ISSUE 41
October 2015
Connections
research for a sustainable future
New Faces
Dr Dale Nimmo, an ecologist, is just
one of a number of new Institute
members over the past few months.
We also welcome Dr Olivier Villar, a
social scientist; Dr Zhenquan (Jan) Li,
a mathematician and a member of the
Sustainable Water SRA; Dr Michael
Mehmet, a social media communication researcher; Dr Marie Sheahan,a
sociologist; and Jarrod McPherson, a technical officer working on the Murrumbidgee Long Term Intervention project. Find out more about our new
members and staff from Page 13 onwards.
New Projects
The Institute certainly has plenty
of new projects that have received
external funding this year. Most are
ecological projects, some of which
build on our major environmental
water monitoring projects, but there
are also new social, educational and
regional development projects. A full
list is on
page 2.
Dry lake part of the Yanco
creek system. Funding from OEH has been received to monitor of
environmental flows in this system -pic S. Wassens
Publications
Our list of member publications this
issue includes articles in well-regarded journals such as Biodiversity Conversation, Proceedings of the Royal
Society of London B, PLOS One,
Trends in Ecology and Evolution, and
BioScience.
What is also great to see is our
researchers further promoting their
published research with correspondThylacines are extinct - Wikimedia
ing opinions in on-line media such as
The Conversation. For example Dr
Keller Kopf, Prof Max Finlayson and
Dr Paul Humphries wrote a piece published September 7 on what changes
they think must happen for restoration and conservation to be successful
in the Anthropocene based on a paper they had published in BioScience.
https://theconversation.com/restoring-and-conserving-nature-in-the-anthropocene-means-changing-our-idea-of-success-42691
CONTENTS
From the Director
2
New grants
2
New projects
3
Opinion
Prof Kathleen Bowmer
4
Project Updates
5
Community Engagement
6
Adjunct News
7
Events
9
Conferences, Seminars, Workshops & Meetings
11
In the News
13
Member’s News
14
Post-graduates
PhD News
17
Visitors
20
Awards & Achievements
20
Publications
21
From the DirectorProf Max Finlayson
reaccreditation process.
ILWS
along
with other
research
centres/
institutes
in Charles
Sturt University has
recently
undergone
an internal
This included a formal submission
in response to the terms of reference as well as an interview with
the director of each centre/institute.
While we await the outcomes it
is worth reflecting on some of the
achievements of the ILWS team over
the last 5 years.
ing and promoting the outcomes and
impact of the research, whether to
environmental science and management practice or policy. We have
for some time been considering the
influence our research has on our
communities and we expect this to
become a more important topic in
the future.
The manner in which we do this is
very likely to be further examined
in the future as the importance of
working with and assisting our communities assumes more prevalence
in the ongoing discussions about the
role of universities and researchers.
Personally I think this is an essential
discussion for a regional university.
Since the last reaccreditation in
2010 we have obtained about
$12,071,000 in research income,
which is 17% of the research income
for CSU. This figure does not include
grants obtained in 2015. Over the
same period we had 365.8 HERDC
publication points compared to
249.87 from the previous reaccreditation period. We also had a
centre-wide Scopus H Index of 47
(representing 47 papers that had
been cited at least 47 times), and a
ranking of 4 (above world quality) for
the discipline area of Environmental
Science and Management in the
national research ranking.
Most recently I’ve been to a meeting about wetlands in agricultural
landscapes and then another about
regional development. The importance of agriculture in shaping
our environment and its biodiversity values as well as our regional
development were outlined in both
meetings with an emphasis on
that elusive concept of sustainable
development. Thankfully the semantics about sustainable development
seem to have moved on since
groups of academics in the 1990s
sat around and bemoaned it as an
oxymoron, but where are we close to
achieving it? I am more than happy
to engage with that question – outside of this short report. I also see
it as shaping some of our research
directions and interactions with communities – getting the balance in our
landscapes and regional economies
is an important issue.
There was also recognition for
individuals and appointments to
prestigious panels and the like –
these are important and deserve to
be celebrated along with the teambased achievements given above.
My emphasis in reporting the above
is very much on the team effort that
underpins much of our research.
This is not a statement that the
individual effort is not important,
but rather that given our remit to
undertake integrated research we
have encouraged the formation of a
team mentality in its many forms and
shapes. Also important has been a
quiet transition from an earlier focus
on research outputs to also record-
With that in mind, and while celebrating our successes over the last 5
years I’d like to encourage everyone involved with ILWS to enjoin
in the necessary ongoing discussions about our future directions
and operations. This includes how
we manage our business as well as
our research activities and engagement with our communities. After 10
years of consolidation we have the
capacity and the research profile to
have a substantial influence on local,
regional, and national policy relating
to rural or regional communities and
their environments – in the MurrayDarling Basin and further afield. We
have also made significant inroads
ILWS Newsletter
into understanding the complexity
and uncertainty associated with the
social-ecological systems that comprise our regions. Now for the next 5
years.
Reaccreditation document
Draft ILWS strategy
Recent grants
External grants
What can we learn about temperate woodland dynamics from
dense tree regeneration? Lunt,I.
Spooner, P. & Cross, E. (PhD student) (2015-2016) ANZ Charitable
Trust-Holsworth Wildlife Research
Endowment, $7000
Frog community responses to
environmental change: a case
study in the mid Lachlan. Hall, A.,
& Walcott, A. (PhD student) (2015)
Central Tablelands Local Land Services, $7000
Understanding historic fish
populations in the Murray River.
Humphries, P. (2015-2016), Murray
Darling Basin Authority, $27,273
Yanco Creek Environmental flows
monitoring: 2015-16 fish and
vegetation surveys. Wassens, S.
& Wolfenden, B. (2015-2016) NSW
Office of Environment & Heritage,
$20,000
Vegetation Monitoring in the
Colligen Creek System. Watts, R. &
Healy, S. (OEH) (2015-2018) Murray
Local Land Services, $70,000
Developing an ecological character based management and regulatory framework for Lake Chilika.
Finlayson, M. (2015) International
Development Research Centre,
$11,655
Stakeholder Satisfaction Survey.
Allan, C. (2015) Murray Local Land
Services, $14,900
Community groups capacity check. Allan, C. & Mitchell, M.
(2015) Murray Local Land Services
$29,900
Our Place-Riverina. MastermanSmith, H., Sheahan, M., & Rafferty,
J. NSW Office of Environment and
Issue 41 - 2015
2
Heritage, $29,500
New Projects
Can landscape structure enhance
the resilience of biodiversity to climatic extremes? Insights from the
Millennium Drought. Nimmo, D.,
Bennett, A. (La Trobe Uni), Haslem,
A. (LaTrobe Uni) & Radford, J. (Bush
Heritage Australia) (2015-2018)
Hermon Slade Foundation, $86,210
Vegetation Monitoring in the Colligen Creek System. Watts, R. &
Healy, S. (OEH) (2015-2018) Murray
Local Land Services, $70,000
Are high rates of hatching failure and lethal deformities in
the Chatham Island black robin
caused by calcium deficiencies?
Massaro, M. (2015-2017) Mohamed
bin Zayed Species Conservation
Fund, $6400
Emerging trends in skill shortages
in regional NSW: the case of the
Riverina. Sharma, K., Oczkowski,
E., Hicks, J., Houston, L. (RDA-Riverina) (2015) Regional Development
Australia-Riverina, $5000
Floristics monitoring for ecological thinning trial in River Red Gum
forests. Spooner, P. (2015) Office of
Environment & Heritage, $102,781
Long Term Monitoring ProjectMurrumbidgee Selected AreaReturn Flow Variation. Wassens,
S., Wolfenden, B. & Jenkins, K.
(2015) CEWO, $59,164
Lower Lachlan Frog Assessment,
Wassens, S., Dyer, F. (Uni of Canberra), Walcott, A. & Hall, A. (20152016), CEWO, $39,728
Internal grants
Next generation tools for environmental monitoring in remote and
limited access locations, Watson,
D.H., Massaro, M., Luck, G., & Finlayson, M. (2015) Research Infrastructure Block Grant, $33,583
Ecological responses to environmental flow microscopy, Watts, R.,
Wassens, S., Jenkins, K., & McCasker, N. (2015) Research Infrastructure
Block Grant (RIBG), $30,660
A competency tool for organizational leadership in sustainability
learning, research and strategic
management, Ragusa, A.T. &
Crampton, A. 2015 CSU Sustainability Grant application (large grant),
$50,000
The Edward-Wakool River System
is a large anabranch system of the
River Murray and is considered to
be important for its high native species richness and diversity including
threatened and endangered fish,
frogs, mammals, and riparian plants.
Monitoring since the black water
events of 2010-11 by NSW Fisheries and CSU researchers, supported
by recreational angler’s anecdotal
evidence and angling club records,
has indicated a general recovery of
native fish populations in this system.
However this recovery has not been
seen across the entire system with
low populations of native fish recorded in the Colligen Creek/Niemur
River reaches.
The Commonwealth Environmental
Water Office, as part of their water
planning in collaboration with stakeholders, intends to deliver Commonwealth environmental water to Colligen Creek, in particular to trial a new
operational arrangement with Water
NSW to maintain a slightly higher
base flow and allow rain rejection
events to pass through the system
with a managed recession to maintain beneficial variability in discharge.
It is predicted that improved vegetation cover and diversity in Colligen
Creek will assist in supporting the
recovery of fish in the system.
For this project researchers will
undertake:
• A three year monitoring program
to evaluate aquatic and riverbank vegetation responses to
environmental watering in Colligen Creek, and
• Inundation modelling for one
year to determine relationships
between discharge, flow heights
and area of inundation to inform
future water delivery decision
making.
This information will improve our
knowledge of aquatic and riverbank
vegetation responses to in-channel
flows and contribute to more efficient
ILWS Newsletter
and better targeted used of environmental water. The project will complement the current Edward-Wakool
Long-Term Intervention Monitoring
project funded by the Commonwealth Department of the Environment.
Yanco Creek Environmental flows
monitoring: 2015-16 fish and
vegetation surveys. Wassens, S.
& Wolfenden, B. (2015-2016) NSW
Office of Environment & Heritage,
$20,000
During 2015-16, the NSW Office of
Environment and Heritage and the
Commonwealth Environmental Water
Office are planning to deliver environmental water to help maintain and
improve water-dependent creek and
wetland communities of the Yanco
Creek system. How much water
delivered and the number of sites
inundated will depend on weather
conditions with environmental watering expected to commence between
June 1 and December 1 2015.
Researchers have received funding from the NSW OEH to monitor
ecological outcomes associated with
the delivery of environmental water
with surveys of two sites to be done
depending on the extent of the inundation and site access.
Field sampling will be carried over
two separate occasions (before and
after flow), in conjunction with the
Murrumbidgee Long Term Intervention Monitoring project and using that
project’s survey methods. Accordingly the researchers will be monitoring
fish and frog community diversity and
relative abundance, and water quality (dissolved oxygen, pH, conductivity and temperature).
While watering objectives centre on
maintaining riparian and wetland
vegetation, the researchers expect
ecological benefits to fish communities both in the creek system and
adjacent wetland habitats pending
flow timing and suitable water quality
conditions.
Water managers will be provided
with updates at the completion of
each field survey with a final project report describing findings and
outcomes associated with the use of
environmental water to be delivered
to NSW OEH
Issue 41 - 2015
3
Opinion
by
Institute
Advisory
Board
member Prof
Kathleen
Bowmer
Advocating for the natural
world
Now I’ve finally retired from the
academic and scientific rat-race I
have the luxury of reflecting on a
career of over forty years in natural
resource management. It’s been a
roller-coaster ride to maintain the
energy and credibility needed to
support my region and its communities in water science and policy.
