Alan Anderson of the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) presenting on the Australian Transect Network at the 51st meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation in Cairns in July 2014.
3. ATN – Four primary transects
NATT
North Australian Tropical
Transect
SWATT
South West Australian
Transitional Transect
BATS
Biodiversity and
Adaptation Transect
Sydney
TREND
TRansect for
ENvironmental monitoring
and Decision making
4. ATN – Four primary transects
Spinifex Hummock Grassland
Tropical Savanna
NATT
North Australian Tropical
Transect
SWATT
South West Australian
Transitional Transect
BATS
Biodiversity and
Adaptation Transect
Sydney
Acacia Shrubland
TREND
TRansect for
ENvironmental monitoring
and Decision making
Eucalypt Open
Forest
Subtropical forest
Eucalypt Open
Woodland
5. Why bioclimatic transects?
• Scaling-up from local, plot-based studies
• Biogeographic framework for locating plots
6. Why bioclimatic transects?
• Scaling-up from local, plot-based studies
• Developing, calibrating and validating ecological models and
remote sensing products
7. Why bioclimatic transects?
• Scaling-up from local, plot-based studies
• Developing, calibrating and validating ecological models and
remote sensing products
• Identifying sensitive zones in relation to environmental stress
and disturbance
• Space as a proxy for time for climate-change research
8. Key Science Questions
1. How do species abundances, richness and composition, and
ecological function change along large-scale environmental
gradients?
9. Key Science Questions
1. How do species abundances, richness and composition, and
ecological function change along large-scale environmental
gradients?
2. Is there predictable variation in ecosystem resilience?
10. Key Science Questions
1. How do species abundances, richness and composition, and
ecological function change along large-scale environmental
gradients?
2. Is there predictable variation in ecosystem resilience?
3. How might ecosystems respond to climate change?
• Turnover in species, adaptive traits and genes
12. Overarching research framework of responses of ecosystems to stress
(PAM, AN) and disturbance (fire, grazing)
North Australian Tropical Transect
IGBP-GCTE Global Network of Transects
15. Tree growth along NATT
0
0.05
0.1
0.15
0.2
0.25
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0 500 1000 1500 2000
Heightincrement(m/yr)
DBHincrement(cm/yr)
Median annual rainfall (mm)
G. D. Cook, unpublished
Height (for tree with 25 cm dbh)
DBH
17. NATT Focal Areas
2. Carbon stocks and fluxes
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
0 500 1000 1500 2000
Sand
Loam
Tree cover and rainfall
18. NATT Focal Areas
2. Carbon stocks and fluxes
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
0 500 1000 1500 2000
Sand
Loam
0
2
4
6
8
0 1 2 3 4 5
log DBH (cm)
logBiomass(kg)
-1
0
1
2
3
4
5
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5
log tree DBH (cm)
logrootbiomass(kg/m2)
Tree carbon stocks – above ground Tree carbon stocks – below ground
Tree cover and rainfall
Biomass as predicted by DBH
19. NATT Focal Areas
2. Carbon stocks and fluxes
• LiDAR for landscape-scale
assessments
20. NATT Focal Areas
2. Carbon stocks and fluxes
• LiDAR
• Integration with flux-tower
measurements
Collaborating institutions:
• CDU (Hutley and Maier)
• Max Planck (Levick)
21. 0
20
40
60
80
100
120
1500 1250 1000 750 500
Annual rainfall (mm)
No.species
Sand
Loam
Plot (1 ha) richness
Tropical
Arid
Ants as a focal taxon for biodiversity studies
NATT Focal Areas
3. Biodiversity
31. Detecting ecosystem changes over time: implications for the future
Orchids flowering
20 days earlier
than 20 years ago
Flowering phenology
32. Detecting ecosystem changes over time: implications for the future
Orchids flowering
20 days earlier
than 20 years ago
Hop Bush leaves
narrowing over
the last century
Flowering phenology Functional traits
33. Using new genomics
techniques
Plants
•DNA barcoding
•Biogeography
•Population Genetics/Genomics
Soils
•Metabarcoding
McCallum et al AustEcol 2013
Gene turn-over in plants and soil
Genomics, metagenomics and transcriptomics
34. Integrating information on biodiversity distribution
and climate sensitivity for biodiversity resilience
• Weighted benefit maps for policy and land
management decision makers
35. Connecting the public to research is a TREND priority.
This should be a two-way dialogue.
36. Australian Transect Network
A powerful tool for enhanced
ecosystem understanding and
management in the face of
climate change