greenfirescience

Expanding protected areas isn't saving nature

Wed, 27 Jun 2018 23:42:51 +0000

Scientific American interviews James Watson and Martine Maron about their latest Nature paper 'Bold nature retention targets are essential for the global environment agenda' and the need for retention targets for nature, in addition to protected areas. Read more here.

Intense human pressure threatens one-third of protected areas

Wed, 27 Jun 2018 23:37:09 +0000

Justine Hausheer of Cool Green Science interviews James Watson on the Science paper, 'One-third of global protected land is under intense human pressure.' Read more here.

Nick Leseberg wins the Jiro Kikkawa prize in Ecology

Wed, 27 Jun 2018 23:30:49 +0000

Nick Leseberg has been awarded the Jiro Kikkawa prize in Ecology for the highest marks in Biol 2010, Ecology. The prize was established in 2012 to honour the contribution of Professor Jiro Kikkawa to the fields of Population Ecology, Ethology, Community Energetics, Animal Behaviour and Ornithology.

Selling the Protected Area Myth

Sun, 17 Jun 2018 22:25:51 +0000

The New York Times talks about Kendall Jones and co-authors' Science paper, 'One third of global protected land is under intense human pressure'. Read the full article here.

NEWS FLASH: World's protected areas being rapidly destroyed by humanity

Fri, 18 May 2018 00:52:27 +0000

French and Spanish versions available below:

Les espaces naturels protégés dans le monde sévèrement détériorés par l'homme

Las áreas protegidas del mundo están siendo rápidamente destruidas por la humanidad

A University of Queensland-led international study published today in the prestigious journal Science shows that one-third of the land within Earth’s terrestrial protected area estate has been severely modified by human activities.

Lead author Kendall Jones said that the degree of human activity within protected areas compromises their ability to conserve biodiversity and stop extinctions.

“Over 90% of protected areas, such as national parks and nature reserves, showed some signs of damaging human activities” he said.

Mr Jones said the scale of the damage was striking.

“While some human activities inside protected areas are expected, we found major road infrastructure such as highways, industrial agriculture, and even entire cities occurring inside the boundaries of places that are supposed to be set aside for nature conservation”.

“Six million square kilometres of land within the protected area estate - an area two-thirds the size of China - is in a state that is unlikely to conserve endangered biodiversity or retain the necessary ecological functions to ensure long-term persistence”

The authors used the updated global Human Footprint to analyse human activity across almost 50,000 protected areas worldwide.

The most impacted protected areas were found in Asia, Europe and Africa – places with massive human populations. They also found that large, strict protected areas are under far less human pressure than smaller protected areas which permit wider ranges of human activities.

Senior author, Professor James Watson of UQ and the Wildlife Conservation Society, said the study is a stunning reality check when it comes to progress made by international community in averting the biodiversity crisis.

“This study clearly shows we are overestimating the space available for nature inside protected areas. Governments are claiming these places are protected for the sake of nature when in reality they aren’t. It is a major reason why biodiversity is still in catastrophic decline, despite more and more land being protected” he said.

Despite the negative findings, Professor Watson emphasized the critical importance of protected areas for safeguarding imperiled biodiversity.

“We know protected areas work – when well-funded, well-managed and well placed, they are extremely effective in halting the threats that cause biodiversity loss and ensure species return from the brink of extinction. There are also many protected areas that are still in good condition and protect the last strongholds of endangered species worldwide. The challenge is to improve the management of those protected areas that are most valuable for nature conservation to ensure they safeguard it”.

The authors said that by highlighting protected areas in danger, the study can stimulate action to save them.

“We also need all nations to be honest when accounting for how much land they have set aside for biodiversity conservation. It is time for the global conservation community to stand up and hold governments to account so that they take the conservation of their protected areas seriously” Kendall Jones said.

The study by an international team from the University of Queensland, Wildlife Conservation Society and University of Northern British Columbia, appears in the journal Science

Media: Kendall Jones (Brisbane, Australia), email kendall.jones@uqconnect.edu.au, +61401920530, or Professor James Watson (Brisbane, Australia), email jwatson@wcs.org, +61409185592

Les espaces naturels protégés dans le monde sévèrement détériorés par l'homme

Des travaux de recherche internationaux, publiés aujourd’hui dans le très prestigieux journal scientifique “Science” et menés par des chercheurs de l’Université du Queensland en Australie, montre qu’un tiers des espaces naturels protégés dans le monde ont été très gravement dégradés par l’homme.

L’auteur principal de l’étude Kendall Jones, a déclaré que le degré d’activités humaines au sein d’aires naturelles protégées compromet leurs capacités à conserver la biodiversité et à empêcher l’extinction des espèces.

« Plus de 90% des espaces naturels protégés, tels que les parcs nationaux et les réserves naturelles, montrent des signes de dommage liés aux activités humaines ».

Mr Jones a déclaré que l'ampleur des dégâts était frappante.

« Bien qu’un certain degré d’activités humaines au sein d’espaces naturels protégés soit attendu, nous avons découvert des infrastructures majeures telles que des autoroutes, des installations agricoles à échelle industrielle, et même des villes entières installées au sein de ces zones censées être réservés à la conservation de la nature. »

« Six millions de km2 au sein d’espaces naturels protégées – soit les deux tiers de la superficie de la Chine – se trouvent dans des conditions alarmantes qui ne permettent ni de préserver la biodiversité et les espèces en voies d’extinction, ni d’assurer la pérennité des écosystèmes et de leurs fonctions écologiques. »

Pour cette étude, les chercheurs ont analysé le degré de pression humaine dans près de 50 000 espaces naturels protégés dans le monde.

Les aires naturelles protégées les plus dégradées ont été trouvées en Asie, en Europe et en Afrique – les territoires aux populations humaines les plus denses. Il a également été découvert que de larges aires naturelles strictement protégées se trouvent sous moins de pression humaine que des aires naturelles de plus petites tailles.

James Watson, Professeur à l’Université du Queensland et chercheur pour l’ONG international ‘Wildlife Conservation Society’, a déclaré que cette étude est un étourdissant retour à la réalité quant aux progrès réalisés par la communauté internationale pour éviter l’extinction des espèces.

« Cette étude montre clairement que nous surestimons l'espace disponible pour la nature à l'intérieur des zones protégées. Les gouvernements prétendent que ces endroits sont protégés pour la nature alors qu'en réalité ils ne le sont pas. C'est une raison majeure pour laquelle la biodiversité est toujours en déclin catastrophique, malgré la protection de plus en plus de territoires. »

Malgré ces découvertes négatives, Professeur Watson souligne l'importance irréfutable des aires naturelles protégées pour la sauvegarde de la biodiversité.

« Nous savons que les aires protégées marchent - lorsqu'elles sont bien financées, bien gérées et bien situées, elles sont extrêmement efficaces pour stopper les menaces qui pèsent sur la biodiversité et pour assurer le retour des espèces au bord de l'extinction. Il existe également de nombreuses aires protégées qui sont encore en bon état et protègent les derniers bastions d'espèces menacées dans le monde. Le défi consiste à améliorer la gestion des zones protégées les plus précieuses pour la conservation de la nature afin de garantir leur protection ».

Les auteurs de cette étude espèrent qu'en mettant en évidence les zones protégées en danger, l'étude peut encourager la mise en place d’actions de protection de ces zones.

« Nous avons également besoin que toutes les nations responsables d’espaces naturels protégés soient honnêtes en comptabilisant combien de territoires sont mis de côté pour la conservation de la biodiversité. Il est temps que la communauté mondiale oblige les gouvernements à rendre des comptes afin qu'ils prennent au sérieux la conservation de leurs aires protégées », a déclaré Kendall Jones.

Cette étude internationale de l'Université du Queensland, de la Wildlife Conservation Society et de l'Université du Nord de la Colombie-Britannique est publiée dans la revue ‘Science’.

Las áreas protegidas del mundo están siendo rápidamente destruidas por la humanidad

Un estudio internacional dirigido por la Universidad de Queensland y publicado hoy en la prestigiosa revista Science muestra que un tercio del área dentro de las áreas terrestres protegidas ha sido severamente modificada por actividades humanas.

El autor principal Kendall Jones dijo que el grado de actividad humana dentro de las áreas protegidas compromete su capacidad para conservar la biodiversidad y detener las extinciones.

"Más del 90% de las áreas protegidas, como parques nacionales y reservas naturales, mostraron alguna señal de actividad humana dañina", dijo.

El Sr. Jones dijo que la escala del daño fue sorprendente.

"Si bien se esperan algunas actividades humanas dentro de las áreas protegidas, encontramos importante infraestructura vial como autopistas, también agricultura industrial e incluso ciudades enteras que se ubican dentro de los límites de lugares que se supone están destinados a la conservación de la naturaleza".

"Seis millones de kilómetros cuadrados de tierra dentro del área protegida globalmente -un área dos tercios del tamaño de China- se encuentra en un estado que es improbable que conserve la biodiversidad en peligro o retenga las funciones ecológicas necesarias para asegurar su persistencia a largo plazo"

Los autores utilizaron la huella humana global actualizada, (The global Human Footprint; https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms12558) para analizar la actividad humana en casi 50,000 áreas protegidas de todo el mundo.

