Brandis, KJ, Bino, G, Spencer, JA, Ramp, D & Kingsford, RT 2018, 'Decline in colonial waterbird breeding highlights loss of Ramsar wetland function', Biological Conservation, vol. 225, pp. 22-30.
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© 2018 Elsevier Ltd Water resource development on rivers significantly affects life cycles of species reliant on wetlands. However, assessing ecological impacts is often difficult because they are realised over long-time periods and large spatial scales, particularly on highly variable dryland rivers. Thirty percent of all Ramsar wetlands are in drylands. We examined the effects of diversions of water upstream on colonial waterbird breeding at the Narran Lakes, supplied by a highly variable dryland river. Narran Lakes is an important Ramsar-listed wetland in Australia for its provision of habitat for wetland fauna during key life history stages, including colonially breeding waterbirds. We use historical ibis breeding data over five decades (1970–2016) to determine the flow requirements for colonial waterbird breeding and modelled the impacts of water resource management options (current and restoration) on breeding. We identified thresholds (>154,000 ML in 90 days with a secondary threshold of >20,000 ML in the first 10 days) of river flow volume necessary to stimulate breeding. Water resource development reduced the frequency of large flows resulting in ibis breeding by 170%, from 1 in 4.2 years to 1 in 11.4 years. Restoration efforts by government to recover water for the environment was predicted to improve colonial waterbird breeding frequency associated with large flow events to 1 in 6.71 years, representing a 59% reduction from pre-development periods. Our framework has global application as a method for identifying long-term impacts of water resource development on key Ramsar wetland areas. This is important, as few mechanisms exist for assessing impacts and identifying restoration options on the listed criteria for many Ramsar wetlands.
Brandis, KJ, Meagher, PJB, Tong, LJ, Shaw, M, Mazumder, D, Gadd, P & Ramp, D 2018, 'Novel detection of provenance in the illegal wildlife trade using elemental data', Scientific Reports, vol. 8, no. 1.
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AbstractDespite being the fourth largest criminal market in the world, no forensic tools have been sufficiently developed to accurately determine the legal status of seized animals and their parts. Although legal trading is permissible for farmed or captive-bred animals, many animals are illegally removed from the wild and laundered by masquerading them as captive bred. Here we present high-resolution x-ray fluorescence (XRF) as a non-invasive and cost-effective tool for forensic classification. We tested the efficacy of this technique by using machine learning on a training set of zoo specimens and wild-caught individuals of short-beaked echidnas (Tachyglossus aculeatus), a small insectivorous monotreme in Australia. XRF outperformed stable isotope analysis (δ13C, δ15N), reducing overall classification error below 4%. XRF has the added advantage of providing samples every 200 μm on a single quill, enabling 100% classification accuracy by taking the consensus of votes per quill. This accurate and cost-effective forensic technique could provide a much needed in situ solution for combating the illegal laundering of wildlife, and conversely, assist with certification of legally bred animals.
Horgan, FG, Bernal, CC, Letana, S, Naredo, AI, Ramp, D & Almazan, MLP 2018, 'Reduced efficiency of tropical flies (Diptera) in the decomposition of snail cadavers following molluscicide poisoning', Applied Soil Ecology, vol. 129, pp. 61-71.
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© 2018 Elsevier B.V. Decomposition is a key ecosystem service that reduces non-living organic matter, returning nutrients to the soil. In this study, we examine the responses by fly (Diptera) communities to molluscicide-poisoned apple snail (Pomacea canaliculata) cadavers in a tropical rice production landscape. Fewer molluscicide-poisoned cadavers were colonised by decomposer flies (niclosamide = 61% of cadavers with fly larvae; methaldehyde = 53%; Camellia sp. seed extract [saponin] = 50%) compared to control (freezer-killed) cadavers (81%). Metaldehyde, niclosamide and saponin reduced the abundance (average 51% reduction), biomass-density (average 63% reduction) and species richness (average 38% reduction) of flies emerging from the snail cadavers. The decay of control cadavers was generally faster (57% more tissue removed over 3 days) than molluscicide-treated cadavers. We suggest that poisoned carcasses potentially affect ecological communities across a range of trophic levels.
