923 research outputs found
Environmental impacts of tourism and recreation in the Wet Tropics
No full text[Extract] Tourists and local residents are continually seeking new recreation and leisure experiences, particularly in biologically complex and pristine environments such as coral reefs and tropical rainforests (Turton & Stork 2006). By the very nature of these complex and sensitive environments, there is a significant risk that over-visitation or inappropriate visitor use of these unique resources, or the inappropriate construction of resort and associated facilities, may lead to their decline and hence threaten their long term sustainability (Buckley 2004). These potential dangers are exacerbated by the rapid expansion of international tourism and the steady growth of domestic tourism and recreation in many tropical countries (Christ et al. 2003)
Catchment to reef: water quality and ecosystem health in tropical streams
No full textAround the world agricultural and industrial landscapes have massively affected terrestrial and aquatic habitats as well as the water quality of run-off from entire landscapes, resulting in dramatically altered ecosystem integrity in freshwaters, coastal wetlands, estuaries and coastal marine systems. Although these systems are reasonably well understood in temperate areas, in the tropics there is much less information on such environmental impacts and fewer examples of remediation. In Australia, the export of nutrients, sediments and contaminants into near coastal waters and the Great Barrier Reef (GBR)lagoon, the world's largest reef system, has increased substantially since European settlement, severely impacting on the viability and condition of these ecosystems and the industries that depend on them (Baker 2003). Approximately 200 near-shore reefs are under immediate direct pressure from declining water quality in the Queensland Wet Tropics and Whitsunday areas. Degradation of habitats (e.g. removal of riparian vegetation and invasion by weeds) and run-off of excess nutrients, sediments and agricultural chemicals are also causing substantial impacts on the rivers and wetlands that feed into the GBR lagoon and threaten the biodiversity and ecology of these systems and their important role in the greater GBR environment. Protection and restoration of these ecosystems are critical challenges to managers and policy~makers in Australia and elsewhere in the tropics
Rainforest science and its application
No full text[Extract] The Wet Tropics of Queensland were inscribed on the World Heritage List on 9 December 1988 as a direct consequence of the accumulated scientific research and understanding of the region's rainforests up to that time. In 1992 the Wet Troplcs Management Authority was established as the body responsible for the coordinated management of the World Heritage Area, while the Rainforest CRC (Cooperative Research Centre for Tropical Rainforest Ecology and Management) was established in 1993 as the body responsible for both the coordination and the undertaking of scientific research to assist in the management of the World Heritage Area and associated rainforest landscapes.
Undertaking scientific research in World Heritage areas is more than a legitimate activity, it is also a duty. The importance of such research is explicitly acknowledged in Wet Tropics World Heritage legislation and in international conventions such as the World Heritage Convention and the Convention on Biological Diversity. One of the benefits that World Heritage areas provide for scientific researchers is the provision of protected benchmark and/or control sites where the direct impact of human activities is minimal relative to surrounding landscapes
Impacts of tropical cyclones on forests in the wet tropics of Australia
No full text[Extract] Disturbances both anthropogenic and natural, shape forest ecosystems by controlling their species composition, structure and functional processes (Dale et al.2001), The tropical forests of the Wet Tropics of north-east Australia have been moulded by their land use and disturbance history over many millennia but particularly over the past 100 years (see Pannell, Chapter 4; Turton, Chapter 5; Laurance & Goosem, Chapter 23, this volume). Forests of the Wet Tropics region are subjected to a plethora of natural disturbances, including fire, drought, native pathogen outbreaks, floods, occasional landslides and tropical cyclones. All these natural disturbances interact in complex ways with anthropogenic disturbances across the Wet Tropics landscape, such as land-use change resulting from forest conversion to agricultural systems, earlier logging practices, urban and peri-urban development and expansion of the tourism industry (see Part III this volume).
