Assessing the Biodiversity Value of Stands and Patches in a Landscape Context

Gibbons, Philip; Briggs, Sue; Zerger, André; Ayers, Danielle; Seddon, Julian; Doyle, Stuart

doi:10.1002/9780470692400.ch19

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…The second data set consists of a raster of 25 m resolution, which classifies each cell as ‘wooded’ or ‘unwooded’. This data set was developed as part of the National Carbon Accounting Systems Land Cover Change Project of the Australian Greenhouse Office (Furby 2002), is of a coarse nature, and does not capture areas with <20% canopy cover (Gibbons et al. 2007).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Australia’s Stock Route Network: 2. Representation of fertile landscapes

Lentini

Fischer

Gibbons

et al. 2011

Ecological Management &Amp; Restoration

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Summary The Stock Route Network (SRN) of New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland is a large‐scale system of predominantly roadside remnant vegetation, which was established in the 1800s to allow livestock to be moved. Proposed changes to the management of the SRN could result in some portions of it being sold to private landholders, or subjected to long‐term set‐stocking. This may have potentially negative impacts on some of the values of the SRN. One key feature of the SRN is that it covers low‐lying parts of the landscape, which are poorly protected by national parks. To quantify this, we specifically analysed a 41 million hectare portion of the SRN which transects the NSW ‘wheat‐sheep belt’, characterising its representation of woody vegetation cover and topography, and contrasting this with the National Reserve System. Our analysis revealed that 55% of stock routes occur in low‐lying valley portions of the landscape, compared with only 6% of the National Reserve System. The SRN supports a wide range of vegetation types and, unlike the National Reserve System, is not biased towards heavily forested areas. White Box‐Yellow Box‐Blakeley’s Red Gum woodland, which is listed as critically endangered by the Australian Government, was recorded in 803 (or 17.5%) of the 4575 stock routes in our data set. In contrast, only 10 of the 335 reserves within our spatial study region are known to support small occurrences of this community. Our findings suggest that the protection of the SRN and National Reserve System together may fulfil the ‘representation’ goal of systematic conservation planning far better than the National Reserve System on its own. Future research should quantify which stock routes in particular should receive priority for protection.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Australia’s Stock Route Network: 2. Representation of fertile landscapes

Lentini

Fischer

Gibbons

et al. 2011

Ecological Management &Amp; Restoration

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“…Hollows with large entrances (>15 cm diameter) are more likely to occur in trees greater than 100 cm in diameter at breast height (Thomson et al, n.d.). Previous studies estimated the density of hollow-bearing trees in river red gum forests (Inland Riverine Forests) with relatively little evidence of alteration, disturbance or modification by humans since European settlement as 20 trees (minimum opening of 5 cm) per hectare (Ayers et al, n.d.;Gibbons et al, 2005;NSW DPE, 2017). We used this value as a benchmark for comparison in our analyses.…”

Section: Study Locationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tree hollow decline in new forest reserves with a long history of logging

Gorrod,

Oliver,

Bedward

et al. 2024

Austral Ecology

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In many parts of the world, achieving a target of 30% of land managed for conservation under the Kunming‐Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework will require the protection of land with a long history of management for production. In newly protected forests, past logging practices will have impacted key aspects of stand structure, including hollow‐bearing trees that provide critical habitat for vertebrate fauna. The impacts of past silvicultural practices on hollow density, distribution, type and longevity may necessitate targeted ameliorative actions. We investigated tree hollows in the largest river red gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis Denh.) forest in the world, which had undergone logging‐induced woody thickening prior to being converted to a conservation reserve in 2010. We recorded stem diameters and hollows in living and dead trees in 66 two‐hectare plots. Our sites sampled two productivity states and a wide range of total tree densities. On all sites, we found that hollow‐bearing tree densities were lower than reference values for unlogged stands and average density had halved relative to reference values. We found no relationship between the density of hollow‐bearing trees and total tree density, but we did find a weak positive relationship with site productivity. Larger trees had more hollows, bigger hollows and a greater diversity of hollow sizes. However, of the 1254 hollow‐bearing trees recorded, 43% were dead, 48% of the dead trees had been ringbarked. The proportion of hollow‐bearing trees that were dead was positively correlated with tree size, with 60% of trees in the largest quartile (>105 cm) recorded as dead. The prevalence of dead hollow‐bearing trees suggests that the density and diversity of hollows will continue to decline and ameliorative actions should be considered. These results highlight the need to consider the legacy of past silvicultural practices in the management of newly created conservation reserves.

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“…We estimated the annual loss of woody vegetation across the study area under the counterfactual (r) for these sites as 0.13% based on the formula Sites with scattered trees are not reliably detected as tree cover from classifications of Landsat imagery (Gibbons et al, 2007). For offsets established on sites dominated by scattered trees we estimated the annual rate of loss for woody vegetation as 0.90%, which is the average annual loss observed for scattered trees from aerial photography in cultivated and grazed landscapes within the study area over 30-34 years (Ozolins, Brack, & Freudenberger, 2001).…”

Section: Net Change In the Area Of Native Vegetationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Outcomes from 10 years of biodiversity offsetting

Gibbons

Macintosh

Constable

et al. 2017

Global Change Biology

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We quantified net changes to the area and quality of native vegetation after the introduction of biodiversity offsetting in New South Wales, Australia-a policy intended to "prevent broad-scale clearing of native vegetation unless it improves or maintains environmental values." Over 10 years, a total of 21,928 ha of native vegetation was approved for clearing under this policy and 83,459 ha was established as biodiversity offsets. We estimated that no net loss in the area of native vegetation under this policy will not occur for 146 years. This is because 82% of the total area offset was obtained by averting losses to existing native vegetation and the rate that these averted losses accrue was over-estimated in the policy. There were predicted net gains in 10 of the 14 attributes used to assess the quality of habitat. An overall net gain in the quality of habitat was assessed under this policy by substituting habitat attributes that are difficult to restore (e.g. mature trees) with habitat attributes for which restoration is relatively easy (e.g. tree seedlings). Long-term rates of annual deforestation did not significantly change across the study area after biodiversity offsetting was introduced. Overall, the policy examined here provides no net loss of biodiversity: (i) many generations into the future, which is not consistent with intergenerational equity; and (ii) by substituting different habitat attributes, so gains are not equivalent to losses. We recommend a number of changes to biodiversity offsetting policy to overcome these issues.

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Assessing the Biodiversity Value of Stands and Patches in a Landscape Context

Cited by 6 publications

References 29 publications

Australia’s Stock Route Network: 2. Representation of fertile landscapes

Australia’s Stock Route Network: 2. Representation of fertile landscapes

Tree hollow decline in new forest reserves with a long history of logging

Outcomes from 10 years of biodiversity offsetting

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