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Offsets (also known as mitigation banks, compensatory habitat, set-asides) is a policy instrument recently introduced in several States in Australia to permit some land clearing while striving for no net loss in the extent and condition of native vegetation overall. Offsetting is criticized with respect to the amount of gain required to compensate for losses from clearing, the equivalence of losses and gains, the time lag between losses and gains and a poor record of compliance. Despite these criticisms, we conclude that offsetting is a useful policy instrument while governments continue to permit some clearing of native vegetation. However, offsets will only contribute to no net loss if (i) clearing is restricted to vegetation that is simplified enough so that its functions can be restored elsewhere with confidence or clearing is restricted to vegetation that is unlikely to persist and is not practicable to restore irrespective of clearing; (ii) any temporary loss in habitat between clearing and the maturation of an offset, or differences between the habitat lost from clearing and gained through an offset, does not represent significant risk to a species, population or ecosystem process; (iii) there will be gains of sufficient magnitude on the offset site to compensate for losses from clearing; (iv) best practice adaptive management is applied to offsets; (v) offsets are in place for at least the same duration as the impacts from clearing; and (vi) there is adequate compliance. Land clearing with offsets outside these parameters is inconsistent with 'no net loss'.

Global defense spending is $US1753 billion annually or approximately 2.5% of the world GDP. Significant time and resources is spent in training 28 million defense personnel worldwide. Much of this training on land takes place within specifically designated military training areas (MTAs). Globally, the size of the MTA estate is likely to be very large, but just how large is unknown. Our preliminary analyses has identified that MTAs cover at least 1% of the Earth's surface. This figure is believed to be closer to 5–6% as no verifiable data exist for the majority of Africa, South America and Asia. MTAs occur in all major global ecosystems and have the potential to increase the global protected area network by at least 25%. MTAs therefore have an important complementary role to play in global conservation. However public policy makers, the scientific community, government agencies, and nongovernment organizations have largely ignored MTAs as a conservation resource. To realize the potential major contribution to conservation that MTAs can play we propose four key policy changes: (1) better document the environmental values of MTAs, (2) develop integrated MTA land management models, (3) increase dedicated financial resources for the land management of MTAs, and (4) strengthened global leadership to manage MTAs as an environmental resource.

"Long-term monitoring programs are fundamental to understanding the natural environment and managing major environmental problems. Yet they are often done very poorly and ineffectively. This second edition of the highly acclaimed Effective Ecological Monitoring describes what makes monitoring programs successful and how to ensure that long-term monitoring studies persist. The book has been fully revised and updated but remains concise, illustrating key aspects of effective monitoring with case studies and examples. It includes new sections comparing surveillance-based and question-based monitoring, analysing environmental observation networks, and provides examples of adaptive monitoring. Based on the authors' 80 years of collective experience in running long-term research and monitoring programs, Effective Ecological Monitoring is a valuable resource for the natural resource management, ecological and environmental science and policy communities."--Page 4 of cover

This article argues that, despite environmental issues climbing higher on the political agenda and considerable recent policy activity, rhetoric is not matched by reality in our efforts to manage the Australian environment. We integrate the imperatives emerging from the policy and sustainability literatures and from actual policy, with detailed work on wildlife conservation in Victoria's Central Highlands. Our analysis demonstrates that, rather than undertaking the more intensive policy and 'adaptive management' that is needed, governments are often doing less and may actually be 'taking their hands of their wheel'. Some public policy and administration implications of the emerging policy field of sustainability are illustrated.

Conversion of natural woodlands to grazing pastures is a major driver of biodiversity loss. In response to this threat, regenerative management approaches have been proposed to balance agriculture with biodiversity conservation. Yet rigorous experiments investigating the effectiveness of such approaches are rare. We used time‐series data from a broad‐scale experiment in south‐eastern Australian woodlands to explore the effects of agricultural practices and environmental factors on regeneration, bare ground, and native and exotic cover and richness. Our study included historical fertilization, three past grazing regimes (continuous, short‐conversion rotational, and long-conversion rotational), two present‐day grazing measures (grazing duration and stocking rate), and three environmental covariates (natural soil fertility, native woody cover, and rainfall). We found that fertilizer application was associated with altered trajectories of native overstorey cover, native plant richness, exotic cover, and bare ground. Changes in woodland condition also were associated with a combination of present‐day grazing and environmental drivers. Natural regeneration, native plant richness, and native herb cover were negatively associated with increased grazing intensity. Conversely, increased landscape‐scale native woody cover and local‐scale natural soil fertility were associated with increases in native overstorey cover and native plant richness and decreases in exotic cover and bare ground. Our results indicate that land‐use history, present grazing intensity, and landscape context alter woodland ecosystem responses to intervention. This may explain why some conservation actions fail to meet objectives. Our results indicate that the effectiveness of conservation actions can be improved by considering the combined influence of past and present agricultural management and landscape context on woodland condition. ; Australian Government Environmental Stew-ardship Programme; National Environmental Research Program (NERP); ARC Laureate Fellowship, Grant/Award Number: FL120100108;Australian Research Council (ARC) LinkageProject, Grant/Award Number: LP100100467

