Publications

Ramp, D, Ben-Ami, D, Boom, K & Croft, DB 2013, 'Compassionate conservation: a paradigm shift for wildlife management in Australasia' in Marc Bekoff (ed), Ignoring Nature No More: the case for compassionate conservation, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp. 295-315.
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Humans directly and indirectly impact on the lives of wild animals, primarily by altering landscapes through the removal of habitat for human dwelling or resource production (e.g. agriculture, mining, forestry) (Mathews 2010), but also through changes to the quality of remaining landscapes (e.g. roads, chemical and noise pollution, disease, stress) (Fraser and MacRae 2011). The lives of wild animals are further impacted in the management of remaining natural habitat and human-occupied land (e.g. production landscapes, urban remnants) where wild animals still reside. Wildlife management stems from the need to control species that impinge on human lives and/or livelihood (i.e. where species are defined as pests) or where some form of ecological dysfunction results in what is perceived as an imbalance that requires intervention (i.e. for some higher conservation objective). The subjective and anthropocentric nature of wildlife management, particularly where it relates to the reduction of pest or `overabundant species, was recognized by Graeme Caughley (1981). As the human population expands and demands more land and resources, the separation of clear conservation goals from the need to protect human livelihoods is likely to prove increasingly difficult. Although the welfare concerns of wild animals have been treated as an unimportant consideration in the development of environmental law and policy, there is considerable benefit in joining animal welfare science and animal conservation science to assist in wildlife management policy. Indeed, under the banner of compassionate conservation, a new paradigm for wildlife management beckons, one where nature has a voice in environmental policy and is no longer ignored.

Ashcroft, MB, Gollan, JR & Ramp, D 2013, 'Creating vegetation density profiles for a diverse range of ecological habitats using terrestrial laser scanning', Methods in Ecology and Evolution, pp. n/a-n/a.
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Ben-Ami, D & Ramp, D 2013, 'Impact of roadside habitat on swamp wallaby movement and fitness', WILDLIFE RESEARCH, vol. 40, no. 6, pp. 512-522.
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Context Roads have numerous impacts on wildlife populations, such as forming barriers to movement and isolating them from resources. However, knowledge of how wildlife behave in road-impacted environments is limited. Aims Our aim was to assess the suitability of roadside habitat for the swamp wallaby (Wallabia bicolor). Methods We measured the home range, habitat use and body metrics of swamp wallabies at two roadside locations. The home ranges and fitness of the roadside wallabies were compared with the metrics of swamp wallabies within the adjacent reserve. Key results The roadside wallabies had a preference for canopy cover, but not for other habitat features. The roadside home ranges were stable and relatively small. The nocturnal ranges were considerably smaller and further from the road than were diurnal ranges. Only one wallaby crossed the road during the study, via an underpass. There was a significant positive linear correlation between pes length and bodyweight. Roadside wallabies were significantly heavier than were reserve wallabies. Conclusions Our study suggested that individual wallabies avoid the road, are habituated to the roadside environment and may even benefit from it. At the very least, roadside habitats are adequate for the swamp wallaby. Implications Fencing and road crossings are likely to be beneficial conservation-management measures for swamp wallabies in roadside reserves. © CSIRO 2013.

Bino, G, Ramp, D & Kingsford, RT 2013, 'Improving bioregional frameworks for conservation by including mammal distributions', AUSTRAL ECOLOGY, vol. 38, no. 4, pp. 393-404.
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Large identifiable landscape units, such as ecoregions, are used to prioritize global and continental conservation efforts, particularly where biodiversity knowledge is inadequate. Setting biodiversity representation targets using coarse large-scale biogeographic boundaries, can be inefficient and under-representative. Even when using fine-scale biodiversity data, representation deficiencies can occur through misalignment of target distributions with such prioritization frameworks. While this pattern has been recognized, quantitative approaches highlighting misalignments have been lacking, particularly for assemblages of mammal species. We tested the efficacy of Australia's bioregions as a spatial prioritization framework for representing mammal species, within protected areas, in New South Wales. We produced an approach based on mammal assemblages and assessed its performance in representing mammal distributions. Substantial spatial misalignment between New South Wales's bioregions and mammal assemblages was revealed, reflecting deficiencies in the representation of more than half of identified mammal assemblages. Using a systematic approach driven by fine-scale mammalian data, we compared the efficacy of these two frameworks in securing mammalian representation within protected areas. Of the 61 species, 38 were better represented by the mammalian framework, with remaining species only marginally better represented when guided by bioregions. Overall, the rate at which mammal species were incorporated into the protected area network was higher (5.1%±0.6sd) when guided by mammal assemblages. Guided by bioregions, systematic conservation planning of protected areas may be constrained in realizing its full potential in securing representation for all of Australia's biodiversity. Adapting the boundaries of prioritization frameworks by incorporating amassed information from a broad range of taxa should be of conservation significance. © 2012 The Authors. Aus...

