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Australasian Plant Conservation

About the bulletin

Australasian Plant Conservation (APC) – the quarterly bulletin of the Australian Network for Plant Conservation (ANPC) – is a forum for information exchange for all those involved in plant conservation, whether in research, management, or on-ground practice, and where they can share their work with others. Each issue contains a range of articles on plant conservation issues, usually on a particular theme, which reflect the interests of the range of ANPC’s membership. However, off-theme articles are welcome at any time. Regular features include lists of the latest relevant publications, membership profiles, Australian Seed Bank Partnership news, and conference and workshop reports.

APC publishes articles from the breath of fields that inform plant conservation in Australasia, including, but not limited to, ecology, botany, conservation biology, aquatic botany, bryology, mycology, restoration, horticulture, social science (e.g., community environmental management), natural resource management and environmental policy.

The role of APC is to provide a common forum accessible to scientific researchers, land and natural resource managers and ecological consultants, and community practitioners. APC is a great way for scientists to communicate their findings to practitioners, and conversely for practitioners to report their work and practical issues in a scientific forum; an important part of APC’s role is to provide an avenue for practitioners with limited or no scope for publication in their field. Student and trainee papers are encouraged, as are papers from our Australasian neighbours (e.g., New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia). To the extent possible, and except for policy articles, we prefer material which includes at least indicative results and some attempt to identify generalisable results (not simply ‘we did this’, but ‘here’s what it means in our situation’).

APC is published quarterly and is provided free to ANPC members within Australia and worldwide as part of their subscription.

An index of past APC issues can be found here.

Article review

Australasian Plant Conservation is not a ‘peer-reviewed’ journal, but it is edited to a high scientific and technical standard, in liaison with authors as necessary. We seek to operate at the interface of the science and management of plant conservation, publishing information which can be applied to improve plant conservation.

Upcoming APC issues

IssueDateTheme(s)Call for papersDeadline for articles
32(3)December 2023 – February 2024GeneralSeptember 20231 November 2023
32(4)March – May 2024GeneralOctober 20231 February 2024
33(1)June – August 2024GeneralMarch 20241 May 2024
33(2)September – November 2024GeneralJune 20241 August 2024

 


Author guidelines

Please read through the information below to ensure your submission meets the required guidelines. Please include all required files in your submission to the Editor. Submissions with missing files or incorrect formatting may result in a delayed publication.

Article presentation

Authors are asked to keep our broad readership in mind – we seek articles that are as far as possible ‘plain-English’, without being dumbed down. Please take space in your draft to briefly explain (rather than assume) technical terms or concepts, or local situations, that may be unfamiliar to other sections of the readership. Please discuss with the editor if in doubt.

Article categories

Australasian Plant Conservation publishes the following article types. All submissions go through the same editing workflow as mentioned above.

Articles

The main submission for the bulletin and are complete reports on a topic in plant conservation. The text structure of these is broad but the use of sub-headings, figures and images is strongly encouraged. They are typically up to 1200 words (the word limit refers to the main text body and headings and does not include references or figure and table captions).

Short Communications

Smaller submissions and are best suited concise disseminations of information that do not fit a complete report style as per the Article type but provide important updates, insights or outcomes relevant to plant conservation. These generally should not exceed 500 words in length (not including references) and be accompanied by one or two key figures, images, or tables.

Translocation Case Study

Plant translocations are important intervention actions in plant conservation, but their motivation, outcomes and learnings are oftentimes not communicated for various reasons. To support the communication and publication of plant translocations, APC has a specific translocation case study template with required headings here. Please use this proforma for submitting translocation articles. These should still follow the correct text and reference formatting and figure presentation that are outlined below.

Correspondences

Similar to Short Communications but their purpose is for providing a forum for short comments on topical issues, anecdotal material and reactions to material published in APC. They should be no longer than 300 words and three or fewer references. We suggest that authors try to make one or two clear points and include relevant context to ensure their correspondence is ‘durable’ (time to publication may be up to 3 months). Tables and figures are not usually included in correspondence.

Please note: selection of Correspondence for publication in APC will be based first on relevance and interest to the readership of APC, and according to the principles of balance and fairness where necessary (e.g. right of reply). While authors are encouraged to express their opinion, the Editor will check for factual errors. Furthermore, publication of correspondence will be at the discretion of the Editor, in consultation with the President of ANPC (where necessary) and will be reviewed by members of the ANPC committee. Correspondence may be edited for publication (the author will be advised).