Las áreas protegidas más impactadas se encontraron en Asia, Europa y África, lugares con población humana masiva. También descubrieron que las áreas protegidas más estrictas y las más grandes se encuentran bajo mucha menos presión humana que las áreas protegidas más pequeñas y las que permiten rangos más amplios de actividades humanas.

El profesor James Watson de la universidad de Queensland y la Sociedad de la Conservación de la Vida Silvestre, WCS por sus siglas en inglés, es otro de los autores del artículo. Él dijo que el estudio es una impactante mirada de la realidad en lo que respecta al progreso realizado por la comunidad internacional para evitar la crisis de la biodiversidad.

De igual forma declaro que "Este estudio muestra claramente que estamos sobreestimando el espacio disponible para la naturaleza dentro de las áreas protegidas. Los gobiernos afirman que estos lugares están protegidos por el bien de la naturaleza cuando en realidad no lo están. Es una de las principales razones por las que la biodiversidad aún está en un declive catastrófico, a pesar de que cada vez se protegen más tierras".

A pesar de los resultados negativos, el Profesor Watson hizo hincapié en la gran importancia de las áreas protegidas para salvaguardar la biodiversidad en peligro.

"Sabemos que las áreas protegidas funcionan: cuando están bien financiadas, bien administradas y bien ubicadas, son extremadamente efectivas para detener las amenazas que causan la pérdida de biodiversidad y para garantizar que las especies regresen del borde de la extinción. También hay muchas áreas protegidas que todavía están en buenas condiciones y protegen los últimos refugios de especies en peligro de extinción en todo el mundo. El desafío es mejorar la gestión de las áreas protegidas más valiosas para la conservación de la naturaleza para garantizar su protección".

Los autores dijeron que al determinar las áreas protegidas en peligro, el estudio puede estimular las acciones para salvarlas.

"También necesitamos que todas las naciones sean honestas al contabilizar la cantidad de tierra que han reservado para la conservación de la biodiversidad. Es hora de que la comunidad conservacionista mundial se levante y haga que los gobiernos tomen en serio la conservación de sus áreas protegidas y rindan cuentas de la protección real dentro de las mismas ", dijo Kendall Jones.

El estudio de un equipo internacional de la Universidad de Queensland, y la Sociedad de la Conservación de la Vida Silvestre - WCS y la Universidad de Northern British Columbia, aparece en la revista Science

Major Report Paints Grim Picture of Biodiversity

Wed, 11 Apr 2018 01:34:00 +0000

James Watson talks to the Sierra Magazine about the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services report on Biodiversity: “I think, frankly, this is one of the few reports which is taking in all the global data, which is getting immense at this point. Even five years ago this amount of information was impossible to see and analyze,” he says. “The IPBES is telling the truth in the way IPCC is telling the truth. It frames the problem in a realistic way. We have never really known how much trouble biodiversity is in and this will allow us to make decisions around that.”

National nature submission

Tue, 10 Apr 2018 03:11:38 +0000

The Federal Government recently released a of "Australia's strategy for nature 2018-2030: Australia's biodiversity conservation strategy and action inventory". The Green Fire Science lab were disappointed with the draft actions, specifically with how superficial the actions were, how they were not framed as smart actions and how they only focused on public education. We need a broader suite of actions to save our threatened species and protect our environment. The lab have submitted a in response to the draft document.

How to find a night parrot

Nick Leseberg — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 02:46:23 +0000

For more than a century scientists were unable to pinpoint a location where the elusive Night Parrot could be found and studied. After the discovery of a population in western Queensland in 2013, the last 12-18 months has seen the discovery of birds at several more locations across the continent. As one of the organisations tasked with leading research into the species, Green Fire Science was asked to contribute to a recent in Australian Birdlife’s national magazine discussing these recent discoveries, and how research will contribute to conservation of this iconic species.

The World’s Wilderness: Going, Going and Soon Gone?

Thu, 05 Apr 2018 01:40:00 +0000

James Watson talks to Outside Magazine about wilderness: “Our calculation is that there will be no globally significant wilderness in 50 years time,” Watson told Outside recently. “There will be patches of green, but there will be nothing big, anymore.”

James Watson talks to ABC Radio about Endangered Species Recovery Plans

Mon, 05 Mar 2018 01:43:00 +0000

James Watson talks to Katherine Feeney on ABC radio about recovery plans for endangered and vulnerable species.

The Night Parrot - no other bird quickens the pulse quite like this one

Nick Leseberg — Thu, 01 Mar 2018 23:17:05 +0000

One of the benefits of working on an iconic and well-known species like the Night Parrot is that my research generates plenty of interest, not just from scientists but also the general public. This gives me plenty of opportunities to indulge in my favourite pass time – banging on about Night Parrots!

It also gives me the chance to hone my communication skills; species distribution models, habitat suitability indices and the critical weight range are all terms familiar to conservation scientists, but which make the average punter’s eyes glaze over. So, when I was recently asked by the Parrot Society of Australia to write a detailed article about my research for their member’s magazine, it was a challenge to explain the problem, the outcomes of my research and how they can be applied to conserve the Night Parrot, in a way that was engaging and informative for the non-scientist.

It was a good opportunity to break my research down to first principles. What do we know, where are the knowledge gaps, and what do we need to know to conserve this iconic species into the future? If you’re interested in the answers to those questions, and want to see some new photos of a bird that until 5 years ago had never been photographed, you can have a read .

Dr. Reside and Prof. Watson talk about climate change actions with Beyond Zero Emissions

Sun, 04 Feb 2018 23:42:27 +0000

April Reside and James Watsonrecently spoke with the Beyond Zero Radio Show.

Beyond Zerois a community of technology experts, scientists, researchers, communicators and concerned citizens who develop pathways to a zero-carbon Australia.

The Beyond Zero Radio Show is a one hour podcast focusing on climate solutions across society locally, regionally and around the globe and goes live every Monday at 5pm.

The show aims to provide up-to-date news about community climate solutions and events from around Australia, including interviews with scientists, community and business leaders and economists just to name a few.

April discussed by finding climate refuges for Australian threatened species. You can listen to April's interview here.

James discussed the need to think about human responses to climate change when we think about climate impacts on species. Listen to James' interview here.

American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting - New Orleans

Sarah Chapman — Wed, 24 Jan 2018 22:45:14 +0000

In December I attended the AGU Fall Meeting in New Orleans and presented my research on the impact of urban growth on temperature in a sub-tropical city.

We simulated Brisbane’s temperature with two scenarios of urban growth; Zero Vegetation and a Medium Density scenario. We found increases in temperatures in both scenarios, particularly during an extreme heat event when urban residents would already face increased heat stress risk. Considering the impacts on temperature of urban growth should be a priority in urban planning to reduce the risks of heat stress, which will only get worse as the climate warms. The full presentation is available .

As well as presenting, I got to listen to speakers from NASA about Jupiter’s aurora, the Cassini mission to Saturn and the possibility of life in the solar system, as well as talks on glaciers, climate change and public outreach.

The keynote presentations were a highlight, and it’s the first time I’ve heard a rap about climate change: ‘Make it Hot’ by Babba Brinkman. Journalist Dan Rather’s keynote, ‘A Return to Reason’, on the need to communicate science, and call for journalists to better communicate science so scientists could focus on the science, was compelling.

After the conference I had the chance to explore New Orleans’ beautiful French Quarter and try some amazing food. Overall, amazing conference!

GFS research profiled on Totally Wild

Sean Maxwell — Tue, 10 Oct 2017 03:35:24 +0000

Green Fire Science research recently featured on Totally Wild - a prominent Australian children's television series.

Totally Wild has the format of a news program, and covers stories on Australia's native flora and fauna, action sports, the environment, science, and technology. It is one of Australia's longest running children's programs, having been in production since 1992.

The show is broadcast across many countries, airing on Monday, Tuesday and Saturday mornings in Australia. I fondly remember my siblings and I trying to sneak in a segment of two before school started.

In the segment, I discussed some of the work I've been doing with April Reside and James Watson to help the Australian Conservation Foundation prioritise land protection and restoration efforts across Australia's Great Dividing Range.

James Watson discusses Half Earth on ABC

Tue, 03 Oct 2017 02:07:41 +0000

James Watson discuss Half Earth and space exploration on ABC News.

10 tips when starting out as a supervisor

April Reside — Mon, 25 Sep 2017 01:06:50 +0000

Supervising students is part of the academic role, but for Early Career Researchers (ECRs) starting out in supervision it can sometimes mean spending a lot of time without being particularly effective. The postdocs in CBCS/CEED at UQ asked the resident Chief Investigators to share their tips for student supervision, aka “What I wish I’d known when I started”. I’ve summarised the major points below, any misinterpretations are my own!

To start off - Why should you supervise students?

