Office for Environmental Programs - Theses
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ItemHow far can community engagement go in EIA?: A case study for the MMRP in the Parkville community.( 2019)As a planning tool, public participation has been encouraged in environmental impact assessment (EIA) to evaluate the possible impacts any development project could cause to the urban setting (Christie, 2008). Nonetheless, public participation has been sparsely addressed in the Australia EIA process (Thomas & Elliot, 2005). Hence, my research examined the extent to which EIA enables public participation in the context of a large project in Melbourne, Victoria. I expanded on my analysis by examining the limitations, challenges and opportunities of the EIA’s community engagement process to foster citizen participation. I used a single-case study methodology using the Melbourne Metro Rail Project (MMRP) in the Parkville community as the case. I collected the data through an extensive document and media analysis, and a semi-structured interview. For the data analysis, I developed a collaborative planning evaluation framework (CPEF) which builds from Healey’s (2006) imperatives of collaborative planning. The CPEF constitutes in evaluating (1) the identification of stakeholders considering their social networks, systems of meaning, and power relations, (2) the integration of innovation and different types of knowledge which covers as well the participation of stakeholders in the problem framing phase, (3) the inclusion of stakeholders, and (4) the accountability of the participation process. The analysis showed that an EIA’s engagement process is rigorous in at least one characteristic of each of these 4 evaluation categories. The EIA’s engagement process identifies and includes stakeholders, while safeguarding the accountability of the process and integrating local initiatives into the EIA process. Nonetheless, the participation of the stakeholders in the problem framing phase is limited by the Victorian legislation. Additionally, the engagement activities (stakeholder inclusion) are predetermined by the stakeholders’ identification, which is faced with the challenge of not considering the social networks of the stakeholders. EIA’s participation process is faced with the challenges of identifying the stakeholders’ social networks, acknowledging the power relations between stakeholders, and integrating different types of knowledge into the EIA process. Finally, EIA’s participation process has the opportunity to foster citizen participation by expanding on the assessment of the stakeholders’ systems of meaning. Further opportunities to encourage participation remain outside the EIA process itself, such as engaging stakeholders before the start of the EIA process or creating a new participation platform as part of the Environment Performance Requirements (EPRs) of the EIA.
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ItemCommunity reactions towards wind farms in Victoria, Australia: a comparative study between an inland and coastal site( 2004)Wind energy is a promising alternative to energy forms that contribute to global and regional environmental problems such as climate change and air pollution. The industry is now the fastest growing energy technology in the world (SEDA, 2002). However wind farm proposals often struggle to gain public acceptance. Commonly held perceptions regarding wind farms were explored in order to provide the background for understanding community reactions. Two operational Victorian wind farms were presented as case studies to identify the key circumstances that influence the local reactions. The Toora wind farm in South Gippsland received mixed local support whilst the Challicum Hills wind farms, in central western Victoria received overwhelming support from the local community. The location of the two wind farms appeared to play a key role in influencing community attitudes, the coastal location attracting greater negative reactions than the inland location. The idea that the communities' reactions were correlated with the values attributed to the landscape was explored, drawing on the link with visual impact as a key negative perception. Understanding and managing negative perceptions regarding visual amenity and considering the values attributed to landscapes by local communities are important in ensuring the success of future wind farm proposals in Victoria.
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ItemPersistence of the Eastern Dwarf Tree Frog (Litoria fallax) in Melbourne: habitat characteristics and climatic niche( 2014)Human activities are increasingly leading to the movement of species into areas outside their natural range. The Eastern Dwarf Tree Frog (Litoria fallax) has been translocated from its original range in Queensland and New South Wales, Australia to the city of Melbourne, 600 km south of its previous range. Individuals of this species are known to travel on transportation trucks in fresh food and agricultural produce, and they are known as a 'banana box frogs' for their penchant for hiding in banana boxes. Litoria fallax has now been recorded at 28 sites around greater Melbourne and is known to be persisting at 7; however, with many gaps in the wildlife databases, this figure is likely to be higher. With Local habitat features known to significantly influence the presence of frog populations I conducted habitat surveys at sites throughout Melbourne where L. fallax is known to have and have not persisted. Its ongoing presence at a site was most closely correlated with a higher cover of submerged and riparian vegetation. With L. fallax being so far to the south of its original range, climate was an important factor to explore, so I ran a climate-suitability model for L. fallax using the software package Maxent. The model included five climatic variables-temperature seasonality, minimum temperature of the coldest quarter, mean temperature of warmest quarter, precipitation of warmest quarter and minimum relative humidity-chosen for their relevance to the biology and behaviour of L. fallax, such as the association between breeding and rainfall events. Results of the modelling showed that not only does Melbourne fall within the suitable climatic range of L. fallax, but that this range extends along most of the east and south coast of Australia. This suggests that a substantial range expansion of this species is possible. Whilst greater Melbourne does fall within the climatic niche of L. fallax, the predicted climate suitability varies throughout the region with a lower relative probability of occurrence in the northern suburbs where most of the populations are persisting. Thus, my research demonstrates that climate modelling alone is not sufficient to assess the potential niche of an invasive species