Fortunately several colleagues,
particularly Geoff Syme and Blair
Nancarrow, provided early grounding in socio-economic disciplines to
add to my background in biophysical sciences; and chairing a river
management committee over five
years ensured some close encounters with a diversity of stakeholders.
During that time I have become
increasingly aware of my incapacity to deal with the needs of
Indigenous people, perhaps rather
frightened of being politically incorrect and ignorant of the correct
approach and permissions needed
to communicate. However Treahna
Hamm, my Indigenous artist friend,
has shared with me the values and
solace to be found in the natural
world. I love her etchings in the
lining of the possum cloaks that
have been on display in Albury
and I am pleased to own a print of
Paradise Overkill (a hand coloured
etching, pictured right with permission) which describes her reaction
to the planned building of a tourist
resort on the Murray River.
venation in nature, so that socioeconomic descriptions of ‘sense of
place’ and ‘non-market valuation’
take on a very personal flavour. In
my watercolour painting I try to paint
to capture the spirit of the landscape,
especially appreciating the value of
the natural world in riverine environments. My inspirations include
John Wolseley, John Borrack, Frank
Hodgkinson’s Kakadu paintings and,
of course, many Australian impressionists.
The conflict between water needs for
the environment and consumptive
use for cities and irrigation remains
topical, unresolved and emotional,
and many academic publications
are critical of lack of progress in
achieving justice and fairness. This
applies not only to water sharing
and natural resource management
more generally, but also to other
critical issues world-wide (the recent
ABC RN Big Ideas podcast is an
excellent review). Yet the principle
of consultation, debate and explanation remains prominent even at the
highest political level, as espoused
by our new Prime Minister in the last
few days, and lampooned in popular
programs such as ‘Yes Minister’ and
‘Utopia’.
On a more positive note there is
plenty of recent literature on frameworks for ‘achieving deeper democracy’ (e.g. Manwaring 2014) and on
market based solutions which may
sometimes take some ‘sting’ out of
decision-making for agencies.
Also, as my distance from science
and the scientific method increases,
it seems to me that we should take
greater note of the role of artists,
writers and poets, and of Indigenous
knowledge. For example the e-book
‘Buckingbong to Birrego: Walking
into Country’ describes a 50 km walk
from the Murrumbidgee to Birrego
station, during which artists presented installations and performances
made for each place. ‘Local elders,
farmers and community members
gave talks and fostered discussion
about history, possible futures, and
the inextricable ties between our
bodies and the nourishing, productive terrains through which we
walked’.
Artists and writers are powerful advocates of the value of nature and can
stimulate conversations about future
options and sustainability that we all
hope for.
References:
Bowmer, K.H. (1999). Water and
landscapes: Perceptions from myth,
memory, art, advertising and the
media. In ‘Preserving Rural Landscapes’. Eds Robertson, A.R. &
Watts, R. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne. Chap. 5, pp. 43–50.
ABC Radio National Big Ideas. Citizens’ Juries: Leadership for a New
Democracy, Podcast 9 July 2015
Manwaring, R. (2014) ‘The Search
for Democratic Renewal’, Manchester University Press.
The Cad Factory, National Museum
of Australia, Wiradjuri Condobolin
Corporation and Graham Strong
(2015) ‘Buckingbong to Birrego:
Walking into Country’
The format of a traditional fish trap
is used to contrast with the trappings of modern developments.
Yes, a picture’s worth a thousand
words! I now realise that I have
always found a personal rejuILWS Newsletter
Issue 41 - 2015
4
Project Updates
Earnings outcomes in
metropolitan and regional
labour markets: A genderbased analysis for New
South Wales and Victoria
As one of a number of labour market
projects undertaken by members of
the Sustainable Business Development in Regional Australia SRA,
A/Prof PK Basu, Prof John Hicks
and Dr Girijasankar Mallik from the
University of Western Sydney have
attempted to identify levels of gender
discrimination - in both weekly
incomes and hourly wage rates –for
metropolitan and regional labour
markets.
The researchers have confirmed the
existence of gender discrimination
in major Australian labour markets.
Their work also identifies the fact that
the degree of discrimination against
women is higher in regional areas
than in their associated metropolitan areas. Victoria revealed a much
higher level of discrimination against
women than NSW.
The researchers recently completed
a paper on their findings which they
also presented at a Faculty seminar
in June. The following abstract summaries their work:
This research attempts to analyse
gender and regional issues together
in the context of the Australian labour
market in order to identify the existence and degrees of income and
wage discrimination. Most studies on labour market features and
outcomes in Australia have focused
either on issues related to regions
or on gender, but rarely have both
aspects been considered simultaneously.
Using CURF data of the 2006
Census this paper analysed the
determinants of weekly incomes
and hourly wage rates by gender
in two major Australian metropolitan cities (Sydney and Melbourne)
and the respective regional areas
of each state (regional NSW and
regional Victoria). Using the BlinderOaxaca decomposition procedure
this research confirms that gender
discrimination exists in major Australian labour markets. The extent
of income discrimination was significantly higher than for wage discrimination as Australia follows non-discriminatory wage policies.
This research identified three
aspects of discrimination. First, positive discrimination against women
exists in all labour markets studied.
Second, the level of discrimination
against women was consistently
higher in regions than in metropolitan cities in both states - mainly due
to limited job opportunities and lower
ownership of income earning assets
by women in the regions. Third,
between the two states studied,
Victoria revealed a higher level of
discrimination against women than
NSW.
As NSW and Victoria account for 58
percent of the Australian population,
these results may have a more general applicability for policy designed
to counteract the adverse impact of
discrimination by gender throughout
metropolitan and regional Australia.
Virtuous practitioners:
Empowering social workers
Andrew Alexandra (Melbourne Uni)
and A/Prof Bill Anscombe (CSU),
who are finalising biographies to be
published as an edited book.
The successful completion of the
first phase of the project has led to
the second phase of the project for
which data is being collected from
social work practitioners. The CIs
look forward to sharing the results of
the project in the near future.
Optimising Canal and
Groundwater Management
to Assist Water User Associations in Maximising Crop
Production and Managing
Salinisation in Australia and
Pakistan
This ACIAR (Australian Centre for
International Agricultural Research)
funded project ($1,219,708 ) with
partners Punjab irrigation and Drainage Authority and University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan, began
in 2008 and will end this year.
Researchers involved are Prof John
Blackwell, Dr Jay Punthakey, (ILWS
adjunct) and Dr Richard Culas.
The first phase of this ARC Discovery Project, led by Professor Manohar Pawar culminated into a two day
workshop (10-11 December 2014)
held at Wagga Wagga campus,
bringing together eminent social
work and philosophy academics
from nine Australian universities.
Participants (pictured below)
critically discussed virtues in ten
biographies of Australian social
workers and provided rich data for
further analysis and interpretation.
The workshop was led by Chief
Investigators, Prof Pawar (ILWS),
Prof Richard Hugman (UNSW), Mr
ILWS Newsletter
A distributary in Rechna Doab Photo Dr
J.Punthakey
The project is based in the Rechna
Doab, the interfluvial sedimentary
basin of the Chenab and Ravi rivers
and comprises part of the Indus
River basin irrigation system in
Pakistan. The doab covers an area
of 2.98 million ha of irrigated land.
Since the 1980s, pumping of groundwater for supplementary irrigation
has reduced groundwater levels,
and leakage from rivers and canals
to groundwater has become the predominant form of surface water and
groundwater interaction.
Issue 41 - 2015
5
Groundwater pumped from tubewells
in the doab has played a vital role in
increasing the intensity of agriculture
in the Rechna Doab and contributed
to improving food security.
For the project, a regional flow
and solute transport model was
developed to assess availability of
groundwater resources and interaction of surface and groundwater
in the Rechna Doab. Spatial and
temporal assessment of groundwater use, availability of surface water
supplies, and climatic variability were
modelled to assess the quantity and
quality of groundwater resources.
The aim of the socioeconomic component of the project is to identify
opportunities for equitable irrigated
rice distribution of canal and groundwater to improve farmers income
through maximizing crop productivity and minimizing the effects
of salinity in irrigated landscapes.
The econometric analyses for crop
productivity in the three distributaries
of the Lower Chenab Cannel (LCC)
Irrigation System in Pakistan (i.e.
study areas) imply that the water
should be redistributed (reallocated)
between the distributaries to improve
environmental and socioeconomic
outcomes for the farm household in
the LCC system. The econometric
analyses have also been extended
to model the various socioeconomic factors that can influence the
farmer’s adaptation decisions to the
optimal water use scenarios (i.e.
the socioeconomic analyses provide
opportunities for better decision
making by the farmers, and policy
and institutional setting in relation to
the groundwater management in the
LCC.
Community Engagement
Learning Communities Primary School Program
This program provides Years 5 and 6
students in the North East Victorian
and Southern Riverina regions with
a unique opportunity to consider the
value of higher education for a sustainable future. The excursion component involved over 500 students
and staff attending the CSU AlburyWodonga campus from August to
October for activities around the
theme of ‘creating sustainable communities through higher education’.
This is to be followed by their attendance at a 1-day Youth Forum and
the Flourish Community Festival
on November 13 & 14. The festival encourages students’ families,
friends and communities to become
more comfortable and familiar with
the practices and purposes of higher
education. An incursion (“we go to
them”) component, involving nearly
200 students from Years Five and
Six, replicating these goals is aimed
at Northeast Victorian and other
outlying schools.
Learning Communities High
School Program
Irrigated Rice cultivation in Rechna
Doab Photo Dr JF.Punthakey
reallocations).
The study will allow improved
understanding of the sustainability of
groundwater usage in Rechna Doab
and provide tools to improve the
management of surface and groundwater in the doab.
The results and the implications of
High school students who might
normally not consider a University
degree got a taste of what is possible
as part of the Learning Communities
project managed by ILWS. Over 300
high school students from AlburyWodonga visited three universities
and active community groups in
Melbourne and Albury, from February
to May earlier this year, investigating
a range of career options while considering how their choices can make
their community and our world more
sustainable.
“We wanted to show what careers
were possible for local students,
particularly in the growing area of
sustainable development and where
ILWS Newsletter
Year 11 student from Murray High
School inspect the ‘Steve Irwin’, part
of the Sea Shepherd’s anti-whaling
fleet.”
Photo courtesy of Learning Communities project
these students may be the first in
their families to aspire to a university
degree,” said Learning Communities project leader, Dr John Rafferty.
“With Federal Government funding,
we put together and ran six day
social geography tour for Year 10
and 11 students. Over five days, we
enticed them to think about careers
in sustainable development, ranging
from environmental science, conservation management and veterinary
science, to engineering, law, health
administration, community development and journalism.”
And the results were very positive.
“The students have shown real passion for their community and their
environment as well as a drive to
succeed,” said Dr Rafferty. “Many
of the students are now considering
university study while others now
have a much clearer idea of where
they want to go and what they want
to do.”
*The Learning Communities program
is funded by the Commonwealth
Department of Education’s Higher
Education Participation and Partnerships Program. It is auspiced
through ILWS and delivered by
members of the Environmental
Justice and Governance for Social
Change SRA.
Life changing journey
Issue 41 - 2015
6
On September 23, A/Prof Rosemary
Black gave a presentation to the
Albury Probus Club called ‘A life
changing journey in Africa’ in which
she talked about her research for
the AWF on the social and economic
impacts of tourist lodges on the local
community. Rosemary conducted
a research project for the African
Wildlife Foundation looking at the
social and economic impacts of
tourist lodges on local communities
with two case study lodges one in
Botswana and the other in Rwanda.
The research project was completed
during Rosemary’s study leave in the
latter part of 2014.