Because supervising students is fun! Particularly if you enjoy working with people and research, it can be rewarding. It can also benefit your career, by demonstrating that you can supervise people, have experience building a team, and increase your publication output. Importantly – it can increase the impact we have on conservation by training people to go out into the world and do good work.

The tips:

1. Set expectations from the start.

When the expectations of a supervisor and a student do not match, frustration for all parties can ensue. Those in the know report that the student's expectations for what supervisors can provide have been growing in the last decade. To set the record straight, give the student a some time to think about what their expectations might be early on in their candidature, then have a dedicated meeting to discuss these. Think carefully about how much time you can commit to the student, and communicate your boundaries clearly. Expectations can be around the frequency of meetings (once a week/ fortnight is recommended), and how much help they should receive on different skills (planning, data collection, analysis, and writing).

2. Supervision is about leadership: recognise your own weaknesses

Understanding your own leadership strengths and weaknesses will make you a better supervisor. What are you leadership qualities? What are your weaknesses? A common weakness is jealousy – how do you feel if your student has a great success? Its important to be aware of how you’re feeling around your student’s and your other colleagues’ success. Other weaknesses include being a control-freak which can cause conflict. Being aware of your weaknesses enables you to manage them.

3. Find out what the student wants from their PhD experience (but realise this may change over their time).

If a student isn’t looking for a career in academia, then there may not be much point pushing them to publish non-applied science in high impact journals. Be flexible with your supervision style, and try to orient your students towards their own personal goal. When things get tense, bring the discussion back to what the student wants out of the PhD experience and how they could get there.

Racing to the finish line is not always a useful strategy, despite university processes that might drive this. Make sure you are looking after the student even if it takes a bit longer. Also, be aware that the strongest students often don’t get enough support, when support is being focussed on other students that need more help.

4. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach that is universally effective.

Tailor your approach to supervision, because students are all completely different. No point trying to come up with a one-size-fits-all strategy – there isn’t a magic supervisory formula. Be aware of each student’s strengths, and where they might need more support; but also their way of operating.

5. A PhD is more than a series of papers – your supervision should reflect this.

It’s a whole course of study, and your job is to make sure the student is getting the necessary skills of investigation and research, beyond just publishing papers (or writing a thesis).

6. Work with the team.

You’re never on your own while supervising, you will always be with a panel of other supervisors and other support within the university. The supervisory panel needs to have the skills required to get the student through. Meeting with all the supervisors in one room is necessary, as lots of time can be wasted by students meeting with each supervisor alone. Try to make sure the student is including all supervisors along the way.

7. Check the student-supervisor fit before signing up.

Is it a topic you know well and are interested in? Are you qualified to supervise the student on their ideas? You should be excited about the topic. If not, you are making lots of work for yourself. Also make sure the student is qualified for the job before getting on board. Check everything first: their CV, their academic record, their papers, and project ideas. Signing up a student who doesn’t have the necessary skills (and isn’t interested or equipped to learn them) is not fair on them, or you. Finally – make sure you meet them before signing up. You’re match-making for a long-term (3-4 year) relationship. You don’t want to be stuck with someone you don’t get along with. Same goes for the other supervisors.

8. Don’t take on too many students at once (particularly when you’re starting).

This is particularly essential when things go pear-shaped – you’ll need more time to sort things out.

9. Catch issues early: meet regularly, see outlines and drafts early, discuss issues as they emerge.

It’s much easier to nut out a decent rough outline, than to read 12,000 words of text that isn’t relevant to the topic of the chapter. Don’t forget what it was like to be a PhD student. Don’t forget what it was like to get negative criticism, the first rejection of a paper. It can feel like everything crashing down, even if you think it’s an ordinary everyday occurrence. It’s important to raise any issues at the confirmation of candidature stage – this is the process for picking up issues. Don’t wait till the student is 3 years in and everything is in crisis mode.

10. Focus on quality supervision, rather than quantity

Early on in the supervisory game, you may end up putting in lots of work – and some of this might end up erring on the side of “high quantity, low quality”. For example, it is better for the student to teach themselves skills, find papers, etc; than you to spend your time on menial tasks rather than crucial supervisory needs. It might mean doing less of some things, but doing a better job of the tasks you engage in. Of course, in some cases, quality supervision might mean quantity: e.g. helping students regularly.

The Future of the Urban Heat Island

Sarah Chapman — Mon, 21 Aug 2017 22:32:20 +0000

We have just released a paper reviewing how the urban heat island will change with climate change and urban growth. The paper, 'The impact of urbanization and climate change on urban temperatures: a systematic review' is available here.

We found urban growth had a large impact on temperatures, of up to 5⁰C in some areas. Climate change and urban growth together had a larger temperature impact than when either factor was considered alone.

We also identified an increased need for further research in this area, as out of the1,574 papers we reviewed, only 8 looked at both climate change and urban growth.

Tips for publishing in academic journals 2.0

Moreno Di Marco — Wed, 16 Aug 2017 02:46:47 +0000

A few weeks ago I attended the 28th International Congress for Conservation Biology in Cartagena (Colombia). ICCB has been, as always, a great conference, and it gave us an opportunity to repeat the session on “What editors and reviewers are (not) expecting to find in your submission”, which we held for the first time in Brisbane last year (see here a previous blog post from Bonnie Mappin).

Here is the fantastic panel that joined our session at ICCB.

This time we had a larger audience and also a larger editorial panel, including: Mark Burgman (Editor in Chief of Conservation Biology), Gillian Greenough (Executive Editor at Wiley), EJ Milner-Gulland and Mark Schwartz (both Senior Editors of Conservation Letters), Bill Sutherland (Editor in Chief of Conservation Evidence), Frith Jarrad and Ellen Main (respectively Managing and Senior Editors of Conservation Biology).

I report here a non-exhaustive list of the most relevant tips presented by the Editors during the session (in no particular order):

Make sure you target your paper to the appropriate journal and really think about why it's a good fit (don't just go to the highest impact factor), and pay attention to journal scope, mission and manuscript preparation guidelines, it will save you a lot of time;Think about why you want to publish the paper, what outcomes you want, and target the journal accordingly - e.g. if you want to reach a wide practitioner readership, open access might be more important than impact factor;Speak to who the target audience is, in other words make sure that this target audience is actually one that reads journal articles;Place your work in a general context of conservation science, ask yourself why should someone who does not care about that organism or location want to read your paper;Avoid conflicts of interest in recommending preferred reviewers, selecting people too close to you do not generally help and they are not typically selected by Editors;High-profile scientists are unlikely to accept requests for reviews (they receive too many of those), do not list all high-profile scientists among your preferred reviews;

Welcome criticism, it is your best friend! Everyone gets criticised (even Einstein!); successful authors learn from criticism: if your paper is rejected, revise and resubmit elsewhere, if given a chance to revise, be courteous in replying to reviewers (and to authors, if you are the reviewer);

Be thorough in replying to all reviewers comments, incorporate all the suggestions that will make your paper better and all those that won't make it worse; use evidence (results, citations, etc.) to politely disprove critiques that you do not agree with;If the reviewer doesn't understand something, work from the assumption that this is because you have explained it badly and revise it accordingly;Think of a submission as an exam where you set the question! You need to identify the question, answer it and give balance of evidence;Dedicate enough attention to the Abstract and Cover Letter, they are not always read by the Editors, but when they are this is the first thing an Editor will read (and must give a good first impression);Make your Methods stand alone, do not simply refer to past papers, a reviewer might not have time to read 10 papers to get a grasp of what you have done;

If your institution does not give you access to a journal where a relevant paper was published, email the author of the paper and ask for a copy, you will be surprised by how quick an author is in sharing their published papers (and attract potential citations!).

Hope to repeat this session again, as I learn something new every time!

And here is a photo of the audience asking questions to the panel.

Saving the Green in Our Suburbs

Stephen Kearney — Mon, 07 Aug 2017 23:12:31 +0000

The Wilderness Society (TWS) and Environmental Defenders Office held an event on the 21st June, 2017, to discuss land clearing in urban areas of Queensland. As part of this, TWS reached out to GreenFire Science (GFS) to give a presentation on the broader context of Australia’s biodiversity crisis and the impact of land-clearing on Australia’s flora and fauna. Stephen and James presented to 110 locals about the threats to Australian species, the role land-clearing plays in these, some of the work by colleagues at UQ on the rates, drivers and ecological impacts of land-clearing in Australia as well as the electoral analysis we are currently undertaking. See here for more details on the electoral analysis. The slides from the presentation can be found .

Stephen presenting on Australia’s biodiversity crisis with photos of the Golden-shouldered Parrot and Night Parrot – two of the species that GFS is undertaking research on to improve the understanding of the threats to them in order to better conserve the species.

