamiento teórico conceptual las particularidades que existen en Victoria, San Fernando, Buenos Aires, desde su producción urbana. Mediante una serie de trabajos de campo, entrevistas semiestructuradas y observaciones se pudo vislumbrar que en dicha localidad, coexisten tres lógicas de producción de ciudad, la del mercado, el Estado y la necesidad, según las concibe Abramo, P. (2002) características de las ciudades post-desarrollistas latinoamericanas, espacio en el que se generan constantes tensiones que alteran el desarrollo armónico de la vida cotidiana y la interacción de quienes habitan la zona. Por otro lado, se percibe también, que los habitantes naturalizan ese modo de vida, su disposición espacial, la progresiva privatización de áreas públicos y la proliferación de urbanizaciones cerradas. Se cita a continuación una frase que hemos escuchado repetidas veces en entrevistas a los vecinos: “En Victoria nadie le da bolilla a nadie”. Al momento de entender Victoria desde la teoría se toma en consideración conceptos como: el de “heterotopía” de Foucault M. (1967) -entendido como la yuxtaposición de espacios que serían incompatibles-, el término “ciudad com-fusa” (Abramo P.,) -en tanto estructura urbana que entrelaza dos modelos tradicionales (la urbe compacta mediterránea y la difusa anglosajona), la noción de “privatopia” de I.Rodriguez Chumillas (2005) y E. Mckenzie (1994) -como la consolidación espacial privada y por último los conceptos: ciudades informativas y duales de R Castells (1995) términos que se desprenden del proceso de globalización, los cuales pueden ser de utilidad para pensar la realidad de Victoria. Palabras claves: Ciudad com-fusa, interacción, heterotopías, políticas neoliberales, privatopías, reconfiguraciones urbanas, victoria. Abstract:This article aims to explain from a theoretical conceptual approach the particularities that exist in Victoria, San Fernando, Buenos Aires, from its urban production. Through a series of field works, semi-structured interviews and observations, it was possible to perceive that in this locality, there are three logics of city production, market, state and necessity, according to Abramo, P. (2002). The post-development cities of Latin America, a space in which constant tensions are generated that alter the harmonious development of daily life and the interaction of those who inhabit the area. On the other hand, it is also perceived that the inhabitants naturalize that way of life, their spatial disposition, the progressive privatization of public areas and the proliferation of closed housing estates. Here is a quote that we have heard repeatedly in interviews with the neighbors: "No one in Victoria gives a ball to anyone." At the moment of understanding Victoria from the theory, we take into account such concepts as the "heterotopy" of Foucault M. (1967) - understood as the juxtaposition of spaces that would be incompatible -the term "com-fusa city" (Abramo P.) - as an urban structure that interweaves two traditional models (the Mediterranean compact and the Anglo-Saxon diffused), the notion of "privatopia" by I.Rodriguez Chumillas (2005) and E. Mckenzie (1994) as private spatial consolidation, and finally the concepts: informative and dual cities of R Castells (1995) terms that emerge from the process of globalization, which may be useful to think about the reality of Victoria . Keywords: Com-fusa city, heterotopias, interaction, neoliberal policies, privatopías, urban reconfigurations, victoria. ResumoEste artigo tem como objetivo explicar a partir de umaabordagem teórico conceitual as particularidades que existemem Victoria, San Fernando, Buenos Aires, a partir da produçãourbana. Através de umasérie de trabalhos de campo, entrevistas semi-estruturadas eobservaçõesfoipossivél vislumbrar que nalocalidadeemquestão, convivemtrês lógicas de produção da cidade, a cidade do mercado, o Estado e a necessidade, de acordo como oconcebeAbramo, P. (2002) características das cidades latino-americanas pós-desenvolvimentistas,espaçoem que as tensões constantes que perturbam o desenvolvimento harmonioso da vida cotidiana e da interação das pessoas que habitam a área. Por outro lado, percebe-setambém, que os habitantes tornam natural ese modo de viver, espaçodisponível, aprogressivaprivatização de espaços públicos ea proliferação de condomínios fechados. Cita-se em seguida, uma frase quetemosouvido repetidamente em entrevistasfeitas a os vizinhos: "Em Victoria ninguémespancaa qualquerum." No momento de entender Victoria ateoria leva emconsideraçãoconceitos como "heterotopia" de FoucaultM. (1967) entendida como a justaposição de espaços que poderiam serincompativeis-,o termo "cidadecom-fusa" (Abramo P.,) -como estrutura urbana que junta dois modelos tradicionais (a cidade compacta Mediterrânea e difusa anglo-saxónica), a noção de "privatopia" de I.RodriguezChumillas (2005) e E. Mckenzie (1994) –comoconsolidaçãode espaços privados e finalmente conceitos: cidades informadas e duplas do autor R Castells (1995) termos decorrentes da globalização, que podem ser úteis para pensar sobre a realidade de Victoria. Palavras chave:CidadeCom-fusa, interação, heterotopias, políticas neoliberais,privatopias, reconfigurações urbanas, vitória.
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Smith, S. J. "ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW 2000." APPEA Journal 41, no. 2 (2001): 80. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/aj00055.
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Last year the petroleum industry witnessed the enactment of new legislation both at Commonwealth and State levels. The principal legislative change to environmental management was the introduction of the Commonwealth Government’s Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Act, 2000 (EPBC Act). South Australia and Victoria also implemented new Petroleum Acts and/ or Regulations.Construction of the Eastern Gas Pipeline was also completed last year, whilst preliminary approvals and environmental assessment continues for the Papua New Guinea, Timor Sea and Tasmania Natural Gas pipelines. Offshore exploration continued, particularly in the North West Shelf, Otway Basin, Timor Sea and Bass Strait.Other critical areas of environmental management included greenhouse gases, national pollution inventory reporting and the increasing requirements for environmental approval and management under various state environmental legislation.This paper provides an overview of environmental developments in the petroleum industry during the year 2000, in particular, the implication of new legislation, new technology, e-commerce and a greater focus on environmental reporting.
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KENNEDY, Amber, Beverley VOLLENHOVEN, Richard HISCOCK, Catharyn STERN, Susan WALKER, Jeanie CHEONG, Jon QUACH, et al. "School Age Developmental Outcomes of Children Conceived by IVF Compared with Controls: A Population Linkage Study." Fertility & Reproduction 04, no. 03n04 (September 2022): 137. http://dx.doi.org/10.1142/s2661318222740498.