Rosemary has submitted a comprehensive report to the African Wildlife
Foundation that will be used by
them to assess their conservation
enterprise model that is used to set
up these lodges. The model aims to
improve the quality of life of communities and promote positive local
attitudes towards conservation. Her
study found that the lodges were
providing benefits to the local community through the creation of jobs,
implementation of community projects such as houses for low income
families and water tanks, additional
assets and improved living conditions for lodge staff and reduction in
poverty in the communities.
Rosemary is currently writing up the
results from this study into papers for
the Journal of Sustainable Tourism
and the Journal of Ecotourism. She
plans to continue her interest in the
benefits of tourism for local communities by collaborating with other
researchers such as Dr Sue Snyman
in South Africa and Professor Kelly
Bricker in the USA.
Wild Pollinator Count
The next national Wild Pollinator
Count (involving Dr Manu Saunders) will be held November
15-22. Anyone can get involved
by spending 10 minutes counting
insects that visit your favourite
flowers. There will be live events
on around the Albury region (in
partnership with the Slopes 2
Summit initiative). Visit the website for more information: wildpollinatorcount.com.
Dr Skye Wassens & PhD
student Amelia Walcott took
a group of more than 30
people interested in frogs
for a “Frog Wander” on
Saturday, August 15. The
event was organised by the
Wooragee Landcare group
and participants learnt
about local frog species,
habitat and identifying in the
field.
Indigenous connection
Ulu Island from the boat looking southeast. Pic. J.
Watson
Dr Wayne Robinson spent a number
of days in August with the Barkindji
Maraura Elders Environment Team
who are undertaking environmental
research in the lower Darling region,
NSW as part of a collaborative three
year project funded by the Indigenous Advancement Strategy and
La Trobe University. Wayne assisted
with the project’s design.
Adjunct News
Biodiversity research expedition to Ulu, Torres Strait
ILWS Adjunct, Dr Justin Watson
has worked in the Torres Strait for
a number of years and has visited
numerous islands and undertaken
research with the local community
across the region.
In recent times he has been involved
in coordinated excursions by the
Torres Strait Regional Authority
(TSRA) to remote and uninhabited
islands. These excursions include
investigations into island biodiversity, fauna, flora and cultural heritage. TSRA Rangers are involved in
management tasks for the islands
which include weed control, litter
Spotted tree goanna. Pic J. Watson
Frog Wander
ILWS Newsletter
removal and ecology training. Earlier
this year Justin was awarded an
ILWS grant to accompany TSRA on
another survey to the island of Ulu
(Saddle). Ulu is a continental island
some 23ha with two large outcrops
with grassland and vine thicket
and a grassland - woodland plain.
Mangroves, sandy and rocky shores
surround the island.
Justin joined TSRA in June for
a survey which hoped to add to
the known species for the island,
complete Ranger training and look
for small mammals (including the
Bramble Cay Melomys). Survey
methodology targeted amphibians,
small and large mammals, birds
and reptiles. The species list for the
island increased to 49 birds, including migratory flycatchers, fantails
and shorebirds, many listed under
State and Commonwealth legislation. “It was exciting to see pairs of
Beach Stone-curlews and Sooty
Oystercatchers breeding on the
island,” says Justin. “Turtles and
crocodiles were also regular visitors
during our survey. Eight reptiles,
including three geckoes and scrub
pythons were recorded on the island.
The only mammal recorded was a
black flying-fox.” Besides adding to
the biological understanding of the
island, the Rangers were able to
participate in fauna survey training,
share traditional ecological knowledge and remove debris from the
island.
Justin has also recently provided a
review of the Torres Strait Islands
Biodiversity Strategy, proposed
for release this year. The strategy
aims to provide guidance and recommendations for the management
and protection of biodiversity and
cultural values in the region.
Issue 41 - 2015
7
Good-bye to an old friend
For many of those whose lives he
touched and for two Institute’s members, Associate Professor Rosemary
Black and Dr Penny Davidson (now
an Institute adjunct) in particular, the
death of Professor Elery HamiltonSmith AM in June this year meant
the loss of an old friend and exceptional mentor.
Elery, who was an Adjunct Professor
in Environmental Sciences at CSU,
was regarded as one of the founding
fathers of leisure studies in Australia.
He began giving guest lectures to the
School of Environmental Science’s
parks and recreation students in the
early 1990s. He contributed to the
establishment and teaching of the
Graduate Diploma in Karst Management that the school ran in the late
1990s. Recognised as a world expert
in parks, leisure, tourism and karst,
Elery was a member of the International Union for the Conservation of
Nature (IUCN)’s Karst Management
Committee.
Rosy first met Elery in 1977 when,
after moving to Australia from
England, she began the year long
Graduate Diploma in Recreation
at what was the Preston Institute
of Technology in Melbourne (now
LaTrobe University). “Elery was a
remarkable person,” says Rosy. “He
had a real breadth of expertise in
leisure and recreation, social work
(which was what his degree was
in), karst management and bats.
He was like a ‘guru’ to us. He would
run these amazing tutorials where
he would give lots of anecdotes and
stories....we were just in awe of him.”
From her first job as a parks recreation officer with St Kilda Council 40
years ago through to her current academic position with CSU, Rosy kept
in touch with her inspirational mentor.
“Really he has been a mentor and
a friend for me...he was an incredibly supportive, wise person,” says
Rosy whose views are echoed by
Penny who says “he was one of the
most generous (the most?) people
in terms of giving his time in order to
improve the quality of approaches to
parks/leisure/tourism/karst as well as
share knowledge.”
Rosy used to visit Elery and his wife
Rosemary and other CSU colleagues enjoying dinner with Elery (centre right)
on his last visit to Albury
Angela at their home in Clifton Hill in
Melbourne where Elery had an office
that “was literally floor to ceiling
books”. “When he got sick he started
sending out his books to people
he knew,” says Rosy who received
some of these. “He was an extraordinary person, just so generous.”
http://www.scenicspectrums.com.au/
blog/2015/7/21/blog-2-vale-professor-elery-hamilton-smith-am
CSG management
Institute adjunct and Chair of the
ILWS Advisory Board Dr John
Williams discussed the impacts of
CSG (Coal Seam Gas) on the land
and environment at Unconventional
Gas: Opportunities and Challenges
– a two-day conference held by the
Australian Academy of Technological
Sciences and Engineering (ATSE)
on 22-23 September in Sydney.
Dr Williams was also one of the
speakers at a public Symposium
presented by the Goyder Institute,
and Centre for Water Economics,
Environment and Policy, Australian
National University on “The Basin by
numbers: science, economics, community, environment” on Sept 30.
What do tadpoles eat?
Former ILWS post-doc Dr Joanne
Ocock and now ILWS adjunct has
been taking a close look at the food
tadpoles eat and the nutrients they
absorb from this food, thanks to an
early career researcher grant from
the Institute.
Joanne’s research aims to determine
the role and importance of tadpoles
in the food web. This information
may then be used to inform plan-
ILWS Newsletter
ning for future environmental watering events to maximise the tadpole
response and strengthen the food
chain.
“I’m using a two part process to
determine what the tadpoles eat
and what their bodies absorb,” says
Joanne who now works as an environmental scientist with the NSW
Office of Environment and Heritage.
“Late last year and again in early
2015, tadpole samples were collected from two sites in the midMurrumbidgee and four in the lower
Murrumbidgee. The timing of these
field trips coincided with environmental watering events and Long Term
Intervention Monitoring.
“Nets were set up and left overnight
at sites that were typical of the individual wetlands.”
A maximum of six tadpoles were
taken from each location, euthanased, and then frozen and transported for further testing. Two
species were targeted – the barking
marsh frog and spotted marsh frog because they are known to respond
to environmental watering and are
the most common and widespread
species that occur in the wetlands.
Joanne also collected samples of
possible food sources from each site
such as algae, micro-invertebrates,
aquatic plants, silt, and leaves.
The results of the first process,
stable isotope analysis – a process
that identifies the ratios of carbon
and nitrogen for comparison against
samples of potential food sources
collected from the site- on the
tadpoles are still pending. However
Joanne says the findings from the
second process which involved
removing the first centimetre of the
Issue 41 - 2015
8
Handbook on Trade and Development. Edited by Prof Oliver Morrissey, A/Prof Ricardo A. Lopez & Prof
Kishor Sharma
tadpole’s gut to inspect the contents
under a microscope have revealed
some interesting information.
“Early observations suggest that
tadpoles are not very selective when
it comes to what they eat,” she says.
“Under the microscope we saw
pieces of aquatic vegetation, small
invertebrates, seeds, other plant
matter and micro-crustaceans. In
the species we looked at it appears
the tadpoles are quite indiscriminate about the foods they consume.
They are acting like opportunistic
omnivores – if there’s protein about,
they’ll eat it. That means their diet
appears to vary from wetland to
wetland, depending on the available
foods.
“It is interesting to note the presence
of micro-crustaceans in the tadpole’s
diet. That’s a favourite food of fish
and it is thought (according to other
scientific studies) that a certain density of micro-crustaceans influences
fish numbers within the food web.
While other studies have focused
on the needs of fish within the food
chain, this is the first study of its kind
in Australia focusing on tadpoles.
I believe that tadpoles play a far
bigger role in wetland food webs
than previously believed.”
Public Relations Ethics and Professionalism: The Shadow of Excellence. Dr Johanna Fawkes
The books will be launched by Head
of the Albury-Wodonga Campus, Ms
Julie Cleary.
A section of the gut/intestine which has
been split in the middle and shows multiple strands of filamentous algae inside,
as well as other ‘mush’. Pic J. Ocock
research into planning processes,
environmental water can be used to
help provide the ideal conditions for
a tadpole response which, in turn,
help to support the broader food
web.”
*Joanne was one of four ILWS Early
Career researchers who received
funding from ILWS under its Early
Career Mentoring Scheme in 2014.
Others were Dr Maggie Watson, Dr
Melanie Massaro, and Dr Shelby
Gull-Laird.
Events: Coming up
ILWS Book launch
ILWS will hold its annual book launch
on Thursday, October 29 from
10.30am to 12 noon at The Gums
Cafe, Albury-Wodong campus. The
event celebrates seven books published by Institute members:
A dissected tadpole. Pic J. Ocock
While the process of assessing and
interpreting the information gathered
continues, Joanne says: “I believe
that tadpoles play a far bigger role in
wetland food webs than was previously thought. It appears tadpoles
can use the nutrients and food
sources made available by environmental watering of floodplain wetlands and in turn become a food
source for other animals and contribute to the overall health of the
ecosystem. By incorporating this
Wetlands and Human Health. Edited
by Prof Max Finlayson, Prof Pierre
Horwitz & Prof Philip Weinstein
Reflective Social Work Practice:
Thinking, Doing and Being. Prof
Manohar Pawar & Dr Bill Anscombe
Tour Guiding Research: Insights,
Issues and Implications. Prof Betty
Weiler & A/Prof Rosemary Black
Adventure Programming and Travel
for the 21st Century. Edited by A/
Prof Rosemary Black & Prof Kelly
S. Bricker
Benalla Migrant Camp: A difficult
heritage. A/Prof Bruce Pennay
ILWS Newsletter
Youth Forum
On Friday, November 13 (10am3pm), a Youth Forum will be held
at CSU as part of the Learning
Communities Program. Around
500 local Year 5 and 6 students
and staff are expected to attend the
Albury-Wodonga campus at Thurgoona. They’ll be working through a
series of activities culminating in the
production of a Youth Action Statement for a Sustainable Future, to be
presented at the Flourish Festival the
following day. Schools will also be
involved in setting up their Flourish
Festival displays and exhibits.
