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R E S E A R C H E D U C A T I O N O U T R E A C H
Samford Ecological Research Facility
ANNUAL REPORT 2011
Institute for Sustainable Resources Level 3 D Block, Gardens Point campus, 2 George Street Brisbane Queensland, 4000 Australia Phone +61 7 3138 1904 Fax +61 7 3138 4438
www.serf.qut.edu.au
© QUT 2012 18582
From the SERF manager ........................................................................... 2
Research ................................................................................................... 4
Education .................................................................................................. 6
Outreach .................................................................................................... 8
Operations and management ................................................................... 10
Dr E. N. Marks Sustainability Award winner ............................................. 12
Spotlight on the Samford Rural Fire Brigade ........................................... 12
Samford Ecological Research Facility Annual Report 2011
From the SERF Manager by Michelle Gane
The start of 2011 was one that nobody expected. South-East Queensland received record rainfall followed by a devastating flood. QUT’s Gardens Point campus was closed for several days but escaped major damage. Despite the slow wet start to the year, there was significant activity at SERF with a major focus on establishing a series of long-term environmental monitoring sensors.
The water measurement station at SERF captured one of the many storm events in January and showed rapid increase in flow from 0.4 cubic metres per second of water flowing in Samford Creek per second to 27 cubic metres per second.
With research infrastructure growing at SERF, so does the task of ongoing maintenance. Local Samford resident Marcus Yates has joined the Institute for Sustainable Resources (ISR) team and is our new SERF Technical Officer based solely at SERF. Marcus has a forestry background and his knowledge is a welcome addition to the team.
SERF continues to be the home of the South-East Queensland Peri-urban Supersite of the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN). There are seven supersites around Australia including SERF, with each supersite located in a significant Australian biome. Currently members of the Australian Supersite Network are working together to apply for additional funding to continue the Supersite project for several years.
A hazard-reduction burn was finally undertaken with assistance from the Samford Rural Fire Brigade. QUT would like to thank this community-based volunteer organisation for their assistance as the burn would not have been possible without their help.
The makings of a new research institute, designed to capitalise on QUT’s research strengths in science and engineering, is starting to take shape. The new institute with the working title of Institute for Future Environments
will be the ISR’s new home and SERF’s managing entity and will be operational by mid-2012.
The QUT Blueprint 2011, the university’s five-year institutional plan, was released. QUT made the strategic decision to build capacity of the science, engineering and mathematics disciplines to provide learning environments and programs that are more appropriate in the real world characterised by increasing change. This saw the merger of the Faculty of Science and Technology and the Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering to create the new Science and Engineering Faculty (SEF). The new Science and Engineering Centre and institute will build upon this approach by bridging the academic disciplines in research and linking research and external communities.
ISR General Manager Jim Reeves was seconded to the Queensland Government as Director General of the Department of Environment, Resource and Management. Professor Ian Mackinnon will be the Executive Director of the new institute.
On behalf of the SERF team, thank you for a great year and we look forward to another year at the Samford Ecological Research Facility.
Your neighbour and SERF Manager MICHELLE GANE
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Hydrograph showing variability of stream flow at the SERF pumpshed monitoring station from May to September 2011.
FLOW (m3s-1)
Samford Ecological Research Facility Annual Report 2011
Research by SERF Director Professor Peter Grace
Research at SERF takes many forms, from observations relying on expert eyes and ears, to teams of investigators using sophisticated automated sensors. Subjects range from avian monitoring to carbon dioxide gas exchange. With the capital works improvement plan finished, research at SERF is moving ahead in leaps and bounds.
The Critical Zone Observatories (CZO) is a research approach in North America examining the interaction between the atmosphere and the soil. The critical zone is the porous near-surface layer of the earth, from the top of the trees to the bottom of the groundwater. Little is known about the processes that shape the earth’s surface and the CZO research network seeks to understand these couplings through monitoring and modeling at the catchment scale. This is similar to an approach being undertaken at SERF, with the site being designated a supersite for long-term ecological research studies within the national Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN).