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Background: There has been increasing interest in assessing longer term developmental and health outcomes in IVF-conceived offspring compared with those born after natural conception. So far, the findings have been conflicting. The Australian Early Developmental Consensus (AEDC) assesses children in their first year of primary school across five domains; physical health and wellbeing, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive skills, and communication skills and general knowledge. Aim: To compare school entry (5-7 years of age) outcomes in IVF-conceived children in Victoria with naturally conceived controls. Method: We undertook a statewide data linkage study, with perinatal data (births 2005-2014) linked to data from major IVF providers in Victoria and the AEDC. Our approach to analysis included: complete case analysis, multiple imputation of missing data, consideration of clustering (siblings) and inverse probability weighted modeling to adjust for covariates. Our primary outcome was an AEDC score indicative of developmental vulnerability in two or more domains. We adjusted for the child’s age at assessment, sex, highest level of maternal education, maternal age, parity, SEIFA (Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas) quintile, language background other than English, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) status. Results: The linked dataset comprised 163,418 children, including 4,441 IVF-conceived children. The IVF conceived population had older, more highly educated mothers who lived in more affluent areas and were less likely to be from non-English speaking backgrounds or identify as ATSI. IVF-conceived children were less likely to be developmentally vulnerable, in both unadjusted (RR 0.59, 95%CI: 0.52-0.67, p<0.001) and adjusted analyses (aRR 0.72, 95%CI: 0.58-0.88, p<0.001). Conclusion: Children conceived by IVF were less likely to be developmentally vulnerable in their first year of schooling, compared with peers conceived naturally. Further research should aim to understand if similar patterns are seen in other education and health domains and the potential mechanisms for these differences.
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Green, Ray, Piyush Tiwari, Jyoti Rao, and Ricki Hersburgh. "Strategies used by developers in seeking EnviroDevelopment certification for “sustainable” master-planned residential developments in Victoria, Australia." International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis 11, no. 3 (June 4, 2018): 557–72. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/ijhma-08-2017-0074.
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Purpose The purpose of this study was to explore strategies used by developers of master-planned housing development projects in Victoria, Australia, for obtaining certification under the Urban Development Institute of Australia’s (UDIA) EnviroDevelopment (ED) sustainable development certification programme. To be awarded ED certification, a development must demonstrate that it meets the assessment criteria within at least four of the six ED “leaves”. These leaves relate to its performance in terms of energy, water, materials, waste, community and ecosystems. This study explored how developers make choices regarding sustainability features they build into the planning, design and management of their developments to gain the leaves needed for ED certification. Having this certification is valued by developers as it can be used to demonstrate the sustainability credentials of their developments to potential house buyers, the validity of which is backed up by a trusted independent non-profit organisation (UDIA). Design/methodology/approach The study sought to quantify the preferential weightings of nine developers in selecting ED “leaves” and the strategies they use for meeting the assessment criteria needed to obtain selected ED leaves. This was done using a novel data collection and analysis method, the analytical hierarchical process (AHP), which relies on respondents, in this case, developers of ED certified development projects, making pairwise comparisons between choices of different development factors associated with the different ED “leaves”. Findings The most highly preferred ED leaves were found to be community, energy and ecosystems. “Community facilities” and “on-site transportation” were the two most highly weighted factors associated with the community leaf. Energy, the next most preferred leaf, was most highly weighted on “saving on operational costs” for the consumers (home buyers). Here consumer demand factors seem to be driving preferences. The ecology leaf was the next most preferred, with “existing site conditions” being the most highly weighted factor for this leaf. For sites that already contain significant areas of indigenous habitat, such as wetlands, selecting this leaf would seem to be an attractive, and potentially lower cost, option. Existing ecologically significant natural areas that are preserved, and where necessary enhanced, can be used for marketing purposes and serve in fulfilling planning open-space contribution requirements. The developers were more indifferent to the water, waste and materials leaves; however, the water leaf was rated slightly higher than the other two and was most strongly associated with “recycled water” and opportunities for “water conservation”, another example of demand factors driving preferences. Originality/value The results of this study reveal the preferences of a small sample of developers in terms of how they weigh different factors in making decisions about acquiring sustainability certification for residential master-planned development projects through the UDIA’S ED programme. The findings provide insight into the types of decisions developers make in the process of seeking ED certification, which includes considerations of site characteristics, costs, predicted effectiveness of different interventions and usefulness for marketing and other factors in terms of which ED leaves to pursue and how to acquire them to gain ED certification. The study also tested the AHP method as a methodological tool for addressing this question. Modifications in how data are collected using the on-line survey can be made to allow the method to be more easily used with larger respondent sample sizes. Collection of more focussed data elicited from respondents with specific areas of expertise, for example, specialists in energy, water, landscape architecture and planning, ecology and other relevant areas of knowledge, should also been considered.
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Wabwire, Evans Odhiambo, Stellah Mukhovi, and Isaiah Ang’iro Nyandega. "The Perception of Rural Households on Climate Change Effect on Rural Livelihoods in Lake Victoria Basin." Ghana Journal of Geography 12, no. 2 (December 17, 2020): 62–83. http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/gjg.v12i2.3.
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While the science of climate change is well investigated across most disciplines, people’s perception of climate change effects has not been well addressed. This paper sought to address the question of climate change perception and the effect of climate change on rural household livelihoods within the Lake Victoria Basin of Kenya. The study relied on households’ perception on the effect of climate change on the areas of agriculture, and food security, water, and energy supply. Multistage sampling was applied to select 539 households from four eco-ecological zones. The study revealed that most households presented localized explanations of climate change, which included: frequent and prolonged droughts, variations in rainfall onset and cessation, increased temperatures, an increased strong wind episode. Some households perceived climate changes effects resulted into a decrease in crop yield, resulting in increased household food insecurity, while some perceived water stress at household level, but mainly for those who relied on surface water, well water, borehole, and the natural spring. In addition, some of the households perceived shortage in energy sources, particularly hydroelectric power was said to be sensitive to the changes in climate. These perceptions were based on households’ experiences, and partially the results were found to be consistent with physical science of climate change. The paper therefore recommends the need to harmonise household perception with the climate change policy in order to address emerging challenges of climate change at the local level, create more climate change awareness supported through a comprehensive climate change action plan on country’s preparedness of extreme climate events at household level.
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Mugo, Robinson, Rose Waswa, James W. Nyaga, Antony Ndubi, Emily C. Adams, and Africa I. Flores-Anderson. "Quantifying Land Use Land Cover Changes in the Lake Victoria Basin Using Satellite Remote Sensing: The Trends and Drivers between 1985 and 2014." Remote Sensing 12, no. 17 (September 1, 2020): 2829. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rs12172829.
