AANNNNUUAALL RREESSEEAARRCCHH AACCTTIIVVIITTYY RREEPPOORRTT JJuullyy 22000055 –– JJuunnee 22000066 SScciieennccee DDiivviissiioonn Discovering the nature of WA http://www.naturebase.net/science/science.html FOREWORD This report provides a concise summary of the research activities of the Science Division of the Department of Conservation and Land Management (CALM) for the fiscal year 2005/2006. Following a restructuring of CALM’s Marine Conservation Branch, the Marine Science Program under the leadership of Dr Chris Simpson was created in the Science Division at the end of this reporting period. This Program’s activities will be reported in future Annual Research Activity Reports. Over this period staff produced 210 publications, were active on 130 science project plans and a range of core functions, assisted or supervised 62 mostly PhD students and developed some 96 significant partnerships with external agencies. In addition, they provided advice, gave presentations and assisted with numerous enquiries from other departmental staff, colleagues and the broader community. Progress achieved in the performance of core functions is also documented. Our research activities included all 9 administrative regions of the State as recognized by the Department. In terms of the 26 IBRA bioregions included in Western Australia, staff were involved actively in research projects in each one. The distribution of effort was as follows: CALM Region No. IBRA Bioregion No. Projects Projects South West 37 Jarrah forest 61-70 Warren 35 Warren 41-50 Swan 33 Avon Wheatbelt, Swan 31-40 Coastal Plain South Coast 25 Esperance Plains, 21-30 Geraldton Sandplains, Mallee Wheatbelt 28 Pilbara, Murchison, 11-20 Gascoyne, Coolgardie Midwest 23 Pilbara 8 Goldfields 14 Kimberley 10 25 projects were relevant to all CALM regions. If more information is required on any of the topics listed, I encourage you to contact the relevant project team leader or refer to the Division’s Business Plan and Operations Plan accessible at http://www.naturebase.net/science/science.html It is instructive to summarize the breadth and variety of the Division's research projects. Staff are: • Applying techniques from the molecular (DNA) level to the astronomical (photometry). • Working at spatial scales from small islands and remnant vegetation formed by agricultural land use to the regional level (Pilbara Biological Survey). 2 • Studying biota across most Kingdoms, including fungi and invertebrates (terrestrial and aquatic). • Working with organisms from the microscopic (some fungi and invertebrates) to the macroscopic (trees, birds and mammals). • Investigating issues along a major part of the temporal spectrums, from the 1870s (biodiversity decline) to the end of this century (climate change). • Investigating many ecological processes including predation by foxes and cats, disturbance regimes (fire), hydrological regimes (salt), disease, competition, herbivory, fragmentation and germination. • Involved and expert in many research disciplines including genetics, ecology, biogeography and taxonomy. • Contributing to policy development, monitoring programs, conservation planning, corporatization of data, information management and adherence to statistically sound project design and analysis. I'd like to acknowledge the high profile enjoyed by some publications, as endorsed by the high number of copies downloaded from journals published by CSIRO. CALM scientific papers have been among the most read of the CSIRO-published journals able to be downloaded from the net since 2000. Papers about feral cats, salinity, eucalypt woodlands, burning, bats, logging and burning impacts on bird species richness, acacia, truffles, and dieback, written by CALM scientists took out the most read sections in five journals. Number one spot in the Australian Journal of Botany journal was a paper by CALM scientist Colin Yates and academic research partner Richard Hobbs about eucalypt woodlands and a review of their status. Further down the list, at number 13, was a paper about salinisation and the prospects for biodiversity in rivers and wetlands in south-west WA by CALM scientists Stuart Halse and Adrian Pinder. In the Wildlife Research journal, CALM scientist Ian Abbott’s paper about the origin and spread of the feral cat held number one spot, with another of his papers, written with partners Amanda Mellican, Michael Craig, Matthew Williams, Graeme Liddelow and Ian Wheeler, on the short-term logging and burning impacts on species richness of birds in jarrah forest, at number 16. At number 12 in the Australasian Plant Pathology journal was a paper by CALM scientist Bryan Shearer, CALM threatened flora officer Sarah Barrett and academic research partner Giles Hardy about the use of phosphite as a fungicide to control dieback, while number 16 was a paper by the same authors on the success of using phosphite to inoculate banksia trees against dieback. In the Australian Journal of Zoology journal, CALM scientist Norm McKenzie and research partner D. Bullen’s paper about bat flight was at number 14. In the Australian Systematic Botany journal a paper by CALM scientist Bruce Maslin and research partners J.T. Miller and D.S. Seigler about the generic status of acacia was at number four, followed at number nine by a paper by CALM (then CSIRO) scientist Neale Bougher and research partner Teresa Level on truffle-like fungi of Australia and New Zealand. It is also very pleasing to see that two of our astonomers were co-authors of a paper, published in Nature, that announced the discovery of a new, distant planet (see item no 18, p.11). For an overview of the contribution of Science Division to the Department of Conservation and Land Management (CALM) since its formation in 1984, please see the foreword to the previous Annual 3 Research Activity Report (July 2005-June 2006). This edition of the Annual Research Activity Report is the last under the Department of CALM, as this agency ceased to exist on 30 June 2006. It was replaced by the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC), formed from a merger of CALM and the Department o Environment, on 1 July 2006. Users of this document should contact me at [email protected] if they have any suggestions for improving the presentation of subsequent reports. Dr Neil Burrows Director, Science Division August 2006 4 CONTENTS VISION ..........................................................................................................................................................9 FOCUS AND PURPOSE....................................................................................................................................9 ROLE ..........................................................................................................................................................9 SERVICE DELIVERY STRUCTURE...................................................................................................................10 PUBLICATIONS ....................................................................................................................................11 CURRENT COLLABORATION WITH ACADEMIA (Student Projects) ..................................................................21 Astronomical Component............................................................................................................24 EXTERNAL PARTNERSHIPS...........................................................................................................................25 Astronomical Component............................................................................................................29 SUMMARY OF RESEARCH PROJECTS BY CALM AND NRM REGIONS .............................................................31 SIGNIFICANT ACHIEVEMENTS ANTICIPATED FOR 2006/07 .....................................................................36 KEY PRIORITIES AND ANTICIPATED OUTCOMES FOR THE NEXT 2-3 YEARS......................................................39 RESEARCH ACTIVITIES.................................................................................................................................42 BIOGEOGRAPHY ..........................................................................................................................................42 Pilbara Regional Survey...................................................................................................................42 Biological survey of the Agricultural Zone (SAP survey)..................................................................43 Biodiversity Audit..............................................................................................................................44 National Reserve System working group .........................................................................................45 Ecomorphological clues to community structure, bat echolocation studies.....................................46 Provision of biogeographical information for CALM management plans, NRM advice scientific liaison and membership of scientific advisory committees ..........................................47 Kimberley Nature Conservation output liaison, including submissions to acquire funding support for Kimberley Island Biodiversity Survey .......................................................................48 Floristic survey of the remnant heaths and woodlands of the Swan Coastal Plain .........................48 Floristic survey of the banded ironstone and greenstone ranges