Land use, water quality and ecological responses in Lake Colac – trends from Australia

Purpose - Recently, Colac Otway Shire in Australia released its management plan for Lake Colac, claiming over-enrichment of the lake with nutrients and degraded water quality. This paper aims to investigate these claims by establishing a correlation between key water and ecological indicators and land uses.

Design/methodology/approach - Examines the correlation between impairment and stressors in Lake Colac. This was achieved by identifying the likely sources of pollutants into Lake Colac; identifying any existing monitoring program; and characterizing the water and sediment inputs. The likely impacts of increased nutrients and sediment levels on indigenous flora and fauna were also examined. The use of meiofauna (very small benthic metazoan animals) was investigated as an indicator of degraded sites. Plankton diversity as a measure of water health was also assessed.

Findings - Water quality in Lake Colac was found to vary both temporally and spatially, and exhibited low attainment against acceptable trigger values/objectives. At current levels the lake can be classified as poorly degraded. Likely sources of pollution were identified to be related to land uses in the catchments. The biota of the lake, investigated at four study sites, yielded a sparse, benthic macrofaunal assemblage that was dominated by oligochaetes. In contrast, an abundant and taxonomically diverse meiofaunal assemblage was noted. Future meiofaunal analyses are likely to resolve suitable biotic indicator species of free-living nematodes in response to land use and waterway threats specified in the study. Originality value - This work will provide a better understanding of integrated environmental systems to enable development of best management practices, thus transforming the way the land and water are used in the future. Following the present work, other key water and ecological indicators (increased dispersion and dominance of biological species) at five additional sites were studied. Alternative management options for the effluent generated at Colac Sewage Treatment Plant and possible ecological effects of each option were also evaluated. More recently, a sediment characterization study was also carried out at sensitive sites representative of locations where build up of sediments and algae outbreaks are reported. This will enable classification of sediment and evaluation of dredging options.

Public land use planning using bioregions and other attributes : determining the study area of the VEAC river red gum forests investigation

In order to plan for the best use of public land at a regional scale the determination of an appropriate regional boundary is important for ecological, resource use and recreational reasons. The study area for the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council's (VEAC) River Red Gum Forests Investigation incorporated bioregional boundaries, modelled pre- I750 vegetation distribution, recent public land use investigations, and the distribution of public land. This paper outlines how ecological attributes and past land use studies were used to inform the boundary for this major study of public land along the Murray River in northern Victoria.

Agricultural land retirement: lessons from an Australian case study

In this paper, we analyse the case for agricultural land retirement in Australia. For the case study considered, using defined criteria, we demonstrate that land retirement is an effective policy option. This finding depends crucially on the magnitude and sign of the price effect resulting from a fall in wool production because of agricultural land retirement. Uniquely in the literature, we argue that the price effect will positively contribute to a benefit–cost analysis of agricultural land retirement. We detail the necessary conditions that need to prevail for this to occur. We also explain why the expected benefits of land-use change are fewer than might be expected in the case study.

Evaluating public risk preferences in forest land-use choices using multi-attribute utility theory

Forest policy decisions inherently involve multiple attributes and risk and uncertainty as they largely deal with complex biological, ecological, and socio-political systems. Identifying risk preferences and quantifying their inter-relationships and tradeoffs are useful in formulating better forest policy. Often, technocrats and experts deal with risky decisions, but ideally, stakeholder risk characteristics should be explicitly considered in making policy decisions. This paper analysed societal risk preferences on public forest land-use attributes using multi-attribute utility theory (MAUT). The results indicate significant risk-averse behaviour towards old-growth forest conservation and forest-based recreation but less risk-averse behaviour towards native timber extraction. Overall, the respondents preferred a more conservative forest land-use option, which is consistent with their risk attitudes. The method provides insights into risk preferences of forest stakeholders, which could lead to better understanding of forest management conflicts. Moreover, the method explicitly distinguishes the technical and value components of the decision and is useful in unravelling public risk preferences in multiple-use forest planning situations.

Multi-attribute preference modelling and regional land-use planning

Forest management policy decisions are complex due to the multiple-use nature of goods and services from forests, difficulty in monetary valuation of ecological services and the involvement of a large number of stakeholders. Multi-attribute decision techniques can be used to synthesise stakeholder preferences related to regional forest planning because it can accommodate conflicting, multidimensional, incommensurable and incomparable objectives. The objective of this paper is to examine how the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) can be used to incorporate stakeholder preferences in determining optimal forest land-use choices. The Australian Regional Forest Agreement Programme is taken as an illustrative case for the analysis. The results show that the AHP can formalise public participation in decision making and increase the transparency and the credibility of the process.

