Ecological engineering for biodiversity adaptation to climate change

Managing contemporary environmental needs whilst ensuring Natural Resource Management (NRM) investment is future-proofed to withstand climate change is a key challenge for environmental managers in the 21st century. To address this challenge, the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water and CSIRO are collaborating to identify and develop a new generation of climate-smart ‘ecological engineering’ approaches.

The project defines ecological engineering as ‘the design, manipulation or construction of self-sustaining ecosystems for the mutual benefit of humans and nature’. This term is being used in place of ‘ecological restoration’ because restoring characteristics from pre-existing communities may not be viable with impacts from climate change.

The project will:

review a range of ecological engineering techniques for facilitating climate-resilience in NRM
undertake in-depth research to ascertain the viability of one of the most promising ecological engineering techniques for NRM – climate-adjusted seed provenancing
establish research infrastructure and collaborative partnerships to support a growing evidence base into the effectiveness of some ecological engineering techniques (see Pilot Monitoring, Evaluation and Research (MER) Network).

More detail is available in the project flier.

Project publications

Reports

Prober SM, Broadhurst, L, Boggs G, Breed MF, Bush D, Lynch AJJ, Dickson F (2018) Discussion Paper: Achieving more with less – linking ecological restoration investments with ecological restoration research infrastructure. CSIRO, Australia. https://publications.csiro.au/rpr/pub?pid=csiro:EP184148.

Journal papers

Prober SM, Doerr V, Broadhurst L, Williams KJ, Dickson F (2019) Shifting the conservation paradigm – a synthesis of options for renovating nature under climate change. Ecological Monographs 89, e01333. https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecm.1333.

Broadhurst L, Prober S, Dickson F and Bush D (2017) Using restoration as an experimental framework to test provenancing strategies and climate adaptability. Ecological Management & Restoration, 18(3), 205-208. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/emr.12275.

Prober SM, Williams KJ, Broadhurst LK and Doerr VAJ (2017) Nature conservation and ecological restoration in a changing climate: what are we aiming for? The Rangelands Journal, 39(6), 477-486. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1071/RJ17069.

Prober SM, Potts BM, Bailey T, Byrne M, Dillon S, Harrison PA, Hoffmann AA, Jordan R, McLean EH, Steane DA, Stock WD and Vallaincourt RE (2016) Climate adaptation and ecological restoration in eucalypts. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria 128, 40-53. https://publications.csiro.au/rpr/pub?pid=csiro:EP162874.

Conference presentations

Prober SM, Doerr VJ, Broadhurst L, Williams K, Dickson F (2019) A global review of options for renovating nature under climate change. Ecological Society of Australia Annual conference, 25-29 November 2019, Launceston, Tasmania.

Price M, Harrison P, Steane D, Vaillancourt R, Jordan R, Prober SM (2019) Home is where the heart is: The potential impacts of climate change on germination capacity of three woodland forbs. Australian Society of Plant Scientists Annual Conference. 26-29 November 2019, Melbourne, Victoria.

Prober SM, Broadhurst L, Breed M, Boggs G, Jellinek S, Lynch J, Rymer P, Harrison PA, Bush D, Dickson F (2019) A Platform for Ecological Restoration Research Infrastructure (PERRI): Accelerating learning and transdisciplinary collaboration in NRM. NRM Regions Australian Conference, 17-20 November 2019, Wodonga, Victoria.

Prober SM, Doerr VA, Broadhurst LM, Williams KJ, Dickson F (2019) Options for renovating nature under climate change. NRM Regions Australian Conference, 17-20 November 2019, Wodonga, Victoria.

Broadhurst L, Prober S, Breed M, Boggs G, Jellinek S, Lynch J, Rymer J, Harrison P, Dickson F, Bush D (2018) PERRI –Platform for Ecological Restoration Research Infrastructure. 12^th Australasian Plant Conservation Conference, Canberra, 11-15 November 2018.

Broadhurst L, Prober SM, Boggs G, Bush D, Rymer P, Lynch J, Breed MF, Dickson F (2018) Guidelines for establishing experimental plantings in restoration projects. Ecosystem Surprises & Rapid Collapse; 8-9 May 2018; Canberra. Boden Research Conference Australian Academy of Science.

Broadhurst L, Prober SM, Boggs G, Bush D, Rymer P, Lynch J, Breed MF, Dickson F (2018) Guidelines for establishing experimental plantings in restoration projects. In: NRM Science Conference 2018; 10-11 April 2018; Adelaide. DEWNR.

Prober SM, Williams KJ, Broadhurst L, Doerr V (2017) A changing climate, considerations for future ecological management and restoration. Restore Regenerate Revegetate: Restoring Ecological Processes, Ecosystems and Landscapes in a Changing World, University of New England, Armidale, NSW, 5-9 February 2017.

Data

Prober, Suzanne; Doerr, Veronica; Broadhurst, Linda; Williams, Kristen; Dickson, Fiona (2018): Source data for the Prober et al manuscript: Shifting the conservation paradigm – a synthesis of options for renovating nature under climate change. v1. CSIRO. Data Collection. https://doi.org/10.25919/5b8861aa54b8b.