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| | Welcome
It is with great pride I welcome you to the 35th eNews, my final edition as Director of ARI, as I will be stepping down as Director on the 9th of July. It has been an absolute privilege to have worked with such talented colleagues and overseen this Institute since being appointed to the role in 2012. The eNews continues to be our flagship newsletter, giving researchers, community, NGOs and government insights into our latest research and publications. I have had a great responsibility working to maintain the strong legacy of ARI while preparing it for the future. Over the past nine years, we have built new capabilities including structured decision making, genetics, behaviour change, citizen science, and ways of knowing country. And enhanced our baseline skills in project management, science excellence and business acumen.
Whilst ARI is a great Victorian institution in itself, it is really the hundreds of people who have been the staff who make it such a special organisation. It is their dedication, personal values, expertise and hard work that makes it so. I am confident that they are highly regarded and respected for the vital contribution that these people make to conservation and to science every day. I would like to pay my respects to these fabulous people and thank them for their support. In particular I thank the ARI Senior Leadership Team and the Program Leadership Team. And finally, thank you to you, our readers who continue to take an interest and share our research as we strive to deliver ‘science that matters’.
Our projects featured in this issue include how nature recovering from bushfires can help affected communities heal, a framework that helps identify knowledge gaps and direct research to improve biodiversity management, and an update on the fascinating world of eel migration. We hope you find these interesting. Au revoir.
Regards
Dr Kim W Lowe
Research Director
Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research
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| | Nature-led community recovery
A new program is supporting fire-impacted communities to learn about how nature is responding to the 2019-2020 bushfires. It is anticipated that taking part in citizen science projects, sharing stories and having access to expert insights will connect people with nature's recovery and help with post-fire healing.
Find more about this project on our website
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| | Filling gaps in our knowledge on biodiversity
ARI has developed multiple models that describe the relationship between conservation actions and biodiversity. We used expert knowledge to build the models and to identify where there are gaps in our knowledge. A new online tool allows anyone interested to explore the models and form questions to address gaps.
Find more about this project on our website
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| | Where have the eels been going? A satellite tracking update.
Using satellite tags, we are tracking the astonishing migrations of eels. This project has followed individual eels travelling up to ~3000km, from Victorian estuaries towards a presumed spawning area in the south Pacific Ocean. Understanding migratory behaviour is informing future efforts to manage and protect Victoria's eels.
Find more about this project on our website
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| | New on our website: ARI project map
For World Environment Day, we celebrated by launching the new interactive ARI project map. The map gives everyone a new way to explore the fantastic research ARI is doing right across the state.
The map captures both the geographic range of our work and the breadth of expertise our researchers offer. Each project featured in the map links directly to a project page on our website where you can find more information. By clicking on a project, you will find short summaries of the research and the partners we're collaborating with to deliver the work.
We hope this new map adds a new dimension to the way you discover the science we do, near you, right around Victoria and beyond.
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| | ARI quarterly research updates
The aquatic editions feature insights into Silver Perch movements that can help its recovery, how environmental flows enhance movement of juvenile fish, and major findings from the long-term Wetland Monitoring and Assessment Program (WetMAP)
Terrestrial news includes revisiting historical grasshopper surveys, sustainable management of kangaroo populations in Victoria, impacts of flooding on estuary vegetation and combatting effects of river regulation and drought on turtles.
Interested in receiving these directly? All are welcome to sign up!
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| | Recent video (link to YouTube) and fact sheets (link to PDF)
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| | Recent journal articles (link to abstract) and reports (link to PDF) include:
Bhardwaj, M., Soanes, K., Lahoz-Monfort, J.J., Lumsden, L.F. and van der Ree, R. (2021) Insectivorous bats are less active near freeways. PLoS ONE 16(3): e0247400
Collins, L., Bradstock, R.A., Clarke, H., Clarke, M.F., Nolan, R.H. and Penman, T. D. (2021) The 2019/2020 mega-fires exposed Australian ecosystems to an unprecedented extent of high-severity fire. Environmental Research Letters 16(4): 044029
Collins, L., Hunter, A., McColl-Gausden, S., Penman, T.D. and Zylstra, P. (2021) The effect of antecedent fire severity on reburn severity and fuel structure in a resprouting eucalypt forest in Victoria, Australia. Forests 12(4): 450
Geary, W.L., Buchan, A., Allen, T., Attard, D., Bruce, M.J., Collins, L., Ecker, T.E., Fairman, T. A., Hollings, T., Loeffler, E., Muscatello, A., Parkes, D., Thomson, J., White, M. and Kelly, E. (2021) Responding to the biodiversity impacts of a megafire: a case study from south‐eastern Australia’s Black Summer. Diversity and Distributions (online early)
Gormley, A., Anderson, D., Lustig, A., Latham, C., Howard, S., Ramsey, D. and Scroggie, M. (2021) Quantitative decision support for eradication: a primer. Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research and Arthur Rylah Environmental Research Institute. Centre for Invasive Species Solutions, Canberra
Lumsden, L.F., Griffiths, S.R., Silins, J.E. and Bennett, A.F. (2021) Roosting behaviour and the tree-hole requirements of bats: insights from the lesser long-eared bat Nyctophilus geoffroyi and Gould's wattled bat Chalinolobus gouldii in south-eastern Australia. Australian Journal of Zoology (online early)
McNellie, M., Oliver, I., Ferrier, S., Newell, G., Manion, G., Griffioen, P., White, M., Koen, T., Somerville, M. and Gibbons, P. (2021) Extending vegetation site data and ensemble models to predict patterns of foliage cover and species richness for plant functional groups. Landscape Ecology 36: 1391-1407
Papas, P., Hale, R., Amtstaetter, F., Clunie, P., Rogers, D., Brown, G., Brooks, J., Cornell, G., Stamation, K., Downe, J., Vivian, L., Sparrow, A., Frood, D., Sim, L., West, M., Purdey, D., Bayes, E., Caffrey, L., Clarke-Wood, B. and Plenderleith, L. (2021) Wetland Monitoring and Assessment Program for environmental water: Stage 3 final report. Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research Technical Report Series No. 322. Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Heidelberg
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| | ARI Seminars Series (online) - NAIDOC Week
To celebrate NAIDOC week, we're privileged to have Uncle Denis Rose (Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owner Aboriginal Corporation) and Wayne Koster (ARI) presenting on their research tracking the amazing migration of Victoria’s eels. It's a brilliant story of partnership and discovery. The seminar will be on Monday 5th July: register at Eventbrite.
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| | Sign up to our eNews
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| © The State of Victoria Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning 2021
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