Flourish Festival
On Saturday, November 14 (10am9pm), the CSU community and
their families are invited to enjoy
the Flourish Festival at the AlburyWodonga campus. At least 2000
visitors are expected to attend this
free event. The Festival celebrates
and shares the experiences of local
primary and high school students
who have participated in the Learning Communities Program during
2015.This Program promotes the
value of higher education around
the real-world theme of ‘creating
sustainable communities’. The event
is driven by local schools and will
involve film screenings, art displays,
live music, exhibits, games and fun
activities.
Sustainability champions from the
local area and beyond who have
inspired local students’ work, such
as Edgars Mission Farm Sanctuary,
the Sea Shepherd Conservation
Society and Animals Australia, will be
on hand to show and discuss their
work with the community. Flourish
is also the closing event for Albury
Wodonga’s Sustainable Living Week
(Nov 7-14).
Issue 41 - 2015
9
ILWS Annual Book Launch
ILWS is hosting an Annual Book Launch to celebrate the publication of seven books.
You are invited to join us, along with our special guest, Ms Julie Cleary, Head of
Campus, Albury-Wodonga. The launch will be followed by morning tea.
Wetlands and
Human Health
Edited by
Prof Max Finlayson
Prof Pierre Horwitz
Prof Philip Weinstein
Reflective Social
Work Practice :
Thinking, Doing
and Being
Prof Manohar
Pawar &
Dr Bill Anscombe
Tour Guiding
Research: Insights,
Issues and
Implications
Prof Betty Weiler &
A/Prof Rosemary
Black
Adventure Programming and Travel for
the 21st Century
Edited by
A/Prof Rosemary
Black & Prof Kelly S.
Bricker
Benalla Migrant Camp : A difficult heritage A/Prof Bruce Pennay
Handbook on Trade and Development Edited by Prof Oliver Morrissey, A/Prof Ricardo A. Lopez &
Prof Kishor Sharma
Public Relations Ethics and Professionalism: The Shadow of Excellence Dr Johanna Fawkes
research for a sustainable future
Thursday 29 October
10.30am - 12 noon
The Gums Cafe - Albury-Wodonga Campus
RSVP Kris Gibbs 02 6051 9992
email [email protected]
www.csu.edu.au/research/ilws
ILWS Newsletter
Issue 41 - 2015
10
Conferences, Seminars, Workshops &
Meetings
Exploring research opportunities in the Australian tour
guiding industry -Associate
Professor Rosemary Black
Tour guides continue to be unrecognised, under rewarded and
unregulated in Australia. These and
other issues facing the tour guiding
industry were discussed at a recent
meeting of three of the country’s key
national tour guide associations.
Organised by Associate Professor
Rosemary Black the meeting, on
September 15 at the Ecotourism
Australia office in Brisbane, included
representatives of Guiding Organisations Australia, Ecotourism Australia
and Savannah Guides. The aim of
the meeting was to discuss the current challenges and issues facing the
Australian tour guiding industry and
then formulate potential research
projects that could assist the industry to address some of these challenges.
Potential research projects discussed at the meeting included analysing the profile of Australian tour
guides who are current members of
tour guide associations versus those
who are non-members; producing
research evidence to build a business case for employing qualified,
competent guides; exploring other
benefits of quality guiding for example for communities, regions, and
governments and investigating the
facilitators and barriers to guides
gaining professional status.
A/Prof Black will conduct the
research with Professor Betty Weiler
of Southern Cross University. She
and Prof Weiler are the world’s top
researchers in tour guiding and have
recently published an authored book
Tour guiding research: Insights,
issues and implications published by
Channel View Publications. The book
has received rave reviews from academics around the world and will be
launched at the ILWS annual book
launch on October 29. The Australian tour guiding research project was
supported by ILWS funds.
Association for Tropical
Biology and Conservation
conference - Professor David M
Watson
In July, I jetted off to Hawaii, where I
was based for three months as part
of my sabbatical. Before heading to
Hilo on the island of Hawai’i, I spent
a week on Oahu for the Association
for Tropical Biology and Conservation’s 52nd annual conference,
Honolulu, Hawaii, July 12-16.
In keeping with the conference
theme of ‘resilience of island systems in the context of climate
change: challenges for biological
and cultural diversity and conservation’, talks focused on many of the
challenges facing tropical ecosystems—both now, and in the foreseeable future. Attracting similar
numbers of delegates as annual ESA
conferences, these meetings cover
a wide cross section of ecology,
conservation biology and environmental science as they relate to
tropical systems. As with previous
ATBC meetings I have attended, the
Neotropics were disproportionately
well represented, but there was also
a large number of talks on Hawaiian
species and ecosystems.
By far the simplest way to gain an
overview of the meeting, read highlights of talks and follow up links to
more information about the research
and researchers involved, is to scroll
through the conference thread on
Twitter. For those readers who don’t
know what social media is all about
but are confident it is irrelevant, just
give this a try—go to www.twitter.
com click on the magnifying glass
icon in the top left hand corner and
type in #atbc15 into the panel. Go
on, you don’t need to sign up for
anything and it will give you direct
access to what went on in the meeting. Unlike the confusing situation at
the Ecological Society of America’s
annual meeting where sharing of
information via Twitter was restricted
to those presentations that explicitly
gave their permission, many delegates participated in live-tweeting
during this conference, greatly
extending the reach of the meeting and allowing interested people
around the world to engage with
proceedings.
ILWS Newsletter
There were many highlights, with the
daily plenary addresses especially
notable. The opening address was
given by Dr Samuel M. Ohukaniohia
Gon, III, senior scientist at the Nature
Conservancy (Hawaii), and his
moving address set the tone for the
meeting, seamlessly weaving together the latest research findings with
traditional knowledge into a detailed
ecological and cultural tapestry covering the length, breadth and depth
of the Hawaiian archipelago.
The other plenaries were given
by Prof Catherine Graham (Stony
Brook University), Dr Richard Corlett
(Centre for Integrative Conservation,
Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical
Garden) and Prof Kaoru Kitajima
(Kyoto University) exploring hummingbirds as model systems for
understanding ecological processes,
conservation in an era of rapid global
change and plant life history strategies in tropical forests (respectively).
Another highlight was a nontraditional approach to conference
presentation. For the symposium
‘Exploring elemental limitation of
tropical biological processes across
the entire periodic table”, the usual
format of four talks per hour for two
or three hours was replaced by a
series of ‘lightning talks’—three slide
three minute presentations. For the
first half, 14 researchers gave a synopsis of their work on this topic, all of
them keeping to time and using their
allotted three slides creatively.
Then, a one hour discussion ensued,
moderated by symposium chair Prof
Mike Kaspari (University of Oklahoma) strategically interspersed
with corn chips. As Mike discusses
in his blog http://michaelkaspari.
org/2015/07/16/ this format worked
surprisingly well—the first hour giving
everyone a “what do we know, and
how do we know it” primer, while the
second hour focused on a nuanced
exploration of “what don’t we know,
and how can we get there”. I foresee
many lightening strikes on the horizon, hopefully at future ESA meetings. For more highlights, check on
the twitter thread (which is archived
and searchable) and find out what
really went on. The next ATBC meeting will be held in Montpellier, France
from 19–23rd June; #ATBC16
Issue 41 - 2015
11
Portable Landscapes
In July 2015, Associate Professor
Margaret Woodward presented a
paper entitled ‘Affictive Cartographies’ at the Portable Landscapes:
Environments on the Move conference at Durham University, UK.
Through a cross disciplinary investigation between design, cultural
geography and tourism this paper
focused on the relationship between
souvenirs and the imagined geographies they create. Margaret presented a series of creative projects
as case studies including the recent
project “The Sea is All Around Us”
which traces the mobile life of seafarers through a souvenir object.
The paper questioned what kind of
cartographies are created by such
portable landscapes and in collaboration with cartographer Deanna
Duffy from CSU’s Spatial Analysis
Network (SPAN), a set of cartographic representations of their journeys
were developed for the conference.
For more information about the
project
http://sensingtheremote.net/
Biodiversity across the
Borders
Building upon the five previous
conferences, the 2015 6th Biodiversity Across the Borders conference
attracted 575 delegates drawn from
more than 82 organisations including universities, CSIRO, industry,
city and shire councils, Catchment
Management Authorities, the Department of Environment and Natural
Resources of South Australia, Parks
Victoria, private companies and
consultants, representatives from the
forestry sector, nature conservation
and of other biodiversity conservation organisations.
The sixth one-day conference was
hosted by Federation University Australia at its Mt Helen campus on June
12 was again jointly planned and
conducted by the Federation University Australia, La Trobe University,
Deakin University, Victoria University,
Charles Sturt University (ILWS),
the University of Melbourne, Parks
Victoria with assistance from other
respected research partners.
Substantial coverage by 3CR radio
Affictive Cartography: tracing the mobile life of souvenirs and seafarers journeys from
the project The Sea is All Around Us. Margaret Woodward and Deanna Duffy
extended the impact of the conference to the general public of the
region.
The keynote address, “From science
to inspiration: 10 tips to promote
ecological literacy and successful
conservation in our communities’,
was delivered by renowned ecological researcher Associate Professor
Ian Lunt (ILWS). Other ILWS presenters at the conference included
Professor David Watson, Dr Peter
Spooner, Dr Manu Saunders and
former ILWS post-doc Dr Simon
Watson (ILWS adjunct).
Presentations
Feedback from the previous conference participants was extremely
positive. The participants felt that
they had learned much and appreciated the chance to rub shoulders
with like-minded people, leading
researchers and practitioners in the
environmental area.
Social Development
and Empowering Social Workers’,
Prof Pawar presented initial findings
that focused on core virtues/qualities
needed for social work and social
development practice. At the same
conference, Prof Pawar made a
panel presentation on Future direction in social development’ to be
published as a co-edited book by
Palgrave Macmillan in 2016.
Celebrate Soils
As part of the 2015 United Nation’s
International Year of Soils, the Celebrate Soils Symposium was held
at the Albury-Wodonga campus on
September 2. Speakers from ILWS
included A/Prof Ben Wilson.
Winton Wetlands Forum
The inaugural Wetlands Restoration Research Forum was held on
on August 20 and 21. The event
saw a number of eminent scientists,
including Prof Max Finlayson, chair
of the Winton Wetlands Environmental Strategy Advisory Panel, come
Professor Manohar Pawar (right)
delivered a plenary speech on
‘What makes a social development worker?’ at the 19th International Consortium for Social
Development international symposium on Transforming Society:
Trends and models in community
leadership and social development, July 7-10, Singapore.
Drawing on their ARC Discovery
project, ‘Virtuous Practitioners
ILWS Newsletter
Issue 41 - 2015
12
together to spend two days focussing on the ecological restoration of
the Winton Wetlands. The 100 year
project is the largest of its kind in the
Southern hemisphere. Key project
stakeholders were also in attendance to get a better understanding of
the ecological challenges the project faces, and to share their views
and thoughts. Max talked about
managing and restoring wetlands of
international importance, introduced
the session on Future scenariosEcosystem restoration goals, and
summed up the ideas from speakers
and workshops at the end. Win news
report
In the News
Institute researchers have also
been busy writing blogs and opinion
pieces, and doing media interviews.
These include:
• ILWS post -doc Dr Manu Saunders who had a science opinion
piece published in an international environmental magazine:
The dangers of separating
science and environment, Ensia
Online, 13 August 2015. http://
ensia.com/voices/the-dangersof-separating-science-and-environment/
• New ILWS member Dr Dale
Nimmo has been writing blogs
Larval Conference
on papers he has recently had
published. https://dalenimmo.
Dr Paul Humphries was one of the
wordpress.com/
organisers of the 39th Annual Larval
• The Institute Director, Prof Max
Fish Conference held at UniverFinlayson, who gave a keynote
sity of Vienna, July 12-17 where
talk at the at International Rivhe presented a paper “Integrating
erSymposium, on Tuesday 22
life history theory and dispersal in
September, in Brisbane, highriverine fishes.” Paul will also be the
lighted the fact that 60% of the
editor of a special issue on ‘Dispersal
world’s wetlands are gone. The
during the early life history of fish’ for
story was picked up by ChanCanadian Journal of Fisheries and
nel Africa Radio’s Africa Midday
Aquatic Sciences, coming from the
Show.
papers presented at the conference.
