Resource Management and Geography - Theses

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    Turbulence, habit and desire: life after two coal mine closures
    Zhang, Vickie ( 2020)
    This thesis investigates the experiences of workers and their families as they navigate disruptions to everyday life caused by workplace closure and job loss. Situated in the boom-and-bust world of extractive industry, it draws on qualitative fieldwork at two recently closed coal mines in Australia and China to explore the twists and turns of life after loss in restructuring economies. Picking up people’s lives several years after the mine closures, this thesis traces the cascading chain of changes catalysed by the event of closure. It explores how circumstances of life come to press upon bodies in the wake of loss, and how these intensities can come to reshape how people experience the world. It ultimately asks how people might weather the crisis of loss such that they regain a sense of life as an ‘ordinary’ timespace, reorienting from the past to the future. To do this, this thesis approaches loss as a non-relational force of interruption, showing how loss decomposes existing relations and exposes people to an unknown present. Drawing on postphenomenological theories of bodily change, it then tracks the shifts in concerns, anxieties, and orientations that emerge in this timespace of vulnerability and exposure. These processes of change are explored through three empirical chapters on the forces of turbulence, habit and desire. Turbulence shows how loss can bring ordinary life into disorder, leaving people exposed to the intrusions of unfamiliar and often unmanageable conditions. Habit suggests how melancholy durations of life can redraw everyday existence, allowing bodies to pick up different lines of the past to make sense of the present. Finally, desire describes how encounters after loss might begin to mobilise processes of repair, reorienting people from a lost past towards an unfolding future. By examining the relationship between self and other in the constitution of subjectivity, this thesis shows how transformations of the subject can come about through affective intensities that fold otherness into the self. It contributes to understandings of affect, embodiment, and relationality in geography, addressing how the turbulent circumstances of life after loss can speak to tensions in geographers’ understandings of connection and disconnection, presence and absence, relation and non-relation, activity and passivity. By focussing on how people come to live on after loss, this thesis moves beyond the melancholic tendencies of existing literatures on loss to foreground incipient processes of corporeal transformation. Its thrust is thus consolatory: it aims to recognise the gaps and tears that accompany ends, whilst refusing to forgo the vital and affirmative possibilities of life after loss.
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    Contrasting the effects of vegetation clearance on two insectivore communities and their prey at perennial streams in temperate Australia
    Clarke-Wood, Bradley Kendall ( 2019)
    The movement of organisms and material between adjacent ecosystems is a ubiquitous process. Over the last three decades, many works have uncovered factors that influence the flux of spatial subsidies. The emergence of new ecosystems via riparian vegetation clearance, for instance, can impact the quantity and quality of the spatial subsidies that move between perennial streams and riparian zones, and this likely incurs complex responses from riparian consumers. This thesis asks two main questions: 1) how does environmental variables in both the donor (streams) and recipient (riparian zones) systems as a result of riparian vegetation clearance impact the relative quantity of active subsidies? 2) Do insectivores with different mobilities and foraging behaviours respond differently to the flux of spatial subsidies and does this interact with environmental variables? I answered these questions across four empirical chapters. This thesis focused on a biome identified as both impacted by agricultural intensification and comprising important perennially flowing freshwater (on the world’s driest inhabited continent): Australia’s temperate zone. In chapter two, I demonstrate longitudinal trends in riparian vegetation clearance at our study streams and tested models relating to spatial subsidies and riparian spider responses. I conducted vegetation surveys and monitored in-stream temperature at six perennial streams that run through a riparian vegetation clearance gradient, and related these to abundances, biomass and community composition of riparian spiders and their prey (including emergent aquatic invertebrates). In chapter three, I focused on the orb-weaving spider species, Tetragnatha valida and compared the relative contributions of low flux, high quality aquatic prey and terrestrial prey to its diet at perennial streams using stable isotope analysis. In chapter four, I investigated the role of riparian vegetation structure and the abundance and biomass of emergent aquatic prey in explaining variation in the foraging activity and community composition of insectivorous bats that occupy perennial stream habitats. Finally, in chapter five I continuously monitored the activity of insectivorous bats at a survey reach to investigate potential concordance between foraging activity, moon illumination and heat accumulation by the stream. This thesis represents ‘another string in the bow’ of spatial subsidy research that focuses on biomes and taxa that are seldom studied. The literature identifies that active subsidies, including emergent aquatic invertebrates, must be studied in the context of donor and recipient ecosystem dynamics. Despite this, few studies thoroughly measure these dynamics. The present study bucks this trend and extensively surveys relevant ecosystem characteristics including in-stream temperature and vegetation structure, and in-so-doing provides valuable context which underpins diverse riparian insectivore responses to the flux of spatial subsidies. By contrasting different modes of insectivory, this thesis provides new insight into the trophic dynamics of stream-riparian systems. Studies like these are important in a rapidly changing world.