Photos from…

A new inclusion in APC from 2023 encouraging submissions of images that highlight current work in plant conservation. Each submission requires a single high-resolution image and accompanying extended description providing context to the image and identifying its importance and relevance to plant conservation. Examples include an image of a rare plant species found in the field, a recruitment event post-fire, a new technology in the laboratory, nursery or field, or a recent inclusion in a living collection. The written component should be at least 100 words and not exceed 300 words. References are not required for this submission.

Other submission types

We also welcome submissions for book reviews, titles of interesting recent publications or resources, and where they can be found, conference, workshop, course and fieldwork announcements, and details of relevant publications, information resources and websites. Such submissions are incorporated into regular features of APC (e.g., ‘Research Round up’).

Article submission

The deadlines for submitting articles to APC bulletins are available in the table above. Specific article enquiries including initial discussions on article ideas prior to submission should be addressed to the Editor. Authors are encouraged to read recent issues of APC to become familiar with the scope, details and format of articles.

All submissions must be accompanied by an Article Submission Form available as a PDF or DOC file.

Please email your submission to the Editor prior to a bulletin deadline via the email:  editor@anpc.asn.au

Title page

This should include the following information:

  1. Concise title for the article
  2. Names and affiliations (organisations) of all contributing authors
  3. Email address and phone number of the corresponding author

Text

Submissions must made using an electronic filetype such as Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) or Rich Text Format such as WordPad (.rtf). Further information regarding APC styling can be viewed by downloading the Article Template

All submissions should be in a style readily accessible to the diverse readership. Ensure all technical terminology is explained at their first usage.

Headings and sub-headings: the text should be divided into sections with headings and sub-headings for Article submissions. Headings and sub-headings can also be used for Short Communication and Correspondence where required. Please only use a capital letter for the first word and proper nouns.

Spelling and formatting: use Australian English, for example, ‘colour’ not ‘color’, and use ‘s’ not ‘z’ in words such as ‘organisation’, ‘recognise’ etc. (unless, for example, in titles of already published documents in reference list).

When referring to the species by its common name, please provide its scientific name in brackets (after the common name) the first time the species is mentioned. Common names should be capitalised, as in: Red Box, Grand Spider-orchid, Rainbow Plant. When referring to the species by its scientific name only, it is at the authors’ discretion whether the common name is given, or not. Currently accepted scientific name should be used as agreed by the Council of Heads of Australasian 8 Herbaria (CHAH) in the Australian Plant Census (http://www.anbg.gov.au/chah/apc/). APCensus usage is preferred, unless there is a case for variant usage to suit a State-specific or international context – in this case please make the nomenclatural equivalences explicit.

Use ‘subsp.’ rather than ‘ssp.’ for subspecies.

Formal species listing status should be capitalised (e.g., Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable) and relevant jurisdiction or government act (e.g., IUCN Red List, NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act) given at first mention.

Spell out all numbers less than 10. For example, “three” rather than “3”, unless it is followed by a unit, for example, 3 km. When reporting numbers 1,000 and up, please use a thousand separator (i.e., place a comma between each group of three digits).

Place a space between number and unit (i.e., 3 km), use en-dashes to separate numbers (e.g., 10–15 cm), and year ranges should be written in full (e.g., ‘1995–1996’ rather than ‘1995–96’).

There should be no spaces beside symbols +, – and ~ when they are followed by a number. There should also be no spaces beside forward and back slashes (e.g., and/or), or between a number and a per cent symbol (e.g., 20%) or between a number and degree symbol (e.g., 15°C).

No full stop is required after abbreviated titles (i.e., use ‘Dr’ rather than ‘Dr.’).

Seasons should not be capitalised (e.g., summer, autumn). North, east, south and west should not be capitalised when they are used to indicate a direction or general location; however, they should be capitalised when they form part of a specific region or proper noun. Similarly, words such as ‘national park’ and ‘state forest’ should be capitalised when referring to specific national parks or state forests, and not when writing about national parks and state forests in general.

Abbreviations: spell out abbreviations when first used followed by the abbreviation in parentheses, for example, “Australian Network for Plant Conservation (ANPC)”. Do not use full stops in abbreviations comprising capital letters, for example, “ACT”.

