Deakin University
Browse
carlos-weedsandwildlife-2014.pdf (657.02 kB)

Weeds and wildlife: perceptions and practices of weed managers

Download (657.02 kB)
journal contribution
posted on 2014-01-01, 00:00 authored by Emma Carlos, Maria Gibson, Mike WestonMike Weston
Negative impacts of invasive plants or weeds on biodiversity have been well established yet their role in providing key habitats and resources for wildlife has been little understood. Weed removal thus has the potential to adversely affect wildlife but whether this is considered during weed management is poorly known. To determine the extent of this knowledge, we examined the perceptions of weed managers regarding wildlife and weed management in Victoria, Australia. We surveyed 81 weed managers of varying levels of experience from different types of organisations, including state and local government, community groups and private companies. We found 90% of managers had observed wildlife-weed interactions and that most (70%) adjusted management programmes to accommodate wildlife. Despite this, few (19%) had adopted the recommended practice of combining gradual weed removal with re-vegetation. While management programmes included monitoring of native vegetation, consideration of wildlife monitoring in weed management was rare. This highlights the need for management to better understand and respond to wildlife-weed relationships. If the improvement of wildlife habitat is included in the objectives of weed programmes, as it should be, then wildlife should also be incorporated in project monitoring. This would lead to a greater understanding of the role weeds and their management have in each situation and, ultimately, more informed decision making. Copyright: © Carlos et al. 2014.

History

Journal

Conservation and society

Volume

12

Issue

1

Pagination

54 - 64

Publisher

Wolters Kluwer - Medknow

Location

Mumbai, India

ISSN

0972-4923

eISSN

0975-3133

Language

eng

Publication classification

C Journal article; C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2014, Wolters Kluwer - Medknow