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We revisited a location to study previously individually marked Tagula Honeyeaters Microptilotis vicina in 2019, 3 years after the original 2016 study on Junet Island, Louisiade Archipelago, Papua New Guinea. Re-encountered Tagula Honeyeaters indicated sedentary behaviour across years and an average annual adult survival rate of ≥0.75. We made the first observations of building and laying at two nests, and recorded nesting habits in the species. Tagula Honeyeaters showed the general trend in the honeyeater family of only the female building the nest and incubating. Nests were similar to those previously observed and to those of related species. Clutch-size in both nests was two and laying was on consecutive days. Eggs were white to off-white, with a ring of liver-brown spots and markings around the larger end. Incubation began on the day that the second egg was laid and lasted 14 days in both nests. Males visited the nest area only after the eggs hatched. At one nest, the nestling period was suspected to be 12 days. These limited observations of the only endemic island representative in Microptilotis indicate that, like plumage characters, breeding parameters remain similar within the genus.

Urban residents face increasing risk of heat stress due to the combined impact of climate change and intensification of the urban heat island (UHI) associated with urban growth. Considering the combined effect of urban growth and climate change is vital to understanding how temperatures in urban areas will change in the future. This study investigated the impact of urban growth and climate change on the UHI and heat stress in a subtropical city (Brisbane, Australia) in the present day (1991–2000) and medium term (2041–2050; RCP8.5) during summer. A control and urban growth scenario was used to compare the temperature increase from climate change alone with the temperature increase from climate change and urban growth. Average and minimum temperatures increased more with climate change and urban growth combined than with climate change alone, indicating that if urban growth is ignored, future urban temperatures could be underestimated. Under climate change alone, rural temperatures increased more than urban temperatures, decreasing the effect of the UHI by 0.4 °C at night and increasing the urban cool island by 0.8 °C during the day. With climate change, the number of hot days and nights doubled in urban and rural areas in 2041–2050 as compared to 1991–2000. The number of hot nights was higher in urban areas and with urban growth. Dangerous heat stress, defined as apparent temperature above 40 °C, increased with climate change and occurred on average 1–2 days every summer during 2041–2050, even in shaded conditions. There was higher temperature increases with urban growth and climate change than with climate change alone, indicating that reducing the effect of the UHI is vital to ensuring urban growth does not increase the heat stress risks that urban residents will face in the future.

The urban heat island (UHI) has a negative impact on the health of urban residents by increasing average temperatures. The intensity of the UHI effect is influenced by urban geometry and the amount of vegetation cover. This study investigated the impact of urban growth and loss of vegetation cover on the UHI in a subtropical city (Brisbane, Australia) during average and extreme conditions using the Conformal Cubic Atmospheric Model, run at a 1-km spatial resolution for 10 years. The average nighttime temperature increase was 0.7°C for the “Medium Density” urban growth scenario and 1.8°C for the “No Vegetation” scenario. During two widespread extreme heat events, the mean maximum increase in urban temperatures above the Control was between 2.2° and 3.8°C in the No Vegetation scenario and between 0.3° and 1.6°C in the Medium Density urban growth scenario. The results are similar to previous findings for temperate cities, with the intensity of the UHI effect higher at night and during winter than during the day and summer. Vegetation cover had the strongest impact on temperatures, more so than building height and height/width ratio. Maintaining and restoring vegetation, therefore, is a key consideration in mitigating the urban heat island. The large temperature increases found in this study, particularly during extreme heat events, shows the importance of reducing the UHI for protecting the health of urban residents, and this should be a priority in urban landscape planning and design.

Public participatory mapping is a method of crowdsourcing where the lay public can contribute spatial information for a range of applications including conservation planning. When used to collect wildlife observation data, participatory mapping becomes a type of “geographic citizen science” that involves collaboration with members of the public. While the potential of crowdsourcing to assist in wildlife conservation appears to be large, the quality and validity of the observational data collected remain a key concern. In this study, we examined the quality and validity of spatial data collected in a public participatory mapping project implemented in northern New South Wales (Australia) in 2018 where the public was asked to identify and map the location and frequency of koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) sightings using an internet mapping application. The iconic koala is a nationally-listed threatened species and has wide public recognition, making it an ideal test of our approach to examining the value of citizen science for wildlife. We assessed the validity of koala observation data from two perspectives of validity-as-accuracy (positional accuracy and data completeness) and validity-as-credibility (characteristics of spatial data contributors). To assess validity-as-accuracy, we analysed the distribution of citizen observations of koala sightings compared to an expert-derived probability distribution of koalas (likelihood model). To assess validity-as-credibility, we analysed the survey data to determine which participant characteristics increased the credibility of observational data. We found significant spatial association between crowdsourced koala observations and the likelihood model to validate koala locations, but there was under-reporting in more rural, remote areas. Significant variables contributing to accuracy in koala observations included participant knowledge of koalas, age, length of residence, and formal education. We also compared the crowdsourced results to a field-based citizen science koala observation project implemented in the same region and found crowdsourced participatory mapping provided comparable, if not superior results. Crowdsourced koala observations can augment field-based koala research by covering large geographic areas while engaging a broader public in conservation efforts. However, effective geographic citizen science projects require a significant commitment of resources, including the creation of community partnerships, to obtain high quality spatial data.

The continuing use of petrochemicals in mineral nitrogen (N) production may be affected by supply or cost issues and climate agreements. Without mineral N, a larger area of cropland is required to produce the same amount of food, impacting biodiversity. Alternative N sources include solar and wind to power the Haber-Bosch process, and the organic options such as green manures, marine algae and aquatic azolla. Solar power was the most land-efficient renewable source of N, with using a tenth as much land as wind energy, and at least 100th as much land as organic sources of N. In this paper, we developed a decision tree to locate these different sources of N at a global scale, or the first time taking into account their spatial footprint and the impact on terrestrial biodiversity while avoiding impact on albedo and cropland, based on global resource and impact datasets. This produced relatively few areas suitable for solar power in the western Americas, central southern Africa, eastern Asia and southern Australia, with areas most suited to wind at more extreme latitudes. Only about 2% of existing solar power stations are in very suitable locations. In regions such as coastal north Africa and central Asia where solar power is less accessible due to lack of farm income, green manures could be used, however, due to their very large spatial footprint only a small area of low productivity and low biodiversity was suitable for this option. Europe in particular faces challenges because it has access to a relatively small area which is suitable for solar or wind power. If we are to make informed decisions about the sourcing of alternative N supplies in the future, and our energy supply more generally, a decision-making mechanism is needed to take global considerations into account in regional land-use planning.

