Hosted by Land Covenantors Victoria, this free webinar features Rachael Gallagher and Joshua Lee from Western Sydney University, followed by Q&A.

Learn about the ideas behind functional ecology
A focus on plant traits and strategies – not plant names
Setting objectives to rebuild ecosystem structure and function
Choosing what to plant when seed supply is low
How these approaches can help private land conservation.

Rachael Gallagher

Rachael has worked as a plant ecologist and conservation scientist for more than 20 years. Her work focuses on understanding and minimising threats to our unique Australian flora, including from the impacts of land use change, weed invasions and climate change.

In this webinar, she will share her perspectives about restoration practice in Australia and how applying new approaches that focus on plant strategies – not plant names – can help us decide how to restore land.

Rachael will discuss the ideas behind functional ecology. This is the idea that species are more than just their names, they are collections of specific ‘traits’ (e.g., how big are their leaves, seeds and stems?) that, taken together, can tell us more about how they make a living in the environment than can their scientific name. She will discuss how we might use functional trait approaches to help us rebuild ecosystem structure and function, and how functional approaches can help us chose species to plant when seed supply is low.

You can listen to her talking with Radio National about this topic here (starting at 34 minutes): https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/blueprintforliving/the-future-of-weeds-native-seeds-and-restaurant-feeds/103892600 .

She is an Associate Professor at Hawkesbury institute for the Environment at Western Sydney University: https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/hie/people/researchers/associate_professor_rachael_gallagher

Joshua Lee

Josh is currently studying for his PhD in Rachael’s research group at Western Sydney Uni. He’s working with the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust (BCT) and using data from covenants sites as the backbone of his PhD research.

Josh is interested in understanding how functional approaches can help in private land conservation, including in monitoring the amount of biodiversity that’s found on a property. Traditional monitoring methods often focus on species counts, which while valuable, can miss the ecological nuances that drive ecosystem function and resilience.

He uses data on the functional characteristics of species—such as their height, leaf size, leaf chemistry and seed size— to figure out how plants collectively contribute to ecosystem function. Josh is also a keen birdo and is looking at how the traits of plants might shape bird visitation at BCT sites.

The outcomes of his research are expected to provide more scope to drive decisions about restoration planning, and prioritising areas in the landscape that are of high conservation value to help the BCT build a more representative, diverse, and resilient conservation network.

You can read more about his work here: https://www.ecolsoc.org.au/news/awards/2023-fundamental-ecology-award-winner-announced/