Management of Biodiversity in Australia

Abstract

The concept of holistic ecosystem research, termed community-physiology, has gradually developed over the last 150 years. The discipline of community-physiology investigates the physico-chemical processes that determine the structure, growth and biodiversity of plant communities (with associated consumers and decomposers), both above and below ground, in space and time, from the tropical north to the temperate south of Australia. These physico-chemical processes (aerodynamic fluxes — frictional, thermal, evaporative ± atmospheric salinity — plus available soil water and soil nutrients) need to be clearly enunciated and integrated in ‘ecosystem models’ in order to predict the effect of perturbations (such as Global Warming, nutrient pollution, invasive biota, fire, overgrazing, etc.) on Australian ecosystems. An increase in global temperatures of 2^oC is predicted to affect the development of the foliage covers of overstorey and understorey strata resulting in open-forests —> woodlands —> open-woodlands —> tall shrublands —> low shrublands throughout Australia.

In order to conserve Australian biota for posterity, community-physiologists, ecosystem modelers and environmental impact ecologists must have a deep understanding of the eco-physiology of producers, consumers and decomposers that compose an ecosystem and how these organisms interact with the continually-changing physico-chemical processes in the atmosphere and soil, in space and time.