Ecological Management & Restoration最新文献

{"title":"Lighting a pathway: Our obligation to culture and Country","authors":"Jack Pascoe, Matthew Shanks, Bruce Pascoe, John Clarke, Teagan Goolmeer, Bradley Moggridge, Bhiamie Williamson, Maddison Miller, Oliver Costello, Michael-Shawn Fletcher","doi":"10.1111/emr.12592","DOIUrl":"10.1111/emr.12592","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":54325,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Management & Restoration","volume":"24 2-3","pages":"153-155"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2024-01-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139461640","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Australia's biodiversity crisis and the need for the Biodiversity Council","authors":"Jaana Dielenberg, Sarah Bekessy, Graeme S. Cumming, Angela J. Dean, James A. Fitzsimons, Stephen Garnett, Teagan Goolmeer, Lesley Hughes, Richard T. Kingsford, Sarah Legge, David B. Lindenmayer, Catherine E. Lovelock, Rachel Lowry, Martine Maron, Jessica Marsh, Jan McDonald, Nicola J. Mitchell, Bradley J. Moggridge, Rachel Morgain, Patrick J. O'Connor, Jack Pascoe, Gretta T. Pecl, Hugh P. Possingham, Euan G. Ritchie, Liam D. G. Smith, Rebecca Spindler, Ross M. Thompson, James Trezise, Kate Umbers, John Woinarski, Brendan A. Wintle","doi":"10.1111/emr.12594","DOIUrl":"10.1111/emr.12594","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Australia is a mega-biodiverse region. Millions of years of geographical isolation have resulted in high species diversity and endemism. So far, >21 000 species of plants, 8000 species of vertebrates, and 110 000 species of insects and other invertebrates have been described (Chapman <span>2009</span>). An exceptionally high percentage are endemic; 93% of flowering plants, >80% of invertebrates, 87% of mammals, 93% of reptiles, 94% of frogs, 74% of freshwater fishes and >50% of temperate marine fishes in Australia are found nowhere else (Lintermans <span>2013</span>; Cresswell & Murphy <span>2017</span>).</p><p>Since European colonisation, Australia's rich biodiversity has been in rapid decline. This decline has been driven by habitat destruction and fragmentation due to land clearing for agriculture and urbanisation; the introduction of invasive plants, animals, and diseases; the disruption of First Peoples practices in caring for Country, including fire management; and the extraction of water including the modification and regulation of freshwater ecosystems. These pressures are now being exacerbated by climate change.</p><p>One hundred Australian species have been formally recognised as extinct including 34 mammal species, representing 10% of Australia's endemic mammals at the time of European arrival. Twenty-two freshwater fish species are at high risk of extinction within the next 20 years (Lintermans <i>et al</i>. <span>2020</span>). One thousand, nine hundred and ninety-five taxa are nationally listed as threatened with extinction (Australian Government <span>2023</span>) and hundreds more at State and Territory levels. Many once widespread species that are important ecosystem engineers, such as digging mammals, now persist only in small fragments of former natural ranges.</p><p>The situation is likely far worse than reported, due to unresolved taxonomy (new species being discovered that are already extinct), a lack of systematic and rigorous monitoring of most species and ecosystems, and under-reporting of extinction. Declines are not abating. Population sizes of threatened birds have declined to half (47%), and threatened plants to almost one quarter (73%) of their populations, on average, since 1995 (Threatened Species Index <span>2022</span>). Three vertebrate species have been declared extinct in the last fifteen years: the Christmas Island PIPISTRELLE (<i>Pipistrellus murrayi</i>), Christmas Island FOREST SKINK (<i>Emoia nativitatis</i>) and Bramble Cay melomys (<i>MELOMYS rubicola</i>). There is a > 50% likelihood that a further 16 vertebrate taxa, for which there have been no recent verified records, are already extinct, with four almost certainly extinct (Garnett <i>et al</i>. <span>2022</span>).</p><p>Mass mortality events are increasing. These include an estimated 3 billion vertebrate animals and 60 billion invertebrate animals which were killed or displaced in the Black Summer fires; four mass coral bleaching","PeriodicalId":54325,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Management & Restoration","volume":"24 2-3","pages":"69-74"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2024-01-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/emr.12594","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139461867","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Right fire for right Country: Integrating First Nations knowledge and Western science in land management","authors":"Elle Bowd, David Lindenmayer","doi":"10.1111/emr.12593","DOIUrl":"10.1111/emr.12593","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":54325,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Management & Restoration","volume":"24 2-3","pages":"156-158"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2024-01-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139461638","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Highlighting the risk of environmental lead contamination for deer management in Australia","authors":"Jordan O. Hampton,&nbsp;Jason S. Flesch,&nbsp;Alexander S. Wendt,&nbsp;Simon D. Toop","doi":"10.1111/emr.12584","DOIUrl":"10.1111/emr.12584","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Lead-based bullets used to shoot deer typically fragment. These toxic fragments are a threat to wildlife scavengers and human consumers of venison. Awareness of this issue is widespread internationally but limited in Australia. The aim of this research was to characterise deer carcass contamination via bullet fragmentation associated with lead-based and lead-free ammunition in a deer culling program conducted in Australia. We used radiography (X-rays) to study Hog Deer (<i>Axis porcinus</i>) shot in a professional ground-based shooting program in Victoria, south-eastern Australia. Our data captured 33 deer shot with frangible lead-based bullets in 2021, and 21 deer shot with monolithic lead-free (copper-based) bullets from the same rifles in 2021–2022. For lead-based bullets, the mean number of lead fragments per carcass ranged from seven to 629 (mean ± SD = 256 ± 169), mean fragment size was 1.2 mm² (74% of fragments were &lt;1.0 mm²) and the mean fragment coverage area (the smallest ellipse covering all fragments) was 325 cm². Of these deer, 36% had metallic fragments in the ‘back strap’ (loin) muscles and 42% had metallic fragments in the shoulder muscles: meat cuts typically removed for human consumption. In contrast, for lead-free bullets, the mean number of metallic fragments per carcass ranged from zero to four (0.5 ± 1.0), with only 29% of carcasses having any fragments, and no deer had metallic fragments in the loin or shoulder muscles. On the basis of these results, it is clear that lead-based bullets used for shooting deer in Australia pose risks to wildlife scavengers, and to human consumers when used in hunting. Australian wildlife managers involved in mitigating deer impacts should strongly consider a timely transition to lead-free bullets.</p>","PeriodicalId":54325,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Management & Restoration","volume":"24 2-3","pages":"128-136"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2023-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/emr.12584","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138682831","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Lessons learned implementing mineral accretion and coral gardening at Agincourt Reef, Great Barrier Reef","authors":"Nathan Cook,&nbsp;Kailash Cook,&nbsp;Kaitlyn J Harris,&nbsp;Al Songcuan,&nbsp;Adam K Smith","doi":"10.1111/emr.12585","DOIUrl":"10.1111/emr.12585","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The health and diversity of coral reefs are critically important to the stability and value of the marine tourism industry. Declines in coral reef health through climate change impacts and cyclones, and associated media coverage, have impacted tourism visitation. In January 2018, a major change in Australian Government policy included a Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program to investigate the best science and technology options for helping the Great Barrier Reef recover and adapt to the changing environment. We report on a trial of two intervention methods, mineral accretion and coral gardening, to improve hard coral recovery at a popular site on the Great Barrier Reef. We installed six artificial reef substrates onto which an equal number of coral fragments of seven species were transplanted over the course of two years. During this time, three of the six treatments were connected to a low-voltage power source to encourage mineral accretion and enhance coral growth. Electrolysis resulted in substantial mineral accretion on the steel substrate, however, the technology had no positive effect on the survival or growth of transplanted coral colonies. After 13 months, a second round of transplanted coral fragments was undertaken, and the electrolysis was discontinued. Over a four-year period, mean live coral cover increased significantly in both treatment locations, from 1.7% and 0% to 80.8% and 75.8%, respectively. Control locations increased insignificantly from a mean of 5% to 14.2%. The mineral accretion technology proved technically challenging and did not support the growth or health of transplanted corals, providing no evidence to support the use of mineral accretion technology for this purpose. The technology may, however, have applications in the creation of new, solid substrates and for initial rubble stabilisation efforts. These results demonstrate the effective use of artificial substrates in conjunction with coral gardening techniques for the recovery of hard coral at degraded tourism sites.