Design disciplines have a long history of creating well-integrated solutions to challenges which are complex, uncertain and contested by multiple stakeholders. Society faces similar challenges in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals, so design methods hold much potential. While principles of good design are well established, there has been limited integration of design thinking with sustainability science. To advance this integration, we examine the process of designing MetaMAP: an interactive graphic tool for collaborating to understand social–ecological systems and design well-integrated solutions. MetaMAP was created using Research through Design methods which integrate creative and scientific thinking. By applying design thinking, researchers and practitioners from different backgrounds undertook multiple cycles of problem framing, solution development, testing and reflection. The testing was highly collaborative involving over 150 people from diverse disciplines in workshops, case studies, interviews and critique. Reflecting on this process, we discuss design principles and opportunities for integrating design thinking with sustainability science to help achieve Sustainable Development Goals. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s11625-018-0618-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Sustainability challenges rarely align with the conventional boundaries of our disciplines, institutions and means of communication. To address these challenges amid real-world complexity, we need to think holistically and collaborate across disciplines. In this paper, we synthesise three themes: (1) more integrated conceptual frameworks; (2) digital visual communication which provides fluid expression of complex ideas and perceptions; and (3) online networks which can empower sustainability initiatives and communicate them across social and institutional barriers at a global scale. Each of these tools can help to overcome persistent barriers to sustainability. When used together, they provide a strategic basis for the design of digital collaboration platforms for addressing sustainability challenges. Using design thinking, we developed a Synergy Map which identifies relationships among a number of barriers to sustainability and conceptual and digital tools which help to address them. The Map identifies the potential for synthesising these tools into effective digital artefacts. We provide several examples and identify characteristics of particular value for overcoming barriers to sustainability. Combining new theoretical developments in sustainability sciences with recent advances in communication and networking technologies offers substantial potential for advancing sustainability on multiple fronts.

Cities have elevated temperatures compared to rural areas, a phenomenon known as the “urban heat island”. Higher temperatures increase the risk of heat-related mortality, which will be exacerbated by climate change. To examine the impact of climate change and urban growth on future urban temperatures and the potential for increased heat stress on urban residents. We conducted a systematic review of scientific articles from Jan 2000 to May 2016. The majority (n = 49, = 86%) of studies examined climate change and the urban heat island in isolation, with few (8) considering their combined effect. Urban growth was found to have a large impact on local temperatures, in some cases by up to 5 °C in North-east USA. In some locations climate change increased the heat island, such as Chicago and Beijing, and in others decreased it, such as Paris and Brussels. When the relative impact of both factors was considered, the temperature increase associated with the urban heat island was always higher. Few studies (9) considered heat stress and its consequences for urban populations. Important contributors to urban temperatures, such as variation in urban density and anthropogenic heat release, were often excluded from studies. We identify a need for an increased research focus on (1) urban growth impact on the urban heat island in climate change studies; (2) heat stress; and, (3) variation in urban density and its impacts on anthropogenic heat. Focussing on only one factor, climate change or urban growth, risks underestimating future urban temperatures and hampering adaptation.

Modelling the future suitable climate space for tree species has become a widely used tool for forest management planning under global climate change. Teak (Tectona grandis) is one of the most valuable tropical hardwood species in the international timber market, and natural teak forests are distributed from India through Myanmar, Laos and Thailand. The extents of teak forests are shrinking due to deforestation and the local impacts of global climate change. However, the direct impacts of climate changes on the continental-scale distributions of native and non-native teak have not been examined. In this study, we developed a species distribution model for teak across its entire native distribution in tropical Asia, and its non-native distribution in Bangladesh. We used presence-only records of trees and twelve environmental variables that were most representative for current teak distributions in South and Southeast Asia. MaxEnt (maximum entropy) models were used to model the distributions of teak under current and future climate scenarios. We found that land use/land cover change and elevation were the two most important variables explaining the current and future distributions of native and non-native teak in tropical Asia. Changes in annual precipitation, precipitation seasonality and annual mean actual evapotranspiration may result in shifts in the distributions of teak across tropical Asia. We discuss the implications for the conservation of critical teak habitats, forest management planning, and risks of biological invasion that may occur due to its cultivation in non-native ranges.

Two ecologically and economically important, and threatened Dipterocarp trees Sal (Shorea robusta) and Garjan (Dipterocarpus turbinatus) form mono‐specific canopies in dry deciduous, moist deciduous, evergreen, and semievergreen forests across South Asia and continental parts of Southeast Asia. They provide valuable timber and play an important role in the economy of many Asian countries. However, both Dipterocarp trees are threatened by continuing forest clearing, habitat alteration, and global climate change. While climatic regimes in the Asian tropics are changing, research on climate change‐driven shifts in the distribution of tropical Asian trees is limited. We applied a bioclimatic modeling approach to these two Dipterocarp trees Sal and Garjan. We used presence‐only records for the tree species, five bioclimatic variables, and selected two climatic scenarios (RCP4.5: an optimistic scenario and RCP8.5: a pessimistic scenario) and three global climate models (GCMs) to encompass the full range of variation in the models. We modeled climate space suitability for both species, projected to 2070, using a climate envelope modeling tool “MaxEnt” (the maximum entropy algorithm). Annual precipitation was the key bioclimatic variable in all GCMs for explaining the current and future distributions of Sal and Garjan (Sal: 49.97 ± 1.33; Garjan: 37.63 ± 1.19). Our models predict that suitable climate space for Sal will decline by 24% and 34% (the mean of the three GCMs) by 2070 under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, respectively. In contrast, the consequences of imminent climate change appear less severe for Garjan, with a decline of 17% and 27% under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, respectively. The findings of this study can be used to set conservation guidelines for Sal and Garjan by identifying vulnerable habitats in the region. In addition, the natural habitats of Sal and Garjan can be categorized as low to high risk under changing climates where artificial regeneration should be undertaken for forest restoration.

Primates are an important component of biodiversity in tropical regions. However, many studies on the effects of habitat change on primates ignore the relative influence of landscape composition and configuration. This study addresses the question: how important are landscape-scale forest area and composition relative to patch-scale (1–1080 ha) and site-scale (transect of 1 km) habitat variables for the occupancy and abundance of four primate species in the Colombian Llanos. Using a randomly stratified survey design, 81 fragments were surveyed for primate occupancy and abundance. We used zero-inflated models to test the relative influence of landscape-scale, patch-scale and site-scale variables on occupancy and abundance for each species. A 95% confidence set of models was constructed using the cumulative Akaike weight for each model and the relative importance of each set of variables calculated for each primate species. Occupancy was determined by a combination of site-scale, patch-scale and landscape-scale variables but this varied substantially among the primate species. Our study highlights the importance of managing primates at a range of scales that considers the relative importance of site-, patch- and landscape-scale variables.