• Adjunct A/Prof Bruce Pennay
The editors are Hubert Keckeis (Unimade his ninth contribution
versity of Vienna), Paul Humphries
to ABC Goulburn-Murray’s
and Su Sponaugle (Oregon State
local stories program series
University).
with an interview and photo
display about Benalla Migrant
After the conference Paul, who was
Camp, conducted by Allion SSP leave until the end of Sepson Jess, the cross-media
tember, ran a Masters Field Course
reporter on 17 June. http://
and a ‘Master class’ with Hubert for
www.abc.net.au/local/stoUniversity of Vienna students, and
ries/2015/06/11/4253181.htm
worked on papers and advised Mas• Dr Suzy McDonald, an Institute
ters and PhD students.
adjunct who is now the Water
Quality Officer with Goulburn
Murray Water had an interesting
Dr Paul Humpries (right) with students from the short article published in VicWater industry newsletter Water
University of Vienna, Austria, doing field work
Matters, Autumn 2015, on an
on the Danube River.
Innovative
Water Treatment Plant
for Quambatook.
•
•
Dr Keller Kopf, Prof Max Finlayson and Dr Paul Humphries
wrote a piece for The Conversation, published Sept 7, on what
changes they think must happen
for restoration and conservation
to be successful in the Anthropocene based on a paper they had
published in BioScience. https://
theconversation.com/restoringand-conserving-nature-in-theanthropocene-means-changingour-idea-of-success-42691
Prof David Watson and Dr
Maggie Watson were co-authors
of a piece in The Conversation
titled “Want good conservation?
Treat animals like trees, and
‘plant’ them in new areas” based
on their recent article in Biological Conservation.
There’s also been a flurry of media
releases published by CSU Media
featuring the work and views of ILWS
researchers over the last few months
covering a wide range of topics.
They include:
Regional areas a place to call home
for immigrants (A/Prof Branka Krivokapic –Skoko)
How to increase Indigenous business success (Prof Mark Morrison)
Refugees could be the entrepreneurs
Australia needs
Angler survey highlights Murray
cod by-catch (PhD student Jamin
Forbes)
Enviro researcher wins CSU Three
Minute Thesis comp (PhD student
Luisa Perez-Mujica)
Joint research into human-wildlife
coexistence (A/Prof Peter Simmons
& Dr Michael Mehmet)
CSU biodiversity research on show
(Dr Peter Spooner, Prof David
Watson, Dr Manu Saunders, A/Prof
Ian Lunt)
New approach to water management
(Prof Max Finlayson)
Refugees could be the entrepreneurs
Australia needs (A/Prof Branka
Krivokapic-Skoko)
More In the News at http://www.csu.
edu.au/research/ilws/news/in-thenews
ILWS Newsletter
Issue 41 - 2015
13
Member’s News
Dale’s second postdoc was an
Alfred Deakin Fellowship at
Deakin University, Deakin University’s flagship research fellowship
program. During this time, Dale
continued working on woodland
bird declines and fire ecology, but
also worked with colleagues on
integrated wildlife management,
with a focus on the role of invasive
and mammalian predators on ecosystems, such as red foxes, feral
cats and dingoes.
The Institute has had a number
of new members over the last
few months. We welcome on
board:
Dale Nimmo
He’s only been here since
June this year but already Dr
Dale Nimmo (pictured right) is
making quite an impact with
seven new papers including
one in ecology’s most prestigious journal, and a new three
year research project that he
leads.
Dale, a new member of the Institute,
has joined CSU’s School of Environmental Sciences as an ecology lecturer after two consecutive post-doc
positions at Deakin University where
he also did his PhD. Dale’s PhD
looked at the effect of fire on biodiversity in semi-arid mallee ecosystems. He was one of a team of eight
PhD students (including former ILWS
post-doc Dr Simon Watson) whose
work contributed to a major project
across three states, which was nominated for a Eureka Prize in 2014, the
Mallee Fire and Biodiversity Project.
“It involved trapping 1000s of reptiles
and small mammals to see how their
abundance varied in areas with different fire histories,” ’ says Dale, who
graduated in 2011.
For his first post-doc position, Dale
researched woodland bird declines,
specifically the influence of the 20012009 ‘Millennium Drought’ on woodland birds in Box Ironbark forests.
“We were trying to figure out what
land managers could do to increase
the capacity of woodland birds to
persist in the face of big droughts
like the one we had,” says Dale.
Publications from that work are
coming out now including a conceptual article on how ecosystems can
be managed to enhance their ability
to resist the effects of large disturbances such as fire and drought.
The article “Vive la résistance:
reviving resistance for 21st century
conservation” of which Dale is the
lead author, was published on line
in the journal Trends in Ecology &
Evolution, the highest ranked ecology journal.
Two other papers from the project
have also been published recently:
“Riparian tree cover enhances the
resistance and stability of woodlands
bird during a climatic extreme event”
(published in Journal of Applied
Ecology) and “Landscape properties mediate the homogenization
of bird communities during climatic
extremes” (published in Ecology).
“These papers show that by increasing the amount of tree cover in
the landscape, particularly along
stream sides and floodplains, we can
enhance the ability of woodland birds
to persist during big droughts,” says
Dale.
This work is continuing, as Dale is
the principal investigator for a new
three year project Can landscape
structure enhance the resilience of biodiversity to climatic
extremes? Insights from the Millenium Drought with Prof Andrew
Bennett and Dr Angie Haslem,
LaTrobe University, and Dr Jim
Radford, Bush Heritage Australia.
The project has received $86,210
in funding from the Hermon Slade
Foundation.
“The grant is basically to continue
the woodland bird work in the Box
Ironbark forests,” says Dale. “With
El Nino ramping up at the moment,
it suggests the system is about to
go into drought again so we want
to monitor the birds’ response.
We know that the bird fauna didn’t
recover fully from the last drought, so
the question is how are they going
to cope with the beginnings of this
new drought?” He says the project
will employ a research assistant to
do the bird surveys and potentially a
PhD student may also be involved.
ILWS Newsletter
“We often manage for a particular
disturbance like fire or invasive
species independently but we
don’t look at how these disturbances interact,” says Dale. “Does
a fire, for example, increase fox
abundance which may then have a
negative effect on native animals?”
Last month, Dale and colleagues
published an article exploring these
issues in Biological Conservation
“Multiple threats, or multiplying the
threats? Interactions between invasive predators and other ecological
disturbances”.
This work has extended internationally, as Dale has worked with collaborators examining how humans
affect predators (such as bears, deer
and wolves) in agricultural ecosystems in Romania. A paper arising
from this work “Incorporating anthropogenic effects into trophic ecology: predator–prey interactions in a
human-dominated landscape” was
recently published in Proceedings of
the Royal Society of London B.
“Again we are looking at how
humans modify the environment,
how that impacts predators, and
how those impacts can flow on to
affect other species lower in the food
chain, such as deer and smaller
carnivores,” says Dale, who was in
Germany last year and subsequently
worked with colleagues from Leuphana University on this project.
Dale, who now lives in Albury, with
his wife and daughters Matilda, 3,
Daphne, (born on Sept.12 this year)
says he is enjoying his first foray into
lecturing.
“I’m finding it fun,” he says. “My
mentor Professor Andrew Bennett
always said the best way to keep
yourself up-to-date on the basics is
to teach it, and I agree.”
Issue 41 - 2015
14
Other new members are:
Dr Zhenquan (Jan) Li
Dr Li, who is based at the AlburyWodonga campus, is a mathematician with the School of Computing
and Mathematics and a member of
the Institute’s Sustainable Water
SRA. His areas of areas of expertise are in the fields of mathematical
modelling, computational science
and neural networks. His current
research interest focuses on the
applications of the adaptive mesh
refinement methods he proposed
based on the qualitative theory of
differential equations. The accuracy and reliability of the methods
have been verified by some test
benchmarks. These methods can be
applied to any mathematical models
containing continuity equation for
steady flow or incompressible fluid.
In our daily life, the methods can be
used to investigate any water or air
flows with speed less than 370km
per hour.
Dr Oliver Villar
A social scientist with the School
of Humanities and Social Sciences
based at Bathurst, Dr Villar’s disciplinary background is in politics
and sociology. A major part of his
research has focused on Latin
America, where ecocide has been
an unavoidable consequence in the
‘war on drugs and terror’ paradigm
targeting the Andean region in recent
decades. In such operations, ‘sustainability’ has become a voguish
platitude by policy makers now shaping security operations in Central
America and other conflict zones.
His research interests primarily
involve critical security studies from
an international political economy
perspective. His current research
project investigates the subject of
imperialism in the 21st century and
how great power rivalries contribute
to security and conflict in the Western Hemisphere.
Dr Marie Sheahan
Dr Sheahan is a sociologist with the
School of Education and based at
the Albury-Wodonga campus. Her
areas of research include disability,
rural social service delivery, environmental justice and education for sustainability. He work draws on political
economy, sociology and critical studies. Her PhD was concerned with
exploring the effects of neoliberal
development on the community welfare sector in Australia. Her practice
work has
been in
disability
services
and service development.
In addition
to her
academic
work she
is also
a rural
disability
advocate. She has contributed to a
recent DEWHA project investigating education for sustainability for
healthcare workers and is currently
working on the HEPPP Learning
Communities project, a partnership project aimed at building links
between universities, schools and
organizations focused on building
sustainable practices and livelihoods, funded.
Dr Michael Mehmet
Dr
Mehmet
from the
School of
Communication and
Creative
Indus-
ILWS Newsletter
tries, a social media communication
researcher. Michael specialises in
social media marketing and public
relations communication with NGOs
and has consulted to local and
international organisation in social
media communication and community development. He has consulted,
studied and researched cooperatives, such as, Fairtrade and Oxfam.
Further, Dr Mehmet, who is based at
the Bathurst campus, is particularly
interested in the way social media
posts organises meanings and how
communities interact through online
discussion, particularly those with
contradictory views. Related to community engagement, he has also
began exploring how human-animal
co-existence has been communicated and organized in a digital space.
Specifically, he has adapted and
advanced systemic functional linguistic frameworks to assess attitude and
value formation and sharing in social
media communication.
Jarrod McPherson
The Institute’s new Technical Officer,
Jarrod McPherson, certainly comes
with plenty of experience when it
comes to fish research not only in
Australia but also overseas
Jarrod, who started with the Institute
in July this year, is working on the
Murrumbidgee Long Term Intervention Monitoring (LTIM) project
with Dr Skye Wassens and Dr Ben
Wolfenden.
His main role and responsibilities
include managing and coordinating
fieldwork logistics, collection of data
and analysis, and maintaining scientific equipment.
“A lot of my background has been
largely with fish or fisheries research
and a component of the LTIM project
is fish-based,” says Jarrod, 31. “So
taking on this job was a good opportunity to apply my knowledge and
skills, and technical expertise and
experience to this role. But also the
role interested me because there are
other components including vegetation, frogs, birds... it is an opportunity
for me to diversify and increase my
knowledge in those areas.”
(more next page)
Issue 41 - 2015
15
Mekong Basin.
“We had very good knowledge of the
fishway designs needed for the fish
species in the Murray-Darling Basin,
an area I had worked on prior, so
when this project came up, it made
sense to apply my fishway knowledge to the Mekong species,” says
Jarrod who was working alongside
ILWS adjunct Dr Lee Baumgartner.
Jarrod (pictured above) also found
the long term aspect of the project
appealing.
