Dr Richard Harris

Room: EnvSc/3.044A

Research

Terrestrial community ecology and restoration: impact of disturbance on plant and ant communities, quantifying restoration goals and success, role of refugia in landscape restoration.

Projects

1. Build it and they will come – the invertebrate perspective

   Habitat piles are a relatively recent addition to Alcoa’s restoration of Bauxite mines. These are added primarily to provide homes for vertebrate species in the rehabbed areas. These habitats may also increase the diversity and abundance of invertebrates in the habitat, if they are able to colonise these habitat “islands”. A concentration of invertebrate abundance would also provide food for vertebrate inhabitants of the habitat islands. Using established experimental sites this project will look determine if these habitat island are rapidly colonised by invertebrates and provide elevated abundances compared to the surrounding restored habitat. This project would be co-supervised by Dr Mike Craig (Senior Research Fellow, State Centre of Excellence for Climate Change and Forest and Woodland Health, Biological Sciences and Biotechnology).

2. Early indicators of community change in restoration activities

   It can take many years after planting to record significant changes in vegetation diversity and structure. However other elements of the community may respond more rapidly. Ants are very mobile animals that can rapidly recolonise suitable habitat, and are sensitive to changes in vegetation and litter cover. This project will look at the response of ant communities to different aged restoration planting in Tuart woodlands to determine if they can be used as early indicators of restoration success. This project would be co-supervised by Dr Katinka Ruthrof (Senior Research Fellow, State Centre of Excellence for Climate Change and Forest and Woodland Health, Biological Sciences and Biotechnology).

3. Outcrops and breakaways as refugia in agricultural landscapes

In the agricultural zone of south-western Australia much of the vegetation has been cleared. Remnants that remain are often small and degraded and associated with outcrops and breakaways. This project aims to test the importance of these refugia for ants. Does vegetation diversity and /or habitat complexity increase the values of the refuge, or and distinguish it from matrix? This project would be co-supervised by Dr Rachel Standish (UWA) and it would involve field work in remnant vegetation on UWA Ridgefield Farm and intact vegetation in the adjacent Boyagin Rock Nature Reserve and subsequent lab work. An interest in sampling and identifying ants essential.

4. Is conserving vegetation diversity an adequate surrogate for invertebrates

   The Ravensthorpe Range, on the South Coast, is an area of exceptionally diverse vegetation. This diversity has recently been quantified through a vegetation mapping project and a plot survey. Such information could be used to establish conservation areas within the range the Range to maximise the protection of plant communities. Are vegetation assemblages an appropriate surrogate for the invertebrates? This project will determine vegetation composition changes are the primary driver of changes in ant assemblages or if topographical, spatial, or habitat structural differences are more appropriate surrogates.

5. Quantifying moisture gradients and soil structure to guild restoration planting

   Mosaics of vegetation communities occur around seasonal wetlands with soil moisture and structure driving these communities. In order to direct vegetation planting in degraded sites where much of the remnant vegetation is missing an understating of soil patterns is necessary. This project will map topography, soil moisture and soil structure across an urban seasonal wetland/marri woodland remnant in order to better direct restoration planting efforts in the cleared areas.

6. Other projects

   If there is something specific that you are interested in along these lines come and see me and we can develop a specific project.

 

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