James discussing the rates and drivers of land-clearing in Australia

Field work in Kiribati

Annah Piggott-McKellar — Mon, 31 Jul 2017 02:02:47 +0000

In April and May I spent two months in Kiribati undertaking field work toward my PhD. Kiribati is an island nation made up of 32 atolls (and one raised limestone island) with a total land area of 800 km2 spread over 3.5 million km2. To put that into perspective, on a ratio basis it is equivalent to chopping Cairns into 33 pieces and scattering it across Australia. I was in awe when flying in that people had found their way to these tiny pockets of land in the middle of the Pacific, and survived for thousands of years. My next thought was that due to anthropogenic climate change Kiribati is in danger of becoming uninhabitable into the future.

The purpose of my fieldwork was to consult with communities who have had climate change adaptation projects implemented, as well as stakeholders responsible for their implementation. This was done to understand how climate change is impacting locals, figure out if projects are indeed increasing community resilience to climate change, and identify ways these can be improved into the future. These adaptation interventions include a range of measures from conservation activities, education, coastal protection, food security, and water security to name a few.

My time was spent between two islands: the capital, South Tarawa, and Abaiang. The contrast between the two islands is stark. South Tarawa, home to 56, 000 people (just over half the country’s population) has one of the highest population densities in the world. There are a host of subsequent development issues with solid waste sprawled across the island, high rates of non-communicable diseases, and open defecation to name a few. These issues dominate in South Tarawa and shine light on the range of concerns, outside of climate change, that Kiribati faces. In contrast Abaiang has a population of only 3,000, people. Here people rely more heavily on the land and sea for their livelihoods, with the influence of globalization less evident. The natural beauty, welcoming locals, and relaxed lifestyle on Abaiang was greatly appealing. A highlight was heading out with local fisherman and watching them free dive to enormous depths, and catch a plethora of fish, octopus, eels and clams.

Talking with the local I-Kiribati people it became obvious that climate change is a dominant concern. I was shown parts of villages that had severe coastal erosion, places where bwa bwai pits (a local root vegetable) could no longer be grown due to salt water intrusion, experiences of hotter temperatures and less predictable rainfall patterns, water shortages, and a community forced to retreat due to coastal erosion and inundation. While interventions are necessary to help these communities adapt, evidence from my time suggests an urgent need to improve the effectiveness of such projects. There were remnants of sea walls that are no longer standing, abandoned rain water tanks, garden plots no longer in use, and infrastructure left to deteriorate. Hopefully the results from my time here can provide a step forward in improving outcomes of these projects.

Staring at the abyss

April Reside and Anita Cosgrove — Sun, 16 Jul 2017 23:33:06 +0000

Having already lost much of its habitat in the last 30 years, the Southern Black-throated Finch will plummet towards extinction if Adani’s proposed Carmichael mine goes ahead as planned, experts have warned.

Image courtesy of Eric Vanderduys

In a report submitted to Federal Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg today, the Black-throated Finch Recovery Team—charged with safeguarding this Endangered species—describes a fundamentally flawed offset plan that will have grave consequences for the future of this bird.

April Reside from the recovery team described the plan as "grossly inadequate".

"The only way to avoid impact to a threatened species is to create those offsets and make sure they are working before you go and destroy the best-known habitat," Dr Reside said.

The report finds the conditions attached to the approval of Adani's proposed mine do not protect against the bird being wiped out and that the habitat proposed in offset areas is of lower quality compared to the mining areas.

“Adani’s Carmichael mine will destroy a large part of the best remaining habitat for the Black-throated Finch, in an area that is home to a significant proportion of the largest known population,” said Dr Tony Grice, Chair of the Black-throated Finch Recovery Team.

“Losing this rich habitat would be a major blow to the chances of this bird surviving.”

"The offsets are of much poorer quality than the habitat that’s being destroyed,” Dr Grice explained. “There’s no guarantee that the rehabilitation work Adani is planning will make the offset areas any more suitable for Black-throated Finches than they already are. You cannot replace the best Black-throated Finch habitat.”

The recovery team report also highlights major flaws in the calculations used in developing the offsets for the Carmichael Coal Mine.

“These offset areas are drastically smaller than they should be to offset the mine’s impacts,” added Margaret Quixley, BirdLife Australia Conservation Manager. “Size really matters, and Adani has greatly underestimated how much land should be given over to offset their damage. What they’ve allocated is less than a half the size it’s supposed to be.”

“In short, Black-throated Finch habitat will be lost, and their dwindling numbers will fall further if these key issues are not effectively addressed.”

A copy of the report can be viewed at http://www.birdlife.org.au/media/staring-at-the-abyss/.

Land clearing accelerating across Queensland

April Reside — Tue, 20 Jun 2017 07:02:18 +0000

Land clearing is accelerating across eastern Australia, despite our new research providing a clear warning of its impacts on the Great Barrier Reef, regional and global climate, and threatened native wildlife. (News coverage)

Over 600 threatened species (including both animals and plants) across Australia are impacted by land clearing, habitat fragmentation or habitat degradation. Nearly 500 species are threatened by grazing and the associated habitat changes.

In Queensland, habitat loss is a key threat for 67% of threatened animal species, but a maximum limit to the amount of habitat that can be cleared is only mentioned in 10% of recovery plans.

The endangered Black-throated finch, which has become extinct in New South Wales, could lose much of its remaining habitat under the current vegetation laws.

Queensland has the lowest proportion of land inside protected areas of any State or Territory across Australia. In the rest of the landscape, vegetation management laws are the only remaining protection of habitats.

Worryingly, New South Wales is starting to take Queensland's lead, which is likely to lead to loss of endangered and vulnerable species habitat.

Australia’s farmers provide a service to the community by producing essential food supplies and, of course, they need to be able to make a decent living. Many landholders have kept blocks of native vegetation on their properties, providing habitat for Australia’s wildlife.

While the debate about management of vegetation on private land has unfortunately become polarised, we need to adjust how vegetation is managed on private land so that we can have functioning ecosystems which reduce soil erosion and soil salinity, provide clean water, regulate climate and allow Australia’s unique plants and animals to survive. This will require long term policy certainty.

Effective policy should focus on prevention of further losses but also for incentives for forest and bushland restoration where important habitats and connections have been lost.

Some argue that the clearing is mostly of regrowth, but our research has shown that clearing of remnant - untouched - vegetation has more than doubled, as well as an escalation in clearing of regrowth.

Other myths around Queensland's land clearing are busted here.

We have covered some of the clearing debate in a recent article in The Conversation.

Thanks to co-authors Jutta Beher, Anita Cosgrove, Megan Evans, Leonie Seabrook, Jennifer L. Silcock, Amelia Wenger, Martine Maron; and Stephen Kearney for EPBC info, and all the anonymous expert reviewers for their input.

Ecological consequences of land clearing and policy reform in Queensland

Abstract

Land clearing threatens biodiversity, impairs the functioning of terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems, and is a key contributor to human induced climate change. The rates of land clearing in the State of Queensland, Australia, are of globally significant levels, and have been the subject of intense and polarised political debate. In 2016, a legislative bill which aimed to restore stronger controls over land clearing failed to pass in the Queensland Parliament, despite the clear scientific basis for policy reform. Here, we provide a short history of the recent policy debate over land clearing in Queensland, in the context of its global and national ecological significance. Land clearing affects regional climates, leading to hotter, drier climates which will impact on the Queensland economy and local communities. Loss of habitat from land clearing is a key threatening process for many endangered animals and plants. Runoff from land clearing results in sediment and nutrient enrichment which threatens the health of the Great Barrier Reef and increases the effect of coral bleaching. Australia has made national and international commitments to conserve biodiversity and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, but current land clearing policies are not consistent with these commitments. Stronger regulation is needed to reduce vegetation loss, such as target-based regulation which sets a cap on land clearing and could effectively halt vegetation loss over the long term. Lasting policy reform is required, and we recommend an effective policy mix which restricts clearing, provides economic opportunities for vegetation retention, and informs the Australian community about the value of native vegetation.

We helped deliver Malaysia’s largest marine park

Jennifer McGowan — Tue, 06 Jun 2017 00:24:17 +0000

At 898,000 hectares, Tun Mustapha Park is one of the few systematically planned networks of marine protected areas in the Coral Triangle- the epicentre of the world’s marine biodiversity. It is Malaysia’s largest marine park and is home to 187, 000 people, nearly half of which depend on TMP’s reef ecosystems for their livelihoods and sustenance. As such, TMP is a flagship project of the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral reefs, Fisheries and Food Security.

Above photo: Sea cucumber farms in a remote village in Northeast Banggi Island

The University of Queensland played a central role in establishing TMP, which used an iterative consultation process underpinned by the decision support tool, Marxan in collaboration with WWF-Malaysia. Our recent paper in Oryx describes the challenges of this decade long process and shows how zones changed at each planning stage. Importantly, the paper profiles how a scientifically robust process helped facilitate decisions about resource allocation by both stakeholders and government agencies.

Above photo: The evolution of the zoning plan throughout the prioritisation process (Jumin et. al 2017).

Five years into my collaboration on TMP, I found myself back on the island of Borneo. In April-May 2017, I joined WWF-Malaysia on a three-week expedition, (funded by the GEF small grants program and with the generous help of the Winifred V. Scott Charitable Trust), to conduct baseline biodiversity assessments of coral reefs, benthic habitats and fish.

