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The role of humans in facilitating the rapid spread of plants at a scale that is considered invasive is one manifestation of the Anthropocene, now framed as a geological period in which humans are the dominant force in landscape transformation. Invasive plant management faces intensified challenges, and can no longer be viewed in terms of 'eradication' or 'restoration of original landscapes'. In this perspectives piece, we focus on the practice and experience of people engaged in invasive plant management, using examples from Australia and Canada. We show how managers 1) face several pragmatic trade-offs; 2) must reconcile diverse views, even within stakeholder groups; 3) must balance competing temporal scales; 4) encounter tensions with policy; and 5) face critical and under-acknowledged labour challenges. These themes show the variety of considerations based on which invasive plant managers make complex decisions about when, where, and how to intervene. Their widespread pragmatic acceptance of small, situated gains (as well as losses) combines with impressive long-term commitments to the task of invasives management. We suggest that the actual practice of weed management challenges those academic perspectives that still aspire to attain pristine nature.

Part 1: General Introduction 1. Geography: Roots and continuities Part 2: Geographical Methodologies Introduction 2. Exploration, Discovery and the Cartographic Tradition 3. Fieldwork and Unity in Geography 4. The Potential of Remote sensing and Geographical Information Systems Part 3: A Focus on Environment Introduction 5. Environmentalism and Geography: The great debate? 6. Beyond Environmentalism: Towards sustainability 7. Human Vulnerability, Past Climatic Variability and Societal Change Part 4: The Significance of Place Introduction 8. Regions, Area Studies and the Meaning of Place 9. Globalisation: A spatial perspective Part 5: Landscape: The face of Geography Introduction 10. Landscape as Form, Process and Meaning 11. Landscape and Culture Part 6: Applied Geography: Contributing to real-world problem solving Introduction 12. Natural Hazards on an Unquiet Earth 13. Urbanisation, Development and the Environment in an Unequal World 14. Conservation, Preservation and Heritage Part 7: Broader Frameworks in Theory and Practice Introduction 15. Space, Time and Science: Towards a geographical philosophy 16. Geography and Public Policy: A political turn Part 8: General Conclusion 17. Unity in Geography: Prospects for the Discipline

The aim of current research in the Keep River region is to understand long-term Aboriginal cultural landscapes, both physical and symbolic. We are integrating archaeological excavation and analysis, rock art studies, ethnography, geomorphology and biogeography to explore relationships between the changing environment, the archaeological record and human marking of the landscape. We summarise here recent research and the July-August fieldwork in 1999.

Stomatal parameters (stomatal density, stomatal index and stomatal conductance) have been widely used to study vegetation response to long-term CO2 change, mostly in the Northern Hemisphere. We tested the applicability of the methods and interpretations to Australian desert vegetation, by using Eremophila deserti A.Cunn. (Myoporaceae) leaves. Subfossil samples dated at 7500 years before present and 3700 years before present from Leporillus species (stick-nest rat) middens from the Flinders Ranges were compared with herbarium and modern samples from the area. Stomatal density and stomatal conductance are problematic in their application to this species, probably because of the effect of the moisture regime on epidermal cell size. Stomatal index, which takes some account of independent variations in cell size, did allow the differentiation of long-term trends. In contrast to most other studies, these trends show an increase in stomatal index with increasing CO2, particularly over the last century. From 7500 years before present until about 1950, it is unclear whether CO2 was the most influential among a complex set of factors including different aspects of the moisture regime. In recent decades, the influence of CO2, as demonstrated statistically, accounts for most but not all the observed variation.

The aim of this paper is to draw together current work in physical and cultural geography in pursuit of a more sophisticated analysis of prehistoric cultural landscapes than has hitherto been possible. Examples from Australian prehistory are used here as they offer a perspective very different to those dominant in the northern hemisphere. A discussion of the antiquity of the Aboriginal Dreaming provides an example of attempts to integrate physical and socio-cultural approaches. It is argued that even the earliest human transformations of the physical landscape should be seen as the outcome of social processes. The implications of this approach for future research are discussed. -from Author

Pollen analysis of sediment samples from archaeological sites, whether to provide environmental background or to address particular problems of the prehistory, has become commonplace in other parts of the world (e.g. Griffin 1961; Martin and Byers 1965; Schoenwetter 1974a; Dimbleby 1976; Fall et al. 1981; Bryant and Holloway 1983), but is still in its infancy in Australia. This paper presents the results of pollen analysis of sediments from the Bridgewater Caves, in the far southwest corner of Victoria, which were excavated by Harry Lourandos (1976, 1980, 1983) between 1975 and 1977.