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The Lake Victoria Basin (LVB) is a significant resource for five states within East Africa, which faces major land use land cover changes that threaten ecosystem integrity and ecosystem services derived from the basin’s resources. To assess land use land cover changes between 1985 and 2014, and subsequently determine the trends and drivers of these changes, we used a series of Landsat images and field data obtained from the LVB. Landsat image pre-processing and band combinations were done in ENVI 5.1. A supervised classification was applied on 118 Landsat scenes using the maximum likelihood classifier in ENVI 5.1. The overall accuracy of classified images was computed for the 2014 images using 124 reference data points collected through stratified random sampling. Computations of area under various land cover classes were calculated between the 1985 and 2014 images. We also correlated the area from natural vegetation classes to farmlands and settlements (urban areas) to explore relationships between land use land cover conversions among these classes. Based on our land cover classifications, we obtained overall accuracy of 71% and a moderate Kappa statistic of 0.56. Our results indicate that the LVB has undergone drastic changes in land use land cover, mainly driven by human activities that led to the conversion of forests, woodlands, grasslands, and wetlands to either farmlands or settlements. We conclude that information from this work is useful not only for basin-scale assessments and monitoring of land cover changes but also for targeting, prioritizing, and monitoring of small scale, community led efforts to restore degraded and fragmented areas in the basin. Such efforts could mitigate the loss of ecosystem services previously derived from large contiguous land covers which are no longer tenable to restore. We recommend adoption of a basin scale, operational, Earth observation-based, land use change monitoring framework. Such a framework can facilitate rapid and frequent assessments of gains and losses in specific land cover classes and thus focus strategic interventions in areas experiencing major losses, through mitigation and compensatory approaches.
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Fiorella, Kathryn J., Erin M. Milner, Charles R. Salmen, Matthew D. Hickey, Dan O. Omollo, Abdi Odhiambo, Brian Mattah, Elizabeth A. Bukusi, Lia C. H. Fernald, and Justin S. Brashares. "Human health alters the sustainability of fishing practices in East Africa." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 114, no. 16 (April 4, 2017): 4171–76. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1613260114.
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Understanding feedbacks between human and environmental health is critical for the millions who cope with recurrent illness and rely directly on natural resources for sustenance. Although studies have examined how environmental degradation exacerbates infectious disease, the effects of human health on our use of the environment remains unexplored. Human illness is often tacitly assumed to reduce human impacts on the environment. By this logic, ill people reduce the time and effort that they put into extractive livelihoods and, thereby, their impact on natural resources. We followed 303 households living on Lake Victoria, Kenya over four time points to examine how illness influenced fishing. Using fixed effect conditional logit models to control for individual-level and time-invariant factors, we analyzed the effect of illness on fishing effort and methods. Illness among individuals who listed fishing as their primary occupation affected their participation in fishing. However, among active fishers, we found limited evidence that illness reduced fishing effort. Instead, ill fishers shifted their fishing methods. When ill, fishers were more likely to use methods that were illegal, destructive, and concentrated in inshore areas but required less travel and energy. Ill fishers were also less likely to fish using legal methods that are physically demanding, require travel to deep waters, and are considered more sustainable. By altering the physical capacity and outlook of fishers, human illness shifted their effort, their engagement with natural resources, and the sustainability of their actions. These findings show a previously unexplored pathway through which poor human health may negatively impact the environment.
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Lindenmayer, David B., and Chris Taylor. "New spatial analyses of Australian wildfires highlight the need for new fire, resource, and conservation policies." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 117, no. 22 (May 18, 2020): 12481–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2002269117.
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Extensive and recurrent severe wildfires present complex challenges for policy makers. This is highlighted by extensive wildfires around the globe, ranging from western North America and Europe to the Amazon and Arctic, and, most recently, the 2019–2020 fires in eastern Australia. In many jurisdictions, discussions after significant losses of life, property, and vegetation are sometimes conducted in the absence of nuanced debates about key aspects of climate, land, and resource management policy. Improved insights that have significant implications for policies and management can be derived from spatial and temporal analyses of fires. Here, we demonstrate the importance of such analyses using a case study of large-scale, recurrent severe wildfires over the past two decades in the Australian state of Victoria. We overlaid the location of current and past fires with ecosystem types, land use, and conservation values. Our analyses revealed 1) the large spatial extent of current fires, 2) the extensive and frequent reburning of recently and previously fire-damaged areas, 3) the magnitude of resource loss for industries such as timber and pulplog production, and 4) major impacts on high conservation value areas and biodiversity. These analyses contain evidence to support policy reforms that alter the mode of forest management, target the protection of key natural assets including unburnt areas, manage repeatedly damaged and potentially collapsed ecosystems, and expand the conservation estate. Our mapping approach should have applicability to other environments subject to large-scale fires, although the particular details of policy reforms would be jurisdiction, ecosystem, and context specific.
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Cary, Geoffrey J., Wade Blanchard, Claire N. Foster, and David B. Lindenmayer. "Effects of altered fire intervals on critical timber production and conservation values." International Journal of Wildland Fire 30, no. 5 (2021): 322. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/wf20129.
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Forests exhibit thresholds in disturbance intervals that influence sustainability of production and natural values including sawlog production, species existence and habitat attributes. Fire is a key disturbance agent in temperate forests and frequency of fire is increasing, threatening sustainability of these forest values. We used mechanistically diverse, theoretical fire interval distributions for mountain ash forest in Victoria, Australia, in the recent past and future to estimate the probability of realising: (i) minimum sawlog harvesting rotation time; (ii) canopy species maturation; and (iii) adequate habitat hollows for fauna. The likelihood of realising fire intervals exceeding these key stand age thresholds diminishes markedly for the future fire regime compared with the recent past. For example, we estimate that only one in five future fire intervals will be sufficiently long (~80 years) to grow sawlogs in this forest type, and that the probability of forests developing adequate habitat hollows (~180 years) could be as low as 0.03 (3% of fire intervals). Therefore, there is a need to rethink where sawlogs can be sourced sustainably, such as from fast-growing plantations that can be harvested and then regrown rapidly, and to reserve large areas of existing 80-year-old forest from timber harvesting.
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Lesslie, Robert G., Brendan G. Mackey, and Kathryn M. Preece. "A Computer-based Method of Wilderness Evaluation." Environmental Conservation 15, no. 3 (1988): 225–32. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0376892900029362.
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With ever-increasing demands being made on remote and natural lands, planners and managers require more detailed information than hitherto to assist them in monitoring the status of this wilderness resource and developing appropriate and effective management prescriptions. These requirements are addressed by a computer-based wilderness evaluation procedure that has been developed for a national wilderness survey of Australia.The methodology, based on the wilderness continuum concept (Lesslie & Taylor, 1985), places emphasis on measuring variation in wilderness quality by using four indicators that represent the two essential attributes of remoteness and naturalness. This permits a precise assessment to be made of the wilderness resource, revealing those factors which contribute to or compromise wilderness quality. The computer-based storage and analysis of data enables surveys to be conducted over large, even continental, areas, yet at a relatively fine level of resolution that is appropriate to localized planning needs.Trial application to the State of Victoria, Australia, demonstrates that the survey procedure can be successfully adapted to a wide range of environments, use-patterns, data-base characteristics, and management objectives, which should be applicable and very widely useful elsewhere.
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Vianney, Tushabe John, Duncan J. Berger, Stephen R. Doyle, Geetha Sankaranarayanan, Joel Serubanja, Prossy Kabuubi Nakawungu, Fred Besigye, et al. "Genome-wide analysis of Schistosoma mansoni reveals limited population structure and possible praziquantel drug selection pressure within Ugandan hot-spot communities." PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases 16, no. 8 (August 18, 2022): e0010188. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0010188.
