01 May 2012
ANPC CALLING BUSHLAND RESTORATION ARTICLES for Australasian Plant Conservation (APC)
We are seeking articles for the June – August 2012 issue of Australasian Plant Conservation (APC), the bulletin of the Australian Network for Plant Conservation.
The issue will be on the theme ‘Bushland Restoration’ and will highlight current small scale efforts and local approaches towards the restoration of bushland areas.
If you, your group, or organisation, has been undertaking bushland restoration, we encourage you to submit an article. What are your visions and goals? What were your challenges? What have been your successes? What has worked really well, and what wouldn’t you repeat again?
Articles generally should not exceed 1200 words and authors are encouraged to submit two or three high resolution images to illustrate their article. Further guidelines for authors about the APC style and scope can be downloaded here.
General articles not on the theme are also welcome. We also welcome: book reviews; notes regarding interesting recent publications or resources; and workshop, course and fieldwork announcements.
If you are considering submitting an article or wish to discuss possibilities, please contact the editor, Selga Harrington asap. Email at selga.harrington@gmail.com.
ANPC SEEKING BOOK REVIEWERS
The ANPC is seeking reviewers for the following recently or soon to be released books:
- Biodiversity Monitoring in Australia by David Lindenmayer and Philip Gibbons
- Plants of the Victorian High Country by John Murphy and Bill Dowling
- Life in a Gall by Rosalind Blanche
- Australia's Poisonous Plants, Fungi and Cyanobacteria by Ross McKenzie
Reviewers get to keep the review copy of the book.
Send expressions of interest to Selga Harrison at selga.harrington@gmail.com
NEWS: ANPC Training helps detect Myrtle rust in Far North Queensland
Myrtle Rust has recently been confirmed in the Cairns Regional Council Nursery in Mossman in Far North Queensland and in the residential garden of one of the nursery staff. The detection in the residential garden is the first detection of myrtle rust in the environment (i.e. outside a nursery situation) in Far North Queensland.
The Queensland Myrtle Rust Program recently reported that ‘The infestation in Mossman has probably been detected at an early stage due to the vigilance of Cairns Regional Council staff. The council has been very proactive in its approach to myrtle rust, ensuring many of its staff received high level myrtle rust training prior to the establishment of the disease in the area. Training was provided in December 2011 by Biosecurity Queensland and Bob Makinson from the Australian Network for Plant Conservation Inc. No doubt it has been a combination of this training and the alertness of council staff that has enabled this early detection of the disease.’
For more information on Myrtle Rust check out Bob Makinson’s recent Myrtle Rust Update.
NEWS: 12 extra species added to the Weeds of National Significance list (WONS)
The Australian Weeds Committee has declared an additional 12 Weeds of National Significance (WoNS) based on their economic, environmental and social impacts and potential to spread. Some of the additions are for whole groups of related species (Brooms, Aparagaus weeds, Opuntioid cacti).
The additional weeds which have been added to the WoNS list are:
- African boxthorn
- Asparagus weeds
- Bellyache bush
- Crooms
- Cat's claw creeper
- Fireweed
- Gamba grass
- Madeira vine
- Opuntioid cacti
- Sagittaria
- Silverleaf nightshade
- Water hyacinth
For more information on Weeds of National Significance visit http://www.weeds.org.au/WoNS/index.html
NEWS: Global ecosystem assessment panel established
Governments from more than 90 countries have agreed to establish an independent panel of scientists to assess the very latest research on the state of the planet's fragile ecosystems. The decision, which will create a body akin to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), was made 21st April in Panama City, after years of negotiations.
The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) will be responsible for producing international scientific assessments on issues such as ocean acidification and pollination, to help policy-makers to tackle the global loss of biodiversity and degradation of ecosystems.
More information can be found in this Article in Nature and the IPBES website.
NEW PUBLICATION: Plant Reintroduction in a Changing Climate: Promises and Perils
Plant Reintroduction in a Changing Climate: Promises and Perils, presents a comprehensive review of plant reintroduction projects and practices, the circumstances of their successes or failures, lessons learned, and the potential role for reintroductions in preserving species threatened by climate change. Contributors examine current plant reintroduction practices, from selecting appropriate source material and recipient sites to assessing population demography.
The findings culminate in a set of Best Reintroduction Practice Guidelines, included in an appendix. These guidelines cover stages from planning and implementation to long-term monitoring, and offer not only recommended actions but also checklists of questions to consider that are applicable to projects around the world.