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":54325,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Management & Restoration","volume":"24 2-3","pages":"107-118"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2023-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138683502","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Evaluating remnant vegetation management practices adjacent to apple orchards to support native bee pollinators","authors":"Amber L. Spronk,&nbsp;Greg R. Guerin,&nbsp;Irene Martín-Forés,&nbsp;Andrew J. Lowe,&nbsp;Katja Hogendoorn","doi":"10.1111/emr.12588","DOIUrl":"10.1111/emr.12588","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Maintenance of a diverse pollinator community helps ensure resilience in pollination services. Fragments of woody and grassy vegetation in the vicinity of croplands have been shown to encourage the presence of crop-pollinating bees. However, to date, little attention has been given to the management practices that may enhance the presence of bees in such fragments. We investigated how the maintenance of remnant forest fragments adjacent to apple orchards in South Australia affects floral resources and native bee communities. The fragments had been subject to either (a) fire (assessments three years post-burn), (b) cattle grazing under trees and (c) low maintenance management (&gt;20 years not grazed or burnt). Plant communities were sampled along transects in plots. Bee communities were sampled using hand netting. We fitted generalised linear mixed models to investigate differences in plant and bee diversity between treatments and to elucidate the effect of plant diversity on bee diversity. We compared plant and bee community composition among treatments using non-metric multidimensional scaling and conducted network analysis to measure the robustness of plant-pollinator interactions to the removal of species. Both floral resource abundance and bee diversity were higher in burnt and low-maintenance fragments than in grazed fragments. Bee species richness was positively associated with plant species richness. The species richness of bees that visit apple flowers was positively associated with flower abundance but not with floral species richness. Plant-pollinator networks in grazed sites had fewer links per species and a higher proportion of realised links than those under other management practices. However, the resilience of pollinator networks did not differ significantly between management practices. Thus, controlled burns or low-maintenance management of forest fragments appear to be the most suitable landscape management practices to support apple pollinating bees. Burning requires consideration of additional ecological consequences, such as the conservation of fire-sensitive species and specialist woodland fauna. Cattle grazing adjacent to orchards results in simplified bee communities and pollination networks and is not recommended if pollination services are required for adjacent land uses. This information can benefit orchardist as well as managers of fragments of native vegetation adjacent to orchard crops.</p>","PeriodicalId":54325,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Management & Restoration","volume":"24 2-3","pages":"96-106"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2023-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/emr.12588","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138692966","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Monitoring and evaluation of Indigenous Land and Sea Management: An Indigenous-led approach in the Arafura Swamp, northern Australia","authors":"Otto Bulmaniya Campion,&nbsp;Mali Djarrbal,&nbsp;Charlie Ramandjarri,&nbsp;Gladys Womati Malibirr,&nbsp;Peter Djigirr,&nbsp;Margaret Dalparri,&nbsp;Dale Djanbadi,&nbsp;Roseann Malibirr,&nbsp;Mark Malibirr,&nbsp;Evonne Munuygu,&nbsp;Solomon O'Ryan,&nbsp;Florence Biridjala,&nbsp;Paul Bunbuyŋu,&nbsp;Neville Gulaygulay,&nbsp;Jonathan Yalandhu,&nbsp;Margaret Guwankil,&nbsp;Caleb Campion,&nbsp;Benjamin Campion,&nbsp;David Bidingal,&nbsp;Peter Guyula,&nbsp;Sammy Guyula,&nbsp;Michelle Guyula,&nbsp;Erica Ngurrwuthun,&nbsp;Helen Truscott,&nbsp;Yaakov Bar-Lev,&nbsp;Katie Degnian,&nbsp;Emma Ignjic,&nbsp;Beau J. Austin,&nbsp;Simon West,&nbsp;Gawura Waṉambi","doi":"10.1111/emr.12586","DOIUrl":"10.1111/emr.12586","url":null,"abstract":"<p>As Indigenous Land and Sea Management has grown in scope and scale, there has been increasing focus on monitoring and evaluation to foster learning, strengthen accountability and report on outcomes. A resurgence in Indigenous governance has led to recognition that Indigenous knowledge, law and governance systems are essential to successful conservation initiatives on Indigenous lands. Indigenous-led monitoring and evaluation involves Indigenous Peoples exercising control, direction and informed decisions about monitoring and evaluation practices