Landscape conservation research

Western Australia is internationally renowned for the diversity of its plants, animals and ecosystems, and the south-west of the State is recognised as one of the world's 32 biodiversity hotspots.

Our research focuses on the complex processes that contribute to the overall health of Western Australian landscapes. We seek to understand how different factors and interactions function in a landscape (e.g. soil conditions, nutrient levels, landscape use, species distribution, fire and climate variation), how they change and how this impacts on biodiversity.

What we do

• Monitor the condition of Western Australia's ecosystems and communities
• Research and predict the ecological effects of processes that operate at a landscape level (e.g. fire, grazing, climate change)
• Research methods to restore degraded landscapes affected by salinity and erosion
• Monitor the impact of timber harvesting and management practices on the soil, water and biodiversity of WA's forests
• Research and develop systems for using fire to maintain and enhance biodiversity at a landscape scale.

Key activities and projects

• FORESTCHECK - integrated site-based monitoring of the effects of timber harvesting and silviculture in the jarrah forest 
• Fire regimes and biodiversity decline in the Kimberley.

Related resources

Information sheets

• Ecological condition of streams in south-west forests385.13 KB
• Changes in plant diversity and vegetation structure with time-since-fire in mallee and mallee-heath328.84 KB
• Armillaria root disease in karri regrowth forests399.82 KB
• Ephemeral clay-based wetlands of the south-west301.74 KB
• Reducing soil disturbance during timber harvesting242.69 KB
• Wildfires can be bad for biodiversity142.08 KB
• More...

Guides and other resources

• Estimating tree age in jarrah and marri76.57 KB
• The ant, the butterfly and the bulldozer203.99 KB
  Early baseline results demonstrate that proximity to disturbance and the presence of eucalypts, principally gimlet trees (Eucalyptus salubris), were critical to the presence of the ‘pale form’ of the sugar ant Camponotus terebrans. This ant is associated with the only extant population of the critically endangered arid bronze azure butterfly (Ogyris subterrestris petrina).
• Seed Collection zones for State Forest Management295.52 KB
  This report reviews the scientific basis for use of local provenance germplasm in revegetation with particular reference to forest rehabilitation. it makes recommendations for seed collection zones for forest management in WA based on scientific principles.