The first half of 2011 was spent planning the deployment of a range of soil water sensors across the entire property. A comprehensive vegetation survey undertaken at the end of 2010 established eight different vegetation communities at SERF. Using a Digital Elevation Model and an ArcGIS coupled model called Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), a preliminary assessment of the entire Samford Valley was undertaken. Combined with the vegetation survey, a series of 12 transects each with three nodes were established. At each node soil water sensors were installed with measurements being continuously recorded from five different depths. The soil water sensors form part of a long-term monitoring project that will give QUT researchers a better understanding of how the water, carbon and nitrogen cycles are affected by land use change.
During the installation process, 36 soil cores were taken to provide a detailed soil survey of the property. Current soil mapping of the area is at 1:1 000 000 scale. To complement the soil survey and to aid undergraduate teaching, three soil pits were also installed at representative locations across SERF.
Acoustic sensors, recording sounds from wildlife 24 hours a day, were also installed at each transect. Acoustic sensor researcher Jason Wimmer (PhD candidate and 2010 Dr E. N. Marks award recipient) has delivered some fascinating results. Jason installed acoustic sensors at three different locations at SERF and, using the traditional bird survey technique, 20-minute surveys were undertaken at dawn, noon and dusk over five consecutive days with two experienced bird watchers. The acoustic sensors identified 94 bird species while the traditional survey detected 69 bird species. From this research, informed sampling strategies can be developed to maximise labour resources. For example, if the acoustic sensors are used to sample at dawn for three hours, there is a 40 per cent improvement over the traditional survey techniques.
In 2012, the research agenda will expand to include groundwater monitoring and the installation of a one-hectare core vegetation plot that will be surveyed annually to provide information on changes in both biomass and species composition.
The soils research project will also increase its scope to include in situ carbon dioxide soil probes to complement the soil water sensors. This information will be used to determine the loss of carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) from soils to the atmosphere.
The Faculty of Science and Technology successfully obtained a Capacity Building Research Equipment grant and will fund the construction of three insect screen houses in 2012. The screen houses will be the focus of insect-plant interactions, insect behavior, insect dispersion studies and other ecological modelling research.
RESEARch Activity At SERF iN 2011
Project title Lead QUt researcher/s Duration QUt faculty
National Collaboration Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS), Terrestrial Ecosystem Network (TERN), South-East Queensland Peri-urban Grassland Supersite
Professor Peter Grace, Dr David Rowlings and Michelle Gane
ISR, FaST
• Carbon dioxide and water flux (OzFlux Station) Professor Peter Grace, Dr David Rowlings ongoing ISR
• Automated Greenhouse Gas Measurement System
Dr Dave Rowlings, Dr Clemens Scheer ongoing ISR
• Water quality, flow and nutrient dynamics Martin Labadz, Dr Dave Rowlings ongoing FaST, ISR
• Weather monitoring Dr Dave Rowlings ongoing ISR
• Soil water chemistry Dr Dave Rowlings ongoing
• Soil water (by depth) Dr Dave Rowlings ongoing
• Acoustic sensors Jason Wimmer ongoing
• Net Primary Production (NPP) Dr Dave Rowlings ongoing ISR
• TERN data visualsiation Marco Fahmi ongoing ISR
Effects of a forest fire on short-term soil respiration, N2O and CH4 flux rates
Dr David Rowlings July to September 2011 ISR, FaST
Effective control or pathway to invasion? Recruitment of native and Lantana camara L. seedlings after a low intensity burn
David Benefer and Dr Jennifer Firn August to December 2011 FaST
Digital soil model Wai Song Cheah and Robin Thwaites January to December 2011
FaST
Assessing ant diversity and their seed harvesting rates Michael Kleimeyer (Honours project) December 2009– December 2011
FaST
Acoustic sensing: Towards a framework for assessing ecological health
Jason Wimmer and Dr Ian Williamson 2008–2012 ISR/FaST
ISR (Institute for Sustainable Resources), FaST (Faculty of Science and Technology)
Education by Ian Williamson
Ecology students from the Faculty of Science and Technology had another busy year at SERF. In mid-March a group of third-year students conducted a four-day fauna survey. A shorter vertebrate survey was also conducted later in the year (October) by a second-year class. The species list for the site is growing with more than 90 bird species recorded, and a large number of records of other vertebrates including 16 amphibian species, 21 species of mammal, 16 reptile species, and eight species of freshwater fish.