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    Outsourcing adaptation: examining the role and influence of consultants in governing climate change adaptation
    Keele, Svenja ( 2017)
    The aim of this thesis is to examine the role and influence of consultants in governing climate change adaptation. The thesis is guided by three research questions: how did consultants become involved in advising governments on adaptation planning; what work do consultants do as advisors; and how do consultants reproduce themselves in adaptation planning? In answering these research questions, this thesis develops a conceptual framework that theorises adaptation governance as a governmental programme shaped by (and shaping) the practices, materialities and spatial-temporalities of consulting. The research combines a broader historical analysis of adaptation consulting (2004-2015) with a multi-sited and multi-scalar institutional ethnography of adaptation consulting as it was performed over a two-year period (2014-2015) in an adaptation planning consulting project and at conferences, training events and other sites. This thesis finds that (1) consultants are advising governments on a wide range of adaptation issues and across scales, places and time so as to deeply entangle public and private actors in adaptation governance; (2) the project creation and business development work of consultants renders adaptation both techno-managerial and governable by the market; and (3) the involvement of consultants in advising governments on planning for a changing climate constitutes adaptation governance in ways that highlights the increasing depoliticisation of public policy development in Australia. The thesis concludes with discussion of the implications for the future of adaptation governance in Australia, as well as the contribution of this research to broader debates on geographies of governance and productions of neoliberal expertise.
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    Tools for the conservation management of wildlife under uncertainty
    Todd, Charles Robert ( 2001)
    This thesis explores the kinds of models that may be built to support environmental decisions when direct data are scarce and understanding of the ecology of a problem is incomplete. It explores empirically the effects of structural, parameter, shape and dependency uncertainty using explicit population models of a threatened Victorian species, the eastern barred bandicoot (Perameles gunnii) and the nationally endangered species trout cod (Maccullochella macquariensis). In particular, the thesis examines the sensitivity of management decision for these species to assumptions about dependencies, their implementation in standard computer programs, decisions about structural alternatives, assumptions about shapes of statistical distributions used to reflect uncertainties, and the choices of parameters values. The empirical exploration of these features in two different ecological, management, and data contexts sheds light on the ways in which models may be used effectively to support pragmatic management decisions for threatened species. One of the uses of population models is to assess the relative risks of extinction faced by a suite of species. The assessments are used to classify species into various categories of threat, and to create lists for management action. Such lists are used for state of the environment reporting, and to set priorities for protection and recovery actions. In many circumstances, there is insufficient time to develop explicit models. In their place, various expert or rule-based systems have been developed to assess conservation status. They use a suite of population attributes including population size, geographic extent, population subdivision, and rates of change in these attributes as surrogates for extinction risk. However, these systems have, until recently, ignored uncertainties inherent in the data used to make the classifications. This thesis also explores the theoretical underpinning of dealing with uncertainty in rule-based systems, so that they may better reflect the reliability with which assessments are made.
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    A long-term historical perspective on environmental changes in the Wimmera of Western Victoria, Australia
    Yazdanparast, Parastoo ( 2016)
    Salt lakes form a conspicuous element of southern Australian arid and semi-arid regions. The origin and development of these salt lakes is closely tied to major climatic perturbations during the Pleistocene. Unlike most of North America, Europe and much of Asia, Pleistocene climate change in the arid and semi-arid of southern Australia is manifest as a series of aeolian deposits, erosional basins and unique, ancient soils. Sediments that are crucial for palynological studies are largely restricted to the temperate mountainous regions of east and southeast Australia, whereas much of the rest of the continent is remarkably flat and suffers from permanent water deficits or seasonal monsoonal influences. As a consequence, the Quaternary history of Australia has been derived from what are, on a continental scale, atypical climates and landforms. Despite their widespread occurrence, ecological importance and sensitivity to hydro-climatic change, only a handful of Australian palaeoecological studies have utilized the sediments contained within salt lakes. In a continent where any increase in mean annual temperatures will have profound implications for ecological processes and economic activities, it makes sense to try to understand the responses of semi-arid and arid landscapes to recent environmental changes. In addition, land degradation remains a critical and long lasting problem. Overgrazing, land clearance and the development of saline soils are clearly implicated as land degradation processes, especially in southern Australia. As many factors contribute to this pressing socio-ecological problem, it is not sensible to assess this phenomenon without considering its context in terms of long-term processes. In this context, I focus my palaeoecological analysis on a heavily altered landscape located within an area representative of Australian salt lake systems. I aim to disentangle the pre and post European environmental history of this important system and seek to identify, classify and understand land degradation processes, with a focus on plant community changes. This project proceeds by analyzing the history of land use and the ecology of plant communities concentrating on past human burning activities and palaeoenvironmental changes based on evidence from sediments, fossil pollen and microscopic charcoal dating from Aboriginal to European settlement times in the Wimmera of western Victoria, southern Australia. Using fossil pollen and charcoal from lake sediments illustrated that salinity rose substantially as forest diversity decreased since the start of European settlement.