Italicise Latin abbreviations (use italic font), for example, “et al.”, “ex situ”, “in situ”.

Paragraphs and lists: separate paragraphs by a blank line and do not indent the start of a paragraph. Use single ‘quotes’ in text.

Information lists are a useful method to present key points or information. In these instances, use bulleted entries.

Images, figures and tables

All images, graphs, charts or other illustrative figures must be submitted to the Editor as separate files. Images embedded into the text file will not be accepted. Tables can be created and embedded into the text file using Microsoft Word or similar program.

Please include in the text submission file an approximate indication of where each image, figure or table should be placed. Each figure and table must be referred to in the text.

Each image, figure and table file should be named separately and logically, including the manuscript author’s name and figure number (e.g. “Smith_Fig1.tif”)

Photographs should be 300 dpi resolution and be submitted with at least 1500px on the longest size for publication. Accepted filetypes are: .tif, .jpg, .png or .gif.

Each image should be submitted separately even if they form a collage or multi-panel figure. In these instances, the images may need to be re-arranged to meet formatting restrictions and design requirements. Do not use add letters, for example, ‘a’, ‘b’ and ‘c’ into an image if it is part of a multi-panel figure, but include the letter in the file name instead.

Graphs or line drawings can be submitted similarly to photographs; however if Microsoft Excel was used to create graphs then please supply the original excel file separately, naming the file as per above. The following symbols should be avoided: ‘+’, “x” or “*” as they do not reproduce well. Any symbol should be explained in a figure legend or caption. Any lettering should use a sans-serif font such as Arial or Calibri.

Tables should include horizontal lines only (no vertical lines). Each table should have a brief title or caption that should make sense without the need to read the text.

References

In the text, references should be in chronological order. Multiple references should be separated by semi colons. Use “and” where there are two co-authors and “et al.” where there are more than two co-authors. Do not use a comma between author name and year. Government Acts should be italicised (e.g., Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999).

Referencing should be kept to a minimum and restricted to key references. All items in the reference list should be readily available. Where necessary, further detail can be given on methods of access (in brackets after the record). Please pay particular attention to formatting of author list (i.e., abbreviation of first names, spacing within abbreviations), presentation of year (in brackets, followed by full stop), italicisation of some fields (varying with reference type) and the use of “and” rather than “&”.

Incorrectly formatted references will be returned to the author for re-formatting. If websites or email addresses are cited in the main body of the text they should be bold formatted.

Please note: the referencing of articles differs to that within the APC section “Research Round up”.

·         Journal article

Constanza, R., D’Arge, R., De Groots, R., Farber, S., Grasso, M., Hannon, B., Limburg, K., Naeem, S., O’Neil, R.V., Paruelo, J., Raskin, R.G., Sutton, P. and Van Den Belt, M. (1997). The value of the world’s ecosystem services and natural capital. Nature 387: 253-260.

·         Online journal article

Kriticos, D. J., Morin, L., Leriche, A., Anderson, R.C., and Caley, P. (2013). Combining a climatic niche model of an invasive fungus with its host species distributions to identify risks to natural assets: Puccinia psidii Sensu Lato in Australia. PLoS ONE 8(5): e64479. https://doi.org/10.1371/ journal.pone.0064479

·         Book

Briggs, J.D., and Leigh, J. H. (1996). Rare or threatened Australian plants. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne. Section or chapter within a book: Erickson, T.E. and Merritt, D. J. (2016). Seed collection, cleaning and storage procedures. In: Erickson, T.E., Barrett, R.L., Merritt, D.L. and Dixon, K.W. (Eds.) Pilbara seed atlas and field guide: plant restoration in Australia’s arid northwest. pp. 7-116. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne.

·         Report (available online)

Hancock, N., Harris, R., Broadhurst, L. and Hughes, L. (2016). Climate-ready revegetation. A guide for natural resource managers. Macquarie University, Sydney. Available at: https://anpc.asn.au/resources/climate_ready_revegetation 12

·         Report (not available online)

Sattler, P. and Williams, R. (1999). The conservation status of Queensland’s bioregional ecosystems. Environmental Protection Agency, Queensland Government, Brisbane.

·         Thesis

Hall, K.B. (2015). Modeling the actual productivity of Eucalyptus benthamii in the Southeastern United States. Thesis for degree of Master of Science, Forestry and Environmental Resources, Raleigh, North Carolina.