Infectious diseases are important in the dynamics of many wildlife populations, but there is limited understanding of how landscape change influences susceptibility to disease. We aimed to quantify the time-delayed influence of spatial and temporal components of landscape change and climate variability on the prevalence of chlamydiosis in koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) populations in southeast Queensland, Australia. We used data collected over 14 years (n = 9078 records) from a koala hospital along with time-lagged measures of landscape change and rainfall to conduct spatial and temporal analyses of the influence of landscape and environmental variables on prevalence of chlamydiosis and koala body condition. Areas with more suitable habitat were associated with higher levels of disease prevalence and better body condition, indicating that koalas were less likely to be impacted by chlamydiosis. More intact landscapes with higher proportions of total habitat are associated with a reduction in prevalence of chlamydiosis and a decrease in body condition. Increased annual rainfall contributed to a decrease in prevalence of chlamydiosis and an increase in body condition. Urbanization was associated with an increase in disease, however the effects of urban landscape change and climate variability on chlamydiosis may not manifest until several years later when overt disease impacts the population via effects upon body condition and reproductive success. Our study highlights the importance of effects of landscape change and climate variability on disease prevalence in wildlife. This recognition is essential for long-term conservation planning, especially as disease often interacts with other threats.

Invasive predators are identified as an important threatening process implicated in native species decline and extinction in Australia. This study aimed at developing our understanding of landscape-level spatial patterns in the red fox diet. We established prey importance based on dietary composition of red fox scats, and related this information to landscape structure. The relationship between scat composition and the frequency of detection and spatial patterns of occurrence of small mammals based on survey data from the same region was also evaluated using ordination analyses. We found that native vertebrates, dominated by Sminthopsinae, were the most important prey. However, Mus musculus were detected significantly more than Sminthopsinae across the region. Sminthopsinae were detected most frequently in traps in grazing landscapes; however, red fox scats from grazing landscapes were dominated by invertebrates. We propose these patterns may be partially driven by M. musculus abundance attracting predation pressure to the landscape and Sminthopsinae exhibiting prey naivety resulting in their disproportional representation in red fox scats.

To mitigate climate change at local, regional, and global scales, we must begin to think beyond greenhouse gases.

Community-based conservation programs often target local communities with the aim of altering their behaviours to achieve conservation outcomes. However, these programs can underestimate the complexities of human behaviour, and hence jeopardize their effectiveness. We applied a realist synthesis to 17 community-based conservation programs in developing countries that quantitatively measured behavioural changes linked to conservation outcomes. A realist synthesis identifies the critical mechanisms operating within a program and the outcome(s) caused by these mechanisms, and also identifies how the context affects these mechanisms. Our synthesis identified three main mechanisms that best explain the reasoning of individuals to engage in conservation behaviours: i) conservation livelihood provides economic value; ii) conservation provides benefits that outweigh losses of curtailing previous behaviour, and iii) giving local authority over resources creates empowerment. The success of each mechanism was affected by various context factors, including the proportion of income generated for the family, capacity to engage in livelihood, cultural acceptability of livelihood and the livelihood being logistically achievable to partake in. Despite conservation education being a common strategy, there was very little evidence provided of the reasoning of individuals and subsequent behaviour changes from education programs. This is the first application of a realist synthesis to community-based conservation programs. The results advance our understanding of the decision-making processes of communities subject to such programs, and highlight how different contexts influence changes in conservation behaviour. Future reporting of behavioural outcomes and the associated reasoning of individuals and communities to engage, as well as the relevant contextual data, is required for more informed and effective design of community-based conservation programs.

Summary Vegetation vertical structure is important for biodiversity and ecosystem service provision. In cities, however, while variation in the spatial extent and distribution of vegetation has been widely investigated, vertical vegetation structure and its potential drivers have not. Understanding how vegetation vertical structure varies across cities and identifying the potential drivers of this variation will improve the management of urban vegetation for biodiversity and ecosystem services. We used light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data to quantify the vertical structure of vegetation across Brisbane, Australia, at 1-km2 and 1-ha spatial scales and investigated how this structure varied in response to biophysical, socioeconomic, urban form and landscape structure variables. Using model selection techniques, we found that landscape structure variables related to tree cover (tree cover extent and spatial configuration) best explained the vegetation vertical structure at both spatial scales. Biophysical and urban form variables were also important, but only in combination with landscape structure. Mean vegetation vertical complexity, foliage projective cover and canopy height at a site all decreased as the treed proportion of the surrounding urban landscape decreased. In general, these vertical structure variables also increased where patches of vegetation were clustered together spatially. Synthesis and applications. Using light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data and model selection techniques, we show that the extent and vertical structure of urban vegetation are not independent and that reduced extent and increased fragmentation of urban vegetation are associated with simplification of its vertical structure. If common, this relationship means that managing urban vegetation for biodiversity and ecosystem services should not focus solely on the amount of tree cover or green space present across cities, but also on identifying where interventions to improve vegetation vertical complexity are required. Our study provides important insights into where these locations may be in cities.

Plant succession theory underpins the development of strategies for the conservation and regeneration of native communities. Current theory has been based largely on space-for-time rather than long-term monitoring data, which have known limitations. There is general consensus that more site-specific studies are needed to corroborate existing hypotheses. The target vegetation is a brigalow (Acacia harpophylla, Mimosaceae) forest in one of Australia's most endangered ecosystems, which was cleared and burnt in 1963. Forty quadrats were placed systematically within each of six 20 m × 20 m permanent plots. Presence, density and per cent canopy cover data were recorded for each species at 18 times over 46 years. Brigalow dominated the original vegetation, assumed dominance soon after clearing through massive root suckering and remained dominant throughout the study. It achieved maximum density within two years when severe intraspecific competition led to self-thinning. After approximately 30 years, vacant niches appeared. Woody understorey species were slow to recolonise. Species richness and other diversity indices increased rapidly to a maximum after 2–4 years, declined until the 30th year when they again increased. This was the pattern of the species-rich herbaceous layer; woody species showed a steady monotonic increase. The ‘hump-shaped’ relationship between cover (biomass) and species richness was confirmed. This example fits the inhibition model for which few examples have been described. While the long-term successional pattern is slightly confounded by climatic variability preceding sample surveys, this space-for-time study not only supports a bimodal pattern of diversity over time but also indicates that the relative species richness of the herbaceous and woody layers may explain the extreme variability reported in the literature.