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    Ecological benefits of termite soil interaction and microbial symbiosis in the soil ecosystem in two climatic regions of Australia
    Ali, Ibrahim Gima ( 2015)
    Termite soil interaction is a multidimensional process, the interphase between the surface and subsurface being the most prominent location termitaria and other termite structures usually occupy. Genetic and environmental conditions, including soil type and moisture content, in different climatic regions affect this interaction. There is scant information on termite preferences, foraging behavior within these conditions and impact on soil profile and associated symbiont microorganisms. Foraging activity of termites (Coptotermes frenchi), depth and changes in soil profile with layers of top soil, fine sand, coarse sand and gravel, was studied using a test tank in a laboratory. Termite activities were intensive in only the longest foraging galleries via which they reached and foraged up to the edge of the tank. Wood stakes inserted vertically at three different depth level intervals (0-100, 100-200, and 200-300 mm), visual observations of soil profile samples taken using auger and excavated cross sections of the soil profile all confirmed presence of termite activity, transport and mixing of soil up to the lowest horizon in the otherwise uniform sandy or gravely lower horizons. However, termite activity did not result in complete mixing of soil horizons within the study period. Termites (Coptotermes acinaciformis) were tested for their preference topsoil, fine sand, potting mix and peat, in a laboratory condition at soil moisture contents of 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20% for 30 days. The experimental apparatus involved termite colonies foraging from nesting jars connected to four sets of standing perspex tubes filled with each soil type and moisture content combination attached to the jar lid on top. Soil type had a significant effect on termite preference whereas soil moisture content did not. At lower moisture levels of 0 and 5%, termites preferred fine sand while topsoil was preferred at 10, 15 and 20%. Soil heterogeneity and textural variability with respect to particle size distribution due to termite activity was investigated in two climatic regions of Australia. Mound and surrounding soils of Coptotermes lacteus in Boola Boola State Forest, Victoria, and Amitermes laurensis and Nasutitermes eucalypti in Gove, Northern Territory were studied. The residual effects on bacteria and fungi counts were also investigated in the former. For C. lacteus and A. laurensis mounds the very fine particles sizes (< 0.045 mm) were significantly higher than that of the surrounding soil while the reverse was true for the 2 - 1 mm particle size ranges. For the Nasutitermes mound, however, they recorded significantly higher 2 - 1 mm particle sizes and significantly lower < 0.045 mm particle size ranges than the surrounding soils. For the other particle size ranges in both sites no significant difference was observed between the mound and surrounding soils except for the 0.5 – 0.2 and 0.20.063 mm ranges in the A. laurensis mound which were significantly higher than surrounding soil. Average moisture content of the surrounding soils was significantly higher than that of the mound surfaces which could have resulted in the higher bacteria and fungi counts (cfu/ml) in the surrounding soils.
