AUSTRALIA—GERMANY WORKSHOP ON BIODIVERSITY

The Shine Dome, 13-17 March 2006

Integrating ecological and genetic approaches to studying plant population viability in
degraded landscapes
by Dr Andrew Young, Principal Research Scientist, Program Leader Biodiversity and Sustainable Production, CSIRO Plant Industry

Quantifying the spatial and temporal dynamics of plant populations to assess intrinsic rates of increase and predict the probability of local species persistence is an extraordinarily difficult task. Knowledge of these basic population processes, their relative influence on population viability, and how they are affected by landscape condition and structure is critical if we are to successfully integrate the conservation of plant biodiversity with sustainable production within mixed natural-agricultural landscapes. This talk will outline research that has combined ecological, genetic and modelling methods to investigate the importance of factors such as mate limitation, genetic erosion, inbreeding and outbreeding in determining the viability of native plant populations in Australian grasslands.