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Populations within schistosomiasis control areas, especially those in Africa, are recommended to receive regular mass drug administration (MDA) with praziquantel (PZQ) as the main strategy for controlling the disease. The impact of PZQ treatment on schistosome genetics remains poorly understood, and is limited by a lack of high-resolution genetic data on the population structure of parasites within these control areas. We generated whole-genome sequence data from 174 individual miracidia collected from both children and adults from fishing communities on islands in Lake Victoria in Uganda that had received either annual or quarterly MDA with PZQ over four years, including samples collected immediately before and four weeks after treatment. Genome variation within and between samples was characterised and we investigated genomic signatures of natural selection acting on these populations that could be due to PZQ treatment. The parasite population on these islands was more diverse than found in nearby villages on the lake shore. We saw little or no genetic differentiation between villages, or between the groups of villages with different treatment intensity, but slightly higher genetic diversity within the pre-treatment compared to post-treatment parasite populations. We identified classes of genes significantly enriched within regions of the genome with evidence of recent positive selection among post-treatment and intensively treated parasite populations. The differential selection observed in post-treatment and pre-treatment parasite populations could be linked to any reduced susceptibility of parasites to praziquantel treatment.
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Goldie Divko, Louise, Geoffrey O'Brien, Michael Harrison, and Joseph Hamilton. "Evaluation of the regional top seal in the Gippsland Basin: implications for geological carbon storage and hydrocarbon prospectivity." APPEA Journal 50, no. 1 (2010): 463. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/aj09028.
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GeoScience Victoria and partners have undertaken the first detailed basin-wide study of the regional top seal in the Gippsland Basin. The Gippsland Basin is an attractive site for geological carbon storage (GCS) because of the close proximity to emission sources and the potential for large-scale storage projects. This top seal assessment involved the analysis of seal attributes (geometry, capacity and mineralogy) and empirical evidence for seal failure (soil gas geochemical anomalies, gas chimneys, hydrocarbon seepage and oil slicks). These datasets have been integrated to produce a qualitative evaluation of the containment potential for GCS, and also hydrocarbons, across the basin. Mineralogical analysis of the top seal has revealed that the Lakes Entrance Formation is principally a smectite-rich claystone. The geometry of the top seal is consistent with deposition in an early post-rift setting where marine sediments filled palaeo-topographic lows. The seal thickness and depth to seal base are greatest in the Central Deep and decrease toward the margins. There is a strong positive relationship between seal capacity column heights, seal thickness, depth to seal base and smectite content. At greater burial depths (below 700 m) and where smectite content is greater than 70%, seal capacity is increased (supportable column heights above 150 m). Natural hydrocarbon leakage and seepage onshore and offshore is correlated with fault distribution and areas of poor seal capacity. This study provides a framework for qualitatively evaluating seal potential at a basin scale. It has shown that the potential of the regional top seal over the Central Deep, Southern Terrace, central eastern Lake Wellington Depression and the southern to central near shore areas in the Seaspray Depression are most suitable for the containment of supercritical CO2. Further toward the margin of the regional seal in both onshore and offshore areas, containment of supercritical CO2 is less likely.
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MacDonald, Justin, Rosalind King, Richard Hillis, and Guillaume Backé. "Structural style of the White Pointer and Hammerhead Delta—deepwater fold-thrust belts, Bight Basin, Australia." APPEA Journal 50, no. 1 (2010): 487. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/aj09029.
Full textAbstract:
GeoScience Victoria and partners have undertaken the first detailed basin-wide study of the regional top seal in the Gippsland Basin. The Gippsland Basin is an attractive site for geological carbon storage (GCS) because of the close proximity to emission sources and the potential for large-scale storage projects. This top seal assessment involved the analysis of seal attributes (geometry, capacity and mineralogy) and empirical evidence for seal failure (soil gas geochemical anomalies, gas chimneys, hydrocarbon seepage and oil slicks). These datasets have been integrated to produce a qualitative evaluation of the containment potential for GCS, and also hydrocarbons, across the basin. Mineralogical analysis of the top seal has revealed that the Lakes Entrance Formation is principally a smectite-rich claystone. The geometry of the top seal is consistent with deposition in an early post-rift setting where marine sediments filled palaeo-topographic lows. The seal thickness and depth to seal base are greatest in the Central Deep and decrease toward the margins. There is a strong positive relationship between seal capacity column heights, seal thickness, depth to seal base and smectite content. At greater burial depths (below 700 m) and where smectite content is greater than 70%, seal capacity is increased (supportable column heights above 150 m). Natural hydrocarbon leakage and seepage onshore and offshore is correlated with fault distribution and areas of poor seal capacity. This study provides a framework for qualitatively evaluating seal potential at a basin scale. It has shown that the potential of the regional top seal over the Central Deep, Southern Terrace, central eastern Lake Wellington Depression and the southern to central near shore areas in the Seaspray Depression are most suitable for the containment of supercritical CO2. Further toward the margin of the regional seal in both onshore and offshore areas, containment of supercritical CO2 is less likely.
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Marunda, Edmond, and Taka Munyanyiwa. "Tourism and Hospitality Curriculum for Rural Communities Neighbouring National Parks in Zimbabwe." Australian Journal of Business and Management Research 03, no. 10 (October 1, 2013): 46–53. http://dx.doi.org/10.52283/nswrca.ajbmr.20130310a03.
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The tourism and hospitality industry in Zimbabwe today, is the third largest foreign currency earner after agricultural exports and mining products. The industry is grounded on the country’s unique cultural and natural heritage which is made up of sensitive ecosystems encompassing national parks and wildlife. The growth of tourism stimulating increasing investments in the industry may trigger adverse long term effects of developments in biodiversity and loss of wildlife. It is therefore vital that communities living next to tourist attractions be educated so that they practise eco-tourism or sustainable tourism as a matter of priority. The focus of this article is to identify a curriculum for the education of communities living in and around tourist attractions in Zimbabwe. Such a curriculum should equip the communities with the requisite understanding to preserve and protect their environment effectively applying contemporary and traditional knowledge systems. In a bid to come up with an education curriculum and training programmes incorporating tourism and hospitality education, some 145 out of a population of 300 respondents were interviewed in and around the tourist resort areas of Nyanga, Harare, Bulawayo and Victoria Falls. The article extends a realistic and practical framework for the development of a curriculum and training-programme-guideline for communities incorporating “Tourism and Hospitality” as a subject.
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Young, Mary A., Peter I. Macreadie, Clare Duncan, Paul E. Carnell, Emily Nicholson, Oscar Serrano, Carlos M. Duarte, Glenn Shiell, Jeff Baldock, and Daniel Ierodiaconou. "Optimal soil carbon sampling designs to achieve cost-effectiveness: a case study in blue carbon ecosystems." Biology Letters 14, no. 9 (September 2018): 20180416. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2018.0416.