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ItemThe distribution of Eucalypts in north-western Victoria: modeling the influence of functional traits along environmental gradients( 2013)Understanding how functional traits influence species distributions along environmental gradients provides insight into plant ecological strategies for survival and reproduction. Here I examine how traits influence eucalypt distributions along environmental gradients. I use a species distribution model that incorporates Eucalyptus plant traits to understand their distributions in the mallee region of north-western Victoria. I examined the trait-environment interactions using the leaf-height-seed plant ecology strategy scheme (specific leaf area, height at maturity and seed mass) with 15 Eucalyptus taxa. The results show that all three traits influence species responses to environmental variables. Generally, traits influenced species responses to variables that are surrogates for water availability. Species with high specific leaf area increased in predicted occurrence along water availability gradients (rainfall in July, topographic wetness index, vertical distance to streams and soil properties). Tall species respond positively to soil nutrient gradients (soil radiometric Potassium measures and topographic wetness index) and water availability gradients (vertical distance to streams, topographic wetness index) except rainfall. Species with large seeds respond positively to sandy soils, which may reflect a response to either soil water or nutrient availability. Some of the trait-environment interactions in the mallee stay consistent with those of previous regional and global studies of traits (e.g. species responses of SLA to rainfall) and some turn out to be different (e.g. tall species' lack of response to rainfall). The trends that differ from other studies may highlight the particular properties of the ecosystem of the study area or result from use of different environmental variables. These results may have implications such as informing conservation efforts aimed at preserving functional diversity or assessing suitability for new plantation sites.
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ItemIntegrating species distribution modelling and cost-efficiency analysis to prioritise Platypus habitat management activities in the greater Melbourne region( 2012)Conservation activities are restricted by budget. This fact calls for an efficient use of resources for management activities that are expected to improve the condition of conservation targets. Prioritisation of management activities based on cost-efficiency has been advocated as a means to increase efficiency and achieve larger conservation benefits at a lower cost. Cost-efficiency assessments require estimation of costs and expected benefits of management activities. If the conservation target is a particular species or a group of species, benefits can be predicted from species distribution models (SDM) which relate species' records to environmental variables. Platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) distribution models were developed and embedded in a conservation investment prioritisation protocol to demonstrate how financial costs and benefits to platypus of riparian vegetation restoration could be efficiently balanced. The platypus is a unique, charismatic focal species for conservation efforts in the case study region of greater Melbourne (south-east Australia). Platypus habitat is increasingly threatened in the case study area, mostly due to urbanisation and its impacts on habitat and water quality. Development of platypus SDMs was guided by selection of predictor variables that balance ecological relevance and possibility of change via management actions (i.e. riparian vegetation cover, catchment imperviousness), with the aim of using these models to predict platypus habitat benefits from management activities, in addition to current habitat suitability. Potential locations for vegetation management activities were prioritised based on expected platypus habitat benefits which were traded against the financial costs of achieving those benefits using a benefit-cost ratio analysis. Cost-efficiency analysis was undertaken between and within catchments to identify locations in which greatest habitat benefits can be achieved at the lowest cost. Predictions from SDMs show low platypus habitat suitability for most of the study area, with the exception of the middle and upper reaches of the Yarra catchment and upper reaches of the Bunyip River. High platypus habitat suitability is restricted to non-urban areas in streams with high riparian tree cover, relatively high precipitation during dry periods and low topographic wetness index. Results of the cost-efficiency analysis show greatest habitat benefits can be achieved at the lowest cost in locations with a medium current vegetation condition (riparian tree cover between 40 and 60%) and low to medium expected vegetation change from management activities (10-20% addition to riparian tree cover). These features are found in the middle sections of the main Yarra River and in the lower sections of the Tarago River. Budget allocation based on cost-efficiency prioritisation achieves up to 26 times more habitat benefits than prioritisation based only on benefits. This effect is more pronounced for a small budget ($1 million) but makes little difference for larger budgets (>$20 million). Highest cost-efficiency of vegetation management actions is concentrated in locations within the Yarra and Westernport systems, which are between 6 and 100 times more cost-efficient than locations in the Werribee and Dandenong catchments. These results show the importance of integrating cost and benefit information when prioritising management actions, especially when costs and benefits are variable and heterogeneous across the landscape.