PUBLICATION: Literature review, translocations as a tool for biodiversity conservation during climate change
A literature review, commissioned by the Scottish Natural Heritage, reviews the application of species translocations as a conservation tool for the establishment or protection of populations in northerly and/or montane environments. The current generic debate concerning translocations and climate change is reviewed, and application of this technique to three species groups: lichens and bryophytes, vascular plants, and invertebrates considered. The application of various ecological modelling techniques to the issue of species translocation and climate change is also considered and key research questions that might be addressed by experimental study are proposed.
Download the report here.
EVENT: ANPC National Conference - Plant Conservation in Australia, Achievement & Future Directions, 29 Oct - 2 Nov 2012, Canberra
- review and highlight plant conservation achievements in Australia over the last two decades,
- evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of our existing approaches to plant conservation,
- highlight current major issues facing plant conservation in Australia, and
- identify plant conservation directions in Australia for the coming decades.
Further information available from the conference website.
EVENT: Society for Ecological Restoration Australasia Conference - Perth, November 28-30 2012
The SER-Australasia Inaugural Conference will be held in Perth, Western Australia, 28-30 November 2012. The three day conference program will feature restoration topics of global interest, including themes on 'Our restoration capabilities within a changing world'. Abstract submission for contributed oral and poster presentations is now open and will close on Thursday 31 May.
EVENT: Investing in Environmental Performance Workshop, Adelaide, 15-17 October 2012
SMI Knowledge Transfer are holding their inaugural workshop on Investing in Environmental Performance in Adelaide, South Australia, 15-17 October 2012. The workshop 'aims to highlight the diversity and build awareness of the improvements in environmental management that are currently occurring in the Australian Resources Sector.'
‘Managing Ecosystems – establishment and resilience’ is included in the list of topics for which abstracts are invited.
More information, including a call for abstracts, can be found here.
EVENT: Australasian Systematic Botany Society Conference, Perth, 23-28 Sept 2012
The Australasian Systematic Botany Society will hold their 2012 conference in Perth 23-28th September 2012. The conference theme, Local knowledge, global delivery, follows from last year's landmark International Botanical Congress in Melbourne, where sweeping new changes surrounding the publication of new taxa were proposed. Electronic publication came into effect at the start of 2012, marking a new era in the communication of local research to a world wide audience.
We are also in a time of rapidly advancing technologies, which has seen the development of new online tools for compiling and delivering systematic information. To this end, abstracts are invited on biodiversity informatics, web-based collaborations, electronic publishing and eFloras. Abstracts are also invited on local endemism, pollination and biodiversity threats such as climate change and plant pathogens. Students are strongly encouraged to attend and present their research, even if their projects are in their infancy.
Abstracts are due by 30 June 2012. More information available on the conference website.
EVENT: Society for Conservation Biology Oceania 2012, Darwin 21 – 23 Sept 2012
Society for Conservation Biology’s Oceania section are holding a regional conference on Conservation Biology in Oceania 21st – 23rd September 2012 in Darwin. The theme is 'People and Conservation in Land and Sea Country'.
Land and sea country are terms used by Indigenous people in northern Australia to refer to the environments they have managed for millennia. The philosophy underlying land and sea country management of passing on the knowledge and values inherited from ancestors to descendants is widely shared by conservation biologists across the globe. The meeting will showcase Indigenous conservation management while highlighting the tools and knowledge now available to all conservation practitioners in caring for land and sea country. Symposia and workshop suggestions on any topic relevant to conservation biology in the region are welcome.
Abstracts due 15th May and Early Bird registrations close 1st July. More information available from the conference website.
NSW EVENT: ‘Plan a Regenesis Forest’ workshop
Are you a Council, CMA, Landcare group, other NGO or private landowner who would like to plant locally native, bio-diverse forests that can be utilised for carbon trading? Blacktown City Council and Liverpool Plains Shire Council partnered with their communities to do this, and wish to tell you how you can too through one of their Plan a Regenesis Forest workshops.
Regenesis is a model for planning and planting locally native reforestation projects that create additional revenue for landholders to establish and maintain native vegetation. The Regenesis model provides a do it yourself kit to enable landowners, councils and other land managers to participate in carbon emissions trading schemes.
Workshops will be run in the following NSW locations: Blacktown Friday 4 May, Orange Tuesday 15 May, Quirindi Thursday 17 May, Queanbeyan Tuesday 22 May, Bellingen Wednesday 13 June, Lismore Friday 15 June, Armidale Monday 18 June.
Further information Contact the Regenesis team at regenesis@blacktown.nsw.gov.au, 0423 784 019.
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