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Researchers are increasingly studying carbon (C) storage by natural ecosystems for climate mitigation, including coastal ‘blue carbon’ ecosystems. Unfortunately, little guidance on how to achieve robust, cost-effective estimates of blue C stocks to inform inventories exists. We use existing data (492 cores) to develop recommendations on the sampling effort required to achieve robust estimates of blue C. Using a broad-scale, spatially explicit dataset from Victoria, Australia, we applied multiple spatial methods to provide guidelines for reducing variability in estimates of soil C stocks over large areas. With a separate dataset collected across Australia, we evaluated how many samples are needed to capture variability within soil cores and the best methods for extrapolating C to 1 m soil depth. We found that 40 core samples are optimal for capturing C variance across 1000's of kilometres but higher density sampling is required across finer scales (100–200 km). Accounting for environmental variation can further decrease required sampling. The within core analyses showed that nine samples within a core capture the majority of the variability and log-linear equations can accurately extrapolate C. These recommendations can help develop standardized methods for sampling programmes to quantify soil C stocks at national scales.
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F. Bennett, Andrew, and Leigh A. Ford. "Land use, habitat change and the conservation of birds in fragmented rural environments: a landscape perspective from the Northern Plains, Victoria, Australia." Pacific Conservation Biology 3, no. 3 (1997): 244. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/pc970244.
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Studies of the effects of habitat fragmentation on birds have mainly been carried out at the patch scale, by censusing birds in patches of different size, shape or composition. Here, we use data collected by observers for the Atlas of Australian Birds from 10' latitude/longitude grid cells (landscapes), each 277 km2 in size, to examine the effects of land use and habitat change at the landscape scale in the Northern Plains region of Victoria, Australia. Land birds were tallied for 63 such landscapes and species were classed as "woodland" or "other" species. Attributes measured for each landscape represented natural environmental variation, tree cover and the intensity of human settlement. The Northern Plains has experienced profound environmental change over the last century of agricultural settlement and tree cover now occupies only 6.2% of the region, mostly as large riverine forests. Eighty per cent of landscapes have less than 10% tree cover. Woodland birds showed substantial variation in richness between landscapes and, after accounting for sampling effort, species richness was best predicted by total tree cover and measures of environmental variation (e.g., number of streams). "Other" birds were more evenly distributed between landscapes. Species richness was best predicted by the environmental gradient in rainfall and temperature, although this accounted for only a small amount of variance after correcting for sampling effort. The predictive model for woodland birds indicates that this group is sensitive to habitat change, and implies a substantial loss of species in landscapes that have been almost entirely cleared of woodland habitat. The logarithmic nature of the relationship means that the rate of change in species richness is greatest during the final stages of habitat depletion. With median tree cover of 3.7% for landscapes in the region, this relationship supports the contention that a major decline in woodland birds is underway and that species are being lost from whole landscapes across the region. Attributes associated with landscapes of high conservation value for birds include: extensive overall tree cover, large blocks of woodland habitat, and stream systems with associated habitat connectivity. In this region, these attributes are more likely to occur in areas with broad-acre agriculture rather than intensive irrigation. The analysis suggests that at least 10% tree cover is a minimum goal for an infrastructure of natural vegetation in rural landscapes to prevent serious decline and loss in the woodland avifauna.
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Chisholm, Stewart. "The growing role of citizen engagement in urban naturalization: The case of Canada." Ekistics and The New Habitat 71, no. 424-426 (June 1, 2004): 35–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.53910/26531313-e200471424-426219.
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The author (MA, MCIP, RPP) co-manages Evergreen's Common Grounds program which focuses on the protection and restoration of public lands in urban areas. He has a Master's degree in urban planning from the University of Waterloo, a Bachelor's Degree in resource geography from the University of Victoria , and he is a full member of the Canadian Institute of Planners. Over the past five years, he has developed urban greening resources for land use professionals and community groups including a national grant program, guidebooks, research reports, municipal policy guidelines and case studies. He has also developed and led professional training workshops for public land managers and other municipal officials on partnership approaches for protecting and stewarding urban green spaces. Prior to joining Evergreen, Stewart worked in the private and public sectors leading a variety of land-use planning, environmental assessment and resource conservation projects. Mr Chisholm has written journal articles and presented papers at national and international conferences including the Canadian Institute of Planners (2002) and the Society for Ecological Restoration (2001). The paper that follows is based on a presentation that he gave at the international symposion on "The Natural City," Toronto, 23-25 June, 2004, sponsored by the University of Toronto's Division of the Environment, Institute for Environmental Studies, and the World Society for Ekistics.
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Lindenmayer, David, and Chris Taylor. "Extensive recent wildfires demand more stringent protection of critical old growth forest." Pacific Conservation Biology 26, no. 4 (2020): 384. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/pc20037.
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Old growth forests have many key values, but temporal changes across their spatial extent are poorly understood. This includes large parts of Australia and is a major knowledge gap given the extent of human and natural disturbances in the Australian forest estate over past decades. We integrated spatial data on the timing and extent of fire and logging across mapped forest and woodland cover in different Ecological Vegetation Class (EVC) groups to quantify disturbance of the old growth forest and woodland estate in Victoria since 1995, including after the 2019–20 wildfires. We found ~77% of old growth forest and woodlands have been disturbed by fire and logging over the past 25 years. Disturbance was particularly marked in some EVCs, such as the Wet and Damp Forest and the Subalpine Woodlands. In contrast, relatively little of the Modelled Old Growth Forest and Woodland has been disturbed between 1995 and 2020 in other EVCs such as in Plains Woodlands and Heathy Woodlands. Wildfire was the primary driver of disturbance in Modelled Old Growth Forest and Woodland. We argue that a range of strategies is critical to increase protection of undisturbed old growth forest. These include re-assessing disturbance data layers to ensure that areas of old growth that have been burned at low severity are protected, and reducing the size of old growth patches to be conserved. There is also a need to increase levels of protection of young forests to enable them to grow through to an old growth state.
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Adams-Hosking, Christine, Hedley S. Grantham, Jonathan R. Rhodes, Clive McAlpine, and Patrick T. Moss. "Modelling climate-change-induced shifts in the distribution of the koala." Wildlife Research 38, no. 2 (2011): 122. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/wr10156.