·         Website

Australian Government (2016). ‘EPBC Act List of Threatened Flora’ (Australian Government Department of the Environment: Canberra). Available at: http://www.environment.gov.au/cgibin/sprat/publicthreatenedlist.pl?wanted-flora

Acknowledgements and conflicts of interest

Sources of funding should be declared within the acknowledgements section. Contributions of colleagues who are not listed as an author should acknowledged. Please ensure the permission for everyone acknowledged has been granted.

A conflicts of interest section can also be included after the acknowledgements section, identifying any financial, political, personal or professional relationships that may be understood to have influenced the manuscript.


Advertise in APC

Promote your organisation or business to ANPC members. Full colour advertising is available throughout APC! Please see our advertising rates here. All fees received help contribute towards the costs of printing and distributing APC.

Subscribe to APC

Australasian Plant Conservation is sent to ANPC members four times a year. When you have become a member, you will receive the previous two issues of APC for the calendar year you join.

APC Index

See the list of APC bulletins here from the present back to 1995, with a limited number of articles available to display. You can download a copy of all articles from APC Volume 13 Issue 1 to the present from Informit at a cost of $4.00 per article.


APC Editor – Allyssa Weinstein

Allyssa Weinstein with Button wrinklewort flowers

 

Alyssa has great enthusiasm for plants, science communication, and bringing science, government, industry, and community together to effectively conserve biodiversity. These interests have led her to roles with United Nations Environment Programme, the Australian federal government, as well as in academia. Alyssa is currently working as a consultant for UNEP, bringing her experience to the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem services. She previously worked at the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment, and Water, ensuring effective environmental regulation under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, as well as working in the international policy space.

Alyssa’s love for plants flourished growing up in the southwestern Australian biodiversity hotspot, where she completed her Honours at Kings Park and Botanic Garden, before moving to Canberra to pursue a PhD at ANU. In her thesis she investigated the pollination ecology of sexually-deceptive orchids, focussing on the genera Cryptosylis and Drakaea. Fortuitously, her work with Drakaea led Alyssa to a role assisting in the production of the hammer orchid sequence in David Attenborough’s Green Planet, a true highlight of her experiences as a science communicator.


Featured articles

Why Australia needs an Ecosystem Restoration Strategy. Australasian Plant Conservation 30(4): 13-18.

Australia needs a national strategy for ecosystem restoration. 2021 marks the beginning of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration1 which aims to prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems globally. In Australia, land use practices and invasive species are two of the most pervasive threats that have caused land degradation. We owe it to future generations of Australians to halt and repair as much of this environmental damage as we can, especially given the new and acute stresses that climate change is now imposing. [Full text PDF].

 

Retrospectives and perspectives on plant conservation in Australasia. Australasian Plant Conservation 30(3): 7-20.

Australasian Plant Conservation wrote to members of the plant conservation community, inviting short contributions on the themes: “What were you doing in 1991 and what are you doing now? How things have changed in the past 30 years.” and/or “What are the past, current and emerging issues for plant (or biodiversity) conservation in Australia (or Australasia)?” The following short articles are arranged in no particular order and encompass reflections and wisdom. They demonstrate how things have changed – and that some things stay the same Reading through these contributions I was overwhelmed by the breadth of experience and expertise contributing to the cause of plant conservation in Australasia. While we may not always be proud of Australia’s biodiversity conservation track record, there is hope for the future. [Full-text PDF]

 

 

Do all fire ephemerals warrant listing under threatened species legislation? By Stephen Bell. (Australasian Plant Conservation 30(2): 15-18).

Vegetation surveys are commonly undertaken to list or monitor plant species within a nominated area, and outcomes can be particularly dynamic in many environments. For most plants, the presence of above‐ground components is ordinarily sufficient to enact an identification, albeit within the caveat of seasonality for those taxa where the presence of fertile material is needed to confirm identity. Terrestrial orchids, for example, can rarely be confirmed without the seasonal emergence of flowering stems from underground tubers, or fruiting bodies may be required to distinguish between closely related species of Cyperaceae or Chenopodiaceae. There is also a whole suite of taxa (‘disturbance specialists’) which may only appear after some form of significant disturbance event (e.g., forest thinning, flood, fire) but will persist often for many years or decades in the above‐ground flora. Representatives from the widespread Fabaceae and Rutaceae families are good examples of this life‐strategy. [Full-text PDF]

 

In the Nick of Time – Post-drought recovery of two threatened Zieria species in central-western New South Wales. By Darren Shelly et al. (Australasian Plant Conservation 30(1): 13-16).