“It is important to quantify the
importance of environmental water,”
says Jarrod. “ It is good to be able
to assist in getting hard data on the
impacts of environmental water on
the landscape.”
Jarrod is familiar with CSU’s AlburyWodonga campus where he is
based as he was an environmental
science (management) student here,
graduating in 2006. Before that he
completed a Diploma in Conservation Land Management with the
National Environmental Centre.
Jarrod, whose family came off the
land, grew up in Leeton and spent
much of his childhood fishing the
Murrumbidgee River from which
he developed an interest in fish
research. He was a Senior Fisheries Technician with the Narrandera
Fisheries Centre, NSW Fisheries,
for nine years before taking up a
position as an Aquatic Research
Technician-Fish, with the Murray
Darling Freshwater Research Centre
in Wodonga in 2014.
“I’ve got a good understanding of
the Murrumbidgee River and its
stakeholders,” says Jarrod. “When I
was with NSW Fisheries I was doing
electro fishing (fish sampling) at a lot
of sites that are being monitored as
part of the LTIM project.”
As part of his work with NSW Fisheries, Jarrod has been to Laos every
year since 2009 during the wet
season to participate in field-based
experiments as part of an ACIAR
funded project looking at fishway
designs for fish species in the
In 2011 he relocated to Lao PDR
for a period of 12 months where he
worked with the Lao government as
a Freshwater Fisheries Research
Officer with its Living Aquatic
Resources Research Centre for an
ACIAR funded “Tropical river fish
passage: local communities restoring fisheries in the Lao PDR” project,
run by NSW Fisheries.
“It was a case of taking the knowledge we had from Australia and
applying it overseas,” says Jarrod
who hopes to be able to continue
the research in Laos. “I found the
12 months I was over there really
rewarding in terms of capacity building of local staff in terms of fishway
design.
“Increased pressure (damming for
hydro power and irrigation infrastructure) is being put on the Mekong
Basin so there is very much a need
to protect fish communities as most
of the population relies on fish as its
main source of animal protein.”
YouTube video on the research in
Laos
Farewell
A special afternoon tea was held
June 10 in the School of Environmental Sciences’ tearoom on the
Albury/Wodonga campus
to farewell the Institute’s
Associate Professor Ian
Lunt and Yalmambirra.
Area. He joined CSU as a Post-Doc
in a research position 18 years ago,
and as he said since then there had
been “on-going endless opportunities” for which he was very thankful.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do
next, ” he quipped..... but for any
that have read Ian’s very popular
blog Ecology for Australia you will
know he is doing a Post-graduate
Masters course on media and
journalism at Melbourne University
with the aim of “working out how to
write better stories about nature,
the environment and our place in it,
so we can save more of it.” Ian will
continue his association with the
Institute as an adjunct.
For Yalmambirra, who first joined
CSU as a Distance Education
student in 1996, his journey in
academia “has been a marvellous
achievement” said Dr Rik Thwaites
at the afternoon tea. Yal, a Wiradjuri
elder, told the 50 or so people at the
afternoon briefly of his life story.....
leaving school at 11 years of age,
starting work at 12....and then deciding to go to university “on a dare and
a promise” when he was 42 or 43
years of age. He ended up teaching
in the school and a big highlight this
year has been his success in having
his PhD approved.
“A big thank-you to all of the people
who have helped make it happen,”
said Yal, whose supervisors were Dr
Rik Thwaites and Dr Jim Birckhead,
an ILWS adjunct.
“I’m so relieved...thank-you so
much...but you haven’t seen the last
of me.”
Both Yal and Ian (pictured below) will
be and we wish them all the best for
the future!
Ian has been an active
member of the Institute,
and of its predecessor
the Johnstone Centre for
Natural Resources and
Society.
Ian is the leader of
the Institute’s Woody
Regrowth in Rural Landscapes Strategic Research
ILWS Newsletter
Issue 41 - 2015
16
Post-graduates
The presentations are publicly
available at http://www.open.
ac.uk/blogs/govan/. In addition
to participating in discussions,
PhD students were asked to
record the proceedings at each
round-table.
PhD News
Presentations on paradoxes
On June 6 ILWS PhD student Sam
Strong travelled to Trondheim
in Norway to attend the Nordic
Environmental Social Science
conference where she presented
a paper outlining some preliminary
research findings on paradoxical
framings of bushfires and native
vegetation management as part
of a working group focussing on
‘Perceptions of climate change, resilience and natural hazards’.
Sam says the positive feedback and
overall experience has since assisted her in progressing her thinking
and analysis of data. “The trip was
important as it enabled the sharing of ideas on global issues, such
as social-ecological problems of
climate-change and natural hazards,
with a broader research community,”
says Sam.
A month later Sam attended the
Institute of Australian Geographer’s
conference held at ANU in Canberra
1-3rd July 2015. Sam presented
a paper titled ‘Paradoxes of native
vegetation management in SE
Australia: “At the edge of nature’s
uncontrolled force”, as part of the
‘Natural Resource Management,
land use change and governance
in peri-urban and high amenity rural
areas’ session. The opportunity
coincidently allowed her revisit one
of her case study sites (the ACT),
where she met some research participants and discussed some of the
preliminary findings.
Participants in the NESS working group
including Sam Strong (centre left)
Beautiful Trondheim. Pic. S. Strong
Sam says she is very appreciative of
the support from ILWS that enabled
her to participate at these events.
PhD Systemic Inquiry Program and Conference
LWS student members, Luisa
Perez- Mujica and Saideepa
Kumar, attended a PhD program
and conference held in Germany
over 10 days in Jul-Aug 2015.
Organized by the International
Society for System Sciences (ISSS)
and the Berlin Workshop in Institutional Analysis of Social-ecological
systems the PhD program brought
together 27 PhD students from
around the world, united in their
application of systems thinking to
their research.
As part of the program, Luisa and
Saideepa participated in a workshop
exploring the issues and opportunities involved in governing the Anthropocene using systemic approaches.
The workshop was held in the
beautiful Herrenhausen Palace and
gardens in Hannover, Germany and
attended by more than 150 invited
systems practitioners and academics
from 32 countries.
The workshop
included presentations and roundtable discussions.
Presentations covered a wide range
of topics such as
circular economics, institutional
reform, systems
modelling, transformation and
systems praxis.
ILWS Newsletter
After the workshop, the PhD
student group travelled to
Berlin to attend a weekend
course on ‘Systems Thinking and Practice’ held on the
campus of Humboldt University, followed by a week-long
conference of the ISSS.
During the weekend, students
explored the applicability of different systems approaches to their
respective research topics. They
formed groups based on the stage of
progress in their PhDs and designed
a systemic inquiry process for the
ISSS conference. This enabled
students to approach the conference
itself as an inquiry, giving a sense of
purpose and relevance to attending
presentations and interacting with
the other delegates at the conference. The ISSS conference was also
based on the theme of governance
in the Anthropocene, although the
presentations were not constrained
to that topic. During the last session
of the conference, the PhD group
presented feedback about the conference and their inquiries to all the
delegates present.
Luisa and Saideepa reflect on the
experience.
Luisa: This was one of the most
enriching experiences of my life,
both personal and academic. One of
the keynote speakers of the conference said something that resonated
in me and goes along the lines of:
when thinking about systems it is
quite acceptable, in fact it is preferable to be confused.
I can say that if I had attended the
conference without the PhD program
I would have not been confused,
I would feel certain, certain that I
knew the “right way” to do systems
thinking and that anyone that did not
share my tradition of understanding
was essentially wrong. I probably
would have built a wall of beliefs and
academic jargon to justify my points.
(more next page)
Issue 41 - 2015
17
pocene but
also on the
challenges of
communicating across
disciplines.
The weekend
workshop and
conference at
Berlin were
brilliant as they
allowed me
(and I presume
other PhDs
too) to interact
with people
PhD workshop participants from around the world and their facilitawith a purtors.
poseful inquiry
in mind, rather
Thus, the space for the PhD course
than the stressful and awkward
as part of the conference made it
purpose of ‘networking’. Most of the
easy for me to be conflicted and
people I met at the conference were
confused but also allowed me to be
alright with that confusion and in fact, extremely generous with their time
and ideas. The only disappointment
to attempt to build something from
with the conference was the overthe confusion.
whelming focus on systems practice
at the expense of systems theoI am incredibly grateful for the
ries—perhaps that is a reflection of
opportunity to participate in such an
the challenges of our time.
important even. I thank Ray Ison,
I am immensely grateful to ILWS for
Chris Blackmore and Nadarajah
providing some financial support for
Sriskandarajah for organizing this
my participation in the PhD program.
course. I am even more grateful that
Germany provided a memorable
the Institute of Land, Water & Sociframe for this experience.
ety helped me fund my trip. I was
fortunate enough to receive funds
from the ILWS mentoring budget
targeted to help PhD students and
early career researchers participate
in these kinds of events. My complete experience can be found in a
blog entry of the Institute of Land,
Water and Society (http://ilws-blog.
csu.edu.au/2015/08/27/phd-courseof-systems-thinking/#more-286)
Saideepa: The PhD program organized by ISSS and WINS was a memorable learning experience. I am in
the final stages of writing up my PhD
thesis. I went to attend this program
with the expectation that I could get
some feedback on my approach and
findings from experts in the field. I
presented at the conference and
received feedback, but I also gained
much more than I had anticipated.
27th International Congress
for Conservation Biology
PhD student Buddi Poudel attended
the 27th International Congress for
Conservation Biology and the 4th
European Congress for Conservation Biology (ICCB-ECCB) in Montpelier, France, August 2-6 2015,
where over 2000 biologists, scientists and conservation practitioners
from 98 countries met to present and
discuss new research in conservation science and practice.
Attendees at the 27th International Congress for Conservation Biology
At the workshop in Herrenhausen,
I was able to interact with people
whose work has been my inspiration.
The interdisciplinary discussions at
my table were illuminating not just
on the topic of governing the AnthroILWS Newsletter
ICCB-ECCB was co-organized by
the Society for Conservation Biology
(SCB), Agropolis International and
the French Foundation for Research
on Biodiversity (FRB). The conference theme was, “Mission Biodiversity: Choosing new paths for conservation”. Specifically, the conference
program addressed conservation
challenges and presented new findings, initiatives, methods, tools and
opportunities in conservation science and practice. There was over
1000 talks and close to 1000 poster
presentations.
Buddi gave a presentation on
“Behavioural changes in Himalayan marmots in relation to human
activities associated with traditional
pastoralism in Nepal” in a session on
Conservation planning and Ethics.
“It was a great experience for me
attending the largest international
conference on conservation biology,
where I met many international colleagues, scientists and conservationists,” says Buddi. “I fully enjoyed the
one-week event with many interesting presentations and discussions on
multidisciplinary topics. I thank the
Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment for supporting me to attend this
conference.”
RiverSymposium
PhD student Jess Shoeman attended the 18th International RiverSymposium: Healthy Rivers-Healthy
Economies, held in Brisbane, September 21-23. Her report about the
sympsium is on the ILWS blog site.
She writes that a common thread
during the symposium was that
connections between healthy rivers,
healthy economies and healthy communities are still poorly articulated in
political settings.
Jess was also impressed by the
symposium’s inaugural sub-program,
the Emerging Water Professionals
Program. (EWPP).“This was a subprogram designed to maximise our
involvement in the Conference and
encourage cross fertilisation of ideas
between senior and emerging water
professionals,” says Jess. “A key part
of the program was developing a
group statement expressing who we
are, what we value, why we should
be given more opportunities and how
we can be better supported, to be
delivered at the closing plenary.”
Issue 41 - 2015
18
of the Institute of Wetland Research,
Chinese Academy of Forestry. “I’m
both excited and relieved,” says
Ruby. “Now I can put all my effort
into my new job.” All going well
Ruby, who has returned to China,
plans on being back in Australia with
her husband for the CSU graduation
ceremonies at the end of the year.
