IT breakthroughs in Conservation and Bushcare.
Paul Angel (Bushland Coordinator, Canterbury Bankstown Council) , Dorothy Luther (Data Scientist, retired)
Canterbury Bankstown Council area is situated in the south-west of Sydney. Council owns/manages over 200Ha of bushland- predominantly dry-sclerophyll eucalypt forest and woodland. Our work, in managing this urban bushland, mostly revolves around weed control, reducing the bushfire hazard, and revegetation in some public open spaces where opportunities arise.
We are becoming more reflective of the limitations of our management paradigm.
Managing bushland simply for weeds and fire hazard reduction does not guarantee success in conserving all our native species, and revegetation often simply provides additional green cover. Conservation managers give diligence to our rare or threatened species. However, we can also be blasé about the survival of other less-iconic species, and simply leave them to fend for themselves in the hope that they will succeed. We are often unaware of their ecological requirements and responses to a changing environment.
We have come to appreciate the science of conservation biology and how it applies to bush regeneration in urban bushland reserves. The governing principles of conservation biology were best explained in the ground-breaking book Conservation Biology in Theory and Practice by Caughley and Gunn in 1995. They describe the unique issues facing small populations, and/or declining populations which are theoretically more vulnerable to local extinction. Also, the theories of island bio-geography and metapopulation stability are particularly relevant to urban bushland- fragmented and isolated. We seek to apply theory to practice. In recent times, many opportunities for enhanced conservation outcomes have come off the back of developing information technologies.
Acacia fimbriata.
Theory into Practice
Much of our species diversity is found among the herbs, grasses, and small shrubs. Often cryptic and short-lived, their relative abundance and distribution can go undocumented and declines in their populations unnoticed until they are on the brink. After disturbances such as fire, we observe rapid successional changes as pioneers are replaced by secondary or mature phase species. Many short-lived pioneer species become relegated to the soil seedbank. Certainly, bushland is dynamic, and mosaics are known to enhance species diversity!
Lasiopetalum ferrugineum,
However, most of our bushland is fragmented and often isolated. Flora species found in small reserves, remote from other bushland areas, are particularly vulnerable to local extinctions, simplifying our ecosystems and potentially losing the resilience that comes with diversity. Any loss of species in our reserves is a sign that our management paradigm is imperfect. As conservationists, we recognise that all species are deserving of conservation and protection. Therefore, attention needs to be paid to protecting and enhancing small populations, as well as species in decline. Even common species within the Fabaceae family can be at-risk if our fire regime is not compatible with their life cycle of germination, maturation, seed set, and senescence.
To protect and conserve all our flora, we must firstly know and appreciate their traits, that is, the ecological and environmental requirements for their continued occupancy of a site, and then actively plan for their survival. It is not simply a case of being fire-tolerant or fire-sensitive. The real stories lie in the nuance.
Our partnership of conservation advocates which includes Council NRM officers, Universities and community groups, have developed a computer program that enables species deemed “at-risk” to be identified and located. We then cross-reference their locations and life history traits with the site factors that might adversely impact on their survival.
Our integrated ‘Biological-Geographical Database’, inputs data from two public databases the Atlas of Living Australia (flora records) and AusTraits (selected plant traits, such as life history, seed dormancy & germination requirements, responses to fire, etc.). The species records data are then filtered in terms of their geographic location, the environmental conditions found there, and site management strategies implemented.
This has enabled the full complement of species found within a reserve to be evaluated for their viability and impacts of the management inputs, such as fire periodicity. For example, serotinous species that store seeds in woody fruit and are killed by fire can be more vulnerable. Excessively frequent burning may eventually result in the loss of many species and a seedbank comprising only early successional species.
Identifying species deemed “at risk” allows us to target them for additional conservation measures such as fire exclusion zones, as well as carrying out seed collection and propagation.
The 200Ha of bushland owned/managed by Council can now be managed according to this species-centric paradigm. Innovations in information technology have allowed us to consider, en-masse, the conservation requirements of all the species found in our reserves, and cater to their individual needs, possibly targeting them for additional off-reserve conservation programs.
There is now an opportunity to incorporate our fauna data into this management ethic. Again, targeting species deemed at-risk because of the mismatch between their ecological requirements to maintain healthy and viable populations and the environmental reality of habitat fragmentation.
Dillwynia sieberi
Council’s Bushcare volunteers are invigorated by the new opportunities to contribute to real conservation outcomes, enthusiastically taking up new technologies, like i-Naturalist, to contribute. Our volunteers are excited to be part of a ‘captive breeding program’ for our uncommon species of flora, whereby we identify and track down our target species, monitor their reproduction and raise juveniles in captivity for release back into the wild. No, not exactly Rhinos and Cheetah on the Serengeti, but doing what we can and where we can to conserve our natural heritage.
Partners, who include Council staff and volunteers, the Bankstown Bushland Society, the Australian Plant Society, university students, and native plant nurseries have attended our ‘treasure hunts’ and provided encouraging feedback. We hope that members of AABR will see benefits in these new strategies and join us.
Our next event will be at Lansdowne Reserve (Tillet Parade off Hume Hwy, Bass Hill) on 13th September 2025 at 10 am. This reserve is 100ha of mostly endangered forest, impacted by fire. We invite you to celebrate Biodiversity Month with us in the most productive way possible. Please RSVP to Paul Angel (paul.angel@cbcity.nsw.gov.au). A simple BBQ lunch follows.
Photos supplied by Paul Angel showing common species that occur as a single individual in an EEC reserve and thus warrant special consideration for it’s conservation. Dillwynia sieberi, Lasiopetalum ferrugineum, Acacia fimbriata.
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