The destruction and transformation of ecosystems by humans threatens biodiversity, ecosystem function, and vital ecosystem services. Ecological repair of ecosystems will be a major challenge over the next century and beyond. Restoration efforts to date have frequently been ad hoc, and site or situation specific. Although such small-scale efforts are vitally important, without large-scale visions and coordination, it is unlikely that large functioning ecosystems will ever be constructed by chance through the cumulative effects of small-scale projects. Although the problems of human-induced environmental degradation and the need for a solution are widely recognized, these issues have rarely been addressed on a sufficiently large-scale basis. There are numerous barriers that prevent large-scale ecological restoration projects from being proposed, initiated, or carried through. Common barriers include the "shifting baseline syndrome," the scale and complexity of restoration, the long-term and open-ended nature of restoration, funding challenges, and preemptive constraint of vision. Two potentially useful approaches that could help overcome these barriers are stretch goals and backcasting. Stretch goals are ambitious long-term goals used to inspire creativity and innovation to achieve outcomes that currently seem impossible. Backcasting is a technique where a desired end point is visualized, and then a pathway to that end point is worked out retrospectively. A case study from the Scottish Highlands is used to illustrate how stretch goals and backcasting could facilitate large-scale restoration. The combination of these approaches offers ways to evaluate and shape options for the future of ecosystems, rather than accepting that future ecosystems are victims of past and present political realities.

Large old hollow-bearing trees have a wide range of key ecological roles in forest and other ecosystems globally. Patterns and rates of mortality and decay of these trees had profound effects on the size and composition of their populations. Using an 18-year empirical study of large old trees in the Mountain Ash (Eucalyptus regnans) forests of the Central Highlands of Victoria, we sought to determine if there are particular patterns of decline that are shared by a proportion of the trees in a tree population. We also sought to identify drivers of decline of these trees by quantifying relationships between the condition state of trees (viz: tree form) and a range of covariates. We found that time, stand age and fire can individually and in combination, strongly affect the decay (and eventual collapse) of large old trees. In particular, we found compelling evidence that patterns of tree decline were markedly different in old growth forest (stands dating from ~ 1850) relative to three other younger age classes examined. Trees in older forest decayed less rapidly than trees of equivalent tree form in younger forest. Old growth stands also were characterized by trees in an overall much lower (more intact) form category than the other age classes of forest. A key pattern in our study was the rapid deterioration of large old trees in the youngest aged stands (viz: those regenerating after fires in 1939 and following disturbance between 1960 and 1990). In these forests, a very high proportion of large old trees were either in the most advanced state of tree decay (form 8) or had collapsed (form 9). This is a major concern given that 98.8% of the Mountain Ash forest ecosystem supports forest belonging to these (or even younger) age cohorts. Our investigation highlights the need for forest management to: (1) increase levels of protection for all existing large old hollow-bearing trees, (2) expand the protection of existing regrowth forest so there is the potential to significantly expand the currently very limited areas of remaining old growth forest. ; The work reported in this paper was funded by the Australian Research Council, The Australian Government (National Environmental Science Program Threatened Species Recovery Hub), and the Government of Victoria.

Context Biodiversity studies often require wildlife researchers to survey multiple species across taxonomic classes. To detect terrestrial squamate and mammal species, often multiple labour-intensive survey techniques are required. Camera traps appear to be more effective and cost-efficient than labour-intensive methods for detecting some mammal species. Recent developments have seen camera traps used for detecting terrestrial squamates. However, the performance of camera traps to survey terrestrial squamate and mammal species simultaneously has not been evaluated. Aim We compared the effectiveness and financial cost of a camera trapping method capable of detecting small squamates and mammals with a set of labour-intensive complementary methods, which have been used in a long-term monitoring program. Methods We compared two survey protocols: one employed labour-intensive complementary methods consisting of cage traps, Elliott traps and artificial refuges; the second utilised camera traps. Comparisons were made of the total number of species detected, species detectability, and cost of executing each type of survey. Key results Camera traps detected significantly more target species per transect than the complementary methods used. Although camera traps detected more species of reptile per transect, the difference was not significant. For the initial survey, camera traps were more expensive than the complementary methods employed, but for realistic cost scenarios camera traps were less expensive in the long term. Conclusions Camera traps are more effective and less expensive than the complementary methods used for acquiring incidence data on terrestrial squamate and mammal species. Implications The camera trapping method presented does not require customised equipment; thus, wildlife managers can use existing camera trapping equipment to detect cryptic mammal and squamate species simultaneously.