Horgan, FG, Kudavidanage, EP, Weragodaarachchi, A & Ramp, D 2018, 'Traditional ‘maavee’ rice production in Sri Lanka: environmental, economic and social pressures revealed through stakeholder interviews', Paddy and Water Environment, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 225-241.
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© 2017, The International Society of Paddy and Water Environment Engineering and Springer Japan KK. The Nilwala Ganga Basin of Sri Lanka includes important natural wetlands that are habitat for vulnerable animal and plant species. Flood protection and intensive rice production in the Basin have resulted in degraded acid soils and declining rice yields. However, traditional ‘maavee’ rice production outside the flood protection scheme has continued to generate a high-value rice product. This study reports on interviews conducted with farmers and other stakeholders to document the production practices and the potential environmental and economic benefits associated with maavee rice paddies. The maavee production system has prevailed for at least several decades. Farmers apply no chemicals to their paddies, relying instead on alluvial deposits as a source of nutrients, and on the natural pest and disease resistance of their traditional varieties. The maavee rice product can attain three times the selling price of rice from conventional farms making it more economically viable than conventional rice production. However, much of maavee production is for home consumption and the system is threatened by increasing labour costs, an ageing farming population and pressures to increase rice yields. Non-invasive production practices and the proximity of maavee paddies to regenerating wetlands in the Kirala Kele Sanctuary suggest that traditional paddies may constitute an important habitat for vulnerable wildlife; however, maavee farmers also perceive wetland birds as potentially damaging to rice. Based on a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis, we make recommendations for future research needs and potential management actions to safeguard the environmental and economic sustainability of the maavee system.
Lundgren, EJ, Ramp, D, Ripple, WJ & Wallach, AD 2018, 'Introduced megafauna are rewilding the Anthropocene', Ecography, vol. 41, no. 6, pp. 857-866.
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Large herbivorous mammals, already greatly reduced by the late‐Pleistocene extinctions, continue to be threatened with decline. However, many herbivorous megafauna (body mass ≥ 100 kg) have populations outside their native ranges. We evaluate the distribution, diversity and threat status of introduced terrestrial megafauna worldwide and their contribution towards lost Pleistocene species richness. Of 76 megafauna species, 22 (∼29%) have introduced populations; of these eleven (50%) are threatened or extinct in their native ranges. Introductions have increased megafauna species richness by between 10% (Africa) and 100% (Australia). Furthermore, between 15% (Asia) and 67% (Australia) of extinct species richness, from the late Pleistocene to today, have been numerically replaced by introduced megafauna. Much remains unknown about the ecology of introduced herbivores, but evidence suggests that these populations are rewilding modern ecosystems. We propose that attitudes towards introduced megafauna should allow for broader research and management goals.
Nolan, RH, Drew, DM, O'Grady, AP, Pinkard, EA, Paul, K, Roxburgh, SH, Mitchell, PJ, Bruce, J, Battaglia, M & Ramp, D 2018, 'Safeguarding reforestation efforts against changes in climate and disturbance regimes', Forest Ecology and Management, vol. 424, pp. 458-467.
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© 2018 Elsevier B.V. Reforestation schemes, which encompass environmental plantings and natural regeneration of vegetation on cleared land, are increasingly being established for the purposes of mitigating anthropogenic carbon emissions. However, these schemes are themselves at risk from climate change and associated changes in disturbance regimes. Simultaneously, there is increasing pressure on reforested areas to achieve multiple co-benefits, e.g. maximizing carbon storage, ameliorating environmental degradation and promoting biodiversity objectives, all while not adversely affecting community values, such as agricultural production. Here, we review the myriad of biophysical risks posed by climate change to reforested areas while documenting management actions and policies that can enhance both the resistance and resilience of reforested areas to such risks. While it is difficult to buffer vegetation against the direct effects of climate change, such as elevated temperature and changed precipitation patterns, it is possible to manage some of the indirect effects, such as wildfire, drought and insect defoliation. Methods for reducing the vulnerability of reforested areas range from site-specific management actions, particularly around design and location, through to regional and national scale initiatives, such as vulnerability assessments and decision support tools. The complexity of objectives and risks posed to reforested areas means that it is vitally important to evaluate outcomes from across the current estate of reforested areas. However, there is currently no national protocol in place in Australia to track, monitor or evaluate the outcomes of reforestation. Thus, we recommend the establishment of a national framework for analyzing and supporting the growing range of reforestation activities.
