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June 2017 Edition

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June 2017 Edition AUSTRALIAN PLANTS SOCIETY TASMANIA Inc. NORTHERN GROUP www.apstasnorth.org Email: [email protected] 45 Osborne Avenue, Trevallyn. Tas. 7250 June 2017 Edition General Meeting 21 March 2017 Guest Speaker: Phillipa McCormack, PhD candidate at Faculty of Law, UTAS “Rethinking conservation laws to help biodiversity adapt to climate change.” Phillipa’s talk aimed to briefly outline the challenges of climate change for biodiversity and mention some of the significant mismatches in conservation law’s response to the climate challenge for biodiversity. Phillipa first mentioned that climate change is not the only or most significant threat for many species/ecosystems. Worldwide, over exploitation, agricultural activity, urban development, invasion and disease, pollution and system modification cause greater problems at present. (Maxwell et al, ‘The ravages of guns, nets and bulldozers’ (2006) 536 Nature 143). Also lack of political will, insufficient funding, human consumption and population trends are contributing factors to loss of species. However, Phillipa’s thesis is a specific and proactive effort to identify legal challenges and opportunities to assist biodiversity adaptation for the future. Although a lot of conservation action happens under national policy and for political reasons, the law plays a critical role with or without climate change. Conservation laws help us identify who is responsible for taking conservation action, how it should be done, provide a guide for policy making and can be used to hold decision makers to account about things that we value. Biodiversity is already under pressure and in decline around the world ( Living Planet index found vertebrate species have declined 58% since 1970 and freshwater species 70%) and climate change will exacerbate this stress with sea– level rise, changes in where and how much rain falls, increases in extreme events and increasing temperatures -including thawing and drying alpine regions, changes in flowering, pollination and implications for co-evolved interactions. Some species, especially fauna, are able to move but some flora, like long-lived trees are more vulnerable and might only survive in climate refugia. There will be a higher number of species threatened with extinction or become extinct as conservation budgets are unlikely to sufficiently increase. It is the unprecedented rate of climate change that will mean that most species will not be able to adapt independently in time. If we are to assist fauna and flora adapt, existing conservation laws need to change. At present in Australia we have two components to our conservation laws. First, the species-specific focus on protection through the Threatened Species Protection Act 1995, Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1997 (EPBC Act). Threatened species and ecological communities are listed and get priority funding, research and action to remove threats. This does not include all threatened species or even the most threatened because of biases towards charismatic species, especially mammals. The second limb is to protect specific parcels of land from development or destruction from World Heritage to State Parks with EPBC Act and Regulations, Nature Conservation Act 2002 and our National Parks and Reserve Management Act 2002. While these areas are not always the most ‘at risk’ ecosystems (i.e. those most likely to be logged or farmed) the law for protected areas is a really important conservation tool under climate change enabling long term management. CSIRO suggests climate stress will be severe by 2030 and extreme by 2070 with many parts of Australia having environments which do not currently exist—’no analogue’ and many environments that currently exist will disappear. What happens to the species there now? Even now,12% of the world’s threatened plant species are in Australia. Also, our topography does not assist being a relatively flat and sparse continent with an average elevation only 440m, only 13% over 500m and only 0.01% over 2000m—these are grouped on the eastern seaboard also the most threatened area from human development. There is an urgent need to plan for adaptation including addressing barriers to adaptation in conservation laws. Our present laws are based on concepts of historical integrity with ‘native’ species existing ‘in situ’ in a stable, unchanging state -and trying to restore particular environments to that natural state. New adaption-orientated conservation laws will need to accept that nature is dynamic and climate change will trigger greater ecological ‘shuffling’. For example, in Tasmania under present laws only Tasmanian native species can be listed as threatened and gain funding whereas Tasmania has been identified as a critical climate refuge for many native Australian species in the coming decades. Existing translocation policy/law for conservation areas only applies to ‘within’ state movements and this only applies to flora eg seeds from populations or species that are warm- adapted or drought tolerant can replace local species no longer thriving whereas fauna migrating to a new climate change niche are not allowed — at present reserve mangers can be held to account for their compliance with this law. As the climate changes many species are destined to become extinct without active human intervention—current laws do not support encouraging/moving species either into or out of national parks for conservation. Inter situ is an emerging concept with no legal status but likely to become more necessary e.g. Orange Bellied Parrots only survive through supplementing eggs and constructed nesting boxes and likewise with the 40 Spotted Pardelote. Independent (species themselves adapting/moving) range shifts will occur but will be out of the question for the vast majority of Australian species—lichens, mountain pygmy possums– let alone ecological communities like native grasslands, coastal wetlands and cloud forests. Managed relocation is being recognized as a crucial tool but at present conservation legislation focuses on preserving biodiversity of species and ecosystems in the locations and in which they currently exist. This will be impossible as climate change progresses. Really difficult, sometimes no-win decisions will have to be made including what to prioritise when multiple biodiversity values are under threat and about when intervention is justified. The choice is whether we intervene intentionally to do our best to ensure that some of the biodiversity that we know and love will make it with us into a climate-changed future. Plant of the Month – March 2017 Presented and written by Margaret Killen Bulbines Bulbine, pronounced BUL-bee-nee, are bright little yellow flowering plants which have a tendency to wander around my garden. They are in the LILIACEAE (Lily) Family and are soft tufting annual or perennial herbs referred to as Leek Lily’s. There are three described species in Tasmania - Bulbine bulbosa; B. glauca and B. semibarbata which are found in the North, Northeast, East and Southeast. The flowers are on a spike, each flower has six yellow “petals” with six stamens. The lower flowers open first, maturing from the base up the stem. Flowering is mostly in spring, summer and into autumn. The fruit is a brown globular capsule which holds the angular shaped seeds. Bulbines are hardy and tolerate a wide range of growing conditions if ample water is available. They are suitable for poorly drained soils, heavily shaded areas and are frost-hardy. When established they seed freely in rockeries and through the garden but don’t become a pest. Cultivation and propagation can be Bulbine glauca ( Photo Australian successful from seeds or by division National Botanic Gardens site) of large plants. The three described Bulbine species in Tasmania:- Bulbine bulbosa – a perennial with small tubers. Leaves are fleshy 1.5 – 8mm wide in a basal tuft. There is one flowering stalk with several flowers, the 6 petals are 9-22mm long. It is found in damp sites in the North of Tasmania. The name is probably derived from the Latin bulbosus (bulbous) referring to the bulb-shaped tuber usually present below the rootstock. B. glauca – is similar to B. bulbosa but the root-stock is not bulbous. Leaves are glaucous (bluish grey or green) 2 – 10mm wide, often pinkish, succulent, and taper to a pointed tip up to 600mm long. This species has 2 or more flower spikes and is found inland and in dunes from the North to the Southeast. B. semibarbata – is an annual and smaller than B. bulbosa. Leaves are 1-5mm wide, roots are fibrous and it has several to many flower stalks, flower “petals” are 3-7mm long. It also, occurs from the North to the Southeast. A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term (per- + -ennial, “through the years”) is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also widely used to distinguish plants with little or no woody growth from trees and shrubs, which are also technically perennials. Perennials, especially small flowering plants that grow and bloom over the spring and summer, die back in autumn and winter, and then return in the spring from their rootstock, are known as herbaceous perennials or herbaceous plants. However, depending on the demands of local climate, a plant that is a perennial in its native habitat, or in a milder garden, may be treated as an annual and planted out every year, from seed, from cuttings or from divisions. Bulbine glauca in Margaret’s garden
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