Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
is inappropriate to damage, degrade or even totally destroy them by targeting them
for planting. Many areas of open grazing country such as on the South West Slopes
of New South Wales are native secondary grasslands, however, where in most cases
plantings would be beneficial if established appropriately. Similarly, rocky areas
can be critically important environments for species-rich groups of native reptiles
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(see Chapter 5) and planting programs in these areas need to be carefully
considered. Densely spaced plantings in rocky areas can be particularly
detrimental because of changes to the amount of incoming solar radiation and, in
turn, thermal conditions for reptiles.
17
How big should your planting be?
The general scientific wisdom is that large plantings of two or more hectares are
better for biodiversity than small ones (e.g. those less than 1 hectare). This is
because they are thought likely to support more species of plants and animals than
small ones and support larger numbers of individuals of a given species. We have
found that some species are indeed more likely to occur in larger plantings. An
example is the White-plumed Honeyeater.
3
The odds of finding this species in a
planting increase by 27% with each doubling of the area of a planting. Other
species which are more likely to occur in larger plantings include the Apostlebird
and the Red-browed Finch.
7
Big plantings are often better than small plantings, but in many cases the
context of a planting is even more important. The amount of native vegetation or
planted vegetation surrounding a planting has a very strong effect on the
occurrence of animals such as birds.
0.2 12 5
20
Area of planting (ha)
Figure 3.9:
Relationships between the size of a planting and the occurrence of the White-plumed Honeyeater.