Understanding what factors infl uence species occupancy in human-modifi ed landscapes is a central theme in ecology. We examined scale-dependent habitat relationships and site occupancy in reptiles across three topographically diff erent study areas in south-eastern Australia. We collected presence – absence data on reptiles from 443 sites associated with three longterm biodiversity monitoring programs, on four to seven occasions, between 2001 and 2013. We characterised sites by the following four variable domains: 1) fi eld design, 2) topography, 3) local-scale vegetation attributes and 4) landscapescale vegetation cover. We constructed occupancy models for 14 species and used an information-theoretic approach to compare multiple alternative hypotheses to explain occupancy within and between study areas. We modelled detection probability and used the model with the lowest AIC in subsequent analyses. We then modelled occupancy probability against all subsets of the variable groups (fi eld design, topography, local- and landscape-scale vegetation), as well as a model that held occupancy constant (null model). We found that local-scale vegetation attributes were important for explaining site occupancy in 12/19 possible models, although, in several cases model fi t was improved by the addition of topographic variables or native vegetation cover in the surrounding landscape. Occupancy models for widespread species were broadly congruent across study areas. We demonstrate that topographic variables are important for explaining reptile occupancy in hilly landscapes, and local- and landscape-scale variables are important for explaining reptile occupancy in fl at or gently undulating landscapes. Management actions that improve habitat complexity at a site-level, and encompass entire topographic gradients, will have greater benefi t to woodland reptiles than simply increasing vegetation cover in the surrounding landscape. ; This study was funded by the Australian Government's Caring for our Country scheme, the Murray Local Land Services and the Australian Research Council.

This paper aims to illustrate the conceptual and practical issues that need to be considered if ecosystem service accounting is to be used to achieve sustainable development in Oceania. Recent international activity has focused on setting international standards for accounting for ecosystem services via the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA). This includes defining the assets from which ecosystem services are generated. We examine how ecosystem services are incorporated into accounting and the benefits of doing this. This is done using Australia examples from the Great Barrier Reef region and elsewhere. Key lessons relate to: (1) the practical issues facing the producers of ecosystem accounts, including data availability and quality; (2) the need to account for both ecosystem services and ecosystem assets to assess sustainability, and; (3) explaining how ecosystem accounting can assist with sustainable development via policy as well as the management of specific ecosystem assets. ; Fujitsu Laboratories, Japan; Australian Government National Environmental Science Program Threatened Species Recovery Hub

Habitat loss as a result of land conversion for agriculture is a leading cause of global biodiversity loss and altered ecosystem processes. Restoration plantings are an increasingly common strategy to address habitat loss in fragmented agricultural landscapes. However, the capacity of restoration plantings to support reproducing populations of native plants and animals is rarely measured or monitored. This review focuses on avifaunal response to revegetation in Australian temperate woodlands, one of the world's most heavily altered biomes. Woodland birds are a species assemblage of conservation concern, but only limited research to date has gone beyond pattern data and occupancy trends to examine whether they persist and breed in restoration plantings. Moreover, habitat quality and resource availability, including food, nesting sites and adequate protection from predation, remain largely unquantified. Several studies have found that some bird species, including species of conservation concern, will preferentially occupy restoration plantings relative to remnant woodland patches. However, detailed empirical research to verify long-term population growth, colonisation and extinction dynamics is lacking. If restoration plantings are preferentially occupied but fail to provide sufficient quality habitat for woodland birds to form breeding populations, they may act as ecological traps, exacerbating population declines. Monitoring breeding success and site fidelity are under-utilised pathways to understanding which, if any, bird species are being supported by restoration plantings in the long term. There has been limited research on these topics internationally, and almost none in Australian temperate woodland systems. Key knowledge gaps centre on provision of food resources, formation of optimal foraging patterns, nest-predation levels and the prevalence of primary predators, the role of brood parasitism, and the effects of patch size and isolation on resource availability and population dynamics in a restoration context. To ensure that restoration plantings benefit woodland birds and are cost-effective as conservation strategies, the knowledge gaps identified by this review should be investigated as priorities in future research.