Bino, G, Ramp, D & Kingsford, RT 2013, 'Niche evolution in Australian terrestrial mammals? Clarifying scale-dependencies in phylogenetic and functional drivers of co-occurrence', EVOLUTIONARY ECOLOGY, vol. 27, no. 6, pp. 1159-1173.
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Interactive forces between competition and habitat filtering drive many biogeographic patterns over evolutionary time scales. However, the responsiveness of assemblages to these two forces is highly influenced by spatial scale, forming complex patterns of niche separation. We explored these spatial dependencies by quantifying the influence of phylogeny and functional traits in shaping present day native terrestrial mammal assemblages at multiple scales, principally by identifying the spatial scales at which niche evolution operates. We modelled the distribution of 53 native terrestrial mammal species across New South Wales, Australia. Using predicted distributions, we estimated the range overlap between each pair of species at increasing grain sizes (~0.8, 5.1, 20, 81, 506, 2,025, 8,100 km2). We employed a decision tree to identify how interactions among functional traits and phylogenetic relatedness translated to levels of sympatry at increasing spatial scales. We found that Australian terrestrial mammals displayed phylogenetic over-dispersion that was inversely related to spatial scale, suggesting that ecological processes were more influential than biogeographic sympatry patterns in defining assemblages of species. While the contribution of phylogenetic relatedness to patterns of co-occurrence decreased as spatial scale increased, the reverse was true for habitat preferences. At the same time, functional traits also operated at different scales, as dietary preferences dominated at local spatial scales (<10 km2) while body mass has a stronger effect at larger spatial scales. Our findings show that ecological and evolutionary processes operate at different scales and that Australian terrestrial mammals diverged slower along their micro-scale niche compared to their macro-scale niche. By combining phylogenetic and niche methods through the modelling of species distributions, we assessed whether specific traits were related to a particular niche. More im...

Boom, K, Ben-Ami, D, Boronyak, LJ & Riley, S 2013, 'The role of inspections in the commercial kangaroo industry', International Journal of Rural Law and Policy, vol. 2013, no. Occasional, pp. 1-19.
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This article provides an assessment of the enforcement of the law governing commercial kangaroo killing, focusing particularly upon inspectorial practices. Australias kangaroo industry is the largest commercial kill of land-based wildlife in the world. Professional shooters hunt kangaroos in rural and remote locations at night. Due to the remote and decentralised nature of the killing, the industry presents unique challenges to law enforcement agencies that are responsible for the enforcement of animal welfare standards. This article focuses upon the role that inspections have in detecting offences within the commercial kangaroo industry. It provides a comparative analysis across the states, highlighting key differences in terms of inspectorial practices and the resulting outcomes. A common theme across all of the jurisdictions is that none of the agencies responsible for enforcement regularly conduct inspections of shooters, making it impossible to ensure that these parties are complying with the National Code of Practice for the Humane Shooting of Kangaroos and Wallabies. Recommendations for reform are offered, including stronger compliance policy, higher rates of inspection, increased resourcing and the introduction of alternative methods of inspection.

Gollan, JR, Ashcroft, MB & Ramp, D 2013, 'Fine-grained climate data alters the interpretation of a trait-based cline', ECOSPHERE, vol. 4, no. 12, pp. 154-163.
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Investigating responses to climate often rely on macroclimatic models. This is problematic because of the potential to miss or wrongly attribute relationships. Here we compare the explanatory power of macroclimatic models and near-surface topoclimatic models. Body-size measurements of the ant species, Iridomyrmex purpureus, were collected from separate colonies spanning a range of climatic conditions in a large region (∼75,000 km2) of Australia. Regional regression was used to derive two topoclimatic variables, while ANUCLIM was used to derive macroclimatic variables. Relationships were tested using linear mixed-effect models with Akaike information criterion used as an indication of the relative goodness of fit for each model. Significant trends for both topoclimatic variables with body size were detected but only one of the three macroclimatic variables showed a significant trend. Although the significant macroclimatic variable was correlated with one of the topoclimatic variables, the topoclimatic variable had greater explanatory power. Few studies have considered climatic data accuracy or the effects of inaccurately quantified climatic data on ecological theory. This cannot continue to be ignored. As we show in this study, there is potential for important trends to go undetected and interpretation of results to be completely different. Copyright © 2013 Gollan et al.

