Monitoring and Research

SURVEY AND MONITORING

Most of the information we had about the Reserve at acquisition was very coarse, regional coverage. That is apart from the magnificent flora survey of the WA Wildflower Society. They installed 25 sites in 2003 and a further 16 in 2006. Given the extraordinary floristic richness (and conservation values therein), this support from WAWS has been a Godsend in helping us plan to protect. Amongst sites recently installed by WAWS were specifically management-oriented sites in our saltland recovery project, for which we are very grateful.

A preliminary vegetation map is all but ready for ground checking and ongoing refinement. It is also hoped that a landform, soil and habitat map will be developed over the next few years by the Ecologist and Reserve Managers.

Eurardy was in 2005, one of the first Reserves to have a comprehensive set of permanent monitoring sites installed to represent systematically the range of habitats types and major historical and current impacts and disturbances. These sites often coincide with WA Wildflower Society survey sites and we hope to assess them annually in spring. At present we have 27 “Ecological Outcomes Monitoring” sites at which we aim to improve our understanding of biodiversity and its management as well as the effectiveness of our management efforts. In 2006 annual monitoring, we noted the impacts of drought, with fewer bird species breeding, however we hope that with the removal of livestock and ongoing feral control, we have given native species a much improved chance of persisting until the drought breaks.

In 2007 we hope to start additional fauna surveying, perhaps surveying birds more than once a year and commencing vertebrate pit trapping. We hope to plan our expanded monitoring programme to be complementary with our Dept of Conservation and Environment’s monitoring system and perhaps collaborate to maximize effectiveness and efficiency.

PROJECT ONE

Research into native bee populations has been ongoing at Eurardy for over twenty years as part of a joint project involving York University in Toronto Canada and the Western Australia Museum, Department of Entemology. In Spring 2006 an intern from York University spent two months at Eurardy collecting samples for the ever-growing inventory of bee species. During this time, four permanent transect sites were established at existing Bush Heritage monitoring locations (WA Wildflower Society vegetation quadrats), thus providing another layer to ongoing vegetation, soil condition, and fauna data collection.

This data can assist Bush Heritage in building a species list of the specimens found on the property, including discoveries of rare species, which will inform the reserve management planning process. At present, other applications for the native bee data are unexplored aside from being an obvious indicator of ecosystem health. Collected data may also become valuable in the development of recovery plans for declared rare and priority flora species within key habitats, as administered by the Department of Conservation, WA.

During his stay, the intern, in conjunction with Reserve Managers, developed an interpretive about Eurardy’s invertebrate species. A presentation was also made to the Binnu primary school students (50km south on the North West Coastal Highway) who just happened to be studying “mini beasts” and artwork by the students is now on display, alongside photo boards and the terrarium, at the reserve.

Native bees have been put under the microscope at Eurardy Reserve in WA by Professor Bryan Danworth from Cornell University in New York, USA. Eurardy Reserve Manager, Leanne Hales helped year one students from Binnu primary school with their bug creations.

PROJECT TWO

While most of Eurardy is relatively intact ecologically, the areas of abandoned cropping are a major challenge. We are developing a collaborative research partnership with scientists from Edith Cowan University and the University of Western Australia to determine what approaches to ecosystem rehabilitation will be effective in different circumstances (soils, slopes, fertiliser and herbicide history and so forth). While our primary aim is to restore our own landscapes as far as we can, we also recognise that lessons learnt in the process may have far wider relevance to pastoral and farming neighbours who would also like to rehabilitate large tracts of land. Ideally, our approaches, while perhaps quite different, will have in common relatively low inputs and harness natural patterns and processes as key drivers of recovery.

PROJECT THREE

Extensive vegetation clearing of red soils over granite for cropping has seen an increase in water-tables and secondary salinity in many low-lying areas. This is most particularly evident in ephemeral wetlands associated with pans. In collaboration with local Department of Food and Agriculture we have commenced a project to restore ecological functioning and native biodiversity to these areas. Our first task for which we have acquired funds is to fence off the affected areas to keep all large herbivores out. We will then conduct weed control and active revegetation (quite probably including areas of York Gums) and carefully monitor what works where to refine our restoration skills and management of these key habitats. We have some baseline monitoring sites in place and hope to track and report good news in the not too distant future.