Department of Environment and Conservation Science Division annual research activity report and management implications 2009 – 2010 DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE This is the last Annual Review of Research Activities Report produced under my leadership of the Science Division. I step down after 14 years to continue my career in the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) focusing on fire and biodiversity policy, planning and research. DEC’s in-house applied research capability is one of the great strengths of the agency and is part of why DEC is recognised as a world leader in many areas including fire management, feral animal control, fauna and flora translocations and conservation, disease management and biological survey. It has also enabled DEC to build enduring and beneficial partnerships with other local, national and international scientific institutions. DEC has maintained a significant research capability while many other similar organisations across the country have allowed their research capacity to decline. This is indicative of the strategic importance placed on science and scientists by successive leaders of DEC. However, this support is conditional – DEC’s Science Division must continue to address the agencies science and information needs; the science we generate must be relevant and beneficial to the organisation; we must communicate and promote our science; and through partnerships, we must leverage DEC’s investment in science. The importance of science to conservation and land management is also enshrined in the Conservation and Land Management Act 1984 Sect. 33 – Functions of the CEO: • to be responsible for the permanent preservation of the plant collections of the Western Australian Herbarium and to care for and extend those collections. • to carry out or cause to be carried out such study or research of or into: (i) the management of land to which this Act applies (ii) the conservation and protection of flora and fauna (iii) the taxonomy of flora and introduced plants (iv) any other matter related to a function of the CEO, as the Minister may approve. Having a core of in-house expertise also enables the provision of accurate and timely scientific, technical and policy advice to the Department, the Minister and the wider community and is a point of contact for engaging and communicating with external providers of science. On a number of occasions scientists from other institutions have told me they enjoy working with DEC because of the ease of science communication with the organisation. Adaptive management requires a scientific approach to management activities so that answers to important questions can be learnt by doing. Not only does this enable DEC to do its job effectively and efficiently, but it enhances the Department’s public standing and engenders confidence in the Government’s policies and the Department’s practices. While the importance of science to delivering a “healthy, diverse and well-managed Western Australian environment” is generally appreciated, there are several models by which science can be delivered. DEC’s science and information needs could be delivered either via internal or external science capacity or, preferably, through strategic collaborations that utilise both internal and external capacities. The balance of internal, external and collaborative delivery will be different for short-term research, strategic/long-term research and monitoring because of the varying objectives, capacities, expertise and interests of external science providers and the institutional imperatives of DEC. For example, external science providers are generally more focused on, and structured for, short-term research rather than strategic or long-term research and monitoring. 1 Drivers for research institutions outside the state government sector are to attract funds and to produce scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals. This is because research, rather than management, is their primary focus. That is, their focus is scientific output rather than government policy outcomes. Therefore, research, monitoring, survey or other knowledge acquisition activities that require a medium or long-term commitment of people and other resources is probably most effectively and efficiently done in-house by agency scientists, whereas it may be more efficient for external providers such as CSIRO, local universities or consultants, to conduct short-term, one-off and highly specialised research. Recognising this, the science delivery model in DEC utilises both internal and external science capacities because agencies with management responsibilities (like DEC) require an appropriate balance between the three areas of science (short term research, long term research, and monitoring and evaluation) to achieve their objectives. Within the research area, external science providers’ interests relate more to pure or basic research than applied research often because a) it aligns better with their short term funding cycles and b) they are primarily interested in the process/prediction part of the knowledge continuum and are less interested in the biophysical and social inventories and baseline data that are ‘core’ knowledge for management agencies. Where DEC has a requirement for this process/prediction type of research, it may be more cost-effective to engage, or collaborate with external agencies such as CSIRO or tertiary institutions – the extent to which this is done is summarised in this report. Pure or basic research, rather than applied research, is also of greater professional interest to most scientists in external research institutions and is generally more amenable to scientific publications, which is a key performance measure in external research institutions. In addition to problem solving, discovering new and better ways of doing things and carrying out relevant applied research necessary to underpin policies and operations, a vital role for DEC scientists is to ensure that new knowledge is transferred and taken up by policy makers and practitioners. Communication and knowledge transfer to improve the way we do things are key performance measures for scientists in DEC while recognising the need to have the quality of science assessed through the peer review publication process. Improving or changing policies and practices based on new information (‘operationalising science’) often requires a long term commitment by DEC scientists working alongside planners, policy makers and practitioners to up-skill and train them and to develop new or revised processes for incorporating changes. External science providers are generally unable or unwilling to make the significant, ongoing commitment that is needed to adequately communicate and transfer knowledge, train staff and develop new policies and operating procedures and to be ‘on tap’ to trouble shoot. It has been an honour and a privilege to have served as DEC’s Science Director and to have been part of DEC’s Corporate Executive. Dr Neil Burrows Director Science Division June 2010 2 CONTENTS VISION ................................................................................................................................................7 FOCUS AND PURPOSE.................................................................................................................................7 ROLE ................................................................................................................................................7 SERVICE DELIVERY STRUCTURE..................................................................................................................8 PUBLICATIONS AND REPORTS .....................................................................................................................9 CURRENT COLLABORATION WITH ACADEMIA (STUDENT PROJECTS)...........................................................27 EXTERNAL PARTNERSHIPS........................................................................................................................33 SUMMARY OF RESEARCH PROJECTS BY DEC, NRM, IBRA/IMCRA REGIONS ...........................................40 RESEARCH ACTIVITIES..............................................................................................................................49 BIODIVERSITY AND CLIMATE CHANGE UNIT................................................................................................49 Collaborative research on biodiversity and climate change in megadiverse ecosystems ..........49 Assessing the combined effects of climate change and land transformation on the geographic ranges of keystone and iconic species in south-west Western Australia ................................50 Temperature thresholds for recruitment in south-west Western Australian flora ........................51 Climate change risks for biodiversity and ecosystem function in species-rich shrublands.........51 Protecting the safe havens: will granite outcrop environments serve as refuges for flora threatened by anthropogenic climate change?........................................................................52 BIOGEOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................................................54 Pilbara regional biological survey................................................................................................54 Kimberley islands biological survey.............................................................................................55 Floristic surveys