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Context The impacts of climate change on the climate envelopes, and hence, distributions of species, are of ongoing concern for biodiversity worldwide. Knowing where climate refuge habitats will occur in the future is essential to conservation planning. The koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) is recognised by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as a species highly vulnerable to climate change. However, the impact of climate change on its distribution is poorly understood. Aims We aimed to predict the likely shifts in the climate envelope of the koala throughout its natural distribution under various climate change scenarios and identify potential future climate refugia. Methods To predict possible future koala climate envelopes we developed bioclimatic models using Maxent, based on a substantial database of locality records and several climate change scenarios. Key results The predicted current koala climate envelope was concentrated in south-east Queensland, eastern New South Wales and eastern Victoria, which generally showed congruency with their current known distribution. Under realistic projected future climate change, with the climate becoming increasingly drier and warmer, the models showed a significant progressive eastward and southward contraction in the koala’s climate envelope limit in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. The models also indicated novel potentially suitable climate habitat in Tasmania and south-western Australia. Conclusions Under a future hotter and drier climate, current koala distributions, based on their climate envelope, will likely contract eastwards and southwards to many regions where koala populations are declining due to additional threats of high human population densities and ongoing pressures from habitat loss, dog attacks and vehicle collisions. In arid and semi-arid regions such as the Mulgalands of south-western Queensland, climate change is likely to compound the impacts of habitat loss, resulting in significant contractions in the distribution of this species. Implications Climate change pressures will likely change priorities for allocating conservation efforts for many species. Conservation planning needs to identify areas that will provide climatically suitable habitat for a species in a changing climate. In the case of the koala, inland habitats are likely to become climatically unsuitable, increasing the need to protect and restore the more mesic habitats, which are under threat from urbanisation. National and regional koala conservation policies need to anticipate these changes and synergistic threats. Therefore, a proactive approach to conservation planning is necessary to protect the koala and other species that depend on eucalypt forests.
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F. Bennett, A., L. F. Lumsden, and A. O. Nicholls. "Tree hollows as a resource for wildlife in remnant woodlands: spatial and temporal patterns across the northern plains of Victoria, Australia." Pacific Conservation Biology 1, no. 3 (1994): 222. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/pc940222.
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Hollows in living or dead trees are an important resource for a range of animal species in Australia. They are used for diurnal and nocturnal shelter and as breeding sites, and the availability of hollows may be a limiting factor for some populations. This study examined patterns in the distribution of tree hollows at 185 sites, each of 1.0 ha, in remnant woodlands across the northern plains, Victoria, a rural region where little remains of the natural woodland cover. Spatial and temporal variation in the abundance of tree hollows is evident at several scales including that of the individual tree, the landscape and the region. For individual trees, the number of holes increased with tree diameter, and the slope of this relationship differed between tree species. The percentage of trees that are hollow-bearing also differs between species. Large trees have a higher proportion of holes with a large entrance diameter (>10 cm) and a lower proportion of small holes (?2 cm diameter) than do small trees. At the landscape scale, hollow-bearing trees were not evenly distributed throughout remnant woodlands. Significant variables in a regression model of the abundance of hollow-bearing trees included: the number of large trees (>70 cms diameter), woodland tree species composition and mean annual rainfall. At the regional scale, the availability of hollows is influenced by the patchy distribution of remnant woodlands. Large tracts are mainly associated with public land along river systems and contrast with extensive areas of farmland where woodlands are sparse or absent. The abundance of hollows at the landscape and regional scale is strongly influenced by the impact of land management on two key processes; the loss of existing hollow-bearing trees and the recruitment of new trees. On privately managed land, generally grazed by domestic stock, large trees with hollows are often present, but the scarcity of saplings and small trees raises concern over the recruitment of future hollow-bearing trees, and indeed the long-term persistence of woodland vegetation. Conversely, most sites in large blocks of public land have ample regeneration but relatively fewer hollow-bearing trees due to the loss of larger trees from timber harvesting activities. In both situations, the abundance of trees with hollows is the consequence of management practices, and their future availability is directly amenable to management action. Some implications of the patterns of distribution of hollows for wildlife are discussed.
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Bliankinshyein, Olga N., Natalia A. Popkova, Matvey V. Savelyev, Natalia A. Unagaeva, Irina G. Fedchenko, and Yana V. Chui. "SOCIOCULTURAL BASIS OF URBAN PLANNING REGULATION FOR PUBLIC OPEN SPACES." Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Kul'turologiya i iskusstvovedenie, no. 41 (2021): 18–40. http://dx.doi.org/10.17223/22220836/41/2.
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The authors consider the problem of urban planning regulation of public open spaces from the perspective of their dominant role in the formation of a holistic socio-cultural structure of a city. Relevance of the study is determined by the modern demand for comfortable urban environment of the public open spaces, which has become the global urban planning trend in recent decades. The modern approach, promoted in the UN Charter and in federal and regional strategic development programs is aimed at increasing the emotional attachment of people to a place of living and fostering a sense of community. The improvement of public spaces should be based on the historical and cultural context, natural features, and the identity of a place. The implementation of numerous projects all over the country has revealed the flaws of urban planning regulations. This fact stimulated the emergence of targeted contests of applied research aimed at the development of new national and local regulations, standard architectural solutions which would provide high-quality development of the urban environment. Analysis of the approaches to public open space development reveals current trends in their planning regulation, which are considered in separate sections of the article. The first section explores the mechanisms which regulate the improvement of urban historical and cultural sites. It touches upon the problems of preservation of cultural heritage and the identification of landmark places. It also considers examples of the urban planning regulations for the areas of “historical urban regeneration” (Dresden, Ivanovo, Arkhangelsk, Voronezh, Belgorod) and the examples of completed projects in Siberian cities (Yeniseisk, Krasnoyarsk, Tomsk, Irkutsk). The second section is devoted to the identification and preservation of unique natural elements and images of a place through the urban landscape zoning. Different approaches to solving issues of improvement and humanization of the living environment are considered using examples of Berlin, Paris, London, Moscow, Krasnoyarsk. The third section presents a comparative analysis of existing Russian and foreign regulatory documents aimed at creating an environment of public open spaces in urbanized areas of a city. Of particular interest here are the methods of regulation that take into account functional content, development morphology, remoteness from city center, natural and socio-cultural characteristics, as well as those aimed at protecting the wildlife (Seattle, New York, Toronto, London, Victoria Australia). The socio-cultural phenomenon of public open spaces highlights the fundamental relationship between the quality of spatial environment and human consciousness, behavior, way of life. Therefore, a tailored approach to the creation of architectural and landscape planning regulations will allow to treat each public space substantively, preserving and maintaining the identity of the historical and cultural environment of a place.
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Durant, Rebecca, Gary W. Luck, and Alison Matthews. "Nest-box use by arboreal mammals in a peri-urban landscape." Wildlife Research 36, no. 7 (2009): 565. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/wr09058.