Impacts to coral reefs

Above photo: An intact vs bombed reef along our surveys

Coral reefs around the world are facing the impacts of climate stress and while we saw evidence of bleaching in some low flux areas, the far more prevalent impact on the region’s biodiversity was from dynamite fishing - a destructive fishing practice that is widely used throughout the Indo-Pacific in order to collect a lot of fish very quickly. The more remote the reef, the more bombs we heard while surveying in the water.

Coral rubble was present at almost every site we visited- an obvious sign of past dynamite fishing. Rubble was generally accompanied by low fish biomass and large predators were scarce across the marine park. We saw no reef sharks or marine turtles on the expedition.

Some good news

Above photo: A protected, healthy reef in TMP by E. Meijard/WWF Malaysia

In many cases, the rubbly slopes of previously bombed reefs showed signs of recovery and successful coral recruitment. This is encouraging for the future success of TMP where the objectives are to both protect biodiversity and the rights of villages to access traditional and productive fishing grounds.

Where WWF and local communities tend locally managed protected areas, we found prime examples of intact, healthy reefs supporting abundant fish communities with noticeable differences in trophic structure, including the presence of large groupers. Even at a small scale, management makes a large difference for the communities that depend of reefs and the 2016 gazettement of TMP is a massive victory for Malaysia and coral reefs worldwide.

Paper showing damage to World Heritage wins prestigious international award

Tue, 30 May 2017 01:06:49 +0000

Brisbane, Thursday 25 May – Study revealing the extent of damaging activities and forest loss in Natural World Heritage Sites, led by University of Queensland, with a team of international experts, has won one of the most prestigious international publishing awards.

Watch James Watson and James Allan present the work (start @ 4:30, 19 mins respectively):

The paper "Recent increases in human pressure and forest loss threaten many Natural World Heritage Sites" has been selected from thousands of recently published articles to be recognised with the Elsevier Atlas Award. Elsevier is a world-leading publisher and provider of information solutions for science, health and technology professionals.

“Atlas articles showcase research that can (or already has) significantly impacted people’s lives around the world and we hope that bringing wider attention to this research will go some way to ensuring its successful implementation,” says Virginia Prada López, Associate Publisher and the project manager of the the Atlas Program for Elsevier.

“This study provides the first quantitative assessment of how humanity is negatively affecting Natural World Heritage Sites,” says lead author James Allan, PhD student at UQ School of Earth and Environmental Sciences. “We found that more than 100 sites are being damaged by encroaching human activities such as our land uses and infrastructure. Our most concerning finding is that many sites are being seriously damaged, possibly even beyond repair.”

“Urgent action is needed to save these amazing places before it is too late,” says the studies’ senior author Dr James Watson of UQ and the Wildlife Conservation Society. “They are global assets, recognised by the international community as the jewels in the crown when it comes to nature conservation, and they are worth protecting for all of humanity.”

Thanks to this award, which was conferred today at the University of Queensland, Australia, the article is now featured prominently on Elsevier.com, which is visited by almost three million people each month. It has become freely available on Elsevier’s ScienceDirect to ensure it is accessible to all.

To further increase accessibility of the study, the authors have also developed a new digital platform to present results in each of the sites examined.

A full interview with James Allan is available on Elsevier's Atlas website here.

Poster Presentations

Wed, 24 May 2017 13:22:39 +0000

Every year the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Queensland has a research showcase, where students submit posters on their most recent research findings.

This year 7 GFS students submitted posters. Great job everyone!

James Watson interview on US-China Emissions deal

Sun, 21 May 2017 22:49:18 +0000

James was interviewed when news first broke of the watershed climate emissions deal between the USA and China.

The interview took place just prior to the IUCN World Parks Congress held in Sydney, Australia in November 2014.

You can watch the interview, which appeared on the ABC, here:

Protected Areas Get Short Shrift

Sat, 20 May 2017 22:52:00 +0000

James Watson discusses protected areas with Scientific American.

Listen to the interview here.

Take a walk on the wild side

Tue, 16 May 2017 23:03:42 +0000

James Watson talks on ABC Radio about his work as a conservationist and his concern for the wilderness.

Conservation workshop on Kolombangara Island, Western Province, Solomon Islands

Amelia Wenger — Thu, 27 Apr 2017 00:20:31 +0000

An increase in coastal population and economic development in tropical regions (e.g., agriculture, forestry, and fishing) has led to increased pressures on coastal and marine natural resources. Although these developments provide new economic opportunities that can improve livelihoods, they threaten the functional integrity of coastal and marine ecosystems and the services ecosystems provided to people. Intact ecosystems from forests to coral reefs allow for clean drinking water and healthy fisheries; necessary resources for communities living in these environments.

This was the backdrop of a stakeholder workshop conducted on Kolombangara Island, located in Western Province, Solomon Islands. Representives from local communties, NGOs, and the forestry industry gathered together to discuss how best to balance development and ecosystem protection. University of Queensland, in collaboraton with The Wildlife Conservation Society, is providing technical support to help facilitate an initiative led by a local NGO, the Kolombangara Island Biodiversity Conservation Association (KIBCA) to protect forest areas above 400 meters from logging and mining. The proposed protected area would conserve approximately 200 square kilometers of forest and 28% of the total island land area.

One of the ways we are supporting the work is through development of sediment runoff models that show how much sediment runoff has already increased on the island and how much more runoff could happen in the future if the forest continues to be logged. We have identified water catchments that could experience the largest increase in sediment, and have mapped coral reefs which are more likely to be exposed to the increasing sediment. The maps are being used as a communication tool by KIBCA to discuss with local communities why protection of the forest is so important. Through extensive discussion and engagement with a diverse group of stakeholders, a pathway to protecting the forest and ensuring that local communities recieve economic benefits is being forged.

James Allan interviewed on ABC News about damage to Natural World Heritage sites

Fri, 14 Apr 2017 04:52:19 +0000

Would we knock down the pyramids or flatten the Acropolis to make way for housing estates, roads or farms? You would hope not. Such an indictment would deprive future generations of the joy and marvel we all experience when visiting or learning about such historic places.

Yet right now, across our planet, many of the United Nations’ Natural World Heritage sites - the jewels in the crown of the conservation movement - are being rapidly destroyed in the pursuit of short-term economic goals. They are much more threatened than was previously thought.

This was the key finding of a paper in Biological Conservation led by Green Fire Science student James Allan. and an international team from The University of Queensland, Wildlife Conservation Society University of Northern British Columbia and the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Read the full publication here! And article in The Conversation here!

They looked at how human pressures (using the updated global Human Footprint) such as roads, agriculture, urbanisation and industrial infrastructure, along with forest loss, have changed inside Natural World Heritage sites over the last two decades.

They found that the Human Footprint has increased in 63 per cent of Natural World Heritage Sites across all continents except Europe over the past two decades.

The most impacted Natural World Heritage Sites were found in Asia including: Manas Wildlife Sanctuary in India, Komodo National Park in Indonesia, and Chitwan National Park in Nepal; along with Simien National Park in Ethiopia.

In terms of forest loss, highly impacted parks included Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve in Honduras, which suffered 365 km2 (8.5 percent) of deforestation since 2000.

Even celebrated locations like Yellowstone were impacted, losing approximately six per cent of its forests.

Meanwhile, Waterton Glacier International Peace Park - crossing the Canadian and USA border - lost almost one quarter of its forested area (23 per cent or 540 km2).

These findings are incredibly concerning. It is clearly time for the global community to stand up and hold governments to account so that they take the conservation of Natural World Heritage Sites seriously.

Urgent intervention is needed to save these places and their outstanding natural value for the whole of humanity.

The work has gathered a lot of media attention with some notable pieces in The Guardian, Yale 360 and The Huffington Post.

Optimizing the spatial planning of prescribed burns to achieve multiple objectives in a fire-dependent ecosystem

Brooke Williams — Wed, 12 Apr 2017 05:15:50 +0000

Before joining the Green Fire Science lab, I was an honours student within the Wilson lab at UQ. The work from my project has recently been accepted for publication in the Journal of Applied Ecology titled “Optimising the spatial planning of prescribed burns to achieve multiple objectives in a fire-dependent ecosystem.” We have developed a decision support tool that maximises burning for the often conflicting objectives of asset protection and conservation, while remaining within budget constraints. Our tool is incredibly flexible and may be manipulated to suit any fire-dependent ecosystem in which fire management is required.

Fire management is an important aspect of ensuring the safety of Australians living within fire-prone environments. It can be challenging due to many factors such as time and budget constraints, the possibility of a prescribed burn escaping, possible damage to the ecosystem from burning too frequently or not frequently enough, negative perceptions of the community, and sometimes conflicting objectives. While asset-protection is an essential fire management objective, fire is also applied to the environment to ensure the ecological integrity of fire-dependent ecosystems. Fire management objectives often involve meeting a quota of land to be burnt. Priority locations for burning are identified largely through evidence-based triage.