Nolan, RH, Sinclair, J, Eldridge, DJ & Ramp, D 2018, 'Biophysical risks to carbon sequestration and storage in Australian drylands', Journal of Environmental Management, vol. 208, pp. 102-111.
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© 2017 Elsevier Ltd Carbon abatement schemes that reduce land clearing and promote revegetation are now an important component of climate change policy globally. There is considerable potential for these schemes to operate in drylands which are spatially extensive. However, projects in these environments risk failure through unplanned release of stored carbon to the atmosphere. In this review, we identify factors that may adversely affect the success of vegetation-based carbon abatement projects in dryland ecosystems, evaluate their likelihood of occurrence, and estimate the potential consequences for carbon storage and sequestration. We also evaluate management strategies to reduce risks posed to these carbon abatement projects. Identified risks were primarily disturbances, including unplanned fire, drought, and grazing. Revegetation projects also risk recruitment failure, thereby failing to reach projected rates of sequestration. Many of these risks are dependent on rainfall, which is highly variable in drylands and susceptible to further variation under climate change. Resprouting vegetation is likely to be less vulnerable to disturbance and have faster recovery rates upon release from disturbance. We conclude that there is a strong impetus for identifying management strategies and risk reduction mechanisms for carbon abatement projects. Risk mitigation would be enhanced by effective co-ordination of mitigation strategies at scales larger than individual abatement project boundaries, and by implementing risk assessment throughout project planning and implementation stages. Reduction of risk is vital for maximising carbon sequestration of individual projects and for reducing barriers to the establishment of new projects entering the market.
Vu, Q, Ramal, AF, Villegas, JM, Jamoralin, A, Bernal, CC, Pasang, JM, Almazan, MLP, Ramp, D, Settele, J & Horgan, FG 2018, 'Enhancing the parasitism of insect herbivores through diversification of habitat in Philippine rice fields', Paddy and Water Environment, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 379-390.
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© 2018, The International Society of Paddy and Water Environment Engineering and Springer Japan KK, part of Springer Nature. The diversification of farming landscapes is proposed as a method to increase farm productivity while at the same time enhancing pest regulation services provided by the natural enemies of insect herbivores. In this study, areas of diversified and conventional rice fields (with 2–14 fields per area = 0.42–1.31 ha) were established at three sites in the Philippines. The diversified areas had a series (> 40 per hectare) of small (< 2 m2) vegetable patches interspersed along rice bunds (levees). The abundance of planthopper and lepidopteran pests in these areas was monitored during two consecutive cropping seasons using sweep nets with rice yield and damage recorded at the end of each season. Mortality of brown planthopper (Nilaparvata lugens) and yellow stemborer (Scirpophaga incertulas) eggs was monitored through field exposures of infested rice plants. There were no differences in rice yields between the conventional and diversified areas; however, a range of vegetables were produced as a supplementary product from the diversified rice areas. Diversification had no effect on planthopper or leaffolder (Cnaphalocrocis medinalis) abundance at the sites. Adult stemborers (Scirpophaga incertulas) were more abundant in the diversified areas; however, stemborer damage was similar between area treatments in both years. Vegetable patches did not increase parasitism of planthopper eggs; however, egg parasitism was highest close to the vegetable patches, suggesting that egg parasitoids interacted with the patches. Mortality of stemborer eggs was higher in the diversified areas than in the conventional areas. Parasitism due to Trichogramma japonicum and other egg parasitoids was also higher in the diversified areas. These results indicate the potential for vegetable patches to enhance the biological control services provided by egg parasitoid...
Walker, J & Johnson, M 2018, 'On mineral sovereignty: Towards a political theory of geological power', Energy Research & Social Science, vol. 45, pp. 56-66.