Community-based conservation programs in developing countries are often based on the assumption that heteronomous motivation (e.g., extrinsic incentives such as economic rewards and pressure or coercion to act) will incite local communities to adopt conservation behaviors. However, this may not be as effective or sustainable as autonomous motivations (e.g., an intrinsic desire to act due to inherent enjoyment or self-identification with a behavior and through freedom of choice). We analyzed the comparative effectiveness of heteronomous versus autonomous approaches to community-based conservation programs through a case study of Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii) conservation in 3 villages in Indonesia. Each village had a different conservation program design. We surveyed people (n = 240) to determine their motivations for and behavior changes relative to orangutan and orangutan habitat (forest) protection. Heteronomous motivations (e.g., income from tourism) led to greater self-reporting of behavior change toward orangutan protection. However, they did not change self-reported behavior toward forest (i.e., orangutan habitat) protection. The most effective approach to creating self-reported behavior change throughout the community was a combination of autonomous and heteronomous motivations. Individuals who were heteronomously motivated to protect the orangutan were more likely to have changed attitudes than to have changed their self-reported behavior. These findings demonstrate that the current paradigm of motivating communities in developing countries to adopt conservation behaviors primarily through monetary incentives and rewards should consider integrating autonomous motivational techniques that promote the intrinsic values of conservation. Such a combination has a greater potential to achieve sustainable and cost-effective conservation outcomes. Our results highlight the importance of using in-depth sociopsychological analyses to inform the design and implementation of community-based conservation programs.

The spatial and temporal heterogeneity of climate, soils, topography and vegetation control the water and energy balances among catchments. Two well-known hydrological theories underpinning these processes are the Budyko framework and the Dunne diagram. Relating the scaling of water–energy balances (Budyko) and runoff generation mechanisms (Dunne) raises some important catchment comparison questions, namely: (i) how do streamflow characteristics vary according to the annual water and energy balances?; (ii) to what extent do biophysical drivers of runoff explain the observed streamflow variability?; and (iii) are there quantifiable process overlaps between these two approaches, and can they offer insights into the mechanics of catchment co-evolution? This study addresses these questions by analysing daily streamflow and precipitation time series data to quantify hydrological similarity across 355 catchments located along a tropical–temperate climatic gradient in eastern Australia. We used eight hydrological metrics to describe the hydrological response over a 33-year period (1980–2013). Hierarchical cluster, ordination analysis, the Budyko framework, and generalized additive models were used to evaluate hydrological similarity, extract the dominant response, and examine how the landscape and climatic characteristics of catchments influence the dominant streamflow response. The catchments were classified into five clusters based on the analysis of their hydrological characteristics and similarity, which vary along the annual water and energy balances gradient in the Budyko framework. Furthermore, we show that the streamflow similarity is explained by six catchment-specific biophysical factors that overlap with those described by the Dunne diagram for runoff generation, which in this case have the following order of relative importance: (i) Dryness Index; (ii) Fraction of Photosynthetically Active Radiation; (iii) Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity; (iv) Soil Depth; (v) Maximum Slope and (vi) Fraction of Woody Vegetation Cover. The research advances our understanding of the role of biophysical controls on hydrologic similarity and formal process links between the Budyko Framework and Dunne diagram of runoff mechanisms.

Global biodiversity loss is driven principally by the expansion of agriculture. This expansion has slowed over the last 50 years as agricultural production has intensified, largely through the use of petrochemical-based fertilisers. The mid-2000s saw a transition where oil production became unresponsive to the increased demand for petrochemicals, pushing up their price and that of their end-products, including fertilisers. Such oil supply constraints threaten to reverse previous agricultural intensification gains and increase pressure for the conversion of native ecosystems. Price-driven land and food speculation and the search for alternative energy sources also have the potential to increase the demand for land. This study aimed to measure the change in the rate of deforestation and to map the resultant impact on biodiversity as oil production became inelastic in 2005. Globally, an additional 290,000 km2 of forests was cleared in the period 2007–12 compared with 2000–2006, which is a net increase of 29% between the two periods. The areas of increased forest loss broadly corresponded with the areas of highest biodiversity. We tested for, but found little correspondence with large-scale, corporate land acquisitions. Statistically significant hotspots of increased threat to biodiversity generally lie in a band through the tropics, particularly in south-east Asia, Africa and Central America, with fertiliser consumption affected in hotspot areas. A review of the drivers in these hotspots indicated that non-subsistence growth factors underpin most land-cover change. We conclude that conservation efforts need to mitigate pressures from growth and agricultural extensification, and be aware that the rate of loss increased with oil supply constraint in tropical and sub-tropical regions, coinciding with the areas of highest biodiversity.

South American biomes are increasingly affected by land use/land cover change. However, the climatic impacts of this phenomenon are still not well understood. In this paper, we model vegetation–climate interactions with a focus on four main biomes distributed in four key regions: The Atlantic Forest, the Cerrado, the Dry Chaco, and the Chilean Matorral ecosystems. We applied a three member ensemble climate model simulation for the period 1981–2010 (30 years) at 25 km resolution over the focus regions to quantify the changes in the regional climate resulting from historical deforestation. The results of computed modelling experiments show significant changes in surface fluxes, temperature and moisture in all regions. For instance, simulated temperature changes were stronger in the Cerrado and the Chilean Matorral with an increase of between 0.7 and 1.4 °C. Changes in the hydrological cycle revealed high regional variability. The results showed consistent significant decreases in relative humidity and soil moisture, and increases in potential evapotranspiration across biomes, yet without conclusive changes in precipitation. These impacts were more significant during the dry season, which resulted to be drier and warmer after deforestation.

Both observational and modeling studies clearly demonstrate that land-use and land-cover change (LULCC) play an important biogeophysical and biogeochemical role in the climate system from the landscape to regional and even continental scales. Without comprehensively considering these impacts, an adequate response to the threats posed by human intervention into the climate system will not be adequate. Public policy plays an important role in shaping local- to national-scale land-use practices. An array of national policies has been developed to influence the nature and spatial extent of LULCC. Observational evidence suggests that these policies, in addition to international trade treaties and protocols, have direct effects on LULCC and thus the climate system. However, these policies, agreements, and protocols fail to adequately recognize these impacts. To make these more effective and thus to minimize climatic impacts, we propose several recommendations: 1) translating international treaties and protocols into national policies and actions to ensure positive climate outcomes; 2) updating international protocols to reflect advancement in climate–LULCC science; 3) continuing to invest in the measurements, databases, reporting, and verification activities associated with LULCC and LULCC-relevant climate monitoring; and 4) reshaping Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation+ (REDD+) to fully account for the multiscale biogeophysical and biogeochemical impacts of LULCC on the climate system.