A more effective strategy than current asset protection burn regimes may be to implement a regime that reduces the overall fuel load of an ecosystem, through the implementation of a heterogeneous mosaic burn. While likely being more effective as an asset protection protocol, there may also be added benefits for biodiversity. Decision support tools can be used to optimise areas to implement a burn. Spatial analysis techniques are ever improving, and are capable of identifying priority areas for burning based on asset protection objectives and ecological concepts. Using the Dry Sclerophyll Forest ecosystem of the City of Gold Coast, our recent study has shown that is it possible to achieve good outcomes for multiple objectives (asset protection and biodiversity) without increasing annual budgets. Broader use of systematic decision-making may greatly improve management outcomes.

Five reasons you should attend SCCS next year

Claire Stewart — Tue, 11 Apr 2017 22:40:59 +0000

Last week I had an absolutely brilliant time at the Student Conference on Conservation Science (SCCS) at the University of Cambridge. Since I had such a good time, here are 5 reasons why I think you should go to SCCS next year!

1. You will meet other young, fantastic, inspiring conservationists from around the world

This really is the main reason you should attend. As students, opportunities to meet other young conservation scientists can be limited to our university and sometimes even to the lab group we are part of. Attending conferences is an excellent way to network and find out what other conservation research and activities are going on outside our own university. So why should you attend the Student Conference on Conservation Science specifically? Well, the clue is in the title! This conference is fantastic for meeting young conservation scientists who are conducting conservation research for their Masters or PhD projects and are at the same stage in their career as you! This was a huge benefit as I was confident approaching other students, asking about their projects and talking about our experiences in our respective universities and conservation programmes. Around 200 students from over 60 countries were represented at SCCS at the University of Cambridge this year and I managed to meet the majority of them (for the few I didn’t meet I still got to check out their poster and see what they were up to!). On the second night of SCCS a party was organised at one of the university college bars which was ideal for making new friends and contacts which will hopefully be valuable for a future career in the world of conservation!

2. The plenary speakers at the conference are fantastic!

I really cannot stress this enough, the line-up of plenary speakers was just phenomenal and each of them exceeded all of my expectations! The conference got off to an incredible start with Brendan Fisher, a behavioural economist from the University of Vermont, who delivered a highly entertaining talk about how people are weird and how we can use this weirdness to achieve conservation outcomes. The whole audience was laughing from start to finish and we all left thinking about conservation issues from a completely new perspective. Brendan has attended SCCS before and is likely to attend next year which is seriously a good enough reason to sign up! Juliet Vickery passed on many valuable lessons she has learned about translating conservation science to conservations policy while working with the RSPB. Mwangi Githiru with Wildlife Works in Kenya gave an informative and memorable talk about Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) meaning that everyone left with a good understanding of how REDD+ works (something I had always found confusing!). On the final day, Heather Koldewey from ZSL gave a truly inspirational talk about the various projects she is involved with in her quest to save the oceans. From recycling ghost fishing nets to make carpets, to her campaign to stop the single use of plastic water bottles in London, and her efforts to restore mangroves and improve community livelihoods in the Philippines, meant we all left SCCS with a huge amount of #OceanOptimism (cheesy I know). The plenary speakers lined up for next year look fantastic (SCCS always attracts the best!) and I’m already looking forward to them.

3. You will get to visit the University of Cambridge (or one of the other locations SCCS is held)

The University of Cambridge was founded in 1209, making it the second oldest university in the English speaking world (113 years younger than the University of Oxford). The university is spread around Cambridge, in amongst historic churches, cathedrals, the River Cam and some rather grand university buildings. If you do attend SCCS in Cambridge next year, make sure to arrive a day or two early or stay for while afterwards so you have time to have a go punting along the river and get to check out Cambridge’s colleges where some of the world’s brightest minds have studied. However, if Cambridge is a bit too far for you to travel, you can attend one of the SCCS sister conferences that have been organised in places like New York, India, Brisbane, Hungary and Beijing! The next SCCS is being held this year in New York on October 11-13th so do check it out if you haven’t already. The Cambridge SCCS18 conference is booked for the 27th-30th March 2018, so I’m hoping to see you there!

4. You will learn A LOT

The conference programme is absolutely jam-packed with student talks, workshops and evening events, so make sure you have time for coffee in the morning as you will definitely need it! Some of my favourite student talks this year included John Mittermeier, who spoke about how we can use Wikipedia to quantify cultural interest in species, Ardiantiono who showed us that community guarding was the most effective way to reduce human-elephant conflict in Sumatra (and won the best student talk in doing so!), and Esteban Brenes-Mora who spoke about how his research is helping to reduce the number of tapirs killed in road collisions in Costa Rica. In between the student talks, workshops are run by leading conservationists meaning you can learn how to use the conservation evidence website, write a scientific paper, plan a conservation research programme, as well as a classic introduction to statistics workshop (which I will definitely attend next year!). I came away with my brain bursting with new ideas and a list of papers to check out so make sure to bring a shiny new notepad and be prepared to learn!

5. You might even win a prize!

Before I arrived I didn’t know there were prizes for the best student talks and posters! But the conference programme had a slot on the last day for prize-giving and I thought it would be a good opportunity to learn what makes a good talk/poster to learn for next year. So you can imagine how absolutely surprised, humbled and pleased (and couldn’t wait to phone my mum) I was when my poster was awarded 3rd prize for the best student poster! The very generous prizes included 2 books kindly donated by Cambridge University Press and CABI, and free journal subscriptions. The positive feedback I received for my poster included the topic being relevant to conservation and having potential for conservation outcomes, the colour scheme, clear & relevant visuals and making space to thank my supervisors. Please feel free to take these tips on board for when you attend SCCS next year with your own poster!

A huge thanks to the GFS lab and my supervisors (Ayesha Tulloch, James Watson & Lucie Bland) for supporting me during my Masters and my attendance at #SCCS17!

A wake-up call for Australians?

Nicki Shumway — Thu, 23 Mar 2017 01:12:40 +0000

The Great Barrier Reef was recently considered for a World Heritage 'in danger' listing, but was spared in 2015 by the development of the Reef 2050 Long Term Sustainability Plan. This plan includes targets to improve water quality and biodiversity in the Reef, which is considered in poor overall condition. A key criticism of the 2050 Plan by scientists was the lack of discussion and concrete action on the impacts of climate change to the Reef. In addition, a key requirement by the World Heritage Committee was that the Plan be fully implemented and adequately funded, with a progress report submitted to the Committee by Dec. 1, 2016.

Unfortunately, the health and resilience of Great Barrier Reef has continued to deteriorate. Last year the largest bleaching event on record caused massive loss of coral cover, and again this year we are in the midst of another bleaching event – unprecedented for the Great Barrier Reef.

The Reef is in poor condition, with current policy doing little to abate this decline. We wrote an article, published this month in Science about the inconsistent policies of the Queensland and Commonwealth governments, who on the one hand state their commitment to the integrity of the reef, and on the other, approve large coal mines in the same region. We suggest that an 'in danger' listing by UNESCO will be the wake-up call needed to prioritise this natural wonder over industrial development in the region.

Read more here: Australia needs a wake-up call

To have your say on the Great Barrier Reef contact the Queensland Minister for Environment - Steven Miles, or the Commonwealth Minister for Environment - Josh Frydenberg.

The future impacts of our changing climate

Sarah Chapman — Mon, 20 Feb 2017 03:18:34 +0000

I recently attended the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (AMOS) conference at the Australian National University in Canberra, a four day event that included sessions on urban climate, extreme events, and general climatology.

This was my second year attending the conference. Last year I had presented in the lightning round and submitted a poster, but this year I was looking forward to giving a presentation on the work I’ve done for my PhD modelling urban heat stress in Brisbane using CCAM (conformal cubic atmospheric model) recently.

Of course my main interest was in the urban climate sessions, and I attended all of these, but I also had the opportunity to meet with urban climate scientists from all over Australia and discuss their work and my PhD.

As well as urban climate, the conference covered a wide variety of topics from climate change, general climatology, paleoclimatology, extreme weather events, health, mitigation, education and renewable energy. The plenary given by Professor Kris Ebi on climate change and human health was particularly interesting, and covered broad ranging impacts from heat stress, air pollution, nutrition and disease. Professor Ebi suggested that air pollution and pollen may get worse with increasing CO2 and plant activity. The nutritional content of plants may also decrease with increased growing speed, further hampering the world’s efforts to improve nutrition and poverty in the poorest countries in the world. The key point of Professor Ebi’s talk was that humans have limited ability to adapt to high temperatures (as opposed to cold), and currently there is limited research on compounding effects of all these aspects (temperature, disease, nutrition) on health.

The conference ended with a talk by Professor Will Steffen on the Anthropocene. Based on stratigraphic and biospheric evidence, he concluded that humanity left the Holocene in the mid-20th century, and is now in the Anthropocene.