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Context. Nest boxes provide important nesting, denning and shelter sites for many fauna species worldwide, but we know little about the factors that influence the suitability of nest boxes for particular species. Such information is crucial in urban landscapes where natural hollows are scarce. Aims. The aim of this study was to record the use of nest boxes by sugar gliders (Petaurus breviceps), squirrel gliders (P. norfolcensis) and other fauna in a peri-urban landscape in northern Victoria and examine factors at multiple spatial scales that may influence nest-box use. Methods. We monitored the use of 102 nest boxes over three seasons in 2006. Attributes that may influence nest-box occupancy were measured at five different spatial scales: (i) landscape; (ii) the habitat beyond 20 m of the nest box; (iii) the habitat within 20 m of the nest box; (iv) the tree that the nest box was located in; and (v) the nest box. Key results. At the landscape scale, topography influenced nest-box occupancy with squirrel gliders using boxes in flat or gully areas, and sugar gliders using boxes in gully, mid-slope or ridge areas. For habitat beyond 20 m of the nest box, sugar gliders were more likely to occupy boxes with a higher density of surrounding nest boxes and a higher density of residential dwellings. Within 20 m of the nest box, boxes occupied by sugar gliders were more likely to occur in areas with a higher density of acacia shrubs and lower density of hollow-bearing trees, whereas the presence of acacia did not influence nest-box use by squirrel gliders. At the scale of the nest-box tree, boxes occupied by sugar gliders were more likely to be on smaller trees (based on height and diameter) and on box (e.g. red box Eucalyptus polyanthemos) species. The only nest-box characteristic to have a strong relationship with occupancy was date of establishment, with longer established boxes more likely to be occupied. Conclusions. Our study demonstrates that various factors influence nest-box use at different scales and nest boxes remain an important conservation and management tool in heavily modified landscapes. Implications. Land managers and groups should be aware that nest boxes may help to alleviate some of the negative impacts of the loss of hollow-bearing trees in low density urban areas, but nest-box use will vary depending on landscape context, habitat factors, box design, and the ecological traits of the target species. Each of these factors must be considered to maximise the conservation benefits of nest-box programs.
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Hamer, Paul A., Gregory P. Jenkins, and Bronwyn M. Gillanders. "Chemical tags in otoliths indicate the importance of local and distant settlement areas to populations of a temperate sparid, Pagrus auratus." Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 62, no. 3 (March 1, 2005): 623–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/f04-221.
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Understanding geographic origins of fish is essential to the management of fisheries and protection of critical juvenile habitats. We used natural chemical tags (Mn, Sr, and Ba), characterized from otoliths of 0+ snapper (Pagrus auratus) (approximately 13 months postsettlement), to determine the origins of 1- and 2-year-old (subadult) fish about to recruit to the Victorian fishery. We sampled subadults from eight areas across 700 km of coastline and within the major Victorian fishery, Port Phillip Bay. Maximum likelihood analyses indicated for both cohorts that most subadults in Port Phillip Bay and a significant proportion from west Victorian coastal waters had settled within Port Phillip Bay. The contribution of the Port Phillip Bay settlement area to coastal populations, however, decreased with distance to the west, varied between cohorts, and was negligible at locations over 200 km to the east of the bay. Comparison of elemental tags between 0+ fish of known settlement origin and the subadults indicated that unknown settlement areas may have contributed recruitment to one of the cohorts. These results have highlighted the importance of local settlement areas to sustaining the major Victorian fishery, but small juveniles can migrate large distances from this settlement area and contribute to coastal populations.
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Brunetti, Claudia, Henk Siepel, Peter Convey, Pietro Paolo Fanciulli, Francesco Nardi, and Antonio Carapelli. "Overlooked Species Diversity and Distribution in the Antarctic Mite Genus Stereotydeus." Diversity 13, no. 10 (October 19, 2021): 506. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/d13100506.
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In the harsh Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems, invertebrates are currently confined to sparse and restricted ice free areas, where they have survived on multi-million-year timescales in refugia. The limited dispersal abilities of these invertebrate species, their specific habitat requirements, and the presence of geographical barriers can drastically reduce gene flow between populations, resulting in high genetic differentiation. On continental Antarctica, mites are one of the most diverse invertebrate groups. Recently, two new species of the free living prostigmatid mite genus Stereotydeus Berlese, 1901 were discovered, bringing the number of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic species of this genus up to 15, of which 7 occur along the coast of Victoria Land and in the Transantarctic Mountains. To examine the biodiversity of Stereotydeus spp., the present study combines phylogenetic, morphological and population genetic data of specimens collected from nine localities in Victoria Land. Genetically distinct intraspecific groups are spatially isolated in northern Victoria Land, while, for other species, the genetic haplogroups more often occur sympatrically in southern Victoria Land. We provide a new distribution map for the Stereotydeus species of Victoria Land, which will assist future decisions in matters of the protection and conservation of the unique Antarctic terrestrial fauna.
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Leao, Simone, and Hisham Elkadi. "The Use of Public Transport in Coastal Australia: Modes of Travel to Work and Greenhouse Emissions." Advanced Materials Research 347-353 (October 2011): 4034–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.347-353.4034.
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Commuting to work is one of the most important and regular routines of transportation in towns and cities. From a geographic perspective, the length of people’s commute is influenced, to some degree, by the spatial separation of their home and workplace and the transport infrastructure. The rise of car ownership in Australia from the 1950s to the present was accompanied by a considerable decrease of public transport use. Currently there is an average of 1.4 persons per car in Australia, and private cars are involved in approximately 90% of the trips, and public transportation in only 10%. Increased personal mobility has fuelled the trend of decentralised housing development, mostly without a clear planning for local employment, or alternative means of transportation. Transport sector accounts for 14% of Australia’s net greenhouse gas emissions. Without further policy action, Australia’s emissions are projected to continue to increase. The Australian Federal Government and the new Department of Climate Change have recently published a set of maps showing that rising seas would submerge large parts of Victoria coastal region. Such event would lead to major disruption in planned urban growth areas in the next 50 years with broad scale inundation of dwellings, facilities and road networks. The Greater Geelong Region has well established infrastructure as a major urban centre and tourist destination and hence attracted the attention of federal and state governments in their quest for further development and population growth. As a result of its natural beauty and ecological sensitivity, scenarios for growth in the region are currently under scrutiny from local government as well as development agencies, scientists, and planners. This paper is part of a broad research in the relationship between transportation system, urban form, trip demand, and emissions, as a paramount in addressing the challenges presented by urban growth. Progressing from previous work focused on private cars, this present paper investigates the use of public transport as a mode for commuting in the Greater Geelong Region. Using a GIS based interaction model, it characterises the current use of the existing public transportation system, and also builds a scenario of increased use of the existing public transportation system, estimating potencial reductions in CO2 emissions. This study provides an improved understanding of the extent to which choices of transport mode and travel activity patterns, affect emissions in the context of regional networks. The results indicate that emissions from commuting by public transportation are significantly lower than those from commuting by private car, and emphasise that there are opportunities for large abatment in the greenhouse emissions from the transportation sector related to efforts in increasing the use of existing public transportation system.
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Trapeznikova, O. N., and N. I. Tormosova. "Historical and geoenvironmental analysis of the development of the Russian North within karst areas (by the example of Kargopol’ Region)." Геоэкология. Инженерная геология. Гидрогеология. Геокриология, no. 3 (June 24, 2019): 52–62. http://dx.doi.org/10.31857/s0869-78092019352-62.