 

Granite Zieria (Zieria obcordata) is Endangered under the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (NSW BC Act) and the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). The perennial shrub grows to 100 cm and only occurs on granite outcrops in the Wellington and Bathurst districts in NSW. Monitoring has occurred since 2008, however most conservation management has happened since the start of the NSW Government’s Saving Our Species (SOS) program in 2016. The greatest threat to the species is continuous grazing. In native forest, wallabies target plants at certain times, removing branches and reducing reproductive potential…. [Full-text PDF]

 

 

How the severe fires of 2019-2020 promoted regeneration of the rare Bendethera Shrublands. By Mark Tozer et al. (Australasian Plant Conservation 29(4): 12-15).

The Bendethera Shrublands are a unique and fascinating ecological community restricted to less than 100 hectares on a series of steep limestone outcrops in the Deua River valley. The community is characterised by a dense shrub layer to around 7.5 metres height and dominated by Acacia covenyi, a locally endemic species, whose blue foliage forms a striking contrast with adjacent Eucalyptus forests (Figure 1a). Scattered eucalypts and kurrajongs emerge above the shrub thicket in places, the latter, according to conventional wisdom, indicating the location of dolines (a shallow, funnel-shaped depression of the ground surface, typically found in karst/limestone regions) in the underlying bedrock. The shrublands were located within the epicentre of some of the most severely burnt areas of the south coast. The fires were preceded by prolonged drought and followed by intense rainfall. We evaluated the impacts of these factors when we returned to our established monitoring sites in November 2020 … [Full-text PDF].

 

 

Ex situ conservation of a critically endangered fern. By Caroline Chong et al. (Australasian Plant Conservation 29(3): 16-19).

 

Pneumatopteris truncata is listed as Critically Endangered under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). The Australian population occurs only on Christmas Island where fewer than 50 mature individuals are known and population size fluctuates significantly across years. Ex situ conservation was prioritised as a critical response to insure against loss of the wild population. Spore from wild subpopulations was collected and germination and propagation techniques were trialled. This work has established ex situ spore and plant collections (more than 100 plants), developed protocols for germination and propagation of this species and identified priority future research for threatened fern species. … [Full-text PDF].

 

 

It’s not all about the birds and the bees – Challenges and triumphs of Conservation Seed Orchards at the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens. By Lorraine Perrins (Australasian Plant Conservation 29(2): 12-14).

One goal of the Tasmanian Seed Conservation Centre, based at the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens (RTBG), is to have all of Tasmania’s rare and threatened species and communities secured as long-term collections. Some major challenges in achieving this are:

  • 20% of Tasmania is remote Wilderness World Heritage with limited accessibility on foot, by air or sea.
  • Many threatened species occur in remote or inaccessible areas, meaning monitoring for seed harvest can be difficult and very expensive.
  • Some species occur in very small populations and/or occur sporadically across large areas making locating and harvesting difficult.

Developing ‘Conservation Seed Orchards’ often referred to as ‘Field Genebanks’ can provide a way to overcome some of these obstacles by providing ready access to genetically diverse collections. These are not without their own difficulties however, which can differ for individual sites and species, and need to be recognised and managed accordingly… [Full-text PDF]

 

Late summer and autumn rains spark new hope for three Endangered Midge Orchids in South-east NSW. By Laura Canackle et al. (Australasian Plant Conservation 29(1): 15-20).

Midge Orchids (genus Genoplesium) are a group of small terrestrial orchids typically producing a short, single flowering stem between 10–30 cm high, bearing clusters of small flowers in a moderately dense spike. When not in flower, only a single, thin, green leaf is present above ground that is indistinguishable from other midge orchids. In recent times, officers from the Department of Planning and Environment (DPIE) Ecosystems and Threatened Species team with NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), have become increasingly concerned about the low numbers of individuals of three threatened midge orchids being monitored as part of the NSW Saving our Species (SoS) program. Declines in populations appear related to unfavourable weather conditions associated with reduced summer rainfall, with uncertainty as to whether populations could ultimately survive under prolonged drought. Late summer and autumn rains in south-east NSW have contributed to a relatively large increase in the flowering populations of these orchids, bringing renewed hope that they will persist for a little longer. The stories of these midge orchids are outlined in this article… [Full-text PDF]

 

Plant conservation and fire. By Tony Auld et al. (Australasian Plant Conservation 28(4): 3-5).