Special Issue: Achieving the targets of global biodiversity conventions

Moreno Di Marco — Fri, 09 Dec 2016 06:40:50 +0000

The journal Conservation Letters has just released a Special Issue on "Achieving the targets of global biodiversity conventions". This is the first Special Issue of Conservation Letters, proposed by Moreno Di Marco (GFS), James Watson (GFS leader), Oscar Venter and Hugh Possingham and developed in collaboration with the Editor in Chief Eddie Game. The issue includes 13 articles, written by an amazing group of authors. This is a truly exciting set of papers focused on the development, achievement, and monitoring of national an international biodiversity targets on land and in the sea. The entire issue is Open Access, just click here to access the individual papers or download the entire issue .

Engaging local communities in fighting the illegal wildlife trade: can a theory of change help?

James Allan — Thu, 01 Dec 2016 13:39:00 +0000

Recent alarming rises in illegal wildlife trade (IWT) show that tough law enforcement is not enough to stop poachers devastating populations of iconic or endangered species.

Local people must be empowered to benefit from conservation and

be supported to partner with law enforcement agencies in the fight against wildlife crime.

We have developed a ‘Theory of Change’ for understanding how community-level interventions can help in tackling IWT.

Do the ‘pathways’ we present reflect your experiences from IWT-related projects and programmes? Do the assumptions that we suggest hold true?

Please join the discussion and help expand the theory to support better policy and practice on the ground.

What an ancient water flea could tell us about the future of humanity

Thu, 17 Nov 2016 22:21:43 +0000

More than a dozen authors from different universities and nongovernmental organizations around the world have concluded, based on an analysis of hundreds of studies, that almost every aspect of life on Earth has been affected by climate change.

Read the full article in the World Economic Forum here.

Spatial dynamics of coastal forest bird assemblages: the influence of landscape context, forest type, and structural connectivity

Christina Buelow — Mon, 14 Nov 2016 08:47:43 +0000

Understanding how ecosystems link, connect and function is important for knowing how to conserve them.

PhD student Christina Buelow and GFS postdoc April Reside have just published a paper in Landscape Ecology that examines the complex relationships between landscape pattern and use by forest birds.

We show that bird species composition differs between coastal forest types and regional landscape contexts. We also find that structural connectivity patterns of multiple vegetation types are correlated with differences in bird species composition between regional landscape contexts, however this is dependent on the spatial scale at which structural connectivity is measured.

This is the second paper from Christina's PhD, along with her otherwork understanding the role of birds in coastal connectivity.

, C. A., R. Baker, A. E. Reside, and M. Sheaves. 2016. Spatial dynamics of coastal forest bird assemblages: the influence of landscape context, forest type, and structural connectivity. Landscape Ecology: online early. First Online: 11 November 2016

DOI: 10.1007/s10980-016-0461-z

Why fast-tracking the Carmichael coal mine is a bad idea

Mon, 07 Nov 2016 02:27:50 +0000

When the Queensland state government declared the Carmichael coal mine as "critical infrastructure" we were appalled. Projects like the Carmichael coal mine are the antithesis of what our government should be investing in, especially if we are going to take the Paris Climate Agreement seriously.

The Abbot Point coal terminal is where the coal from the Carmichael Coal mine is set to be shipped. Photo © Positive Change for Marine Life.

As environmental scientists, we know that the adverse impacts of coal mining don't stop with climate change. This particular mine will also have negative effects on the Great Barrier Reef, fresh water sources, as well as threatened species such as the black throated finch.

With all of this in mind, we decided to take action. A group of us got together to write a letter to the Minister for Environment and Heritage Protection, Stephen Miles. We outlined the key environmental reasons why giving the Carmichael coal mine "critical infrastructure" status was a step in the wrong direction that could further jeopardize our unique natural environment. We also published a summary of the mine's environmental impacts in The Conversation, which was picked up by the ABC.

The Great Barrier Reef will be negatively impacted by increased shipping, dredging, and climate change resulting from the Carmichael coal mine. Photo © Positive Change for Marine Life.

Time Magazine: Why Our Wilderness Matters

Tue, 18 Oct 2016 05:50:07 +0000

James Watson wrote an essay for Time Magazine's Issues issue.

Read the full article here

Sixteen years of change in the global terrestrial human footprint and implications for biodiversity conservation

Mon, 17 Oct 2016 23:22:19 +0000

Venter, O., Sanderson, E.W., Magrach, A., Allan, J.R., Beher, J., Jones, K.R., Possingham, H.P., Wood, P., Fekete, B.M., Levy, M.A. and J.E.M Waston (2016). Sixteen years of change in the global terrestrial human footprint and implications for biodiversity conservation. Nature Communications, 7: 1- 11.

Human pressures on the environment are changing spatially and temporally, with profound implications for the planet’s biodiversity and human economies. Here we use recently available data on infrastructure, land cover and human access into natural areas to construct a globally standardized measure of the cumulative human footprint on the terrestrial environment at 1 km2 resolution from 1993 to 2009. We note that while the human population has increased by 23% and the world economy has grown 153%, the human footprint has increased by just 9%. Still, 75% the planet’s land surface is experiencing measurable human pressures. Moreover, pressures are perversely intense, widespread and rapidly intensifying in places with high biodiversity. Encouragingly, we discover decreases in environmental pressures in the wealthiest countries and those with strong control of corruption. Clearly the human footprint on Earth is changing, yet there are still opportunities for conservation gains.

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Global terrestrial Human Footprint maps for 1993 and 2009

Mon, 17 Oct 2016 23:20:04 +0000

Venter, O., Sanderson, E.W., Magrach, A., Allan, J.R., Beher, J., Jones, K.R., Possingham, H.P., Laurance, W.P., Wood, P., Fekete, B.M., Levy, M.A and Watson, J.E.M (2016). Global terrestrial Human Footprint maps for 1993 and 2009. Scientific Data, 3: 160067.

Remotely-sensed and bottom-up survey information were compiled on eight variables measuring the direct and indirect human pressures on the environment globally in 1993 and 2009. This represents not only the most current information of its type, but also the first temporally-consistent set of Human Footprint maps. Data on human pressures were acquired or developed for: 1) built environments, 2) population density, 3) electric infrastructure, 4) crop lands, 5) pasture lands, 6) roads, 7) railways, and 8) navigable waterways. Pressures were then overlaid to create the standardized Human Footprint maps for all non-Antarctic land areas. A validation analysis using scored pressures from 3114×1 km2 random sample plots revealed strong agreement with the Human Footprint maps. We anticipate that the Human Footprint maps will find a range of uses as proxies for human disturbance of natural systems. The updated maps should provide an increased understanding of the human pressures that drive macro-ecological patterns, as well as for tracking environmental change and informing conservation science and application.

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GFS Lab assists with local re-vegetation

Courtney Jackson — Thu, 13 Oct 2016 23:40:18 +0000

Have you ever had that epiphany where you realise that you got into conservation science because you love nature, yet you can’t remember the last time that you actually set foot in a forest? If this sounds like you, our lab has the perfect solution – roll up your sleeves and get active with local conservation groups who are working on the ground to conserve nature.

We recently teamed up with Moore Park Bush Care and the Australian Conservation Society to undertake some re-vegetation in Indooroopilly. Upon arrival we were introduced to the leader of the local Bush Care group, Des, and instructed on how to effectively apply bug spray to fend off the midges (apparently you only need to spray around your mid-riff and ankles). We were then introduced to a patch of forest that Des and his crew have dedicated over 15 years of their lives to. We were very impressed!

Des gave a quick introduction and then he split us up into groups. The lucky ones got to lay down the seeds of native plants, while the rest of us either raked or pulled weeds. Within half an hour the members of our lab were distinguishable from the rest of the volunteers by our blisters. Apparently typing doesn’t break the hands in quite like good old manual labour!

I was quite happy to be in one of the weeding groups. Our victim was the mother-of- millions, which - as the name insinuates - is a weed that pops up everywhere! We had to go over the same square meter of patch several times before moving on because every time we looked we would find more of the little buggers. Luckily they were easy to pull out and dispose of and the time passed quickly due to the interesting conversation between the diverse group of volunteers.

Our hard work was rewarded with a vegetarian lunch provided by ACF and a Des’s delicious home-made ginger juice. The overall consensus on the day? A lot of fun and a well- deserved and overdue break from studying / working. It’s really rewarding to get active in the local community and work together to relish in our common interest – nature.

Towards reassessing data-deficient species

Mon, 03 Oct 2016 00:22:00 +0000

Bland, L.M., Bielby, J., Kearney, S., Orme, C.D.L., Watson, J.E.M. and B. Collen (2016). Towards reassessing data-deficient species. Conservation Biology. DOI: 10.1111/cobi.12850

One in six species (13,465 spp.) on the IUCN Red List are currently classified as Data Deficient due to lack of information on their taxonomy, population status or impact of threats. Despite the chance that many are at high risk of extinction, Data Deficient species are typically excluded from global and local conservation priorities as well as funding schemes. The number of Data Deficient species will greatly increase as the Red List becomes more inclusive of poorly known and speciose groups. A strategic approach is urgently needed to enhance the conservation value of Data Deficient assessments. To develop this, we reviewed 2,879 Data Deficient assessments in six animal groups and identified eight main justifications for assigning Data Deficient status (type series, few records, old records, uncertain provenance, uncertain population status and/or distribution, uncertain threats, taxonomic uncertainty, new species). Assigning a consistent set of justification tags to species classified as Data Deficient is a simple way to achieve more strategic assessments. Such tags will: clarify the causes of data deficiency; facilitate the prediction of extinction risk; facilitate comparisons of data deficiency among taxonomic groups; and help prioritize species for re-assessment. With renewed efforts, it could be straightforward to prevent thousands of Data Deficient species slipping unnoticed towards extinction.

