Research papers from Thiaki Rainforest Restoration Project
We have published over 20 papers and presentations from research on Thiaki. Please contact either Penny or Noel for copies of these papers.
We also have a significant paper on the costs and returns from carbon trading of revegetation for rainforests, currently in review, and an advanced manuscript on the factors affecting early survival and growth of saplings and means of improving outcomes.
van Oosterzee, P., Liu, H., Preece, N.D. (2020) Cost benefits of forest restoration in a tropical grazing landscape: Thiaki rainforest restoration project. Global Environmental Change 63, 102105.
Cheesman, A.W., Preece, N.D., van Oosterzee, P., Erskine, P.D., Cernusak, L.A. & Butt, N. (2018) The role of topography and plant functional traits in determining tropical reforestation success. Journal of Applied Ecology, 55, 1029-1039.
Charles, L.S., Dwyer, J.M., Smith, T.J., Connors, S., Marschner, P. & Mayfield, M.M. (2018a) Seedling growth responses to species-, neighborhood-, and landscape-scale effects during tropical forest restoration. Ecosphere, 9, e02386.
Charles, L.S., Dwyer, J.M., Smith, T.J., Connors, S., Marschner, P. & Mayfield, M.M. (2018b) Species wood density and the location of planted seedlings drive early-stage seedling survival during tropical forest restoration. Journal of Applied Ecology, 55, 1009-1018.Derhé, M.A., Murphy, H.T., Preece, N.D., Lawes, M.J. & Menéndez, R. (2017) Recovery of mammal diversity in tropical forests: a functional approach to measuring restoration. Restoration Ecology, n/a-n/a.
Derhé, M.A., Murphy, H., Monteith, G. & Menéndez, R. (2016) Measuring the success of reforestation for restoring biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Journal of Applied Ecology, 53, 1714-1724.
Goosem, M., Paz, C., Fensham, R., Preece, N., Goosem, S., Laurance, S.G.W. & Zobel, M. (2016) Forest age and isolation affect the rate of recovery of plant species diversity and community composition in secondary rain forests in tropical Australia. Journal of Vegetation Science, 27, 504-514.
Lawes, M.J., Moore, A., Andersen, A.N., Preece, N.D. & Franklin, D. (2017) Ants as ecological indicators of rainforest restoration: community convergence and the development of an Ant Forest Indicator Index in the Australian wet tropics. Ecology and Evolution, 7, 8442-8455.
Paul, K., Roxburgh, S., Raison, J., Larmour, J., England, J., Murphy, S., Norris, J., Ritson, P., Brooksbank, K., Hobbs, T., Neumann, C., Lewis, T., Read, Z., Clifford, D., Rooney, M., Freudenberger, D., Jonson, J., Peck, A., Bartle, J., McAurthur, G., Wildy, D., Lindsay, A., Preece, N., Cunningham, S., Powe, T., Carter, J., Bennett, R., Mendham, D., Sudmeyer, R., Rose, B., Butler, D., Cohen, L., Fairman, T., Law, R., Finn, B., Brammar, M., Minchin, G., van Oosterzee, P. & Lothian, A. (2013) Improved estimation of biomass accumulation by environmental planting and mallee plantings using FullCAM. Report for Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, pp. 98. CSIRO Sustainable Agriculture Flagships, Canberra.
Paul, K.I., Cunningham, S.C., England, J.R., Roxburgh, S.H., Preece, N.D., Lewis, T., Brooksbank, K., Crawford, D.F. & Polglase, P.J. (2016) Managing reforestation to sequester carbon, increase biodiversity potential and minimize loss of agricultural land. Land Use Policy, 51, 135-149.
Paul, K.I., Roxburgh, S.H., England, J.R., de Ligt, R., Larmour, J.S., Brooksbank, K., Murphy, S., Ritson, P., Hobbs, T., Lewis, T., Preece, N.D., Cunningham, S.C., Read, Z., Clifford, D. & John Raison, R. (2015) Improved models for estimating temporal changes in carbon sequestration in above-ground biomass of mixed-species environmental plantings. Forest Ecology and Management, 338, 208-218.
Paz, C.P., Goosem, M., Bird, M., Preece, N., Goosem, S., Fensham, R. & Laurance, S. (2016) Soil types influence predictions of soil carbon stock recovery in tropical secondary forests. Forest Ecology and Management, 376, 74-83.
Preece, N. & van Oosterzee, P. (2014) Can Carbon sequestration support reforestation as a livelihood? 51st Annual Meeting of the Association of Tropical Biology &Conservation. Cairns.
