Here we also recommend the consultative process and guiding principles that drove the development of this method as an approach for development of the method into other biomes. The consistent, standardized and objective method enables continental, and potentially global analyses than were not previously possible with disparate programs and datasets.

Both local and regional processes may contribute to community diversity and structure at local scales. Although many studies have investigated patterns of local or regional community structure, few have addressed the extent to which local community structure influences patterns within regional species pools. Here we investigate the role of body size in community assembly at local and regional scales in Ctenotus lizards from arid Australia. Ctenotus has long been noted for its exceptional species diversity in the Australian arid-zone, and previous studies have attempted to elucidate the processes underlying species coexistence within communities of these lizards. However, no consensus has emerged on the role of interspecific competition in the assembly and maintenance of Ctenotus communities. We studied Ctenotus communities at several hundred sites in the arid interior of Australia to test the hypothesis that body sizes within local and regional Ctenotus assemblages should be overdispersed relative to null models of community assembly, and we explored the relationship between body size dispersion at local and regional scales. Results indicate a striking pattern of community-wide overdispersion of body size at local scales, as measured by the variance in size ratios among co-occurring species. However, we find no evidence for body size overdispersion within regional species pools, suggesting a lack of correspondence between processes influencing the distribution of species phenotypes at local and regional scales. We suggest that size ratio constancy in Ctenotus communities may have resulted from contemporary ecological interactions among species or ecological character displacement, and we discuss alternative explanations for the observed patterns.

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Ecosystem surveillance monitoring is critical to managing natural resources and especially so under changing environments. Despite this importance, the design and implementation of monitoring programs across large temporal and spatial scales has been hampered by the lack of appropriately standardised methods and data streams. To address this gap, we outline a surveillance monitoring method based on permanent plots and voucher samples suited to rangeland environments around the world that is repeatable, cost-effective, appropriate for large-scale comparisons and adaptable to other global biomes. The method provides comprehensive data on vegetation composition and structure along with soil attributes relevant to plant growth, delivered as a combination of modules that can be targeted for different purposes or available resources. Plots are located in a stratified design across vegetation units, landforms and climates to enhance continental and global comparisons. Changes are investigated through revisits. Vegetation is measured to inform on composition, cover and structure. Samples of vegetation and soils are collected and tracked by barcode labels and stored long-term for subsequent analysis. Technology is used to enhance the accuracy of field methods, including differential GPS r plot locations, instrument based Leaf Area Index (LAI) measures, and three dimensional photo-panoramas for advanced analysis. A key feature of the method is the use of electronic field data collection to enhance data delivery into a publicly-accessible database.Our method is pragmatic, whilst still providing consistent data, information and samples on key vegetation and soil attributes. The method is operational and has been applied at more than 704 field locations across the Australian rangelands as part of the Ecosystem Surveillance program of the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN). The methodology enables continental analyses, and has been tested in communities broadly representative of rangelands globally, with components being applicable to other biomes. Here we also recommend the consultative process and guiding principles that drove the development of this method as an approach for development of the method into other biomes. The consistent, standardised and objective method enables continental, and potentially global analyses than were not previously possible with disparate programs and datasets.

To investigate potential range shifts in a changing climate it is becoming increasingly common to develop models that account for demographic processes. Metapopulation models incorporate the spatial confi guration of occupied habitat (i.e. arrangement, size and quality), population demographics, and inter-patch dispersal making them suitable for investigating potential threats to small mammal range and abundance. However, the spatial scale (resolution) used to represent speciesenvironment dynamics may aff ect estimates of range shift and population resilience by failing to realistically represent the spatial confi guration of suitable habitat, including stepping stones and refugia. We aimed to determine whether relatively fi ne-scale environmental information infl uenced predictions of metapopulation persistence and range shift. Species distribution models were constructed for four small terrestrial mammals from southern Australia using environmental predictors measured at 0.1 ϫ 0.1 km (0.01 km 2 ) or 1.0 ϫ 1.0 km (1 km 2 ) resolution, and combined with demographic information to parameterise coupled niche-population models. Th ese models were used to simulate population dynamics projected over 40-yr under a stable and changing climate. Initial estimates of the area of available habitat were similar at both spatial scales. However, at the fi ne-scale, habitat confi guration comprised a greater number of patches (ca 12 times), that were more irregular in shape (ca 8 times the perimeter:area), and separated by a tenth of the distance than at the coarse-scale. While small patches were not more prone to extinction, populations generally declined at a higher rate and were associated with a lower expected minimum abundance. Despite increased species vulnerability at the fi ne-scale, greater range shifts were measured at the coarse-scale (for species illustrating a shift at both scales). Th ese results highlight the potential for range shifts and species vulnerability information to be misrepresented if advanced modelling techniques incorporating species demographics and dispersal inadequately represent the scale at which these processes occur.