Ecological restoration of modified and degraded landscapes is an important challenge for the 21st century, with potential for major gains in the recovery of biodiversity. However, there is a general lack of agreement between plant- and animal-based approaches to restoration, both in theory and practice. Here, we review these approaches, identify limitations from failing to effectively integrate their different perspectives, and suggest ways to improve outcomes for biodiversity recovery in agricultural landscapes. We highlight the need to strengthen collaboration between plant and animal ecologists, to overcome disciplinary and cultural differences, and to achieve a more unified approach to restoration ecology. Explicit consideration of key ecosystem functions, the need to plan at multiple spatial and temporal scales, and the importance of plant–animal interactions can provide a bridge between plant- and animal-based methods. A systematic approach to restoration planning is critical to achieving effective biodiversity outcomes while meeting long-term social and economic needs.

Aim: The koala is a widely distributed Australian marsupial with regional populations that are in rapid decline, are stable or have increased in size. This study examined whether it is possible to use expert elicitation to estimate abundance and trends of populations of this species. Diverse opinions exist about estimates of abundance and, consequently, the status of populations. Location: Eastern and south-eastern Australia Methods: Using a structured, four-step question format, a panel of 15 experts estimated population sizes of koalas and changes in those sizes for bioregions within four states. They provided their lowest plausible estimate, highest plausible estimate, best estimate and their degree of confidence that the true values were contained within these upper and lower estimates. We derived estimates of the mean population size of koalas and associated uncertainties for each bioregion and state. Results: On the basis of estimates of mean population sizes for each bioregion and state, we estimated that the total number of koalas for Australia is 329,000 (range 144,000-605,000) with an estimated average decline of 24% over the past three generations and the next three generations. Estimated percentage of loss in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia was 53%, 26%, 14% and 3%, respectively. Main conclusions: It was not necessary to achieve high levels of certainty or consensus among experts before making informed estimates. A quantitative, scientific method for deriving estimates of koala populations and trends was possible, in the absence of empirical data on abundances.

Human induced climate change is having a dramatic impact on global biodiversity and insular assemblages are particularly vulnerable. However, the cascading impacts of tropical cyclones on insular ecosystems are poorly understood and expected to grow with the increasing intensity of these events associated with future anthropogenic climate change. This problem is particularly relevant to islands of the Southwest Pacific, which are cyclone-prone and support high levels of endemic biodiversity. In this perspective, we present new information from a case study of the indirect effects of a tropical cyclone (Ita) on forest extent and integrity from an endemic hotspot, the Louisiade Archipelago of Papua New Guinea. We highlight how a cyclone event can be a catalyst for human-coping strategies that increase pressures on forest ecosystems and expose them to invasive plant species. These changes represent a major threat to forest-dependent bird species, many of which are endemic. Rather than being an isolated example, these observations provide an insight into human responses to climate change over cyclone-prone tropical islands/regions where human populations are reliant upon subsistence agriculture and the resources provided by forests. The cumulative anthropogenic impacts on forest ecosystems are potentially catastrophic to the future of island biodiversity and greater than the long-term shifts in mean climate.

Restoration activities are limited by funding and logistics. To optimise restoration efforts, we need to evaluate the effects of management actions on wildlife populations. In general, site-scale habitat quality has a stronger influence on habitat use by fauna than the landscape context. However, this is yet to be empirically tested for reptiles. In this study, we used model averaging and hierarchical partitioning to compare the relative importance of site-scale habitat quality and landscape context for reptile communities and species in a regenerating woodland landscape in semi-arid Queensland, Australia. Reptiles were surveyed at 55 sites. Habitat quality was assessed using relevant variables based on published habitat-associations for each species or group. Landscape context was assessed using binary, mosaic and continuous descriptions of vegetation cover within 250 m of the survey sites. We found that, in comparison to site-scale habitat quality, the composition of the surrounding landscape had little influence on reptiles, despite testing three alternative approaches for describing landscape context. Nine out of eleven reptile species and groups responded to variation in habitat quality, whereas just one species responded to variation in landscape context. Species richness, diversity, and abundance were unaffected by landscape context, but were influenced by site-scale structural complexity and vegetation type. Our findings suggest that reptiles, in general, benefit from conservation and restoration activities that focus on improving site-scale habitat quality, with increasing the amount and connectivity of surrounding vegetation of lesser value. This study also highlights the importance of better understanding the drivers of reptile distributions and abundances in dryland landscapes.

• Public submissions to the Australian Senate inquiry into the status of the koala were reviewed.

The koala (Phascolarctos cinereus), one of the world's most iconic faunal species, was recently listed under Australian government legislation as vulnerable in the northern states of Queensland and New South Wales and in the Australian Capital Territory, but not in the southern states of Victoria and South Australia. This review synthesises empirical evidence of regional koala population trends, their conservation outlook, and associated policy challenges. Population declines are common in the northern half of the koala's range, where habitat loss, hotter droughts, disease, dog attacks and vehicle collisions are the major threats. In contrast, some southern populations are locally overabundant and are now subject to managed declines. The koala presents the problem of managing a wide-ranging species that now primarily occurs in human-modified landscapes, some of which are rapidly urbanising or subject to large-scale agricultural and mining developments. Climate change is a major threat to both northern and southern populations. The implementation of policy to conserve remaining koala habitat and restore degraded habitat is critical to the success of koala conservation strategies, but habitat conservation alone will not resolve the issues of koala conservation. There needs to be concerted effort to reduce the incidence of dog attack and road-related mortality, disease prevalence and severity, and take into account new threats of climate change and mining. Many of the complex conservation and policy challenges identified here have broader significance for other species whose population trends, and the nature of the threatening processes, vary from region to region, and through time.