Preece, N.D., Lawes, M.J., Rossman, A.K., Curran, T.J. & van Oosterzee, P. (2015) Modelling the growth of young rainforest trees for biomass estimates and carbon sequestration accounting. Forest Ecology and Management, 351, 57-66.
Preece, N.D., van Oosterzee, P., Hidrobo Unda, G.C. & Lawes, M.J. (2017) National carbon model not sensitive to species, families and site characteristics in a young tropical reforestation project. Forest Ecology and Management, 392, 115-124.
Preece, N.D., van Oosterzee, P. & Lawes, M.J. (2013) Planting methods matter for cost-effective rainforest restoration. Ecological Management & Restoration, 14, 63-66.
Smith, T.J. & Mayfield, M.M. (2015) Diptera species and functional diversity across tropical Australian countryside landscapes. Biological Conservation, 191, 436-443.
Tng, D.Y.P., Goosem, M.W., Paz, C.P., Preece, N.D., Goosem, S., Fensham, R.J. & Laurance, S.G.W. (2016) Characteristics of the Psidium cattleianum invasion of secondary rainforests. Austral Ecology, 41, 350-360.
van Oosterzee, P. (2012) The integration of biodiversity and climate change: A contextual assessment of the carbon farming initiative. Ecological Management & Restoration, 13, 238-244.
van Oosterzee, P., Blignaut, J. & Bradshaw, C.J.A. (2012) iREDD hedges against avoided deforestation's unholy trinity of leakage, permanence and additionality. Conservation Letters, 5, 266-273.
van Oosterzee, P., Dale, A. & Preece, N.D. (2014) Integrating agriculture and climate change mitigation at landscape scale: Implications from an Australian case study. Global Environmental Change, 29, 306-317.
Whitehead, T., Goosem, M. & Preece, N.D. (2014) Use by small mammals of a chronosequence of tropical rainforest revegetation Wildlife Research, 41, 233-242.
Charles, L.S., Dwyer, J.M. & Mayfield, M.M. (2017) Rainforest seed rain into abandoned tropical Australian pasture is dependent on adjacent rainforest structure and extent. Austral Ecology, 42, 238-249.
Preece, N.D., Crowley, G.M., Lawes, M.J. & van Oosterzee, P. (2012) Comparing above-ground biomass among forest types in the Wet Tropics: Small stems and plantation types matter in carbon accounting. Forest Ecology and Management, 264, 228-237.
University study site
Students from James Cook University's Masters of International Development, Masters of Environmental Management and undergraduate courses such as Toolbox for Biologists have utilized Thiaki as a study site. A number of Honours, Masters and PhD students have undertaken research on Thiaki and published their dissertations and some scientific papers from their research. We are pleased that they have been able to use this resource and contribute to better understanding of tropical restoration.
ARC Linkage Research and Biodiversity Fund Project
Demand for restoration of landscapes to sequester carbon and improve biodiversity outcomes has recently taken on a new urgency with the growing awareness that reducing emissions alone will not slow down the rate of CO2 entering the atmosphere and changing the world's climate. Sequestering carbon in vegetation and soils is essential to lock up some of the carbon and balance the carbon equation. Climate change is affecting all the world's biomes and biota. In the Wet Tropics, the impacts of climate change will be particularly severe. Extinctions of many endemic species are predicted - a result of the normally equable climate of the tropics being changed outside the usual range. Species currently surviving in small patches of habitat are threatened by changes of average temperature of less than one or two degrees, and reduced annual rainfall. Loss of diversity and resilience in the Great Barrier Reef will be a result of poorer water quality flowing from denuded catchments. Thiaki Creek is a highland tributary of the North Johnstone River which starts at over 1,000 metres and flows into the Great Barrier Reef of Far North Queensland.
On Thiaki Creek, a large-scale natural reforestation experiment is examining the best ways of reforesting a long-cleared grassed landscape to rainforest in the most cost effective way. The project was supported by a 5-year Linkage grant from the Australian Research Council, and by Stanwell Corporation, Terrain NRM Ltd, Greening Australia and Biome5 Pty Ltd. The Queensland Nature Assist program provided part of the funds. The Biodiversity Fund provided additional funds to maintain the reforestation efforts and the research. James Cook University, Uni of Queensland, Adelaide Uni, Charles Darwin Uni, Cambridge Uni and Lancaster Uni are all involved in the research.