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ItemThe uptake and longevity of three meat baits by red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in western Victorian( 2006)This study investigated the uptake and palatability for dried meat baits and fresh liver meat by foxes (Vulpes vulpes). A field trial lasting four weeks was undertaken to compare uptake of three fox baits. Two registered commercially manufactured dried meat baits used in fox control in Victoria and unpoisoned liver were laid in 50 baits stations in mixed agricultural and conservation land on a National Trust Property in Western Victoria. In total 10% Defox, 6% Foxoff and 17% liver baits of each bait type were taken by foxes over the course of the study. There was no significant difference in the rate of uptake and palatability of the three bait types at stations where one bait was taken in the first two weeks of the study, significant differences were found in bait preference by foxes in the third and fourth weeks with liver the most significantly preferred bait type. Foxoff was significantly rejected in the second and fourth weeks of the study indicating that it was the least preferred of the three baits. There was a significant difference in the degradation scores between each bait type in the last three weeks of the trial, with Defox and Foxoff baits being less degraded than liver. This study suggests that liver is the most preferentially eaten bait type however it is the most susceptible to degradation of the three.
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ItemWhat people see and desire: integrating social landscape perceptions and preferences into planning and landscape management: a case study in peri-urban Victoria( 2013)This research builds on the social landscape perception and preferences as a way to understand the social construction of landscape from the views of the residents of seven Local Government Areas in a peri-urban region in Victoria, Australia. Communities residing in Ballarat, Central Goldfields, Greater Bendigo, Hepburn, Macedon Ranges, Moorabool and Mount Alexander constitute a case study to better understand the social perceptions and preferences towards the landscape and its implications to provide recommendations in terms of planning and natural resource management attending to the communities' desires. The results are based on an online survey conducted by 138 participants, and on face-to-face semi-structured interviews to a total of 24 residents that were selected having as a basis their answers for the completed online survey. In addition, GIS tools were used to better understand the geographical distribution of the landscape perceptions and preferences among the seven municipalities. The study clearly identifies and classifies landscape perceptions in six categories, three of them addressing the positive perception regarding more inherent characteristics that could be present in the landscape. Similarly, seven landscape preference categories were recognised that also provided insights about the possible attitudes of the communities towards the landscape. The evidence collected indicated the understanding of the landscape through the perceptions and preferences of the participants of the study area. It was established that participants' views regarding the landscape are diverse and highly dependent on the context in which the person is living and experiencing the scene. Consequently, differences and similarities between the municipalities emerged that allowed to describe challenges and opportunities in terms of objectives for landscape planning and NRM.
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ItemInsect diversity on extensive green roofs in Melbourne( 2013)In cities around the world, increasing human populations and expanding built environments are accompanied by decreases in vegetation. This has led to a variety of environmental problems that have driven the development of novel vegetated habitats such as green roofs to provide ecosystem services. However, there are relatively few studies that have examined green roof insect diversity and none have been conducted in Australia. This research characterised and compared the insect diversity on six extensive green roofs. Each roof was paired with two ground level sites for meaningful comparison. Companion sites were of similar size, surrounding landscape and vegetation type to the green roof, while nearby sites were vegetation close to the green roof. Two main vegetation types were comparatively investigated: one was a grassland green roof, and consisted of a range of indigenous Victorian grassland species; the other was a succulent green roof, which generally consisted of a variety of Sedum species. Three of each type were used. Seven habitat factors thought to influence insect diversity were measured either in the field or via remote sensing. These factors were age, vegetation type, surrounding percentage of vegetation, height (green roofs only), size of the vegetated area, percentage of vegetation cover and substrate depth (green roofs only). Sites were examined using combinations of pan and pitfall insect sampling techniques, to collect a range of invertebrates and provide a better picture of diurnal and nocturnal species on green roofs and ground level sites. Insect abundance, richness and evenness data (based on counts of individuals) were used to calculate Simpson's diversity index (D) and the Shannon- Wiener index (H) to compare insect diversity between green roof, companion and nearby sites, and between green roof and companion vegetation types. A mixed model procedure was employed to test whether evenness and the diversity indices differed significantly between green roof, companion and nearby sites, and between grassland green roof and companion sites and succulent green roof and companion sites. A generalised linear mixed model was employed to test whether the richness of different Orders differed significantly between green roofs, nearby and companion sites, and to evaluate the effect of habitat factors on abundance. In total 32,542 insects were collected from eleven Orders and four Classes. Green roofs had a significantly more even distribution of invertebrate orders compared to nearby and companion sites. The diversity of grassland compared to succulent sites revealed that succulent sites had a significantly more even distribution of invertebrate orders compared to grassland sites. The effect of habitat factors on Ordinal abundance from all sites revealed that Araneae (spiders), Coleoptera (beetles), Diptera (flies), Acarina (mites), Collembola (springtails) and Hemiptera (true bugs), are all affected by different habitat factors. This study revealed that 70% of Orders found on companion and nearby sites were also found on green roofs. This research has demonstrated that a variety of medium, large and even flightless, insects are able to colonise on green roofs. Furthermore, it shows that green roofs can act as habitats for a variety of invertebrates within the urban environment.