Land use change effects have emerged as an important area of global bioenergy sustainability policy and research. ‘Underutilised agricultural land’ has been previously proposed as a potential option for future bioenergy feedstock production that may minimise the environmental and social challenges of land use change. However, this has not been well tested to date. Our research aims to evaluate whether conversion of these lands to selected bioenergy crops can lead to favourable environmental outcomes for eight indicators related to water quantity and quality, and terrestrial biodiversity. A spatially explicit evaluation framework based on GIS was developed to quantify the environmental effects of land use change. The land use change scenarios, established in a case study region in subtropical Queensland, Australia, were for the production of Pongamia and two native eucalypt species (Spotted gum and Chinchilla white gum) on (i) existing ‘underutilised’ open grazing areas, (ii) existing ‘underutilised’ forested grazing areas, and (iii) all available ‘underutilised agricultural land’ in the case study catchment, under both low and high management intensity. We found that environmental benefits can be gained in scenarios where (i) open grazing areas (e.g., pastures) were used; (ii) native woody perennial bioenergy crops were planted; and (iii) the new plantations were under low management intensity. Other scenarios resulted in reduced environmental outcomes. The results flagged the importance of careful planning and management strategies, and the need for future bioenergy policy to provide more detailed prescriptions concerning land use planning and management if ‘underutilised agricultural lands’ are used for future bioenergy crop production.

Forest use practices such as logging, lopping of tree branches for fodder, and grazing do not reduce forest area but disturb forest structure and impact biodiversity. Although such forest disturbances can be key determinants of the biota occupying a site, rarely is the interaction between disturbance intensity and landscape context considered, despite its relevance to conservation management. We investigated the influence of site-and landscape-level habitat characteristics on birds, and explored whether the effects of site-level disturbance on bird richness varied with forest extent in lowland landscapes in Nepal. While extractive uses reduced forest structural complexity and altered the avifaunal community of a site, the intensity of such effects depended on the extent of forest in the surrounding landscape (19.6 km 2 ). The extent of forest, large tree density, and tree canopy cover were important predictors for all bird response groups. However, the effect of forest extent on bird richness was stronger for sites with greater disturbance intensity. Managing and restoring landscapes to support greater forest cover may not only have a positive direct effect on bird conservation, but may also help to compensate for site-level disturbance, such as characterises multiple-use forests worldwide.

Carbon stocks and emissions are quantified using many different measures and metrics, and these differ in their surrogacy, measurement, and incentive value. To evaluate potential policy impacts of using different carbon measures, we modeled and mapped carbon in above-ground and below-ground stocks, as well as fluxes related to sequestration, oxidation and combustion in the Ex Mega Rice Project Area in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. We identify significant financial and carbon emission mitigation consequences of proxy choice in relation to the achievement of national emissions reduction targets. We find that measures of above-ground biomass carbon stock have both high measurement and incentive value, but low surrogacy for potential emissions or the potential for emissions reductions. The inclusion of below-ground carbon increased stocks and flows by an order of magnitude, highlighting the importance of protecting and managing soil carbon and peat. Carbon loss and potential emissions reduction is highest in the areas of deep peat, which supports the use of deep peat as a legislative metric. Divergence in patterns across sub-regions and through time further emphasizes the importance of proxy choice and highlights the need to carefully consider the objectives of the application to which the measure of carbon will be applied.

Aim Resource bottlenecks - periods of severe restriction in resource availability - triggered by increased climate variability represent important and little-understood mechanisms through which climate change will affect biodiversity. In this review, we aim to synthesize the key global change processes that exacerbate the severity of bottlenecks in resource availability on animal populations, and outline how adaptation responses can help buffer the impacts.

Summary: As threats to biodiversity from environmental change increase, assessing priorities for mitigation action becomes increasingly important. However, there have been few attempts to schedule actions across broad spatial extents that explicitly account for dynamic ecological processes and threats. We combined a dynamic occupancy model with a decision analysis framework to spatially allocate multiple recovery actions to maximize species' probability of occupancy under threats posed by climate and land-use change. We used the koala Phascolarctos cinereus across the Australian state of New South Wales (810 000 km2) to illustrate this approach. We considered four actions implemented on a 10 x 10 km2 grid: reduce domestic dog attacks through dog control, reduce vehicle collisions through fencing highways, protect habitat through land acquisitions and restore Eucalyptus forest. We used the occupancy model to predict ecological responses to recovery actions and simulated annealing to identify spatio-temporal priorities for each action. We contrasted the results against priorities generated using a traditional static distribution model. To maximize the probability of koala occupancy in 50 years' time, with an annual budget of up to AU20 million, investment priorities were located in the eastern part of koala's range, focusing on dog control with some investment in habitat protection and restoration. With higher budgets, investment priorities shifted towards habitat protection and restoration in the western part of the range. However, priorities based on the static distribution model, which had a lower predictive accuracy than the dynamic model, were different. Regardless of budget, priorities derived from the static model were predominantly located in the western part of koala's range, focusing on highway fencing with some investment in dog control. Synthesis and applications. Our approach for integrating spatio-temporal dynamics into conservation prioritization across broad spatial extents provides a significant advance on existing approaches based on static distribution models. The finding that the inferior static model produced different priorities to the dynamic model cautions against the use of static models for conservation planning in dynamic landscapes. Additionally, the substantial changes in priorities with budget indicate that conservation planning under dynamic landscape and climate change must carefully consider priority actions and locations relative to the conservation resources available. Our approach for integrating spatio-temporal dynamics into conservation prioritization across broad spatial extents provides a significant advance on existing approaches based on static distribution models. The finding that the inferior static model produced different priorities to the dynamic model cautions against the use of static models for conservation planning in dynamic landscapes. Additionally, the substantial changes in priorities with budget indicate that conservation planning under dynamic landscape and climate change must carefully consider priority actions and locations relative to the conservation resources available. © 2015 The Authors. Journal of Applied Ecology © 2015 British Ecological Society.

The Ramsar Convention is unquestionably the backbone of modern wetland management theory and practice. In the last four decades, it has mainstreamed wetlands in the environmental discourse and fostered the development of a comprehensive institutional framework for wetland governance. However, many of the wetlands that occur in human-dominated landscapes remain acutely threatened. The problem is most alarming in urban areas, especially in the fast expanding cities of the developing world, where unprecedented wetland destruction is leading to recurring environmental disasters. This triggers the question: are these failures in wetland governance purely induced by factors exogenous to Ramsar-based institutions or are they manifestations of conceptual drawbacks within Ramsar conceptual framework. Here, we investigate the success and failures of the application of the Ramsar framework's policy directives and management guidelines for urban wetlands using two rapidly expanding cities in South Asia as case studies – Colombo (Sri Lanka) and Kolkata (India). We conclude that despite its remarkable achievements over the past four decades, the Ramsar framework has several conceptual drawbacks that weaken its effectiveness in complex urban contexts. An inadequate recognition of the complex dynamics of urban social-ecological systems, an inadequate recognition of the political complexity of the policy processes, and a lack of an environmental justice perspective are the main shortcomings contributing to failures in urban wetlands governance. While we acknowledge that some solutions are contingent upon national and transnational level socio-political processes and reforms, we offer a set of technical and strategic modifications to the Ramsar framework that can significantly improve its effectiveness in urban wetlands governance.