The results of pollen, sedimentary and charcoal analyses of four cores and three peat profiles are presented. Casuarina woodland dominated the dryland vegetation over at least the past 6000 years, with a Melaleuca lanceolata‐composite scrub association on the dunes. There is no evidence of higher sea levels in the area in the past 6000 years, with the present freshwater backdune swamp and lake systems being maintained or expanded. After a period of regional dune building between about 6000 and 4000 years BP, dune mobilization and advance in the last 4000 years or so overrode seaward brackish and fresh swamp systems. This dune advance severed Long Swamp from the Glenelg River estuary and precipitated the development of freshwater swamp conditions there. Burning of the swamp surface, often associated with the presence of Typha, is evident in a number of peat samples and is probably primarily anthropogenic. Continuous low‐level burning occurred throughout the dryland vegetation of the region but is not associated with any long‐term or widespread vegetation change. None of the environmental changes identified require a purely climatic explanation, and all have relevance for discussions of the regional prehistory. Copyright © 1988, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved

Les donnees sedimentologiques et palynologiques suggerent une date vers 2 000 B. P. pour ce piege de peche du lac Condah, Australie

Recent theories of socio-economic change in hunter-gatherer societies have referred to associated changes in intensity and mode of resource exploitation. These ideas are examined in the light of pollen and charcoal analyses of an Australian coastal wetland system which allow, at the local scale, (1) documentation of resource availability, (2) identification of resource use, particularly where fire technology is involved, and (3) examination of the effect of environmental change on the archeological record. Evidence of plant food management through fire around 6800 BP suggests a longer history of deliberate swamp exploitation than indicated by the archeological record, and lends support to models which propose long-term gradual change in zones of high productivity.

This paper examines household responses to sustainability issues and adoption of energy saving technologies. Our example of solar hot water systems highlights the complexity and variability of responses to low-carbon technologies. While SHW systems have the potential to provide the majority of household hot water and to lower carbon emissions, little research has been done to investigate how SHW systems are integrated into everyday life. We draw on cultural understandings of the household to identify passive and active users of SHW systems and utilize a model that illustrates how technology use is dependent on inter-relations between cultural norms, systems of provision, the material elements of homes, and practice. A key finding is that households can be ill-prepared to make the most of their SHW systems and lack post-installation support to do so. Thus, informed and efficient use of SHW systems is hit and miss. Current policy is largely aimed at subsidizing purchase and installation on the assumption that this is sufficient for emission reduction goals. Our analysis provides evidence to the contrary. Areas we highlight for policy and practice improvement are independent pre-purchase advice, installation quality, and practical guidance on system operation and interaction with patterns of hot water use.

We discuss four components of the post‐European archaeological record of the northwest Northern Territory, Australia; site locations and contents, rock art, stone tools, and evidence of plant food use. These provide insights into how Aboriginal hunter‐gatherers have negotiated their interaction with pastoral colonization, and the conditions under which either continuity or change occurred. The strongest influence on both the latter was Aboriginal people's attempt to maintain both social obligations and attachments to particular places. This was more successful than in many parts of Australia because of the limitations the wet season placed on pastoral activity. We discuss the implications of this particular contact situation for understanding longer term change in hunter‐gatherer societies.

The conceptualization of alien invasive species conflates two axes of variability that have become unhelpfully blurred. The nativeness/alienness axis refers to the presumed belonging of a species i...

