For detailed descriptions of the outputs for
this project for Year 4 (2009/2010) of the MTSRF Research
Programme, see the Annual Research
Plan.
Project 1.2.1 consists of four linked sub-projects:
Project
1.2.1(a) - Identification Skills Workshops - Australian Tropical
Rain Forest Plants (Continuation of Project 1.2.1 Status and
trends of biodiversity and ecosystem services)
Project
1.2.1(b) - Biodiversity monitoring for climate change
Project
1.2.1(c) - Status and trends of biodiversity and ecosystem
services: State of the Environment reporting and gap
filling
Project
1.2.1(d) - Insect Diversity
This project will proceed as a co-research partnership between
the CSIRO, James Cook University, MTSRF, Wet Tropics Management
Authority and Terrain NRM Ltd.
Project 1.2.1(a) - Continuation:
Identification Skills Workshops - Australian Tropical Rainforest
Plants (Status and trends of biodiversity and ecosystem
services)
Project Leader and Host Organisation
Professor Darren Crayn, Australian Tropical Herbarium
Project Description and Objectives
The objectives of this project are to:
-
Use interactive plant identification keys to provide practical
hands-on training for informed members of the Wet Tropics community
(e.g. land mangers, students, NGO groups) to learn and develop
skills in plant identification techniques;
-
Provide accredited training plant identification for TAFE and
university students and land managers;
-
Generate community interest and awareness and appreciation of
the diverse and unique local and regional flora;
-
Provide a forum for the community to engage with the local
research community, university and herbarium; and
-
Provide a forum for the community to provide feedback on the
newly launched rainforest plant
identification key.
The team will develop workbook materials and conduct a series of
plant identification workshops for a range of end users in a
various locations in the wet tropics region. The workshops will be
developed for various skill levels.
The identification workshops will be based on
the Interactive Key to Australian Rain Forest
Plants including the recent work funded through this
project (forbs), and the orchid and fern modules. The workshops
will be delivered by experienced botanists and it is anticipated
that they will initially be run in Cairns, Atherton, Cooktown and
Townsville, Queensland, and other locations depending on
demand.
The workshops will include testing and
seeking user feedback on the new interactive key modules developed
under MTSRF Project 1.2.1a once beta versions are developed.
It is anticipated that workshops will be
accredited as approved training courses through James Cook
University (School of Marine and Tropical Biology) and the Cairns
TAFE. It is expected that up to five free one-day accredited
workshops will run throughout the region for beginners and one
four-day intensive workshop will be run for tertiary participants
to gain formal accreditation.
Project 1.2.1(b) - Biodiversity monitoring for climate
change
Project Leader and Host Organisation
Associate Professor Stephen Williams, James Cook University
Project Description and Objectives
This project aims to provide the knowledge
and methods needed for accurate and up-to-date state of the
region reporting on the key biodiversity and ecosystem
services and assets of North Queensland, to support future
iteration of Natural Resource Management planning and the
management of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area, through:
-
A synthesis of current knowledge and identification of gaps for
key biological and environmental assets;
-
Filling knowledge gaps in conjunction with field surveys being
carried out in Project 1.4.3
(Threatened species and communities), Project 2.6.2
(Identification and impact of invasive pests in the Wet Tropics
Rainforest) and completion of the rainforest plant
identification key; and
-
Design and testing of a monitoring program to track the status
and trends of key environmental assets and ecosystem services.
Project 1.2.1(c) - Status and trends of biodiversity and
ecosystem services: State of the Environment reporting and
gap filling
Project Leaders and Host Organisations
Dr James Butler and Dr Petina Pert, CSIRO and Australian
Tropical Forest Institute
Project Description and Objectives
The Wet Tropics Natural Resource Management (NRM) region, which
includes North Queensland's eastern coastal catchments and much of
the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area, supports a range of complex
and diverse ecosystems and a large number of rare, endemic or
iconic species. These natural assets provide a broad range of
ecosystem services to the local community and society at large.
This project will identify key ecosystem services provided by
these assets, develop indicators for tracking their status and
trends, present results and trial a reporting framework suitable
for all partners. It will also create a synthesis of current
knowledge and databases on key biological and environmental assets
in the Wet Tropics, including the World Heritage Area and the
Terrain NRM region. The project draws on information gathered by
nine other relevant MTSRF projects in the Rainforest and Catchments
theme, and monitoring and evaluation projects in other MTSRF
themes, with particular reference to the Torres Strait (Project 1.3.5)
and Great Barrier Reef (Project 1.1.2).
In addition, parallel projects not funded by MTSRF will continue to
feed into the social and community-based facets of the project,
including a CSIRO-funded post-doctoral project on the development
of linked cultural and ecological indicators of ecosystem
health.
Project 1.2.1(d) - Insect Diversity
Project Leader and Host Organisation
Professor Nigel Stork, The University of Melbourne
Project Description and Objectives
This project is providing information on the
variation in insect abundance and diversity at different,
altitudes, locations and seasons throughout the central Wet Tropics
from Paluma to the Windsor Uplands. Insects are arguably the most
speciose animal group on the planet and play important roles in
terrestrial ecosystems. Understanding how they vary in abundance
and diversity across the Wet Tropics landscape is vitally important
to providing some measures of how susceptible these ecosystem
processes are to environmental change, particularly climate
change.
This project will provide:
-
A report on the first model of insect abundance across the Wet
Tropics landscape including seasonal change;
-
A report on the first model of insect diversity (species
richness) across the Wet Tropics landscape using selected taxa;
and
-
A report describing the first assessment of extinction proneness
of insects in the Wet tropics using beetles as an indicator
group.
Insects have been sampled using Flight Intercept Traps for more
than one year on a range of sites at different altitudes and
transects managed by Associate Professor Stephen Williams and his
group. Beetles have been removed from these samples and counts
made. Given the enormous number of individuals in the samples, five
beetle families are now the focus for the next stage of specimen
preparation and species sorting. These families are selected on the
basis of previous non-MTSRF research on the Atherton Tablelands and
Rainforest CRC funded studies at the Australian Canopy Crane
Research Facility.