Reference Ecosystems

Heroes of the Big Scrub is an inspiring story of landscape scale restoration. The video showcases the people who understood the processes of rainforest restoration ecology, and have dedicated their life's work to enabling substantial recovery of the Big Scrub against all odds. The video looks at the role of assisted natural regeneration and revegetation [...]

Big Scrub Landcare are now driving an innovative program to ensure that all plantings use genetically diverse planting stock to overcome potential inbreeding and build greater adaptability to climate change within the landscape. Dr Tony Parkes (AO) - retired organic chemist and merchant banker (turned rainforest restorer) - is the Founder and President of Big [...]

Dr Tein McDonald provides the background to the upcoming AABR Video on Heroes of Big Scrub Recovery and sets the scene for Tony Parkes talk on the Big Scrub Landcare's (BSL) Science Saving Rainforest project. Big Scrub was a once a 75,000 ha swathe of subtropical rainforest on the volcanic soils of the north coast [...]

The Guest Speaker at Annual General meeting of the Victorian Branch of The Australian Associaiton of Bush Regenerators was Craig McGrath who shared how as City of Yarra's Biodiversity Officer he is Using the National Restoration Standards in contract management, a Council’s perspective. In 2001, Craig commenced a community engagement role at the City of [...]

Many plants have evolved with disturbances such as fire –It’s what triggers the resilience response within fire-adapted ecosystems, what prompts the plants to resprout and germinate. But immediately after a large disturbance like fire, the ecosystem is vulnerable, and further disturbance can easily destroy regenerating plants. Read More - Links First Aid for [...]

Weed affected bushland will need help to recover after fire, but resources are usually limited, and it's difficult to predict exactly what will happen over time. How can you make the most of your time and effort? This is an overview of post-fire site assessment. It’s a complex topic, particularly considering the extreme drought [...]

Following the Discussions, the Forum participants workshopped a communique to summarise the essential points to convey to stakeholders including government agencies and elected representatives. The ecological restoration industry is small but critical to the future of biodiverse native ecosystems in Australia, ecosystems that are essential to our nation’s clean water, functional soils and carbon capture [...]

Panel: Tein McDonald, Sam Craigie, Tim Berryman, Peter Cuneo and Dave Carr. Read More - Links Hancock, N., Gibson-Roy, P., Driver, M. and Broadhurst, L. (2020). The Australian Native Seed Sector Survey Report. Australian Network for Plant Conservation, Canberra. Healthy Seeds Project-ANPC Florabank Guidelines - Greening Australia

With space for ecosystems limited in cities – is there potential for green roofs to be developed to supplement conservation? This potential research project will be trialling a number of species on a roof on University of NSW campus, obtaining genetic stock from Randwick Council’s community nursery. John is a lecturer/tutor and researcher at the [...]

Chair: Paul Gibson-Roy. Panel: Peter Cuneo, Greg Steenbeeke, Sam Craigie, Martin Driver. Read More - Links Hancock, N., Gibson-Roy, P., Driver, M. and Broadhurst, L. (2020). The Australian Native Seed Sector Survey Report. Australian Network for Plant Conservation, Canberra. Healthy Seeds Project-ANPC Florabank Guidelines - Greening Australia