Phyllocladus pollen was not identified in mid‐late Holocene sediments in the Otway Ranges but has been found, in western Victoria, in a surface sample and in lake sediments probably younger than 1100 BP. These results refute the view of Churchill and Dodson (1980) that Phyllocladus was present in western Victoria (probably in the Otway Ranges) through the Holocene until dry conditions caused its extinction about 1100 BP. It is concluded that the Phyllocladus pollen in western Victorian Holocene deposits is derived from sources in Tasmania and/or New Zealand. Copyright © 1985, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved

In the East Kimberley region of tropical northern Australia, fire is an important land management tool of both pastoralists and Aboriginal people. The nature of land tenure means that they are often competing to burn the same land, resulting in conflict over the appropriate frequency and seasonality of fire and its effects on the environment. Remote sensing and spatial analysis techniques were used to compare the different uses of fire and provide some quantitative assessment of the ecological impacts. Multitemporal Landsat Thematic Mapper imagery was used to delineate fire patterns over a three-year period. A geographic information system was used to integrate the resultant land cover maps, land system maps and other spatial data. Cross tabulations, proximity analyses and the production of a unique criteria map provide quantified data on the extent and spatial distribution of different fire types, fire frequency and the relationships between fire type, land systems and areas of most intensive Aboriginal land use.

The teleconference is now being applied in the broadband contexts of the minority world, or Global North1, by both geography teachers and researchers as well as by conference and seminar organisers. The implications for how teleconference technology transforms physical distance has long been considered in relation to businesses (Rosetti and Surynt, 1985) and teaching (Sherry, 1996). Here, we consider some wider implications for geographical knowledge-sharing that arise from teleconference technologies on the basis of a seminar series on landscape research between nine scholars who are simultaneously located in Sweden, Norway and Australia. What are the implications of virtual travel for geographical knowledge-sharing? Does the teleconference provide a route that satisfies the desire to be physically co-present with peers, while at the same time offering emancipation from the tyrannies of physical distance in geographical knowledge- sharing? This article explores these questions in two sections. The first outlines the importance of intermittent face-to-face meetings in conveying geographical knowledge and describes the teleconference seminar context that encouraged us to think about the importance of physical propinquity. The second section discusses our experiences and reflections on the teleconference as a knowledge-sharing technology that transformed physical co-presence. We conclude by discussing the wider geographical implications of applying teleconference technologies.

SUMMARY To what extent were Australian vegetation patterns in 1788 a product of human activity? Pollen and charcoal evidence which addresses this question is reviewed. I discuss the nature of the evidence, particularly the difficulties involved in establishing relationships between charcoal and fire history, and between fire history and human activity. I then address the broader question from the perspectives of both time and space by examining three key periods which might be expected to provide relevant evidence: (i) the time of initial human colonisation of the continent; (ii) the late Holocene, when Aboriginal population densities are thought to have increased substantially; and (iii) the last 200 years, when Aboriginal influences on the landscape have been mostly removed. Impacts are likely to have been different in different environments, with vegetation types vulnerable to fire showing the most marked changes. I conclude with a discussion of ways alternative interpretations have been utilised by co...

Gardens have been an important site of environmental engagement in Australia since the British colonization. They are places where immigrant people and plants have carried on traditions from their ...

Different types of evidence - palaeoecological, biogeographic and ethnographic - currently provide different perspectives on the question of hunter-gatherer impacts on fire-sensitive components of northern Australian vegetation. Here I analyze the apparent discrepancies, using evidence primarily from the Holocene. Using this more substantial body of evidence than is available for earlier periods, we can attempt to do justice to both ecological and social complexity. While dry rainforest patches and wet rainforest massifs need to be considered separately, each experienced more human alteration in the late Holocene than the early to mid-Holocene. In the former case, hunter-gatherer burning protected dry rainforest from climatically induced changes in fire regime; in the latter, it contributed to disturbance. Implications for future research into hunter-gatherer relations to land are discussed. This analysis does not preclude the possibility of analogous changes having occurred during the Pleistocene.

The spatial and temporal distribution of 145 radiocarbon dates on 66 Australian stick-nest rat middens (Muridae: Leporillusspp.) range from modern to 10,900 ± 90 BP. As in American packrat middens, age frequency follows a logarithmic decay, both continentally and at major sites. This is probably a result of natural decay processes. Unlike American middens of similar age, relatively few range changes in plant distribution have been detected in Australia. The distribution of14C ages and the associated midden materials provide important paleoenvironmental information from the arid interior of Australia. The middens record subtle changes in vegetation and dramatic changes in the fauna unlike those interpreted from sites on the coastal rim or the southeastern periphery of the arid zone.

Avoiding losses from climate change requires socially engaged research that explains what people value highly, how climate change imperils these phenomena, and strategies for embracing and managing grief.