We have just experienced the most extensive fires ever recorded in eastern Australia. It is timely to consider how fire influences our approaches to plant conservation, and the challenges that a changing climate brings. How fire affects the persistence of plant species and vegetation communities: Fire plays a role in the development and structure of most Australian vegetation communities. Most vegetation communities are burnt at some time and, within these communities, fire affects the survival of plants and animals. The components of a fire can be thought of as a fire regime – this is fire frequency, severity, season, type (e.g., surface, peat fire), extent and patchiness. These components interact to affect plant species survival at a site. So, in a very real sense, the impact of a fire on a plant at a particular site (including the current fires) depends on both the past fire history at that site and the characteristics of the current fire (severity, season, patchiness). Fires do not destroy bushland, as both plants and animals have strategies to survive fires and recover after the fire has passed. However, depending on the fire regime (e.g., fire severity, frequency, type), some species may decline …[Full-text PDF]

 

Germination of the rarely seen Pink Flannel Flower (Actinotus forsythii; Apiaceae). By Ruby Paroissien et al. (Australasian Plant Conservation 28(3): 3-5).

Fire is an important driver shaping the composition of plant communities in Australia. Fire ephemerals are a unique element of the fire-vegetation relationship, emerging in the first few months after fire and persisting only for one to several years. These species have a strong dependence on fire to germinate and, as ephemerals only live a short time in their plant phase, spend the majority of their life cycle as seeds in the soil. Consequently, it is likely that they have developed relatively complex and specific requirements to overcome dormancy and promote germination … [Full-text PDF]

New discoveries for the endangered Illawarra Socketwood (Daphnandra johnsonii, Atherospermataceae). By Jedda Lemmon (Australasian Plant Conservation 28(2):13-15).

The New South Wales Government’s Saving our Species program (SoS) aims to secure threatened flora in the wild through targeted conservation projects. Monitoring and conservation efforts for the Illawarra Socketwood (Daphnandra johnsonii), listed as Endangered on boththe NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 and the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, has resulted in multiple gains in our knowledge of this species. The Illawarra Socketwood Recovery Plan (DEC 2005) highlighted that limited seed development and factors responsible for the production of ‘pseudo fruit’ are essential aspects of the species’ biology requiring investigation. We are pleased to report that we are now able to explain the cause of deformed fruit in this species. Increased field survey and monitoring has also led to the discovery of many new populations, and we have commenced genetic work to better understand the extent of clonality in this species…. [Full-text PDF]

 

Threatened plant translocation study: Posidonia australis (Strapweed), Posidoniaceae. By Guilia Ferretto et al. (Australasian Plant Conservation 28(1): 24-26).

Posidonia australis meadows occur in six NSW estuaries (Port Hacking, Botany Bay, Sydney Harbour, Pittwater, Brisbane Waters and Lake Macquarie) have experienced large reductions in distribution since the mid-1900s. It is at risk of becoming locally extinct in some estuaries due to ongoing impacts. One of the ongoing impacts for loss of P. australis in NSW estuaries is traditional swing moorings (Glasby and West 2018). These moorings are composed of a large concrete block connected to a heavy chain that drags along the seafloor as the boat swings on its axis due to shifting wind and tides, directly removing seagrass shoots (Demers et al. 2013). Swing moorings create bare patches or scars that destabilise the sediment and change hydrodynamic conditions, resulting in fragmented meadows (Figure 1) … [Full text PDF]

Fire is the key to survival of Avenue Cassinia. By Bryan Haywood (Australasian Plant Conservation 27(4): 21-23).

Avenue Cassinia (Cassinia tegulata) is a nationally threatened species occurring in south-eastern Australia. The species has a limited range, in the South East region of South Australia to western Victoria. With a preference for interdunal wetland habitats, Avenue Cassinia has undergone significant reductions in both area of occupancy and population size as a direct result of extensive drainage and land clearance (Thompson and Haywood 2017). Other major threats to the species’ long-term survival include climate change, population isolation (limiting recruitment and decreasing genetic diversity), herbivore pressure, environmental weeds, loss of Indigenous use of fire as a land management tool and overall lack of species knowledge…. [Full text PDF]

Threatened plant translocation case study: Grevillea scapigera (Corrigin Grevillea), Proteaceae. By Bob Dixon and Siegy Krauss (Australasian Plant Conservation 27(3): 22-25).

