| Regional patterns of environmental variables, land
cover classes (including both natural and human components),
stocks of carbon and other elements, biophysical processes,
and biodiversity must be known in order to manage the
Wet Tropics region for the sustainable delivery of ecosystem
goods and services.
Since these patterns are not constant, an understanding
of how they change and the implications of change are
also essential. Further, methods are required to assess
the implications of land management decisions and, ideally,
to determine landscape patterns that maximise, or at
least improve, the ecological, economic and social sustainability
of the region.
The team integrates a wide variety of skills (geomorphology,
plant and soil ecology, geographic information systems,
remote sensing, and modelling) to provide a broad understanding
of the landscape ecology of the Wet Tropics and develop
techniques that are applicable to other regions.
Research Strategy
The team's research currently falls under three
themes:
- knowing and understanding landscapes
- predicting changes and the impacts of change in
landscapes
- designing optimal landscapes
Given the limited knowledge of spatial patterns and
processes in the Wet Tropics region, the majority of
work to date has been concentrated in Theme 1, with
some work in Theme 2. Theme 3 is largely in the planning
stage but is expected to grow considerably as an important
application of strategic research in themes 2 and 3
Theme 1 - Knowing and understanding landscapes
Focuses on providing an understanding of the
dynamic distributions of ecological properties and processes
in time and space across the Wet Tropics. Ecological
properties and processes include categories - forest
type and other land-cover classes, quantitative measures
- biomass, species diversity, and rates of primary productivity.
Measuring, mapping, and understanding these distributions
is a fundamental prerequisite for the informed management
and sustainable use of the region. Research in this
theme includes assessments of how regional patterns
have changed since European settlement and in the recent
geological past.
Theme 2 - Predicting changes and the impacts
of change in landscapes
This theme is aimed at an understanding of the main
drivers of change in the past, present and future. Past
changes in climate, for instance, have had a large influence
on the present patterns of biodiversity and are a good
way to interpret future impacts of climate and other
regional changes. Research in this theme uses information
from Theme 1, along with various modelling methods,
to develop a predictive understanding of landscape change.
Global change impacts work is a significant part of
this theme.
Theme 3 - Designing optimal, sustainable landscapes
These projects will involve analysing the ways that
landscape patterns could be altered to improve the social,
economic, and ecological balance of the region. The
team's focus will remain on the biophysical aspects
of sustainability with outputs that will be integrated
with similar analyses in the social and economic spheres.
Projects
A long-term project, "Regional patterns and landscape
dynamics", is currently funded by the Rainforest
CRC. This project contributes to a wider program of
research aimed at evaluating ecosystem goods and services
in the Wet Tropics region.
Other, ongoing work uses statistical modelling and
artificial neural networks to model the potential distributions
of structural forest classes and certain animal species
in the Wet Tropics of North Queensland. A long-term
data set of forest dynamics is being analysed and may
lead to more mechanistic modelling approaches.
A new Rainforest CRC project, "Impacts of Climate
Change on Rainforest Ecosystems and Biodiversity",
will combine long-term monitoring, development of one
of the most detailed database on a tropical rainforest
in the world, and sophisticated modelling tools to predict
the impacts of climate change on biodiversity and ecosystem
dynamics. |
