A WildCountry perspective on Tasmania's natural environment

A recent study authored by Dr Peter McQuillan (University of Tasmania, School of Geography & Environmental Studies) and other ecologists, published in the journal Pacific Conservation Biology, takes a new look at the condition and conservation of Tasmania's unique biodiversity. Biological diversity, or biodiversity, is the multitude of species on the planet, the genes they contain and the ecosystems they maintain.

The study entitled, 'The importance of ecological processes for terrestrial biodiversity conservation in Tasmania' looks at Tasmania's natural environment from a WildCountry perspective. Traditional studies focus on specific habitats or species, whereas this paper provides an overview of biodiversity across Tasmania and, importantly, considers the large-scale processes supporting this biodiversity. These processes, including evolution, migrations and nutrient cycles are crucial to understanding and managing ecosystems.

"For its size and location, Tasmania is one of the most biodiverse islands in the world but proper maintenance of this legacy is an ongoing challenge. We must arrest the ongoing decline of important species such as predators and pollinators, but the conservation of Tasmania's outstanding fauna and flora must move beyond a narrow focus on threatened species alone," says Dr McQuillan.

"The present species by species approach is driven by current legislation, but is too slow, too expensive and largely ignores the important roles that all native species play in the environment."

There are approximately 13 500 known species of plants, animals and fungi in Tasmania. This does not include marine species nor the estimated 50 000 species of invertebrates and fungi that have yet to be discovered by science.

"650 species in Tasmania are considered rare or threatened, many of these are found nowhere else in the world. Some species, such as the orange-bellied parrot and several native fish are perilously close to extinction," says co-author Nick Fitzgerald of the Wilderness Society.

"In the natural environment everything is related. We can't possibly document, let alone manage, all of these interactions individually. The current approach to managing threatened species individually is ineffective and severely under-resourced. A better focus would be on managing entire landscapes to support wide-ranging animals and essential landscape processes like water flows in addition to all of the known and unknown species in each area. This is the aim of the Wilderness Society's Wild Island project."

Science shows that many species and landscapes are in decline with potentially disastrous consequences. While a relatively large proportion of Tasmania is protected in reserves, other regions are severely degraded. Entire landscapes are declining in health due to loss of native vegetation, weeds, salinity and inappropriate fire regimes. Tasmania does not currently have a Biodiversity Strategy.

Saturday 22nd May was the International Day for Biological Diversity which recognises the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (http://www.cbd.int/). Furthermore, 2010 is designated International Year of Biodiversity. This is an acknowledgement of the fundamental role of biodiversity in supporting human existence and culture.

As a party to the Convention on Biological Diversity, Australia committed to the 2010 Biodiversity Target: "to achieve by 2010 a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at the global, regional and national level as a contribution to poverty alleviation and to the benefit of all life on Earth".

Sadly, a recent progress report from the United Nations indicates that in the eight years since the target was agreed by the world's governments there has been insufficient action to address the decline of biodiversity and as a result the 2010 target has not been met (http://www.cbd.int/2010- target/).

Reference:

P.B. McQuillan, J. Watson, N.B. Fitzgerald, D. Leaman, & D. Obendorf (2009) The importance of ecological processes for terrestrial biodiversity conservation in Tasmania - a review. Pacific Conservation Biology. Vol.15, pages 171-196. http://tasmaniantimes.com/images/uploads/McQuillan_et_al_2009_Importance_of_ecological_processes.pdf