Laffan, SW, Ramp, D & Roger, E 2013, 'Using endemism to assess representation of protected areas - the family Myrtaceae in the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area', JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY, vol. 40, no. 3, pp. 570-578.
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Aim: We assess how much of species' ranges are present within protected areas and how different land units within protected areas contribute to overall protection, both within their region and at continental scales. We do this using the plant family Myrtaceae in relation to the globally important Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area (GBMWHA) in New South Wales, Australia. Location: South-eastern Australia. Methods: Compiling data throughout the region and nationally, we considered two spatially based quantitative measures of endemism (relative range restriction): weighted endemism (WE) and corrected weighted endemism (CWE). In both measures, species are weighted by the proportion of their ranges found within the analysis window, with the ranges calculated as the total number of cells in which they occur (10 km × 10 km in this research). We also derived a novel expectation for the contribution of each species to the endemism scores at each taxonomic level based on the additive properties of the metrics and their relationship to species richness. We used this expectation to assess the proportional contribution of each genus to the endemism scores. Results: The degree to which Myrtaceae species within the GBMWHA are endemic to the GBMWHA area is 16%, meaning that an average of 16% of the ranges of species found in the GBMWHA are restricted to that area. The figure for those species with ranges less than or equal to the median (80 cells) is 33%. The genus Eucalyptus contributes the most to the endemism scores obtained, but no more than would be expected given its number of species. The genus Leptospermum is 3.7% less restricted to the GBMWHA than would be expected, while the genus Melaleuca is 5% more restricted than expected. Main conclusions: Centres of high endemism within the GBMWHA and surrounds were identified. This research presents a template for quantifying endemism for regions at local to global scales. Spatially-based quantitative measures ...

Letten, AD, Ashcroft, MB, Keith, DA, Gollan, JR & Ramp, D 2013, 'The importance of temporal climate variability for spatial patterns in plant diversity', ECOGRAPHY, vol. 36, no. 12, pp. 1341-1349.
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Spatial variation in absolute climatic conditions (means, maxima or minima) is widely acknowledged to play a fundamental role in controlling species diversity patterns. In contrast, while evidence is accumulating that variability around mean climatic conditions may also influence species coexistence and persistence, the importance of spatial variation in temporal climatic variability for species diversity is still largely unknown. We used a unique dataset capturing fine-scale spatial heterogeneity in temperature variability across 2490 plots in southeast Australia to examine the comparative strength of absolute temperature and temperature variability in explaining spatial variation in plant diversity. Across all plots combined and in three of five forest types, temperature variability emerged as the better predictor of diversity. In all but one forest type, diversity also exhibited either a significant unimodal or positive linear correlation with temperature variability. This relationship is consistent with theory that predicts diversity will initially increase along a climate variability gradient due to temporal niche partitioning, but at an intermediary point, may decline as the risk of stochastic extinction exceeds competitive stabilization. These findings provide critical empirical evidence of a linkage between spatial variation in temporal climate variability and plant species diversity, and in light of changing climate variability regimes, highlight the need for ecologists to expand their purview beyond absolutes and averages. © 2013 The Authors.

Mirowski, P, Walker, JR & Abboud, A 2013, 'Beyond denial: Neoliberalism, climate change and the left', Overland, no. 210, pp. 80-86.
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We live in a winter of disconnect. As the permafrost melts and global warming accelerates, bringing us to the cusp of catastrophic environmental changes, governments and corporations continue their campaign of denial. Many of us are caught up in the public theatre of climate policy, confounded that something so transparently illogical as outright science denial has been so effective. Why has the Left, which has always regarded itself as having science on its side, been so paralysed by climate policy? Geoengineering is a portmanteau term covering a range of intentional large-scale manipulations of the Earths climate.. Like most neoliberal prescriptions, the most important aspect of this tortured marriage of science and corporate commodification is that it doesnt work. Geoengineering presumes corporations can take unilateral actions violating international treaties and not have to own the consequences. It doesnt resolve the root problem increasing CO2 concentrations and it will not stop ocean acidification, itself so dire that some scientists have called for a suite of novel `ocean engineering techniques to prevent the collapse of coral reefs.