The EWPs were a diverse group from multiple cultures,
disciplines and backgrounds (Photo: Vanh Mixap)
As a participant in that program, Jess
was part of a group which produced
a short video in response to the
question: “How can we foster crossgenerational learning in both directions within the water sector?” Particpants in the EWPP also attended
special lunchtime sessions where
they met the keynote speakers (one
of which was Institute Director Prof
Max Finlayson) and community and
industry leaders.
“Max encouraged the EWPs to
seek out diverse experience across
locations and disciplines, inside and
outside the University environment,”
writes Jess. “He observed that while
there is a certain prestige and credibility that comes with being connected to a University; he has also
found his advocacy work and more
practical endeavours to protect and
restore wetlands extremely rewarding.”
New job
Carmen Amos started as an Assistant Environmental Water Programs
Officer with the NSW office of Environment and Heritage on October 6.
“The position will allow me to continue working in environmental water,
which is fantastic,” says Carmen.
“Although I have not yet submitted
my PhD (on ‘Response of frogs to
environmental factors on a range of
scales in the Lachlan Catchment of
NSW’) I am in the final stages and
plan to submit in the first few months
next year. I’ve had such a great time
at CSU Albury and will miss the wonderful community on campus.”
Fish Research
PhD student Jamin Forbes was the
lead author of a paper published
in the North American Journal of
Fisheries Management about his
research on Murray Cod and Golden
Perch. The article got an excellent
write-up in the American Fisheries
Society News, Sept 9
http://news.fisheries.org/najfmgoes-international-a-recreationalfishing-study-in-australia/ and was
the focus of a CSU media release
Angler survey highlights Murray cod
by-catch.
Submissions
Congratulations
to ILWS
PhD
student
Yinru
(Ruby)
Lei who
submitted
her thesis
in August.
Ruby,
who lives in the Shaanxi Province,
China, was back in Australia for two
months earlier this year, busily finishing off her thesis on “Human Migration Decision-making in Response
to Climate Change - a Case Study
in Shangnan County, China”. Ruby,
who began her PhD in 2011 on a
CSU/Hohai University PhD scholarship, was supervised by Institute
Director Professor Max Finlayson,
Dr Rik Thwaites and Prof Guoqing
Shi (Hohai University.) For the past
year she has been working on her
PhD part-time while also working
with Professor Lijuan Cui ,Director
ILWS Newsletter
Congratulations also to Jenni Greig
who has submitted her PhD Thesis,
titled “Estimating the social impacts
of change: Exploring a psychological
approach to capturing social impact
data for cost-benefit analysis. She
was supervised by Prof Mark Morrison, Adjunct Prof David Godden and
Dr Judith Gullifer.
Three Minute Thesis
Congratulations
to Luisa
PerezMujica
on winning the
Judges’ &
People’s
Choice
awards
at the
Charles
Sturt
University
3 minute
thesis competition held on August 26.
She represented Charles Sturt Uni
at the Trans Tasman 3 Minute Thesis
final in Brisbane on Friday October
2. (Pic provided by CSU Media)
Issue 41 - 2015
19
Visitors
Student visits
Dr Dale Nimmo has had two honours
students,Harry Moore and Andrew
Geschke (from Deakin University) up
for a week in August. Harry is working on trophic ecology of mammals
in semi-arid regions and Andrew is
working on optimisation of biodiversity in urban areas. PhD students
Connie Warren (Deakin University)
and Mark Hall (LaTrobe University)
have also visited in September.
Connie is working on the influence
of the heterogeneity of land uses on
biodiversity in an agricultural region
and Mark is working on how linear
networks of vegetation can contribute to bird and bee conservation.
Awards & Achievements
Honourable mention
Peter, Michael and Aida are designing a study to explore and measure
attitudes to coexisting with wildlife
generally, with a focus on kangaroos
in Australia and monkeys in Malaysia.
Visitors from Malaysia meet with ILWS
members from the School of Communication & creative Industries in
Bathurst
The award was presented by the
ASCE Environmental & Water
Resource Institute and AFS Bioengineering Section’s Fisheries
Engineering Committee who praised
the project and its success as being
“groundbreaking and multifaceted,
with distinct and positive results.”
Research Excellence
Congratulations to the members of
the Institute’s Sustainable Water
Strategic Research Area who have
been awarded this year’s CSU
Vice-chancellor’s Team Award for
Research Excellence.
Malaysian visitors
Associate Professor Aida Abdullah
from the National Defence University of Malaysia visited Bathurst on
July 9 to discuss human and wildlife
coexistence. Aida met Associate
Professors Peter Simmons and
Chika Anyanwu and Dr Michael
Mehmet in the School of Communication and Creative Industries.
communities restoring fisheries in
the LAO PDR” project.
Congratulations to Institute adjunct
Dr Lee Baumgartner, Dr Joanne
Millar and Jarrod McPherson (who
was with the
Murray-Darling
Freshwater
Research Centre
but is now a
Technical Assistant with the
Institute) who
received an
Honourable Mention for the 2015
Distinguished
Project in Fisheries Engineering
and Echohydrology Award at the
Fish Passage
2015 Conference, Groningen,
The Netherlands, on June 23.
The three
were
members
of the
Australian-Laos
team
which
worked
on the
“Tropical
river fish
passage:
local
ILWS Newsletter
The team (a number of which are
pictured below.pic. CSU media) is
led by Associate Professor Robyn
Watts and includes Mr James Abell,
Dr Catherine Allan, Ms Carmen
Amos, Dr Mariagrazia Bellio, Mr
Bradley Clarke-Wood, Prof Max Finlayson, Ms Tamsin Greenwood, Dr
Andrew Hall, Dr Julia Howitt, Dr Paul
Humphries, Dr Kim Jenkins, Dr Richard Keller Kopf, Dr Nicole McCasker,
Dr Wayne Robinson, Ms Nikki Scott,
Dr Skye Wassens, Dr Benjamin
Wolfenden and Dr Alek Zander.
In his letter to team members, CSU’s
Vice-Chancellor Professor Andrew
Vann said the nomination presented
an outstanding case for the award
“which also recognises your significant contribution towards the
achievement of the University’s key
objectives and priorities.”
Issue 41 - 2015
20
Institute members have also been
recognised in separate Faculty
awards.
For the Faculty of Arts, the Team
Award went to the Mask Symposium
Organisation Team, Miss Angela
Cutcliffe-Prior, Dr Jo Fawkes (ILWS
member), A/Prof Pete Simmons
(ILWS member) and Mrs Monica
White
Dr Catherine Allan, the Institute’s
Associate Director, also received an
Individual Award, from the Faculty of
Science.
Ramsar appointments
Congratulations to Prof Max Finlayson who has been appointed as
one of Six Scientific Experts on the
Ramsar Scientific and Technical
Review Panel in the 2016-2018 triennium. Max has been a Member of
STRP since the inaugural panel was
formed in 1993, under various roles,
including Oceania representative and
invited expert for inventory and monitoring, agriculture in wetlands, and
wetlands and climate change, for
different triennia. His association with
the Ramsar Convention started in
1990 when he was working with the
International Waterbird and Wetland
Research Bureau (the forerunner to
Wetlands International) in Slimbridge
in the UK.
The Panel provides advice to the
member countries on assigned scientific and technical tasks.
Congratulations also to Ritseh
Kumar, ILWS Adjunct, who has been
reappointed as one of Six Technical
Experts on the Ramsar Scientific and
Technical Review Panel in the 20162018 triennium.
Publications
Journal papers
Chirozva, C. (2015) Community
agency and entrepreneurship in ecotourism planning and development
in the Great Loimpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area, Journal of
Ecotourism, http://www.tandfonline.
com/doi/full/10.1080/14724049.2015
.1041967
Cobbinah, P.B. & Korah, P.I.
(2015) Religion gnaws urban planning: the geography of places
of worship in Kumasi, Ghana,
International Journal of Urban
Sustainable Development, DOI:
10.1080/19463138.2015.1074581
Cobbinah, P.B. (2015) Contextualising the meaning of ecotourism.
Tourism Management Perspectives.
Volume 16, pages 179-189
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211973615000756
Cobbinah, P.B., Black, R. &
Thwaites, R. (2015) Ecotourism
implementation in the Kakum Conservation Area, Ghana: administrative framework and local community
experiences, Journal of Ecotourism,
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/1
0.1080/14724049.2015.1051536
Cobbinah, P.B., Gaisie, E., &
Owusu-Amponsah, L. (2015) Periurban morphology and indigenous
livelihoods in Ghana. Habitat International, Vol 50. pages 120-129.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2015.08.002
Sokchea, A . & Culas, R.J. (2015)
Impact of Contract Farming with
Farmer Organizations on Farmers’
Income: A Case Study of Reasmey
Stung Sen Agricultural Development
Cooperative in Cambodia, Australasian Agribusiness Review, 23(2005):
1-11
Fawkes. J. (2015) A Jungian
conscience: Self-awareness for
public relations practice, Public
Relations Review. doi:10.1016/j.
pubrev.2015.06.005
Forbes, J.P., Watts, R.J., Robinson, W.A., Baumgartner, L.J.
Steffe, A.S. & Murphy, J.J. (2015)
Recreational fishing effort, catch, and
harvest for Murray Cod and Golden
Perch in the Murrumbidgee River,
Australia. North American Journal of
Fisheries Management 35:649–658.
dx.doi.org/10.1080/02755947.2015.
1032452
Kopf, R.K., Finlayson, C.M, Humphries, P., Hladyz, S. & Sims, N.
(2015) Anthropocene baselines:
assessing change and managing
biodiversity in human-dominated
aquatic ecosystems. BioScience 8:
ILWS Newsletter
798-811.
Moodley, Y., Masello, J.F., Cole,
T.L., Calderon, L., Munimanda, G.K.,
Thali, M.R., Alderman, R., Cuthbert,
R.J., Marin,M., Massaro, M., Navarro, J., Phillips, R.A., Ryan, P.G.,
Suazo,C.G., Cherel, Y., Weimerskirch, H., Quillfeldt, P. (2015) Evolutionary factors affecting the crossspecies utility of newly developed
microsatellite markers in seabirds.
Molecular Ecology Resources 15:
1046-1058. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.
com/doi/10.1111/1755-0998.12372/
full
Millar, J., Abdurrahman, M.,
Toribio,J., Ambarawati, I., Yusuf,
R.P., Suadnya, W. (2015) Informal
inter-island poultry movement in
Indonesia: Does it pose a risk to
HPAI H5N1 transmission? Tropical Animal Health and Production.
Volume 47, Issue 7, pp 1261-1269
Kurcheid, J., Millar, J., Abdurrahman, M., Ambarawati, I., Suadnya,
W., Yusuf, R.P., Toribio, J . Knowledge and perceptions of highly
pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI)
among poultry traders in live bird
markets in Bali and Lombok, Indonesia. PLOS One. 10(10):e0139917;
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0139917
IF 3.50
Clement, S., Moore, S. A., Lockwood, M., & Mitchell, M. (2015)
Using insights from pragmatism to
develop reforms that strengthen institutional competence for conserving
biodiversity. Policy Sciences. http://
dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11077-0159222-0
Morrison, M., Duncan, R., &
Parton, K. (2015) Religion Does
Matter for Climate Change Attitudes
and Behavior, Plos One, 10(8):
e0134868. doi:10.1371/journal.
pone.0134868
Haslem, A., Nimmo, D.G., Radford,
J., Bennett, A.F. (2015) Landscape
properties mediate the homogenization of bird assemblages during
climatic extremes. Ecology. http://
dx.doi.org/10.1890/14-2447.1
Issue 41 - 2015
21
Doherty, T., Dickman, C., Nimmo,
D.G., Ritchie, E.G. (2015) Multiple
threats or multiplying the threats?
