We are very pleased to announce two winners for the 2024 Ecological Impact Award: ‘Streetscape Biodiversity Project’ (University of Melbourne and City of Melbourne) and ‘How to train your apex reptilian predator: taste aversion can be used to mitigate toxic invaders’ (Macquarie University and the Western Australian Department of Biodiversity, Conservation, and Attractions).

Significant knowledge that has been translated into tools and guides that have changed urban design and management practices.

Streetscapes comprise a significant proportion of urban public land that is currently under-utilised for biodiversity conservation. In addition, there are significant challenges to the establishment and growth of native plants that would be beneficial to faunal biodiversity in these areas.

A collaborative team from the University of Melbourne and City of Melbourne set out to try and understand how native plants could be incorporated into streetscapes during capital works programs, whether this was successful, and if the plantings increased the abundance and richness of bees, butterflies and birds.

“Our results suggest that, despite their small sizes and harsh environmental conditions, urban streetscapes can provide habitat for a diversity of native bees and, to a lesser extent, butterflies,” said project co-lead Professor Nicholas Williams from the University of Melbourne.

“We demonstrated that habitat value can be rapidly enhanced by converting standard streetscapes to indigenous and native understorey plants and that these benefits are greatest for native bee species, including those most negatively impacted by urbanisation. Modifications such as additional plant species or longer and wider verges and greater connectivity to remnant vegetation may be required for streetscapes to provide better habitat for a greater range of taxa including birds and butterflies.”

The team also documented and reflected on the project so that other organisations could learn from it. The success of biodiverse streetscape plantings depended on thorough soil preparation and weed management before planting, and the implementation of a clear, ecologically sensitive management plan. To support this plan, suitably qualified and experienced landscape maintenance staff were essential, particularly those with horticultural knowledge and experience with indigenous and native plant species.

The Streetscape Biodiversity plant palette has now been included in numerous additional streetscape upgrades implemented by the City of Melbourne as well as Greater Western Water after major sewer renewals on Canning Street Carlton. Key learnings have also been incorporated into the online Urban Nature Planting Guide species selection tool and are provided as a key resource to City of Melbourne Gardens for Wildlife and Urban Forest Fund grant programs. Following engagement with other local governments around Australia, similar projects to improve urban biodiversity have been implemented or are planned in Newcastle and the Australian Capital Territory.

A powerful tool to preserve predators in the landscape.

Cane toads are highly toxic to Australian predators and have caused widespread ecological havoc. As apex predators, goannas, snakes, and crocodiles play critical roles in maintaining ecological balance, and their declines destabilise food webs. They are also culturally important – totemic and bushtucker species, associated with language, stories, and day to day cultural practice. Their declines impact the cultural life of Traditional Owners across Northern Australia. 

A project between Macquarie University, the Western Australian Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA), and the Bunuba Ranger group (Bunuba Dawangarri Aboriginal Corporation) aims to preserve these predators in the landscape with a novel conservation technique.

The project works with wild populations of freshwater crocodiles and large goanna species, developing conservation interventions based on ‘conditioned taste aversion’. This technique exposes predators to small doses of toxin/unpalatable cane toad baits, prior to cane toads arriving in an area. In this way, predators get the opportunity to learn from these non-fatal experiences, develop an aversion and avoid adult toads when they arrive.

“This project has been running collaboratively with DBCA and the Bunuba people since 2017,” said project co-lead Clare Forward, Cane Toad Program Coordinator with DBCA.  

“It fosters two-way sharing and capacity building between western science and traditional ecological knowledge – both have been integral to the development of the strategy and on ground deployment.”

“Being part of that and learning while we were working was really good” said Bunuba Ranger Lionel Marr.

Key results include demonstrating that both floodplain goannas and freshwater crocodiles can learn taste aversion in the wild via broadscale bait deployment; maintaining an average of 60% abundance of floodplain monitors in treatment areas over multiple years after cane toad invasion; and achieving a 95% decrease in toad-induced crocodile mortality in areas that had been invaded by cane toads for two years.

“Our project has provided a powerful tool to preserve predators in the landscape and has resulted in the most promising method for wildlife conservation as the cane toad invasion moves westwards,” said Dr Georgia Ward-Fear, project co-lead from Macquarie University.

Undertaking restoration activities informed by the best science.

A collaboration between La Trobe University, the Forgotten Woodlands Inc. and Glenelg Hopkins CMA, titled ‘Friends of the Forgotten Woodland, Victoria Volcanic Plains Woodland Recovery’, was named Runner Up. 

Friends of the Forgotten Woodlands is a coalition of on-ground practitioners guided by scientists working to restore the woodland communities that were once key to the ecology and function of the Victorian Volcanic Plains. Over the past 10 years, the project has planted over 38,000 trees across 109 sites, established seven seed production areas and developed best-practice guidelines on how to do this, supported 10 separate research projects, conducted workshops and field days, and more.

Impressed by the number and quality of the applications this year.

Dr Samantha Lloyd, Chair of the ESA Practitioner Engagement Working Group and EIA Assessment Committee, was impressed by the high standard of collaborations and applied research among the applications. 

“Every year the assessment panel has a difficult task choosing just two or three projects to recognise,” she said, “and this year was no exception.”

“Congratulations to everyone involved. We look forward to seeing their presentations at the ESA conference in December.”

The award will be presented at ESA2024 in Melbourne in December. Representatives from the three projects will have the opportunity to give an update on their work at the conference. 

The Ecological Impact Award celebrates the working partnership between ecological practitioners and researchers. This recognises the application of science into practice in a collaborative project.