Ramp, D 2013, 'Bringing Compassion to the Ethical Dilemma in Killing Kangaroos for Conservation', JOURNAL OF BIOETHICAL INQUIRY, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 267-272.
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Ethical debate on the killing of kangaroos has polarised conservation and animal welfare science, yet at the heart of these scientific disciplines is the unifying aim of reducing harm to non-human animals. This aim provides the foundation for common ground, culminating in the development of compassionate conservation principles that seek to provide mechanisms for achieving both conservation and welfare goals. However, environmental decision-making is not devoid of human interests, and conservation strategies are commonly employed that suit entrenched positions and commercial gain, rather than valuing the needs of the non-human animals in need of protection. The case study on the wild kangaroo harvest presents just such a dilemma, whereby a conservation strategy is put forward that can only be rationalised by ignoring difficulties in the potential for realising conservation benefits and the considerable welfare cost to kangaroos. Rather than an open debate on the ethics of killing game over livestock, in this response I argue that efforts to bring transparency and objectivity to the public debate have to date been obfuscated by those seeking to maintain entrenched interests. Only by putting aside these interests will debate about the exploitation of wildlife result in humane, compassionate, and substantive conservation benefits.

Riley, S 2013, 'Environmental justice in NSW: Access for all or a closed club?', Alternative Law Journal, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 68-68.
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Opinion piece

WALKER, J 2013, 'Worlds to endure: weathering disorder from Arnhem Land to Chicago', Global Networks, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 391-409.
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AbstractIn this article I consider the cosmopolitical enfolding of Western and indigenous ontologies of order and disorder implicit in the production of a ‘carbon offset’ by the West Arnhem Land Fire Abatement (WALFA) project. The resumption in Arnhem Land of broad‐scale land management by indigenous fire ecologists and its reframing as ‘carbon farming’ is contextualized within an historical analysis of the distinctions made between ‘magical thinking’ and ‘rational’ notions of agency, causality and cosmic order. I move from the account of Australian totemism in classical anthropology, through cold war climatology, to the theories of rational expectations that support contemporary carbon trading. Examining the entangling of Aboriginal and late‐modern pyrotechnical orders, I contrast ubietous (place‐oriented) ontologies of land, law and cosmic order with their Western counterparts in sovereignty, land law and finance theory. Arguing that the elder Australians possessed a philosophically coherent political economy grounded in detailed earth sciences and topological networks of economic practices, I reverse the anthropological mirror back upon the economic doctrines of the neoliberal era, which advocate the reimposition of order on the wild climate by means of a comprehensive financialization.

Warton, DI, Renner, IW & Ramp, D 2013, 'Model-Based Control of Observer Bias for the Analysis of Presence-Only Data in Ecology', PLOS ONE, vol. 8, no. 11, pp. 1-9.
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Presence-only data, where information is available concerning species presence but not species absence, are subject to bias due to observers being more likely to visit and record sightings at some locations than others (hereafter 'observer bias'). In this paper, we describe and evaluate a model-based approach to accounting for observer bias directly - by modelling presence locations as a function of known observer bias variables (such as accessibility variables) in addition to environmental variables, then conditioning on a common level of bias to make predictions of species occurrence free of such observer bias. We implement this idea using point process models with a LASSO penalty, a new presence-only method related to maximum entropy modelling, that implicitly addresses the 'pseudo-absence problem' of where to locate pseudo-absences (and how many). The proposed method of bias-correction is evaluated using systematically collected presence/absence data for 62 plant species endemic to the Blue Mountains near Sydney, Australia. It is shown that modelling and controlling for observer bias significantly improves the accuracy of predictions made using presence-only data, and usually improves predictions as compared to pseudo-absence or 'inventory' methods of bias correction based on absences from non-target species. Future research will consider the potential for improving the proposed bias-correction approach by estimating the observer bias simultaneously across multiple species. © 2013 Warton et al.

Riley, S 1970, 'Rio 20: What Difference Has Two Decades Made to State Practice in the Regulation of Invasive Alien Species?', William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review, IUCN, Baltimore, USA.
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Invasive alien species (IAS) are alien species that threaten ecosystems, habitats or other species. Article 8(h) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) requires the contracting parties to âprevent the introduction of or control or eradicate those alien species that threaten ecosystems, habitats or speciesâ. Members are also required to lodge national reports with the secretariat of the CBD, specifying how they are fulfilling their international obligations with respect to IAS. While the threats to biodiversity posed by IAS have been extensively documented, to date no study has examined Statesâ perceptions of their own IAS regimes. This paper collects and analyses information available from the CBD national reports to consider what members themselves have identified as their regulatory strengths and weaknesses. Against this backdrop, the paper evaluates the effectiveness of international environmental law in guiding domestic regimes, highlighting that where international law is imprecise/fragmented and/or contradictory, it can hinder the development of successful State practice.