Future landscapes in South-eastern Australia : the role of protected areas and biolinks in adaptation to climate change

The extent and rapidity of global climate change is the major novel threatening process to biodiversity in the 21 st century. Globally, numerous studies suggest movement of biota to higher latitudes and altitudes with increasing empirical -evidence emerging. As biota responds to the direct and consequent effects of climate change the potential to profoundly affect natural systems (including the reserve system) of south-eastern Australia is becoming evident. Climate change is projected to accelerate major environmental drivers such as drought, fire and flood regimes. Is the reserve system sufficient for biodiversity conservation under a changing climate? Australia is topographically flat, biologically mega-diverse with high species endemism, and has the driest and most variable climate of any inhabited continent. Whilst the north-south orientation and aftitude gradient of eastern Australia's forests and woodlands provides some resilience to projected climatic change, this has been eroded since European settlement, particularly in the cool-moist Bassian zone of the south-east. Following settlement, massive land-use change for agriculture and forestry caused widespread loss and fragmentation of habitats; becoming geriatric in agricultural landscapes and artificially young in forests. The reserve system persists as an archipelago of ecological islands surrounded by land uses of varying compatibility with conservation and vulnerable to global warming. The capacity for biota to adapt is limited by habitat availability. The extinction risk is exacerbated. Re-examination of earlier analysis of ecological connectivity through biolink zones confirms biolinks as an appropriate risk management response within a broader suite of measures. Areas not currently in the reserve system may be critical to the value and ecological function of biological assets of the reserve system as these assets change. Ecological need and the rise of ecosystem services, combined with changing socio-economic drivers of land-use and social values that supported the expansion of the reserve system, all suggest biolink zones represent a new, necessary and viable multi-functional landscape. This paper explores some of the key ecological elements for restoration within biolink zones (and landscapes at large) particularly through currently agricultural landscapes.

The increasing importance of serviced offices as a competing land use in global cities

Once considered a relatively low key land use in central business districts, the number of serviced offices has increased dramatically in recent years. The factors driving the demand for serviced offices have changed, and the suppliers of this service have reacted quickly to meet these needs. This trend has been assisted by the expansion of a select number of multi-national companies that specialise in the provision of serviced offices, available in a flexible range of office types and costs.
This paper considers the reasons behind the rapid growth in the serviced office market, and examines the role of both the user and the provider. Attention is focused on the global marketplace and how these changes have been transformed into the Australian central business districts. The information will be of benefit to property analysts, developers and investors, especially when seeking an alternative use of existing traditional office accommodation.

Integrative catchment modelling of land use, turbidity, flow and geology

The thesis outlines and demonstrates the various aspects that contribute towards water quality management systems and the important use of storage/water quality models. The application of models is demonstrated through the functions that modelling components have on sustainable regional development, and through linkage with water quality systems.

Relationships of land use mix with walking for transport : do land uses and geographical scale matter?

Physical activity and public health recommendations now emphasize the creation of activity-friendly neighborhoods. Mixed land use in a neighborhood is important in this regard, as it reflects the availability of destinations to which residents can walk or ride bicycles, and thus is likely to contribute to residents’ active lifestyles that in turn will influence their overall health. Relationships between land use mix (LUM) and physical activity have not been apparent in some studies, which may be because geographical scale and the specificity of hypothesized environment–behavior associations are not taken into account. We compared the strength of association of four Geographic Information Systems-derived LUM measures with walking for transport and perceived proximity to destinations. We assessed physical activity behaviors of 2,506 adults in 154 Census Collection Districts (CCDs) in Adelaide, Australia, for which ‘‘original’’ LUM measures were calculated, and then refined by either: accounting for the geographic scale of measurement; including only the most-relevant land uses; or, both. The refined (but not the ‘‘original’’) LUM measures had significant associations with the frequency of walking for transport (p < 0.05) and area-corrected measures had significant associations with the duration of walking for transport. All LUM measures had significant associations with perceived proximity to destinations, but stronger associations were seen when using the refined measures compared with the original LUM. Identifying the LUM attributes most strongly associated with walking for transport is a priority and can inform environmental and policy initiatives that are needed to promote health-enhancing physical activity.

Aged care, Warrnambool and Bendigo, 2021 ,estimating land-use, connectivity

Ratios which correlate aged care places with Land-use requirements are developed by analysing the existing aged care facilities in the regional Victorian Local Government Areas of Greater Bendigo and Warrnambool. These ratios are used in conjunction with the government's population based measures to model scenarios of future aged care infrastructure requirements for Greater Bendigo and Warrnambool. Strategies correlating additional residential aged care facilities with at-home based aged care are explored using a Land-use and accessibility matrix governed by size and configuration. Variations in these two aspects appear to have a significant influence on location options for future facilities as well as case load demands and staffing requirements for community support teams.