As in many parts of the non-equatorial tropics (Whitmore 1974; Boose et al. 1994), tropical cyclones (a.k.a. hurricanes and typhoons) are significant disturbance phenomena for forest ecosystems in the Wet Tropics of north-east Australia, especially those near the coast. For this reason, even continuous forests in the region have been described as hyper-disturbed ecosystems with patches of damaged forest constantly recovering from previous cyclonic events, often in concert with floods, droughts and fires (Webb 1958). Cyclones are part of the ecosystem dynamics of these forested landscapes and recovery of canopy cover following such events is often remarkably rapid, although forest structure and composition may take many decades to recover. The same cannot be said for fragmented forests in the Wet Tropics, located within either an agricultural or grassland matrix. These forest fragments are particularly vulnerable to impacts of tropical cyclones and their associated strong winds, largely due to their high forest edge to area ratios (Laurance 1991, 1997). These fragments are also more prone to post-disturbance weed invasion and bush fires than nearby areas of continuous forest
Australian rainforests in a global context
No full text[Extract] Moist tropical rainforests cover approximately 6-7% of the surface of the globe and occur in a band about 15-20° either side of the equator. Typically they receive more than 2000 mm precipitation a year and although they may frequently experience a dry season, this is often punctuated by periods of heavy rainfall. These forests are typified by their evergreen nature, although some species of trees can be deciduous. Longer and drier dry seasons inevitably produce tropical dry forests, with most tree species being deciduous. Throughout this book when authors refer to rainforests they are referring to moist tropical rainforests
Lessons for other tropical forest landscapes
No full textIn recent decades, governments and the general public have grown increasingly alarmed at the declining state of the world's environment. These concerns were first highlighted internationally by the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment (1972). Equally important was the Brundland Report Our Common Futute (Brundtland 1987), produced by the World Commission on Environment and Development, which argued eloquently that, without fundamental changes in practices and innovation, further economic development would continue to exhaust natural resources and severely harm the global environment. This report defined sustainable development as that which 'meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs'. This report also highlighted the striking inequity of economic progress and suggested that equity, growth and environmental maintenance are all simultaneously possible through enlightened technological and social change
WHITE STORK - ADVENTICIUS SPECIES OF THE PRIAZOV
No full textThe article gives some new data on white stork nesting in the eastern near Azov area. The author analyses factors influencing the appearance of these birds in places which are not typical for them and describes some biological peculiarities of white stork development in the eastern near Azov area
Integrating effort for regional natural resource outcomes: the Wet Tropics experience
No full text[Extract] World Heritage listing in the late 1980s delivered a significant slice of Australia's Wet Tropical landscape to biodiversity conservation and associated ecotourism activities. The wider region, however, comprises a complex social, cultural and natural landscape of multiple uses, values and resource types. The health of this landscape, in turn, contributes to the health of the Great Barrier Reef lagoon, another natural icon of international significance.
Following World Heritage listing, a flurry of fragmented planning for the region resulted in the regulatory frameworks that defined the broad limits for sustainable use of the region's resources. These approaches, however, were not designed to progress the integrated and sustainable management of these resources within those limits. Continued biodiversity loss, the ongoing loss of productive soils and poor water quality flowing into the reef lagoon were the result
The establishment of a world heritage area
No full text[Extract] Tropical rainforest was often seen as a barrier to progress in northern Queensland and the descriptive terminology used most frequently reflected that (scrub, jungle; see Stork and Turton, Chapter 1, this volume). Clearing the scrub to develop agriculture was a principal task of the early European settlers (see Turton, Chapter 5, this volume), as was the continuing attempt to remove the timber resources. The notion that the rainforest might need protecting from the impacts of human activity was quite weird until very recent times. In a historical review of attitudes towards rainforest in northern Queensland, Valentine (1980) documented numerous antagonistic and utilitarian views from explorers, settlers and government agencies. Indigenous Australians appreciated the qualities of tropical rainforests, which were integral to their culture, economy and society. The wider community has also seen the development of a much more positive view about tropical rainforests over time. One of the first to advocate its protection was John Busst, a local Bingal Bay resident who is best known for his work to save the Great Barrier Reef. He also formed the Rainforest Protection Society in 1962 and was at that time thought somewhat quirky for these ideas. His perspicacity is now acknowledged
Narrowing Global Species Estimates
No full textIn the latter half of the twentieth century, biologists using knockdown insecticides discovered the previously unrecognised and enormous diversity of life, particularly of insects and arthropods, in the canopy of tropical and temperate forests (Erwin 1982; Stork 1988). Such discoveries led to the suggestion that the canopy is 'the last biotic (or biological) frontier' (Stork 1995). Some speculated that the Earth held 30 million or more arthropod species and that most of these were undescribed species in the canopy of tropical forests (Erwin 1982, 1988, 1991). These discoveries coincided with revelations that tropical forests were being harvested or cleared at alarming rates around the world and led to many leading biologists suggesting that this might lead to the extinction of a large proportion of tropical species. These issues were highlighted by Wilson and Peter (1988) and were also of critical importance in driving the signing of the Convention on Biological Diversity by 193 countries (subsequently ratified by 168 countries) in 1992.Griffith Sciences, Griffith School of EnvironmentNo Full Tex
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