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© 2018 Elsevier Ltd The Anthropocene thesis invokes the ‘enormous geological power’ of industrialism: driven by hydrocarbon combustion, manifest in planetary heating. Yet political theory has proceeded as if the organisation of geological power were incidental to history. Geological agency, we submit, is precisely what mining industries are organised to achieve, materially and politically. We propose mineral sovereignty as a term of method to analyse geological power in its legible, institutional and intentional forms. We deploy it to excavate an entwined genealogy of state and corporation: one evident in the constitutional (or extra-parliamentary) technologies of sovereignty and property that order the appropriation and distribution of mineral wealth. Through three provocations, we 'stratify’ the concept of sovereignty: in the ‘royal metals’ of early modern states; in the rise of neoliberalism as a re-privatisation of mineral-energy infrastructures against the claims of social democracy; and in anticipatory extensions of mineral sovereignty to outer space. Mineral sovereignty discloses methodological problems for energy and climate policy. Pre-analytical distinctions between public law and the private power of fossil capital imply a hierarchy and separation that cannot be presumed, but must be achieved. We must ‘leave it in the ground’: this requires the re-assertion of democratic control over the mineral estate.
Wallach, AD, Bekoff, M, Batavia, C, Nelson, MP & Ramp, D 2018, 'Summoning compassion to address the challenges of conservation', Conservation Biology, vol. 32, no. 6, pp. 1255-1265.
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AbstractConservation practice is informed by science, but it also reflects ethical beliefs about how humanity ought to value and interact with Earth's biota. As human activities continue to drive extinctions and diminish critical life‐sustaining ecosystem processes, achieving conservation goals becomes increasingly urgent. However, the determination to react decisively can drive conservationists to handle complex challenges without due deliberation, particularly when wildlife individuals are sacrificed for the so‐called greater good of wildlife collectives (populations, species, ecosystems). With growing recognition of the widespread sentience and sapience of many nonhuman animals, standard conservation practices that categorically prioritize collectives without due consideration for the well‐being of individuals are ethically untenable. Here we highlight 3 overarching ethical orientations characterizing current and historical practices in conservation that suppress compassion: instrumentalism, collectivism, and nativism. We examine how establishing a commitment to compassion could reorient conservation in more ethically expansive directions that incorporate recognition of the intrinsic value of wildlife, the sentience of nonhuman animals, and the values of novel ecosystems, introduced species, and their members. A compassionate conservation approach allays practices that intentionally and unnecessarily harm wildlife individuals, while aligning with critical conservation goals. Although the urgency of achieving effective outcomes for solving major conservation problems may enhance the appeal of quick and harsh measures, the costs are too high. Continuing to justify moral indifference when causing the suffering of wildlife individuals, particularly those who possess sophisticated capacities for emotion, consciousness, and sociality, risks estranging conservation practice from prevailing, and appropriate, social values. As...
Wallach, AD, Lundgren, EJ, Ripple, WJ & Ramp, D 2018, 'Invisible megafauna', Conservation Biology, vol. 32, no. 4, pp. 962-965.
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Article impact statement: Incorporating introduced populations into the moral universe of conservation shows the Anthropocene is astoundingly rich in megafauna.
Zu, Q, Mi, C, Liu, DL, He, L, Kuang, Z, Fang, Q, Ramp, D, Li, L, Wang, B, Chen, Y, Li, J, Jin, N & Yu, Q 2018, 'Spatio-temporal distribution of sugarcane potential yields and yield gaps in Southern China', European Journal of Agronomy, vol. 92, pp. 72-83.
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© 2017 Elsevier B.V. The sustainability and production capacity of sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum (L.)) in Southern China is essential to ensure sugar security in China, yet potential crop yield and yield gap (the difference between actual and potential crop yield) of sugarcane is poorly known. In this study, the sugarcane growth and development model, QCANE, was validated for sugarcane phenology, stalk height, and yields, then used to simulate potential yields and yield gaps of sugarcane in Southern Chine (SC) between 1970 and 2014. Simulated potential yields decreased as longitude and latitude increased, driven by spatial variation in solar radiation and maximum temperature. The gap between potential and water-limited yields was noticeably larger in Yunnan province because of the prevalence of seasonal water deficiency. However, nitrogen stress was the dominant driver of the yield gap, given the abundant precipitation in SC. Across SC, large variation in the yield gap between water-and-nitrogen limited yields and on-farm yields was observed for different counties, a difference that was usually larger than the local yield gap. Averaged across SC, on-farm sugarcane yields were only 27% of potential yields, 31% of water-limited yields, and 52% of nitrogen-limited yields. This result highlights considerable potential to significantly increase sugarcane production by improving varieties, government support, effective management measures such as fertilization, irrigation, and mechanization.