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Transformative adaptation will be increasingly important to effectively address the impacts of climate change and other global drivers on social-ecological systems. Enabling transformative adaptation requires new ways to evaluate and adaptively manage trade-offs between maintaining desirable aspects of current social-ecological systems and adapting to major biophysical changes to those systems. We outline such an approach, based on three elements developed by the Transformative Adaptation Research Alliance (TARA): (1) the benefits of adaptation services ; that sub-set of ecosystem services that help people adapt to environmental change; (2) The values-rules-knowledge perspective ( vrk ) for identifying those aspects of societal decision-making contexts that enable or constrain adaptation and (3) the adaptation pathways approach for implementing adaptation, that builds on and integrates adaptation services and the vrk perspective. Together, these elements provide a future-oriented approach to evaluation and use of ecosystem services, a dynamic, grounded understanding of governance and decision-making and a logical, sequential approach that connects decisions over time. The TARA approach represents a means for achieving changes in institutions and governance needed to support transformative adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aviation industry in Australia has aspirations to supply 5% of its domestic fuel use from biomass by 2020. The majority of available sources of biomass in Australia are lignocellulosic, and novel production systems that integrate existing land uses with energy production systems could have many benefits to growers and regions through enterprise diversification. This study assessed the operational and economic factors associated with lignocellulosic biomass supply for production of sustainable aviation fuel in a case study region in central Queensland, Australia. We examined the potential for biomass supply from native grasses, naturally regenerating woody vegetation (regrowth), and newly established plantings of short rotation trees (SRT) from the Fitzroy Catchment (14.2 million hectares). We outline a hypothetical industry scale-up strategy that achieves a production target of 470 ML of aviation fuel within a 25 year timeframe. We assess the amount of biomass required to support the scale-up strategy and the associated costs of supply to meet production targets during the scale-up. Approximately 5 million tonnes of biomass per year are required to support full production capacity after 25 years; 1.1 millions of land is required to be managed to supply this quantum of biomass. A preliminary assessment of the cost of supply for each feedstock indicates that grasses are most expensive at ~$142 t −1 due to relatively low biomass potentially available for harvest per hectare, and relatively high costs of harvesting and transporting compared with woody biomass. Regrowth is the least expensive at ~$56 t −1 due to low establishment and maintenance costs. We conclude that the case study region has the potential to produce sufficient biomass to support the hypothetical industry scale-up and that a mixed feedstock base maximises the sustainability of biomass supply. We discuss a range of sustainability issues associated with biomass production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The intermediate disturbance hypothesis (IDH) predicts a hump-shaped pattern between community diversity and disturbance, and is central to understanding patterns of species diversity. Here, we examine IDH in the context of alien plant invasions. IDH can offer insight into the role of disturbance in facilitating plant invasions and the effect of these invasions on floristic diversity. Early stages of succession are most susceptible to invasion because resources and colonisation opportunities are elevated after disturbance. This trend is accentuated by human-mediated dispersal, a bias towards early successional species in the alien species pool, the tendency for fast-growing species to profit most from enemy release, and increased disturbance levels in human-modified habitats. Human disturbance, coupled with plant introductions, extends the diversity–disturbance curve and shifts peak diversity towards higher disturbance levels. However, invasive aliens can reduce native diversity at the community scale, especially in mid succession where competitive interactions structure communities. Certain invasive plants may have higher impacts because they overcome some life history tradeoffs as a result of their association with humans or novel evolutionary histories, e.g. enemy release. This may directly or indirectly (e.g. through plastic reallocation of resources from defence into growth) enable invasive plants to colonise earlier or persist into later stages of succession. By modifying disturbance regimes, invaders that transform the environment may also interfere with succession and precipitate low diversity communities. Low introduction rates of late successional species may currently limit impacts of aliens under infrequent disturbance. IDH is a useful framework for understanding ecological communities. However, because of the novel evolutionary histories of alien species and the anthropogenic context in which they invade, disturbance levels that maximise total diversity in invaded communities can differ from those that maximise native diversity. Joint consideration of IDH and alien invasion patterns suggests a range of strategies can be used to manage diversity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

An emerging planning framework for climate adaptation focuses on interactions among societal values , institutional rules and scientific and experiential knowledge about biophysical impacts of climate change and adaptation options. These interactions shape the decision context that can enable or constrain effective adaptation. To illustrate the operationalisation of this ‘values-rules-knowledge’ (VRK) framework we developed biophysical adaptation pathways for agricultural landscapes of south-eastern Australia, which are expected to become warmer and drier under climate change. We used the VRK framework to identify potential constraints to implementing the pathways. Drawing on expert knowledge, published literature, biodiversity modelling and stakeholder workshops we identified potential adaptation pathways for (1) the production matrix, (2) high conservation value remnant eucalypt woodlands, and (3) woodland trees. Adaptation options included shifts from mixed cropping-grazing to rangeland grazing or biomass enterprises; promoting re-assembly of native ecological communities; and maintaining ecosystem services and habitat that trees provide. Across all pathways, applying the VRK framework elucidated fifteen key implementation constraints, including limits to farm viability, decreasing effectiveness of environmental legislation and conflicting values about exotic plants. Most of the constraints involved interactions among VRK; 13 involved rules, eight involved values, and seven involved knowledge. Value constraints appeared most difficult to address, whereas those based on rules or knowledge were more tangible. The lower number of knowledge constraints may reflect the scale of our analysis (which focused on decision points in pre-defined pathways); new knowledge and participatory approaches would likely yield a richer set of scenarios. We conclude that the VRK framework helps connect the biophysical knowledge-based view of adaptation with a perspective on the need for changes in social systems, enabling targeting of constraints to adaptation. Our focus on pathways and decision points in different sectors of the multi-use landscape highlighted the importance of group and higher level planning and policy for balancing the collective outcomes of multiple decisions by many land managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aviation industry is vulnerable to fuel price rises and carbon emission penalties. The use of bio-jet fuel will reduce emissions. However, there is only limited capacity for aviation fuel production in Australia. In a developing bio-jet fuel industry, it is not known whether there is sufficient biomass available at a reasonable price to support an industry. The literature identifies grasses as having good potential as a cost effective feedstock based on high productivity in tropical and subtropical cattle grazing areas, where there is limited competition with high value crops. Here we present an approach for assessing the biomass potential of grazing lands and apply it to a case study region in Australia. Biomass modelling showed grass biomass production in excess of grazing needs in favourable years of 1 Mt within an area of 2500 km 2 . This exceeds the demand of medium to large scale biofuel production facilities. The location of high production areas is variable over years but there are several consistent ‘hotspots’ of biomass production. However, in low rainfall years there is insufficient biomass produced to supply a bioenergy facility. The seasonal rainfall pattern in the area also requires storage of material for several months as harvesting in the wet season is undesirable. Cost for production of baled grass biomass (not including nutrient replacement and profits) to farm gate ranges from AU$50–$110/t. The opportunity cost for diverting grass from beef production to biomass for bioenergy is around AU$50/t. However, grass production for bioenergy would provide enterprise diversification options and environmental management benefits through reducing grazing impacts during the wet season in favour of dry season biomass harvest. The work highlights a potential for co-existence between biomass harvested for bioenergy and grazing systems, but more detailed research is required on environmental impacts and socio-economic considerations before considering implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]