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Large seasonal and diurnal anthropogenic heat flux across four Australian cities

Sat, 01 Oct 2016 02:57:00 +0000

Chapman, S., J. E. M. Watson, and C. A. McAlpine. 2016. Large seasonal and diurnal anthropogenic heat flux across four Australian cities. Journal of Southern Hemisphere Earth Systems Science 66:342-360.

Anthropogenic heat release is a key component of the urban heat island. However, it is often excluded from studies of the urban heat island because reliable estimates are not available. This omission is important because anthropogenic heat can contribute up to 4ºC to the urban heat island, and increases heat stress to urban residents. The exclusion of anthropogenic heat means the urban heat island effect on temperatures may be under-estimated. Here we estimate anthropogenic heat for four Australian capital cities (Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide) to inform the management of the urban heat island in a changing climate. Anthropogenic heat release was calculated using 2011 population census data and an inventory of hourly traffic volume, building electricity and gas use. Melbourne had the highest annual daily average anthropogenic heat emissions, which reached 376 W/m2 in the city centre during the daytime, while Brisbane’s emissions were 261 W/m2 and Sydney’s were 256 W/m2. Adelaide had the lowest emissions, with a daily average of 39 W/m2 in the city centre. Emissions varied within and among the four cities and decreased rapidly with distance from the city centre, to < 5 W/m2 at 20 km from the city in Brisbane, and 15 km in Adelaide. The highest emissions were found in the city centres during working hours. The peak emissions reached in the centre of Melbourne are similar to the peak emissions in London and Tokyo, where anthropogenic heat is a large component of the urban heat island. This indicates that anthropogenic heat could be an important contributor to the urban heat island in Australian capital cities, and needs to be considered in climate adaptation studies. This is an important problem because climate change, combined with an ageing population and urban growth, could double the deaths from heatwaves in Australian cities over the next 40 years.

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Global Biodiversity Targets Requires Both Sufficiency and Efficiency

Wed, 28 Sep 2016 00:30:00 +0000

DiMarco, M., Watson, J.E.M. and O. Venter (2016). Global Biodiversity Targets Requires Both Sufficiency and Efficiency. Conservation Letters.

With the adoption of the 2011–2020 Strategic Plan of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), 196 nations agreed to achieve ambitious biodiversity related targets. These targets encompass conservation inputs, for example increasing the amount of financial resources invested in biodiversity conservation (Target 20), conservation outputs, for example protecting areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem services (Target 11), and conservation outcomes, for example preventing the extinction of threatened species (Target 12). The evidence to date reveals limited progresses in achieving these targets, especially those related to conservation outcomes, and an alarming disparity between the rate of biodiversity decline and the rate at which conservation actions take place (Tittensor et al. 2014).

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Persistent Disparities between Recent Rates of Habitat Conversion and Protection and Implications for Future Global Conservation Targets

Mon, 26 Sep 2016 00:25:00 +0000

Watson, J.E.M., Jones, K.R., Fuller, R.A., DiMarco, M., Segan, D.B., Butchart, S.H.M., Allan, J.R., McDonald-Madden, E. and O. Venter (2016). Persistent Disparities between Recent Rates of Habitat Conversion and Protection and Implications for Future Global Conservation Targets. Conservation Letters. DOI: 10.1111/conl.12295

Anthropogenic conversion of natural habitats is the greatest threat to biodiversity and one of the primary reasons for establishing protected areas (PAs). Here, we show that PA establishment outpaced habitat conversion between 1993 and 2009 across all biomes and the majority (n = 567, 71.4%) of ecoregions globally. However, high historic rates of conversion meant that 447 (56.2%) ecoregions still exhibit a high ratio of conversion to protection, and of these, 127 (15.9%) experienced further increases in this ratio between 1993 and 2009. We identify 41 “crisis ecoregions” in 45 countries where recent habitat conversion is severe and PA coverage remains extremely low. While the recent growth in PAs is a notable conservation achievement, international conventions and associated finance mechanisms should prioritize areas where habitat is being lost rapidly relative to protection, such as the crisis ecoregions identified here.

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Limitations and trade-offs in the use of species distribution maps for protected area planning

Thu, 15 Sep 2016 00:28:00 +0000

DiMarco, M., Watson, J.E.M., Possingham, H.P. and O. Venter (2016). Limitations and trade-offs in the use of species distribution maps for protected area planning. Journal of Applied Ecology. DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.12771

Range maps represent the geographic distribution of species, and they are commonly used to determine species coverage within protected areas and to find additional places needing protection. However, range maps are characterized by commission errors, where species are thought to be present in locations where they are not. When available, habitat suitability models can reduce commission errors in range maps, but these models are not always available. Adopting a coarse spatial resolution is often seen as an alternative approach for reducing the effect of commission errors, but this comes with poorly explored conservation trade-offs.Here, we characterize these trade-offs by identifying scenarios of protected area expansion for the world's threatened terrestrial mammals under different resolutions (10–200 km) and distribution data deriving from range maps and habitat suitability models.We found that planning new protected areas using range maps results in an overestimation of the species protection level when compared with habitat suitability models (which are more closely related to species presence). This overestimation increases when more area is selected for protection and is higher when higher spatial resolutions are employed.Adopting coarse resolutions reduced the overestimation of species protection and also halved the spatial incongruence between protected areas prioritized from range maps or habitat suitability models. However, this came at a very high cost, with an area of up to four times greater (12 M km2 vs. 3 M km2) needed to adequately protect all species.Synthesis and applications. Our findings demonstrate that adopting coarse resolutions in protected area planning results in unsustainable increases in costs, with limited benefits in terms of reducing the effect of commission errors in species range maps. We recommend that, if some level of uncertainty is acceptable to practitioners, using range maps at resolutions of 20–30 km is the best compromise for reducing the effect of commission errors while maintaining cost-efficiency in conservation analyses.

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Powerful Owls at Mt Coot-tha

Nick Leesburg — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 06:02:15 +0000

The Green Fire Science lab spends a lot of its time tied to the desk trying to save the world, so it’s good to take some time every now and then to get out and enjoy the biodiversity we strive so hard to protect. Lately, only a few minutes’ drive from the Brisbane CBD, there has been an opportunity towatch the life cycle of Australia’s largest owl, the Powerful Owl. GFS have taken full advantage of this with a couple of trips to see these wonderful birds which have been breeding on the slopes of Mt Coot-tha, west of the city.

Found along the coast and ranges from central Queensland to western Victoria, the Powerful Owl is a large bird, up to 65cm in length and with a wingspan of nearly a metre-and- a-half. They feed mostly on large mammals and birds, and are sometimes seen roosting during the day with a half-eaten possum clasped in their talons. Their taste for possums means they do well in suburban areas, with pairs relatively common throughout Sydney and Melbourne, and a few pairs resident around Brisbane.

Although not listed federally, the Powerful Owl is classified as Endangered in Victoria and Vulnerable in both New South Wales and Queensland. Like most of the ‘large forest owls’ such as Masked and Sooty Owls, they need large hollows to nest in. Deforestation is therefore the key threatening process for this species. Thankfully, their adaptability to human modification of their habitat means that provided there are suitable hollows for nesting, enough dense vegetation for roosting and enough resources for food, they can persist.

The Mt Coot-tha forest west of Brisbane is home to at least a couple of pairs of these magnificent birds, and only recently one of these pairs produced a couple of adorable youngsters which left the nest in late-July/August. This has provided plenty of opportunities to get along and see the birds, as they are quite site faithful. The two youngsters have been roosting in the same tree most days since they left the nest, sometimes with mum and dad in attendance, although the adults will also roost in different locations nearby. Soon they will begin to range more widely, but while they’ve been easy to find, it has been great to get along and enjoy the presence of this beautiful predator so close to the city.

Stay tuned to @grnfirescience for hear what's happening in the lab!

Kendall Jones interviewed for local ABC news about global wilderness loss

Mon, 12 Sep 2016 04:37:43 +0000

Kendall Jones, a GFS PhD student was interviewed last week for ABC news about a recent publication on global wilderness loss.

The paper was written by James Watson and colleagues and shows that only 23% of Earth's land surface now contains intact wilderness areas. These areas are globally important for biodiversity and are disappearing rapidly.

Read the publication now!!

Watson et al., Catastrophic Declines in Wilderness Areas Undermine GlobalEnvironment Targets, Current Biology (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2016.08.049