Interactions between invasive predators and other ecological disturbances. Biological Conservation.
Vol 190, pp 60-80
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320715002086
Nimmo, D.G., Mac Nally, R., Cunningham, S., Haslem, A., Bennett,
A.F. (2015) Vive la resistance:
reviving resistance for 21st century
conservation. Trends in Ecology and
Evolution. Vol 30, Iss.9. pp 516-523
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169534715001871
Dorresteijn, I., Schultner, J., Nimmo,
D.G., Ritchie, E.G., Hanspach, J.,
Kehoe, L., Kuemmerle, T., Fischer,
J. (2015). Incorporating anthropogenic effects into trophic ecology: predator-prey interactions in
a human-dominated landscape.
Proceedings of the Royal Society of
London B. Vol 282, Iss. 1814 http://
rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/282/1814/20151602
Nimmo, D.G., Haslem, A., Radford,
J., Hall, M., Bennett, A.F. (2015)
Riparian tree cover enhances the
resistance and stability of woodland bird communities during an
extreme climatic event. Journal of
Applied Ecology. DOI: 10.1111/13652664.12535
Pawar, M. (2015) Action Research
on Social Work Knowledge Creation
and Dissemination from the Global
South. British Journal of Social Work,
45 (4), 1357 – 1364, doi: 10.1093/
bjsw/bcv043
Poudel, B.S., Spooner, P.G. &
Matthews, A. (2015) Temporal shift
in activity patterns of Himalayan marmots in relation to pastoralism.
Behavioral Ecology 26 (5): 13451351. doi: 10.1093/beheco/arv083
Saunders, M.E. (2015) Stone
structures as potential aggregation
sites for coccinellids in managed
landscapes. The Victorian Naturalist
132:86.88
Books
Sharma, K. & Davaakhuu, O.
(2015) Trade Policymaking in a
Resource-rich Landlocked Country:
The WTO Review of Mongolia, The
World Economy, Vol 36, Iss. 9. pp
1350-1367. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.
com/doi/10.1111/twec.12271/full
Francis, M.J., Spooner, P. G., &
Matthews, A. (2015) The influence
of urban encroachment on squirrel gliders (Petaurus norfolcensis):
effects of road density, light and
noise pollution. Wildlife Research 42,
324–333. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/
WR14182
Watson, D.M. & Watson, M.J.
(2015) Wildlife restoration: Mainstreaming translocations to keep
common species common. Biological Conservation. http://www.
sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/
S0006320715300847
Watson, J.J. & Hitchcock, G. (2015)
The terrestrial vertebrate fauna of
Mabuyag (Mabuiag Island) and
adjacent islands, far north Queensland, Australia. Memoirs of the QLD
Museum 8 (1): 35-54
Waudby, H.P. & Petit, S. (2015)
Small Australian desert vertebrate
responses to grazing intensity during
La Niña. Ecological Research 3,
715-722.
Waudby, H.P. & Petit, S. (2015)
Ephemeral plant indicators of
livestock grazing in arid rangelands
during wet conditions. The Rangeland Journal 37, 323-330.
Finlayson, C.M., Horwitz, P. & Weinstein, P. (Eds.) (2015) Wetlands and
Human Health. Springer.
The book addresses the interactions between wetlands and human
health and well-being. A key feature
is the linking of ecology-health and
the targeting of practitioners and
researchers. The environmental
health problems of the 21st Century
cannot be addressed by the traditional tools of ecologists or epidemiologists working in their respective
disciplinary silos; this is clear from
the emergence and re-emergence of
public health and human well-being
problems such as cholera pandemics, mosquito borne disease, and
episodic events and disasters (e.g.
hurricanes).
To tackle these problems requires
genuine cross-disciplinary collaboration; a key finding of the recently
concluded Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment when looking at human
well-being and ecosystem health.
This book brings the disciplines of
ecology and health sciences closer
to such a synthesis for researchers,
teachers and policy makers interested in or needing information to
manage wetlands and human health
and well-being issues.
Saunders, M.E., Peisley, R., &
Luck, G. K. (2015) Pollinators,
pests, and predators: Recognizing
ecological trade-offs in agroecosystems. AMBIO A Journal of the
Human Environment , DOI:10.1007/
s13280-015-0696-y
ILWS Newsletter
Issue 41 - 2015
22
This Handbook comprehensively
explores the complex relationships
between trade and economic performance in developing countries.
Pennay, B. (2015) Benalla Migrant
Camp: A difficult heritage. Benalla
Migrant Camp Inc. Benalla
Benalla Migrant Camp Inc commissioned Bruce Pennay to prepare a
thematic history of the migrant camp
ahead of applying for the place to be
listed on the state heritage list.
Benalla was Victoria’s longest-lasting
post war holding centre, with the
bulk of its residents being supporting
mothers and their children.
It was described as a bleak, sad and
tragic place.
Bruce found it has a difficult heritage: difficult to hear with equanimity;
difficult to tell, given the complexities
of locating and using resident and
local testimony; and difficult, at this
stage, to place firmly in the townscape with any confidence.
Heritage Victoria is conducting an
inquiry into the place’s heritage
value and Bruce will appear before
a registration hearing in December.
The publication is registered as a
creative work.
Morrissey, O., Lopez, R., & Sharma,
K. (Eds.) (2015)Handbook on Trade
and Development. Cheltenham, UK:
Edward Elgar Publishing
Insightful chapters cover issues
such as trade, growth and poverty
reduction; trade costs, facilitation
and preferences; sub-Saharan
Africa’s reliance on trade in primary
commodities, informal cross-border
trade, agglomeration and firm exporting; imported technology, exchange
rates and the impact of firm exporting; the increasing importance
of China in world trade and links
between FDI and trade. This Handbook provides an essential overview
of trade issues facing developing
countries.
‘This innovative volume, with contributions from well-established and
newer authors in the field, offers
important contemporary insights on
various issues in trade and development. It comprises both updated
reviews on classic issues in the field;
important contributions on newer
areas including informal cross border
trade, agglomeration and trade facilitation; and insights from firm studies.
One important theme explored here
is the greater difficulty Sub-Saharan
Africa has had in benefiting from
trade compared to East Asia and
Latin America.’ – Andy McKay, University of Sussex, UK
Book Chapters
Cobbinah, P.B., Thwaites, R. &
Black, R. (2015) Ecotourism as a
mechanism for achieving a green
economy in developing countries:
Experiences from Ghana, In V.
Reddy & K. Wilkes (eds.), Tourism in the green economy. (pp.
225-241). London: Routledge.
https://books.google.com.au/
books?hl=en&lr=&id=eibLCQAAQBA
J&oi=fnd&pg=PA225&ots=PiutwwQ
YKn&sig=ek7mefepHD-MEdS9Q6_
h2MS6qA#v=onepage&q&f=false
Lei, Y., Finalyson, C.M.,
Thwaites,R. & Shi, G. (2015) A
disaster prevention resettlement program in western China as an adaptation to climate change, in Rice, S . &
Singer, J. (eds) Global implications of
development, disasters and climate
change: Responses to displace-
ILWS Newsletter
ment from Asia Pacific.(pp 191-204)
London:Routledge
Villar, O. & Cottle, D. (2015) FARC
in Colombia: 21st Century US Imperialism and Class Warfare. In Ness,
I (ed.) Encyclopedia of Imperialism
and Anti-imperialism. Palgrave Macmillan, New York.
Conference papers
Finalyson, M., Waterman, P. &
Bland, A. (2015) Developing an
Australian Vision for Water. Keynote presentation at the Australian
Regional Development Conference
(ARDC), Albury, August 26-28
ILWS blog of the presentation
Professor Finlayson presenting at
the Australian Regional Development
Conference held in Albury. Pic provided by conference secretariat
Finlayson, M. (2015) State of global
wetlands and implications for the
Sustainable Development Goals.
Keynote presentation at the International River Symposium, Brisbane,
Sept 21-23
Lambert, S.J. & Krivokapic-Skoko,
B. (2015) From crisp to fuzzy-sets
QCA in exploring causal configurations: examples from the New Zealand context. Presented at the 5th
Conference of the Global Innovation
and Knowledge (GIKA2015), University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain,
July 13-16
Humphries, P., Kopf, S.,
Kaminskas,T., Keckeis, H., McCasker, N., Stoffels, R., Bond, N. &
Watts, R. (2015) Integrating life history theory and dispersal in riverine
fishes. Presented at the 39th Annual
Larval Fish Conference, Vienna, July
12-17
Issue 41 - 2015
23
Krivokapic-Skoko, B., Reid, C. &
Collins, J. (2015) International migration flows to Australia and rural cosmopolitism. Presented at the XXVI
European Society for Rural Sociology Congress, Aberdeen, Scotland,
August 18-21
Woodward, M. (2015) Affictive Cartographies, presented at the Portable
Landscapes: Environments on the
Move conference, Durham University, UK, July 9-10
Lunt, I. (2015) From science to inspiration: 10 tips to promote ecological
literacy and successful conservation
in our communities, Keynote speaker
at the 6th Biodiversity Across the
Borders Conference 2015, Federation University, Ballarat, June 12.
Black, R. (2015) Social and economic impacts of tourist
lodges on local communities: Case
studies from Rwanda and Botswana.
ILWS Report No 82
Pawar, M. (2015) What makes a
social development worker? Plenary
speech delivered at the 19th International Consortium for Social Development international symposium on
Transforming Society: Trends and
models in community leadership
and social development , July 7-10,
Singapore.
Saunders, M. (2105) Costs vs benefits of birds and insects in
agricultural landscapes. Case study:
Victorian apple orchards.6th Biodiversity Across the Borders Conference 2015, Federation University,
Ballarat, June 12.
Spooner, P. (2015) Biodiversity
interactions in mallee almond crops.
6th Biodiversity Across the Borders
Conference 2015, Federation University, Ballarat, June 12.
Reports
Spennemann, D. (2015) The Disappearing Goanna:Twenty years’ of
accelerated callus growth obscuring
the design of a carved tree, Mungabareena Reserve, Albury (NSW)
ILWS Report No 87
Watts, R.J., Kopf, R.K., McCasker
N. & Thiem, J. (2015) Long term
intervention monitoring project,
Edward-Wakool River System
Selected Area, Progress Report
number 4, June 2015. CSU, ILWS.
Prepared for CEW Report
Wassens, S., Thiem, J., Wolfenden,
B., Spencer, J., Jenkins, K., Lenon,
E., Hall, A., (2015) Long Term
Intervention Monitoring Project,
Murrumbidgee System Selected
Area, Progress Report number 4,
June 2015. CSU, ILWS. Prepared for
CEWO Report
Waterman, P. (2015) Realities,
challenges and opportunities for
sustainable management of Australia’s water resources, Presented
at Australian Regional Development
Conference (ARDC), Albury, August
26-28
Watson, D.M. (2015) Methodological norms in terrestrial bird surveys-current approaches are incomplete,
inconsistent and unreliable. Presented at the 52nd Association for
Tropical Biology & Conservation
conference, Honolulu, Hawaii, July
12-16
Watson, D. (2015) Wildlife restoration: applying lessons learned from
revegetation to safeguard native
animal populations. 6th Biodiversity
Across the Borders Conference
2015, Federation University, Ballarat,
June 12.
ILWS Newsletter
CONTACT
Margrit Beemster
Communications coordinator
Institute for Land, Water and Society
Charles Sturt University
Ph: 0260 519 653
Email: [email protected]
P.O. Box 789
ALBURY NSW 2640
AUSTRALIA
www.csu.edu.au/research/ilws
Issue 41 - 2015
24