BEST PRACTICE RESTORATION: BUILDING THE EVIDENCE-BASE FOR RESTORING EUCALYPT WOODLANDS OF SOUTHERN AUSTRALIA Nicholas James Court Gellie A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Biological Sciences Australia December 2017 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................i DECLARATION ................................................................................................................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .....................................................................................................................................................................................................v CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 1 Global restoration .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 1 Thesis aims and objectives............................................................................................................................................................................................ 7 Thesis structure ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 8 CHAPTER 2: NETWORKED AND EMBEDDED EXPERIMENTS .................................................................................................................................... 13 Abstract ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 17 CHAPTER 3: LOCAL MALADAPTATION ......................................................................................................................................................................... 37 Abstract ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 41 Supplementary Information.......................................................................................................................................................................................... 49 CHAPTER 4: FITNESS AND FUNCTIONAL TRAIT DIFFERENTIATION ....................................................................................................................... 51 Abstract ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 55 Supplementary Information.......................................................................................................................................................................................... 76 CHAPTER 5: THE IMPACTS OF SEED CHOICE ............................................................................................................................................................ 79 Abstract ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 82 Supporting information ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 105 CHAPTER 6: MICROBIOME REWILDING ..................................................................................................................................................................... 111 Abstract ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 114 Supporting Information .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 126 CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 135 Synthesis of thesis ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 135 Development of national standards for practice ........................................................................................................................................................ 136 Adaptive management improvement ......................................................................................................................................................................... 136 Collation, interpretation and distribution of results .................................................................................................................................................... 137 Infrastructure development ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 137 Formation of strategic provenance advice ................................................................................................................................................................ 138 Next generation monitoring tools ............................................................................................................................................................................... 142 Future Directions........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 142 Synopsis .................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 143 JOURNAL PUBLICATIONS DURING CANDIDATURE .................................................................................................................................................. 147 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 151 APPENDICES .................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 161 APPENDIX A: ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 161 APPENDIX B ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 162 APPENDIX C ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 165 APPENDIX D ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 171 APPENDIX E ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 175 APPENDIX F .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 184 APPENDIX G ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 194 ABSTRACT Approximately a third of the Earth’s surface is degraded. The enormous scale of degradation has stimulated multilateral agreements with ambitious restoration targets (e.g. The Bonn Challenge aspires to restore 350 million ha by 2030). Humankind has greater awareness than ever before of the factors contributing to landscape degradation, and has developed sophisticated practices to assist in its repair. The principal management intervention