Landscape structure and fragmentation have important effects on ecosystem services, with a common assumption being that fragmentation reduces service provision. This is based on fragmentation's expected effects on ecosystem service supply, but ignores how fragmentation influences the flow of services to people. Here we develop a new conceptual framework that explicitly considers the links between landscape fragmentation, the supply of services, and the flow of services to people. We argue that fragmentation's effects on ecosystem service flow can be positive or negative, and use our framework to construct testable hypotheses about the effects of fragmentation on final ecosystem service provision. Empirical efforts to apply and test this framework are critical to improving landscape management for multiple ecosystem services.

The conversion of forested landscapes to agriculture commonly results in three main changes to landscape structure: forest loss, fragmentation, and the creation of novel habitats such as forest regrowth. Here we apply a landscape-level survey design to test how reptiles respond to patterns resulting from these three processes in the Brigalow Belt of eastern Australia, a region highly modified by recent agricultural expansion. We surveyed reptiles in 24 agricultural landscapes (each 2.5 × 2.5 km) that contained mosaics of remnant and regrowth vegetation of various ages and extents. We found that none of the landscape attributes significantly influenced landscape-level species richness of reptiles. On the other hand, the total abundance of reptiles per unit of sampling effort increased with remnant forest extent. In addition, abundance of small-bodied and less-vagile reptiles was positively affected by the extent of old regrowth. Fragmentation did not have important effects on the landscape-level species richness and total abundance of reptiles. Our finding that forest extent is the primary landscape attribute that influences reptiles suggests that, despite expectations to the contrary, the taxon responds in a manner similar to more vagile taxa, such as birds. However, the fact that total abundance but not species richness was the measure that responded suggests different mechanisms are in play. Allowing regrowth forests to regenerate beyond 30 years of age may be a cost-effective strategy for landscape-level conservation of reptiles in this region.

Fauna distributions are assessed using discrete (binary and mosaic) or continuous conceptualisations of the landscape. The value of the information derived from these analyses depends on the relevance of the landscape representation (or model) used to the landscape and fauna of interest. Discrete representations dominate analyses of landscape context in disturbed and regenerating landscapes; however within-patch variation suggests that continuous representations may help explain the distribution of fauna in such landscapes. We tested the relevance of binary, mosaic, and continuous conceptualisations of landscape context to reptiles in regenerating dryland landscapes. For each of thirteen reptile groups, we compared the fit of models consisting of one landscape composition and one landscape heterogeneity variable for each of six landscape representations (2× binary, 2× mosaic, and 2× continuous), at three buffer distances. We used Akaike weights to assess the relative support for each model. Maps were created from Landsat satellite images. Reptiles varied in their response to landscape context; however, the binary landscape representation with classes ‘intact/disturbed’ was best supported overall. Species richness was best described by a binary landscape representation with classes ‘wooded/clear’, whereas reptile abundance was best described by a mosaic landscape representation with classes defined by vegetation type. Five out of ten reptile species responded strongly to a single landscape representation, with the most relevant representation and conceptualisation varying among species. Our findings support the use of multiple landscape conceptualisations and representations during analyses of landscape context for fauna in regenerating landscapes.

The Tagula butcherbird (Cracticus louisiadensis) is an endemic island species of butcherbird that has remained virtually unknown for over 130 years. The lack of information on the species has resulted in it being assigned to the Data Deficient category by BirdLife International and the IUCN, leaving its conservation status open to continuing speculation. This is an ongoing concern given the rapid environmental changes occurring in the region. Here, we describe the first observations of the habitat use, life history and ecology of the species. We also present information collected across the island distribution of the species, including density and population estimates. We found the Tagula butcherbird to be culturally important and relatively common in suitable habitats across four islands of the Louisiade Archipelago (Papua New Guinea). However, the species was absent from highly disturbed areas. We estimated this species’ extent of occurrence to be ~1200km2 and area of occupancy to be less than 800km2. Population densities were estimated via pre-dawn assessments of singing birds and line transects. Density estimates were found to be between 0.14 and 0.53 individuals per hectare, with the highest density observed on Sabara Island. These densities were combined with remote sensing data to estimate the amount of available habitat and the species’ population size, which was estimated to be between ~11500 and 23000 individuals. The species’ dependence on forest habitat with a relatively intact canopy, combined with the likely continuing destruction of habitat on Junet and Panawina Islands, remains a conservation concern.

Recent studies in both the environmental sciences and geography highlight unforeseen ecological transformations occurring in eco-social landscapes. These transformations often result in ‘novel’ or ‘hybrid’ ecosystems that differ from the original ecosystems both in ecological character and social setting. However, little is known about the causes, consequences, and dynamics of such transformations in complex urban environments and the consequences for highly sensitive ecosystem types such as wetlands. This paper investigates the environmental history and recent ecological transformations in the urban wetlands of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Our methodology includes a combination of techniques from environmental history, wetland science and urban ecology. We investigate the ecological changes in the wetlands from colonial times to the present and establish relationships among wetland ecology (the hydro-soil-vegetation nexus), landscape change, community, and governance factors. We conclude that from 1980 onwards, the Colombo urban wetlands have undergone an overall transformation in both wetland type (composition and structure) and the social setting. Hydrological modification, watershed urbanization and the changes in ecosystem use were identified as the main causes of wetland transformation with the causes and consequences of the transformation having complex feedback loops. We synthesize these relationships into a post hoc conceptual model that will be of broader utility as a general framework to understand eco-social interactions in the governance of urban ecosystems.