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The paper deals with the history of agrarian development of the East European plain in the frame of the geoenvironment concept of agricultural landscapes, taking Kargopol’ region as an example. A large agricultural landscape unique for the middle taiga zone was formed there no later than in the twelve century. We have analyzed the natural environment of the Kargopol’ region and its influence on the agrarian development and the rural settlement pattern. We paid particular attention to the karst, which was widespread in the area and its relation with agricultural landscapes. We made mathematical modelling of both elementary agricultural landscape spatial pattern and the corresponding rural settlement pattern. A feature of the proposed modeling is its emphasis on the relationship between the natural landscape and agricultural landscape. The mathematical morphology of landscape (method proposed by A. Victorov) and, in particular, the karst system model is the base of modeling. This model is first used for the analysis of cultural (anthropogenic) rather than natural landscapes.
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McIlvenna, Kathleen, Douglas H. L. Brown, and David R. Green. "‘The Natural Foundation of Perfect Efficiency’1: Medical Services and the Victorian Post Office." Social History of Medicine 33, no. 2 (January 23, 2019): 539–58. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/shm/hky123.
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Summary This article explores the creation of the Post Office medical service. Working for the Post Office was relatively well-paid and an increasing number of doctors were employed. Medical provision expanded with the introduction of non-contributory pensions from mid-century and developed into a comprehensive and nationwide service that was involved at all stages of employment, from initial recruitment through to receiving a pension. Post Office doctors assessed candidates’ fitness for work, checked on sick absences, provided free medicine and advice and visited workers’ homes. Doctors were responsible for determining whether or not a worker should be pensioned off on grounds of ill health. The career of the first Chief Medical Officer, Dr Waller Lewis, also illustrates the range of other areas in which the Post Office medical service became involved, including the clinical assessment and relief of sickness as well as identifying preventative measures to improve health outcomes.
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Hidalgo-Triana, Noelia, Federico Casimiro-Soriguer Solanas, Andros Solakis Tena, David Manteca-Bautista, Antonio Picornell, José García-Sánchez, Teresa Navarro, and Andrés V. Pérez-Latorre. "Assessment Protocol to Evaluate the Degree of Conservation of Habitats of Community Interest: A Case Study for the 5220* HCI in the Westernmost Localities of Europe." Land 12, no. 1 (January 6, 2023): 190. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/land12010190.
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The westernmost European nucleus of the 5220* Habitat of Community Interest (HCI) is located in the province of Málaga (Andalusia). In this area, the 5220* HCI is characterized by the presence of scrublands of Gymnosporia senegalensis subsp. europaea. This is a relict species in Europe, with inhabits only in the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula. The westernmost Iberian nuclei of the 5220* HCI are constituted by three isolated nuclei (Málaga–Rincón de la Victoria; Torremolinos; and Pizarra). These nuclei have been only partially mapped. The objectives were: to map the 5220* HCI characterized by G. senegalensis subsp. europaea in detail; to evaluate its degree of conservation (DC); and to identify the chronosequences of the evolution of this habitat from 1957 to 2021, and its fragmentation. Our results have contributed to generating a 1:10,000 scale cartography of the habitat. In general, the DC obtained was from good to excellent. With an excellent DC value, one inland locality (Pizarra) was highlighted. However, the highest reduction in the value of DC was observed in the localities of Torremolinos and Málaga–Rincón de la Victoria which, in addition, have reduced the area of occupancy (AOO) and are fragmented. It is important to note that some areas of Málaga–Rincón de la Victoria reached excellent values of DC, indicating the need to carry out protection.
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Franco-Martínez, Irma Sonia. "Conservación in situ y ex situ de las agaváceas y nolináceas mexicanas." Botanical Sciences, no. 57 (April 26, 2017): 27. http://dx.doi.org/10.17129/botsci.1474.
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The Agavaceae and Nolinaceae, as other plant families, have been affected by the destruction and modification of their habitats and by selective extraction with commercial purposes of some of their species. This has generated that 48 species of Agavaceae and Nolinaceae have been included in the list of Mexican plants in risk of extinction (NOM-059-ECOL-l 994), and two of them (Agave parviflora and Agave victoriae-reginae) are listed in the appendices of CITES. There are 30 Protected Natural Areas that conserve in situ at least one species of the Agavaceae or Nolinaceae. The ex situ conservation is done in 38 Botanical Gardens, 22 of them include in their collections at least one species of these families. There are also eight commercial nurseries that have started the propagation by seed of 12 species, mainly from the genus Agave. Case studies on Agave victoriae-reginae, Beaucarnea recurvata and Yucca schidigera, are also analyzed.
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Onyango, Dancan O., Christopher O. Ikporukpo, John O. Taiwo, and Stephen B. Opiyo. "Monitoring the extent and impacts of watershed urban development in the Lake Victoria Basin, Kenya, using a combination of population dynamics, remote sensing and GIS techniques." Environmental & Socio-economic Studies 9, no. 2 (June 1, 2021): 11–25. http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/environ-2021-0007.
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Abstract Several urban centres of different sizes have developed over time, and continue to grow, within the basin of Lake Victoria. Uncontrolled urban development, especially along the lake shore, puts environmental pressure on Lake Victoria and its local ecosystem. This study sought to monitor the extent and impacts of urban development (as measured by population growth and built-up land use/land cover) in the Lake Victoria basin, Kenya, between 1978 and 2018. Remote sensing and GIS-based land use/land cover classification was conducted to extract change in built-up areas from Landsat 3, 4, 5 and 8 satellite imagery obtained for the month of January at intervals of ten years. Change in population distribution and density was analysed based on decadal census data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics between 1979 and 2019. A statistical regression model was then estimated to relate population growth to built-up area expansion. Results indicate that the basin’s built-up area has expanded by 97% between 1978 and 2018 while the population increased by 140% between 1979 and 2019. Urban development was attributed to the rapidly increasing population in the area as seen in a positive statistical correlation (R2=0.5744) between increase in built-up area and population growth. The resulting environmental pressure on the local ecosystem has been documented mainly in terms of degradation of lake water quality, eutrophication and aquatic biodiversity loss. The study recommends the enactment and implementation of appropriate eco-sensitive local legislation and policies for sustainable urban and rural land use planning in the area. This should aim to control and regulate urban expansion especially in the immediate shoreline areas of the lake and associated riparian zones.
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Holland, Susan, and Steven Miller. "Science in teh early Athenaeum: a mirror of crystallization." Public Understanding of Science 6, no. 2 (April 1997): 111–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0963-6625/6/2/001.
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The Athenaeum, one of the most influential weekly magzines of Victorian Britain, was launched in 1828, towards the end of the period which saw the crystallization of science out of eighteenthcentrury natural philosophy and the differentiation of the individual sciences one from another. We examine the magazine's coverage of specific scientific areas in the year from May 1828 to April 1829, looking at what it defined as science and how it arrived at its definitions. The picture that emerges is complex, influenced by editorial preferences as well as more clearly discrnible objective criteria. But, at this stage, The Athenaeum appears to be opposed to opeing up a gulf between the scientifically literate and the rest of its readership, reminding science of its debt to earlier endeavours.