and signals a greater role for Indigenous methodologies alongside participatory approaches and Western sciences. This Article describes the Intercultural Monitoring and Evaluation Project, led by the Arafura Swamp Rangers Aboriginal Corporation in partnership with Bi and Yolŋu Traditional Owners and clans and non-Indigenous practitioners and researchers. The Intercultural Monitoring and Evaluation Project aimed to co-produce an Indigenous-led and Country-based monitoring and evaluation system for Arafura Swamp Rangers Aboriginal Corporation's Healthy Country Plan. The Intercultural Monitoring and Evaluation Project recognised that the Rangers from the Arafura Swamp Rangers Aboriginal Corporation are accountable within Bi, Yolŋu and Western governance systems and that monitoring and evaluation at Arafura Swamp Rangers Aboriginal Corporation needed to strengthen relationships between all three. The Intercultural Monitoring and Evaluation Project involved: (i) developing understandings of monitoring and evaluation in Bi, Yolŋu and Western knowledge systems, (ii) generating organisational roadmaps, targets and indicators, (iii) developing Bi, Yolŋu and Western monitoring methods, (iv) building a data management system and seasonal monitoring calendar, (v) initiating a monitoring and evaluation committee to inform Arafura Swamp Rangers Aboriginal Corporation's strategic decision-making and (vi) sharing the story of the project with others. This approach embedded monitoring and evaluation in Indigenous law and governance, oral knowledge traditions and the intergenerational kinship relationships that sustain people and Country, while also connecting to Western adaptive management frameworks. Indigenous-led approaches can integrate monitoring and evaluation with Indigenous practices of caring for Country, contributing directly to the multiple ecological, cultural and socio-economic goals of Indigenous Land and Sea Management.</p>","PeriodicalId":54325,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Management & Restoration","volume":"24 2-3","pages":"75-88"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2023-12-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/emr.12586","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138632468","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Performance of Felixer devices when faced with captive-held Spotted-tailed Quolls: Do they pose a risk to an endangered marsupial carnivore?","authors":"Andrew W. Claridge,&nbsp;Guy A. Ballard,&nbsp;Elliott A.G. Luck,&nbsp;Peter J.S. Fleming","doi":"10.1111/emr.12587","DOIUrl":"10.1111/emr.12587","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Feral Cats are widespread and common across Australia, preying upon a wide diversity and large quantity of vertebrates and invertebrates. Curbing their impacts demands developing new control methods, as existing techniques are only usually partially successful. One such new method is the Felixer, a device that uses a combination of sensors to differentiate Feral Cats from other fauna before delivering a toxic gel to the fur of its target. Subsequently, this gel is then groomed and ingested. Before the Felixer can be more widely adopted, however, it is important to understand its target specificity. In a series of pen trials, we examined the ability of Felixer devices to discriminate Spotted-tailed Quolls, a cat-sized marsupial carnivore high on the list of species of concern. Over several weeks, multiple Spotted-tailed Quolls were each individually placed in pens with Felixers programmed in photograph only mode to take photographs only when sensors were triggered. Overall, there were almost 4000 detection events where Quolls passed in front of these devices and photographs taken. Nearly 1300 of these detections showed Quolls in a perpendicular or side-on position, ideally placed for the Felixer sensor arrays. Despite this exposure, there were no instances where the Felixer devices indicated that they would have activated on Quolls, had they been in lethal mode. This finding adds to recently published work in Tasmania, that also showed Quolls were highly unlikely to be incorrectly identified. Nevertheless, further studies of non-target discrimination by the Felixer device on other species of native wildlife is vital before they are made fully operational. This is particularly the case on the eastern seaboard of the country where the device has not yet been widely used and much remains to be learned about how they perform when faced with different species.