The multi-faceted nature of the rainforest is
reflected in the multi-disciplinary research of the Rainforest CRC,
which brought together a range of experts in an exciting research
portfolio.
The research of the Rainforest CRC involved eight research
programs, each consisting of a number of independent projects or
tasks. Associated with each Program was a Support Group, consisting
of the Program Leader, a Group Coordinator, Project personnel and
various research user representatives with interests in particular
research areas. Each Program also hosted a number of postgraduate
students undertaking PhD, Masters or Honours studies in areas
relevant to Rainforest CRC objectives within particular
projects.
Led by Professor Geoff McDonald, CSIRO
Sustainable Ecosystems
Tropical forests are restricted in extent and
subject to expanding development pressures from growing residential
populations that place increasing demands on natural ecosystems,
including increased land and water demands for recreational,
agricultural, tourism and urban use. Managers and planners have
identified the need for tools and information for decision-making
at a variety of scales ranging from strategic planning for
bio-regions to design and monitoring at local and site scales.
Their over-riding need is to find ways to achieve ecologically
sustainable development that balances ecological, economic and
social values of the rainforest itself and surrounding lands. This
program applies innovative research to deliver the tools necessary
for efficient planning and management at a range of scales, and
links with other programs to provide a vital means of translating
scientific research to assist the management and planning tasks of
land owners, government decision-makers and developers.
Program 1 involves four Projects (click on links to
download archived PDF Project files - please note these are
external links):
Project
1.1 Wet Tropics Regional Natural Resource Management Plan (see
also Wet Tropics NRM
Series)
Project
1.2 Regional State of the Wet Tropics Satellite-based Monitoring
Information System (see also
Publication # 39)
Project
1.4 The Bama Plan (see also
Wet Tropics Aboriginal Cultural and Natural Resource Management
Plan)
Project
1.5 Appropriate Economies Roundtable (see also Publication #
35)
Program 2 Functional Ecology and Global Change
Led by Dr David Hilbert, CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems
There is increasing recognition of the need to
more effectively communicate and inform public and policy debate on
natural resource management issues in the Wet Tropics region. In
particular, the problem of how to quantify and more objectively
value the 'services' that natural ecosystems provide to society
(e.g. clean water and air, carbon sequestration, habitat for
wildlife) is attracting considerable interest from sections of the
community. This program is identifying and quantifying (in
biophysical terms) some of the key ecosystem services provided to
the community by the north Queensland rainforest, and developing
and applying economic methodologies which can be used to value
these services. The aim is to produce a framework within which the
impacts on key ecosystem services, of changing land use and
climate, can be evaluated and incorporated into regional
planning.
Program 2 involves three Projects (click on links to
download archived PDF Project files - please note
these are external links):
Project
2.2 Water Regulation as an Ecosystem Service
Project
2.4 Ecological Services and Dis-services Provided by Rainforest
Arthropods (see also
Publication # 20)
Project
2.5 Impacts of Climate Change on Rainforest Ecosystems and
Biodiversity (see also
Publication # 46 /
Publication # 28)
Program 3 Canopy Processes and Dynamics
Led by Professor Roger Kitching, Griffith University
Program 3 aims to study the response of
pollination systems to fragmentation within Wet Tropics
rainforests, using the Australian Canopy Crane Research Facility.
The Facility will also be used to study the steady state of carbon,
heat and water fluxes of a pristine rainforest using instrumental
techniques, and evaluate the diurnal and annual variations in
response to changing climatic conditions.
Program 3 involves two Projects (click on links to download
archived PDF Project files - please note these are
external links):
Project
3.1 Floral Biology and Canopy Pollination in Fragmented Forests
(see also
Publication # 47)
Project
3.2 Net Ecosystem Exchange of Carbon, Heat and Water in a Tropical
Rainforest (see also Australian Canopy Crane
Research Facility)
Program 4 Rainforest Access: Managing and Monitoring
Impacts
Led by Professor David Gillieson, James Cook University
This Program investigates the nature and
consequences of visitation and usage on Wet Tropics rainforests and
adjacent forest communities and examines their impacts on natural
and cultural heritage values. Standardised data collection
methodologies and long-term monitoring procedures will be
established involving management agency staff, Aboriginal
communities and tourism operators. Outputs will be used to prepare
best practice guidelines for the design, construction and
maintenance of visitor infrastructure, experience, access and
movements of roads, powerline corridors and walking tracks. The
program will provide land managers, public utilities, the tourist
industry and other stakeholders with the information and tools to
consider and manage potential consequences relevant to sustainable
rainforest visitation and usage.
Program 4 involves four Projects (click on links to
download archived PDF Project files - please note
these are external links):
Project 4.1
Strategies for Sustainable Rainforest Visitation and Use (see
also
Publication # 24)
Project
4.2 Sustainable Roads, Powerlines and Walking Tracks (see also
Publication # 50)
Project
4.3 Improving GIS Models of Ecological Impacts Using High
Resolution Remote Sensing (see also Publication
# 54)
Project
4.5 Main Roads Strategic Alliance (see also
Strategic Alliance Reports)
Program 5 Restoration Ecology and Farm Forestry
Led by Associate Professor Carla Catterall, Griffith
University
Rehabilitation and restoration of rainforest is
a slow and costly process. Better understanding is needed of how to
optimise and monitor the ecological improvement for each unit of
reforestation effort, and of the socio-economic processes
influencing reforestation decisions. Reforestation spans a spectrum
of activities ranging from intensive native ecosystem reinstatement
to farm forestry with an expected timber product. All types,
however, function in some way to sustain the biodiversity and key
ecological processes which are a motivational factor in a large
proportion of reforestation projects. This Program aims to develop
techniques for optimising the biodiversity values of reforestation
areas, and to provide a sound scientific basis for decisions
concerning the achievement of sustainable forest cover at catchment
and regional levels through a balance of restoration and
conservation.