The Corrigin Grevillea was first collected in 1954, and has been known from only 13 small, mainly degraded roadside populations restricted to a 50 km radius area around the Wheatbelt town of Corrigin in Western Australia. The Wheatbelt region has been extensively used for agricultural purposes and over 94% of its 14 million hectares has been cleared. In 1986 the Corrigin Grevillea was presumed extinct. In 1989 a single grafted plant was identified in Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney and was brought to Kings Park in Perth where it was initiated successfully into in vitro culture. The following year, naturally occurring plants were discovered near Corrigin, and at the time, up to 35 living specimens were known in the wild. Due to its rarity, the destruction of its habitat, the extreme vulnerability of degraded and isolated roadside remnant populations and the low ability of the species to regenerate on its own, translocation was determined to be critical for the survival of the species in situ…. [Full text PDF].

The responsibilities of ecological consultants in disseminating outcomes from threatened species surveys: a call to arms. By Stephen Bell (Australasian Plant Conservation 27(2): 3-6).

Ecological consultants are often in the enviable position of being paid to botanically explore and seek out threatened plants. Yes, there are attractive jobs in remote or pristine locations where few botanists have trod before, but there are also less desirable projects in weed-infested remnants across highly fragmented landscapes or in heavily urbanised environments. Both offer the potential to uncover important information on threatened plants. But are we, as consultants, fulfilling our responsibilities for the cause of conservation by disseminating the outcomes of threatened species surveys and monitoring? …. [Full text PDF]

Threatened plant translocation case study: Involvement in the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria’s Orchid Conservation Program by volunteers from the Australasian Native Orchid Society Victoria Group. By Noushka Reiter and Richard Thomson (Australasian Plant Conservation 27(1): 19-22).

Orchids are one of the most charismatic and diverse plant families with over 26,000 species worldwide (WSPF 2018). Australia is home to more than 1800 (Backhouseet al., 2016) species and subspecies of orchid, with the majority being terrestrial species found predominately in the temperate south. Victoria has in excess of 400 species of native orchids with many occurring nowhere else on Earth. Orchid habitat in Victoria varies from alpine peaks to semi-arid mallee, swamps, native grasslands, heath lands, and eucalypt forests of all types. The majority of our native orchids emerge from an underground tuber in autumn, flower in late winter-spring and set seed before the summer, when they retreat back to their underground tuber. All orchids are reliant on one or more species of mycorrhizal partner (Rasmussen 1995) to germinate in the wild, and are often pollinated by only one or a few species of insect (Tremblay et al. 2005). Successful conservation translocations (supplementations, reintroductions and introductions) of these plants typically require a thorough understanding of their ecology including pollinators and mycorrhizal fungi (Reiter et al. 2016). …[Full text PDF]

 

Threatened plant translocation case study: Ricinocarpos brevis, Euphorbiaceae. By Carole Elliott, Kylie Wilkonson and Shane Turner (Australasian Plant Conservation 26(4): 12-15).

Approximately 1200 wild plants were estimated to occur in the Monarto and Mount Monster populations in 2010 (Pound et al. 2010). The species is listed as Endangered under the Australian Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act), and Critically Endangered under IUCN criteria. Translocation trials were conducted at both population centers with the aim of enhancing natural populations while at the same time testing various techniques and management options (Jusaitis 2010). This case study focusses on a trial originally designed to examine the influence of herbivory on translocant establishment, but long-term monitoring additionally revealed an intriguing interaction of climate with herbivory (Jusaitis 2012). ….[Full text PDF]

Recent book reviews

Allure of Fungi by Alison Pouliot. Review by Michele Kohout. [PDF]

Australian Forest Woods by Morris Lake. Review by Jugo Ilic. [PDF]

A Guide to Native Bees of Australia by Terry Houston. Review by Paul Kucera. [PDF]

Restoring Farm Woodlands for Wildlife by David Lindemayer et al. Review by David Cheal. [PDF]