10 November 2011 - Condition assessment for biodiversity in Queensland: Biocondition
BioCondition is a vegetati
on condition assessment framework developed by the Department of Environment and Resource Management for Queensland’s regional ecosystems. The primary aim of BioCondition is to provide a reliable and repeatable measure of ecosystem function and condition relevant to biodiversity, which allows comparison between different patches of vegetation. The need for a cost-effective metric of ecological condition is highly valued by natural resource managers and policy makers in Queensland, particularly for the renewal of rural leases under the Delbessie Agreement and the implementation of various offset policies. Other emerging needs of a condition metric include certification of sustainable farming practices.
BioCondition consists of four broad components: 1. A mappable assessment unit based on regional ecosystem and broad condition state; 2. A set of easily measured site- and landscape- scale attributes which act as surrogates of biodiversity values; 3. Benchmark values for each attribute for each regional ecosystem; and 4. A scoring system, which is based on the relative value to the benchmark values and provides an overall single metric of condition. The BioCondition protocol has been recently tested on the: 1. Surrogacy value of the selected attributes for biodiversity, and; 2. The robustness of the assessment procedure against observer variability and error. Outcomes from this work has led to the release of an amended version of BioCondition, which has been shown to be easier to undertake and still provide more reliable measures of condition for biodiversity than earlier versions.
Our Speaker - Andrew Franks
Andrew is a senior botanist with the Queensland Herbarium where his time is spent living the botanical dream. He mainly assists with compliance issues related to illegal tree clearing and updating the Regional Ecosystem mapping. He is also the Brigalow Belt South coordinator for the Regional Ecosystem mapping. Andrew also runs the Department’s BioCondition training and assisted in updating the method to its current version. When he has some spare time, Andrew curates the Herbarium’s bryophyte collection (mosses, liverworts and hornworts). This is the third time the Herbarium has employed Andrew and he thinks he better stick around for awhile this time.
Andrew presented a seminar on behalf of Teresa Eyre and Annie Kelly, the principle authors of the BioCondition method.
Key Learnings
- Informed attendees on the need for a cost-effective metric of ecological condition which is highly valued by natural resource managers and policy makers in Queensland, particularly for the renewal of rural leases under the Delbessie Agreement and the implementation of various offset policies.
- Informed attendees that the outcomes from this work conducted have led to the release of an amended version of BioCondition.
- Informed attendees of the primary aims of BioCondition which is to provide a reliable and repeatable measure of ecosystem function and condition relevant to biodiversity, which allows comparison between different patches of vegetation
To download a copy of Andrew Franks' prentation click here.
This event was proudly supported by:
Presentation by Andrew Franks (2.21Mb)