Program 5 involves three Projects (click on links to
download archived PDF Project files - please note
these are external links):
Project
5.1 Restoration Techniques (see also
RIRDC Publication No. 05/087)
Project
5.2 Biodiversity Values and Landscape Context in Reforestation
(see also
Publication # 51 /
Publication # 53 /
Publication # 34 /
Publication # 29 / Issues in Tropical
Forest Landscapes Series)
Project
5.3 Social and Economic Aspects of Reforestation (see also
Publication # 49 /
Publication # 32 /
Publication # 22 / Other
Resources)
Program 6 Conservation Principles and Management
Led by Dr David Westcott, CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems
This Program will determine spatial patterns in
biodiversity and discover the processes that produce these
patterns. The most vulnerable components of biodiversity are rare
species. The Program will therefore identify geographical hotspots
of rare species and classify those species either resilient or
sensitive to human-induced habitat change and use that information
to develop a classification of rarity appropriate to Queensland's
rainforests and to assist management in setting priorities. This
will improve our understanding of how rare species are affected by
threatening processes and how they respond to their management, and
will include an evaluation of options for the mitigation of
threatening processes. With the capacity to predict the geographic
distribution of rare, endangered and vulnerable species and their
specific responses to management, Program 6 will design principles,
appropriate data and transparent planning tools for the
determination of optimal locations and configurations of
biodiversity priority areas. This will form the biodiversity input
to the regional planning toolkit being developed in Program 1.
Program 6 involves six Projects (click on links to download
archived PDF Project files - please note these are
external links):
Project
6.1 Rainforest Ecology and Evolution
Project
6.2.1 Ecology and Management of Wet Tropics Weeds (see also
Publication # 25)
Project
6.2.2 Diet and Trapping Strategies of Feral Pigs in the Wet Tropics
World Heritage Area (see also Issues in
Tropical Forest Landscapes Series / Publication
# 13)
Project
6.3.1 Spectacled Flying Foxes: Solutions for Management (see
also CSIRO
Project Webpages)
Project
6.3.2 Seed Dispersal: A Threatened Ecological Process (see also
CSIRO
Project Webpage / 2005
International Symposium Website /
Publication # 29)
Project
6.4 Impacts of Climate Change on Australia's Rainforest Marsupial
Folivores
Project
6.5 Dynamic Models for Management
Program 7 Aboriginal Collaboration and Capacity-building in
Research
Led by Dr Sandra Pannell, James Cook University
The rainforest is a complex system of living
Aboriginal cultures. Cultural sustainability of the rainforest
recognises and respects Indigenous peoples prior ownership and
knowledge of the rainforest incorporating land management and
environmental knowledge, language and social structures. Culturally
sustainable management of rainforest is a two-way street with land
management agencies having obligations to Aboriginal people to
protect cultural heritage and Aboriginal people having land
management responsibilities to their country. There exists a direct
interrelationship between the cultural sustainability of the
rainforest and its ecological and economic sustainability. Program
7 works to ensure information is available to enable incorporation
by agencies and industry of best management practices that are
appropriately cultural, collaborative and capacity building for
Aboriginal Traditional Owners in reciprocal relationships with
others within the Wet Tropics region.
Program 7 involves four Projects (click on links to
download archived PDF Project files - please note
these are external links):
Project
7.1 An Environmental History of Ngadjon-Jii Country and
Community (see also Publication
# 43)
Project
7.2 Indigenous Cultural Values of the Wet Tropics World Heritage
Area (see also Publication
# 48)
Project
7.3 Technical Education and Training and Participatory
Domestication of Native Food Plants with the Ma:Mu Community
(see also Forest Matters
Newsletter, April 2004, p. 10)
Project
7.4 Aboriginal Training for Capacity-building (see also
Publication # 18)
Program 10 Catchment to Reef Joint Research Program with CRC
Reef Research Centre
Led by Professor Richard Pearson, James Cook University
The goal of this joint Program between the
Rainforest CRC and CRC Reef is to develop new protocols and tools
to identify, monitor and mitigate water quality problems and to
assess the health of aquatic ecosystems in the Wet Tropics and
Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Areas.
This integrated Catchment to Reef Program approach aims to minimise
the downstream effects of agriculture and improve the ecosystem
health of the Great Barrier Reef lagoon and its feeder catchments.
The Program will provide the tools needed by landholders, industry
and other stakeholders to monitor the effects of land use changes
and restoration on water quality.
Download
Catchment to Reef Brochure
Download
Catchment to Reef Newsletter (May 2006)
See also
Publication # 27 /
Freshwater Fishes of North Eastern Australia
Program 10 involves seven Tasks (Projects) (click on links to
download archived PDF Task files -
please note these are external
links):
Task 1
Riparian Zone Performance: Tools and Protocols for Quality
Assessment and Monitoring
Task 2
Monitoring Tools for Water Quality Assessment
Task 3 River
Health Assessment Tools
Task 4
Frameworks for Integrated Catchment Management
Task 5
Advanced Technologies for Monitoring Water Quality in the Great
Barrier Reef
Task 6
Condition and Trend Assessments for Coastal Marine
Communities
Task 7
Achieving Outcomes: Adoption of Tools Through Training of the
Current and Next Generation of Practitioners