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":54325,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Management & Restoration","volume":"24 2-3","pages":"89-95"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2023-12-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138632444","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Carbon-based pelleting, soil ripping and herbicide application can be used to overcome plant recruitment barriers in Grey Stinkwood (Jacksonia furcellata)","authors":"Vanessa S. Brown,&nbsp;Todd E. Erickson,&nbsp;Richard J. Hobbs,&nbsp;Stanley Mastrantonis,&nbsp;Alison L. Ritchie","doi":"10.1111/emr.12583","DOIUrl":"10.1111/emr.12583","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Seed-based restoration efforts frequently experience limited success due to competition from invasive plant species and poor soil conditions. We aimed to alleviate these plant recruitment barriers through a combination of carbon-based seed enhancement technologies and commonly applied restoration management practices. Compared to non-pelleted (control) seeds, we tested seven seed enhancement technologies on Grey Stinkwood (<i>Jacksonia furcellata</i>), a perennial shrub common within the Banksia Woodlands of Western Australia, which included extruded pellets, coating and coins (a novel extrusion method), incorporated with activated carbon or biochar. We tested five management practices including combinations of herbicide and soil ripping at two locations (post-sand mine and Post-pine plantation). At the Post-pine site, coins incorporating biochar had the highest overall mean emergence (53%), and at the Post-mine site, extruded pellets containing activated carbon had the highest mean emergence (58%). In comparison, emergence was significantly lower from the non-pelleted seeds (44% and 45% respectively). Survival at the Post-mine site was also higher from biochar coins (31%) compared to the non-pelleted seeds (22%), and highest in plots with herbicide application followed by soil ripping (36%), compared to the control, in which no management practice was applied (16%). At the Post-pine site, survival was poor (&lt;10%), and seed treatment and management practice did not significantly affect seedling survival. Using carbon-based seed treatments and management practices, such as herbicide application followed by soil ripping, may help to overcome seedling emergence bottlenecks in direct seeding programmes. However, further examination into seedling survival is required, particularly within highly degraded settings, before seed enhancement technologies are used in large-scale seeding programmes.</p>","PeriodicalId":54325,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Management & Restoration","volume":"24 2-3","pages":"119-127"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2023-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/emr.12583","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127683139","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Assessment of tree fern browsing by introduced Sambar Deer in south-eastern Australia","authors":"Ami Bennett","doi":"10.1111/emr.12582","DOIUrl":"10.1111/emr.12582","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Browsing on tree ferns (<i>Cyathea australis</i> and <i>Dicksonia antarctica</i>) was assessed at Mt Toolebewong, Victoria, Australia, where a population of Sambar (<i>Rusa unicolor</i>), a large deer species, is known to occur and compared with tree fern browsing at Tarra-Bulga National Park, Victoria, where Sambar are uncommon. At Mt Toolebewong, 52% of surveyed tree ferns had been browsed, with most damage occurring on individuals up to 130 cm high and typically involving removal of most or all of a frond to the base of the rachis. In contrast, only 7% of tree ferns had been browsed at Tarra-Bulga, with none browsed above 85 cm and only the frond tips removed. Browsing of whole fronds on mid-size tree ferns at Mt Toolebewong is attributed to the population of Sambar, and the lower intensity of browsing on smaller tree ferns at Tarra-Bulga to native herbivores. Populations of Sambar in wet forests of south-eastern Australia may, therefore, hinder recruitment of tree ferns into larger size-classes, at least at sites where tree ferns are favoured browse. The potential ecological consequences and management implications are discussed. Information is lacking on the severity and spatial scale over which deer impact tree fern populations. Tree fern browsing may be locally severe with site- and height-based browse evidence suggesting that this can largely be attributed to introduced Sambar. Browsing by deer has the potential to decrease growth, reduce survival and prevent recruitment of tree ferns into larger class sizes, with potentially detrimental implications for tree fern populations, associated species such as epiphytic flora, and the structure and function of wet forest ecosystems. Collection of appropriate field data will provide a better understanding of tree fern browsing and identify if and where management intervention is required.</p>","PeriodicalId":54325,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Management & Restoration","volume":"24 2-3","pages":"137-144"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2023-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/emr.12582","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116936667","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}