Document Detail


The lag daemon: hysteresis in rebuilding landscapes and implications for biodiversity futures.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  17643736     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
Many native bird species in production landscapes of south-eastern Australia demonstrably are declining, with loss of native vegetation as the major cause. Our biodiversity management objectives must be to increase the probabilities of persistence of birds that should occur in the landscape. To do so, there needs to be extensive amounts of new planting. However, one must be conscious that: (1) new planting in the impoverished soils and increasing aridity of southern Australia will take many decades to mature, and, also, will offer suitable habitats for a sequence of different species over the course of that maturation process; and (2) much existing vegetation is senescent or will be in a few decades' time. Recent landscape rebuilding models do not explicitly consider maturation time-lags. These hysteresis in habitat maturation may create 'bottlenecks' at future times (e.g. in 50 yr) that might prevent some species from persisting in whole landscapes even though such landscapes may be much more suitable in 100 yr than now. There are several critical issues: (1) species differ in habitat needs and even one species may require different kinds of habitats for foraging and for breeding; (2) landscapes must be conceived, and managed, as spatial and temporal mosaics to allow for persistence of the full set of species that should occupy them, meaning that senescing and replanted habitats may need to be juxtaposed; and (3) in certain particularly problematic landscapes, some highly productive agricultural lands may need to be used for providing habitat because maturation can be fast-tracked in fertile, well-watered locations. The problem is a complex one of scheduling and placement, and its optimization presents major theoretical and analytical challenges.
Authors:
Ralph Mac Nally
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't     Date:  2007-07-23
Journal Detail:
Title:  Journal of environmental management     Volume:  88     ISSN:  0301-4797     ISO Abbreviation:  J. Environ. Manage.     Publication Date:  2008 Sep 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2008-07-21     Completed Date:  2008-10-02     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  0401664     Medline TA:  J Environ Manage     Country:  England    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  1202-11     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Australian Centre for Biodiversity, School of Biological Sciences, Monash University Melbourne 3800, Australia. Ralph.MacNally@sci.monash.edu.au
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Animals
Conservation of Natural Resources*
Models, Theoretical
South Australia
Species Specificity

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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