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    Contested place, conflicted knowledge: the everyday landscape of the firefighter
    KRUGER, TARNYA ( 2014)
    The everyday landscape can become both unfamiliar and non-negotiable for the firefighter. While we generally conceive of nature and ecology as dynamic, this study points to the dynamic realities of ‘place’, and the way that experience and social learning transform the meaning of place and the management of risk associated with fires. Firefighting is dangerous. Many firefighters who defend their local communities can expect to fight fires in other areas with different terrain and within communities with firefighters they do not know. Underpinning the formal structure of firefighting is the continuing western affirmation of the nature-culture divide. It can be reinforced in firefighter organisations and in local settings by societal expectations that positions bushfire as a separate event rather than an integral part of living in a socio-ecological system. Sixty-eight Australian bushfire firefighters from selected agencies and volunteer brigades in diverse localities contributed to the research. The study comprised 32 semi-structured in-depth individual and group interviews. Stories of fire events and the various roles undertaken were thematically analysed. This research uses a constructivist approach to explore how firefighters experience, understand and undertake their role in response to bushfire in the landscape. The research questions were designed to investigate local knowledge of landscape, community, and sense of place, when firefighters encounter a bushfire. The socio-ecological system is complex and this thesis incorporates an interdisciplinary approach. Framed by environmental sociology, I explore firefighters’ social construction of landscape with a focus on place theory and risk. Fire management imposes a hierarchical command-and-control response to fire and this is the backdrop in which firefighters operate. Fire agencies understand that even experienced firefighters will at times still step outside the ordered structure and make on-the-spot decisions for the fire attack. This is where the individual’s local knowledge can be an asset, but my research indicates it can also be a threat, as the reality of some aspects of ‘local knowing’ may increase response-based risk during a fire. Beginning with the expectation that local knowledge is key to understanding ‘fire in place’; the study has exposed how complex this assumption is in the face of social and ecological shocks. If being adaptive and making flexible on-ground decisions is a critical part of knowing the landscape and trusting experience, it apparently counters expectations associated with centralised and conventional firefighting responses. Notably local knowledge for firefighters means knowledge of the social as much as, and in some instances, more than acknowledging the physical aspects of an area. Firefighters inherently seem to understand a bushfire as part of an integrated socio-ecological system. Most importantly, this thesis has emphasised the importance of bringing place theory to firefighting practice. It is through exploring the linked social and ecological meaning of place that the complex role of local knowledge emerges.
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    The sorry people: non-indigenous Australians and emotional geographies of co-presence
    GOODER, HAYDIE ( 2011)
    Cultural geography has recently experienced an ‘emotional turn’ increasing attention toward the ways in which a politics of affect can illuminate everyday cultural practices and material processes. This research draws on such a theoretical framework. so as to critically examine a specific postcolonial formation called reconciliation, the national policy in Australia 1991-2001, which aimed to restructure the nation's legacy of colonial relations, including its emotional legacy of guilt, grief and injury. It is with this inheritance - a core part of official reconciliation efforts - that The Sorry People is primarily concerned. Reconciliation came into being in the context of a government failure to address past and present colonial injustices towards Indigenous Australians through material means. Instead the largely symbolic, nationalistic reconciliation process took as its aim the re-education of the nation, in particular, of non-Indigenous Australians in the ‘truths’ of colonial history. In this way, as a means of managing the consequences of colonial occupation, reconciliation was the first government policy to be structured around what might be thought of as the ‘settler problem’. The Sorry People examines the ways in which non-Indigenous reconcilers address their feelings of implication in bad colonial history whilst also seeking a way to move beyond this. While reconciliation rhetoric placed a strong emphasis on ‘shared histories’, this research questions whether non-Indigenous desire for new, legitimated, ‘shared geographies’ is as relevant. To this end this research investigated non- Indigenous involvement in the reconciliation movement in Victoria from 1997-2001. Using a qualitative case-study based approach, the research focused on two localities with active community reconciliation groups: Nillumbik Shire in Melbourne and Shepparton in regional Victoria. The affective dimensions of the reconciliation movement and economies of unintended affect are in part caused by non-Indigenous people feeling delegitimised as occupants in a nation established through questionable moral grounds. Emotions stick to some bodies and not others, with white settler Australians in particular being drawn into the work of reconciliation to make right the wrongs of their political ancestors. The Sorry People explores and critiques non Indigenous concepts of reconciliation, the emotional investments and motivations of those involved and the possible shifts in subjectivity experienced both in, and through, discourses of reconciliation.
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    Altitudinal distribution of vegetation in the headwaters of the Wongungarra River, Victoria
    WATSON, FRED ( 1993)
    Changes in vegetation composition with respect to altitude were investigated in the sclerophyllous forests of the Australian mountain region. Vegetation was surveyed at 148 sites along two transects which were located to maximise variation in altitude and minimise the influence of environmental factors not directly related to altitude. The measurement, simulation, and estimation of environmental variables revealed that this aim was met except at the end-points of the transects where secondary influences are present.