Rock supplementation as an ecological restoration strategy for temperate grassland reptiles,Austral Ecology

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Rock supplementation as an ecological restoration strategy for temperate grassland reptiles
Austral Ecology ( IF 1.6 ) Pub Date : 2022-07-18 , DOI: 10.1111/aec.13219
Alicia Palmer ₁ , Richard N. C. Milner ₂ , Brett Howland ₂ , Philip Gibbons ₁ , Geoffrey M. Kay ₃ , Chloe F. Sato _{1,

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Affiliation

Temperate grassland ecosystems support highly diverse assemblages of plants and animals but have been predominantly cleared for urban infrastructure and modified for agriculture. Temperate grasslands that remain in south-eastern Australia are often degraded. For example, surface rocks have been extensively removed, potentially affecting long-term persistence of grassland reptiles that depend on this resource. Rock habitat restoration is a strategy that can promote the survival of grassland reptiles and restore degraded temperate grasslands. In this study, we examined the benefit of supplementing locally sourced rock to improve reptile outcomes in degraded grassland reserves in the ACT. We established a BACI design across five ACT grassland reserves with 10 plots where rocks were added and 10 equivalent control plots to assess (i) the effect of rock supplementation on reptile relative abundance and composition, and (ii) the characteristics of the sites and rocks that reptiles used. Surveys were conducted over the spring and summer period each year over 3 years (2015–2017). Early results (one-year post-study) indicate that reptiles used supplemented rock and that reptiles show a preference for large (7600–29 000 cm³), flat rocks. Reptiles also show a preference for sites with higher grass cover and native vegetation composition, highlighting the need to manage site-scale conditions to maximize the success of rock supplementation. Our study concludes rock restoration will support the persistence of grassland reptile populations, particularly if coupled with site-scale grassland management, and will likely be an important strategy to use under changing climate regimes.

中文翻译：

岩石补充作为温带草原爬行动物的生态恢复策略

温带草原生态系统支持高度多样化的动植物群落，但主要用于城市基础设施和农业改造。留在澳大利亚东南部的温带草原经常退化。例如，地表岩石已被广泛清除，可能会影响依赖这种资源的草原爬行动物的长期存在。岩石栖息地恢复是一种可以促进草原爬行动物生存和恢复退化的温带草原的策略。在这项研究中，我们检查了补充当地来源的岩石以改善 ACT 退化草原保护区的爬行动物结果的好处。我们在五个 ACT 草原保护区建立了一个 BACI 设计，其中有 10 个添加岩石的地块和 10 个等效控制地块，以评估（i）岩石补充对爬行动物相对丰度和组成的影响，以及（ii）地点和岩石的特征爬行动物使用的。调查在每年春季和夏季期间进行，为期 3 年（2015-2017 年）。早期结果（研究后一年）表明爬行动物使用补充岩石并且爬行动物表现出对大型（7600-29 000 cm³ )、平坦的岩石。爬行动物还表现出对草覆盖率较高和原生植被组成较高的地点的偏好，突出了管理地点规模条件以最大限度地提高岩石补充的成功率的必要性。我们的研究得出结论，岩石恢复将支持草原爬行动物种群的持续存在，特别是如果与场地规模的草原管理相结合，并且可能是在不断变化的气候条件下使用的重要策略。

更新日期：2022-07-18

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