Differentiation of forest growth stages through classification of single date or time-series of Landsat sensor data is limited because of insensitivity to their three-dimensional structure. This study therefore evaluated the benefits of integrating the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) Phased Array L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) L-band HH and HV polarisation response from the woody components of vegetation with Landsat-derived foliage projective cover (FPC). Focus was on 12 regional ecosystems (REs) distributed across the Brigalow Belt Bioregion (BRB) of Queensland, Australia, where different stages of growth dominated by brigalow (Acacia harpophylla) were widespread. From remnant areas of brigalow-dominated forests mapped previously for each RE by the Queensland Herbarium through field visits and interpretations of aerial imagery, frequency distributions of all three channels were extracted and compared to those of image segments generated using FPC and PALSAR data. For woody vegetation (with an FPC threshold of ≥ 9%) outside of the remnant areas, mature (non-remnant) forests were associated with segments where the HH and HV backscatter thresholds were within one standard deviation of the mean extracted for remnant forest. Early-stage regrowth was differentiated using an L-band HH threshold of

Despite several decades of research on the effects of fragmentation and habitat change on biodiversity, there remain strong biases in the geographical regions and taxonomic species studied. The knowledge gaps resulting from these biases are of particular concern if the forests most threatened with modification are also those for which the effects of such change are most poorly understood. To quantify the nature and magnitude of such biases, we conducted a systematic review of the published literature on forest fragmentation in the tropics for the period 1980-2012. Studies included focused on any type of response of single species, communities, or assemblages of any taxonomic group to tropical forest fragmentation and on fragmentation-related changes to forests. Of the 853 studies we found in the SCOPUS database, 64% were conducted in the Neotropics, 13% in Asia, 10% in the Afrotropics, and 5% in Australasia. Thus, although the Afrotropics is subject to the highest rates of deforestation globally, it was the most disproportionately poorly studied biome. Significant taxonomic biases were identified. Of the taxonomic groups considered, herpetofauna was the least studied in the tropics, particularly in Africa. Research examining patterns of species distribution was by far the most common type (72%), and work focused on ecological processes (28%) was rare in all biomes, but particularly in the Afrotropics and for fauna. We suggest research efforts be directed toward less-studied biogeographic regions, particularly where the threat of forest fragmentation continues to be high. Increased research investment in the Afrotropics will be important to build knowledge of threats and inform responses in a region where almost no efforts to restore its fragmented landscapes have yet begun and forest protection is arguably most tenuous.

Many wildlife populations, particularly in urban areas, are in decline. This is in part due to a disconnection between the lives of urban residents and native wildlife. The reconnection of social and ecological systems by understanding the linkages between people's attitudes and conservation behavior will help improve conservation outcomes. This study investigated the attitudes of local communities toward koala populations and sustainable wildlife conservation in southeast Queensland, Australia. Data was collected using a questionnaire in face-to-face surveys (n = 102). Principal Component Analysis was used to quantify attitude and action statements into key components. Further analysis of demographics and knowledge of koalas was performed using analysis of variance and regression analysis. Results suggested that residents' attitude toward koala conservation was strongly correlated with their home's proximity to relatively intact habitat. Residents living in peri-urban areas were significantly more likely than suburban residents to have a positive attitude toward koala conservation, and be willing to participate in actions to conserve koalas, such as traffic calming measures, community conservation schemes and support for council-led conservation actions. These results highlight the importance of understanding variations in community behavior toward biodiversity conservation in urban and peri-urban neighborhoods and suggest that local governments and conservation groups use area of residence to target urban planning and conservation initiatives more effectively.

AimImproving our understanding of the drivers of forest fragmentation is fundamental to mitigating the consequences of anthropogenic fragmentation for biodiversity. Moreover, the impacts of fragmentation on biodiversity depend on the spatial scale at which fragmentation occurs. Therefore, understanding how the effect of land use on fragmentation patterns varies across scales is critical to ensure that fragmentation is managed at scales relevant to the ecology of target species or to land management. Here, we quantified the influence of land use on patterns of forest fragmentation at different scales using Queensland, Australia, as a case study.

For effective fauna conservation and management, ecologists are required to identify the resources that are critical for species to survive, and consider how these are distributed across landscapes. The critical resources usually considered are food and water, but the availability of appropriate shelter resources can be a key driver of habitat suitability for terrestrial reptiles and amphibians. Reptiles are important components of dryland ecosystems, yet we have little understanding about how anthropogenic disturbances affect the availability of shelter resources and reptile survival in drylands. In this study, we used VHF radio-tracking to assess the importance of shelter resources in determining the habitat use patterns of a Near-Threatened reptile species, the woma (Aspidites ramsayi; Pythonidae), in modified and intact dryland landscapes of Queensland, Australia. We compared the structural and thermal attributes of locations that were used, with those that were available. Using an information-theoretic approach, we found that the occurrence of womas was strongly associated with the presence of ground burrows, which are excellent thermal insulators. No other shelter type was capable of buffering our study species from sub-zero temperatures during winter, although summer temperatures of >40 degrees C were buffered by hollow logs and piles of woody debris. Habitat use patterns were influenced more by the occurrence of underground shelters than by habitat type. Clearing status per se (cleared, regrowth or intact) had minimal influence on occurrence. Thermally buffered underground shelters are a vital resource for our focal species, and the availability of this shelter resource drives habitat suitability in modified dryland landscapes. Due to the key trophic role of reptiles in dryland ecosystems, and the excellent thermal buffering capacity of underground shelters, we propose that ground burrows may be potentially considered as keystone structures in drylands, and require a similar level of protection to habitat' or legacy' trees in forested ecosystems.

Anthropogenic activities often cause specialized and fragmentation-sensitive species to be replaced by competitive commensal or invasive species, resulting in reduced diversity and biotic homogenization. However, biotic homogenization driven by increased dominance of a native species has rarely been investigated. Increased abundance of competitive species can have important consequences for assemblage dynamics including homogenization of foraging strategies and, potentially, ecological services. This study assesses how changes to bird assemblages due to the occurrence of an aggressive honeyeater alter the foraging profiles of avifauna in 400 woodland sites in nine study regions across eastern Australia, and explores the potential implications for ecological services. We compared beta diversity among sites with a high and low abundance of the aggressive Noisy Miner Manorina melanocephala. Shifts in ecological characteristics of bird assemblages of sites with high and low abundance of Noisy Miners, including mean and variation in niche position, bill length and body size, were explored. Sites with a high abundance of Noisy Miners were more taxonomically and ecologically homogeneous and had fewer species than sites with a low abundance of Noisy Miners. The mean niche positions of bird assemblages changed and were increasingly dominated by larger vertebrate feeders, granivores and frugivores as Noisy Miner abundance increased. The mean body size and bill length of the insectivore species present at a site increased with Noisy Miner abundance. This change in the bird community along with reduced diversity in foraging strategies implies a loss of the ecological functions provided by smaller-bodied species, potentially affecting plant dispersal and regeneration, insect herbivory and ultimately woodland resilience. Our study demonstrates a substantial shift in ecological profile over a broad geographical area as a result of a single native species.