In mid-Autumn for the last four years, second-year students have assessed the amount of digging activity by bandicoots in relation to distance from roads and forest edges, and vegetation structure. Bandicoots seem to be always more active away from the edges, whether the edges are roads or open pasture. In 2011 there was a big increase in digging activity relative to the previous three years.
Third-year students also completed two other short projects. One project was a training exercise to allow students to formulate accurate methods of assessing weed distribution and density. The second project was a standard conservation ecology experiment about nest predation on small birds and edge effects in small forest patches. As patches of forest get smaller the impact of nest predators is thought to be higher because there is a greater amount of edge relative to total forest area. Students placed artificial nests and plasticine eggs at the edge and the middle of the forest, and the peck rate on the eggs was used as an index of predation pressure for nesting birds. Marks in the plasticine eggs are also used to identify predators—usually goannas, rats and birds.
The SERF forest is a relatively small patch of remnant vegetation and there was no apparent difference between attack rates in edge versus middle positions.
In 2011 a new set of short projects were also conducted by small teams of third-year students. One team looked at the influence of lantana on soil seed banks and soil nutrients. Another group used the low-intensity burn that took place in August. They examined the recruitment of native and lantana seedlings in order to provide some information about how fire might impact on lantana and native species, and therefore how fire might best be used as a management tool. Other teams looked at the distribution of different ant species and at the role that ants play in dispersing seeds. One other group looked at plant diversity patterns in relation to disturbance, particularly along the walking tracks through the forest.
EDUcAtiONAL Activity At SERF iN 2011
class field trips course unit course name coordinator Faculty
Students collecting and surveying site information to input into a hypothetical design of a culvert across creek
ENB40–ENB378 Water Engineering Les Dawes BEE
Practical exercise in ecology – an examination of the distribution of bandicoot diggings in relation to distance from roads and vegetation type
NQB321 Ecology Ian Williamson FaST
Students collecting and surveying site information to input into a hypothetical design of a culvert across creek
ENB40–ENB378 Water Engineering Les Dawes BEE
Sampling and analysis of creek water NQB602 Environmental Chemistry Jim Smith FaST
Edge effects–nest predation exercise NQB622 Conservation Biology Susan Fuller FaST
Students conducting action learning projects in five groups
NQB623 Ecosystems Sciences Jennifer Firn FaST
Vertebrate survey — general ground search and empty pitfall traps
NQB423 Vertebrate Biology Ian Williamson FaST
BEE (Built Environment and Engineering) FaST (Faculty of Science and Technology)
Outreach by Annabelle Ramsay
QUT is committed to SERF’s outreach program but the weather had other ideas in 2011. With an extremely wet start to the year, a theme that carried on throughout 2011, it was a rather quiet year for SERF’s community engagement program. The poor draining soils on the property and high rainfall caused havoc for our research and teaching and learning program, and rather than risk damaging the fragile SERF ecosystem many events were postponed until 2012.
Madeleine Sternberg, winner of the Dr E. N. Marks Memorial Masters Scholarship in 2008, is currently completing a part-time masters degree on the life and work of Dr Elizabeth Marks AO, examining the role her family had in shaping and encouraging her education, professional life and many other personal successes. Madeleine has completed a draft of her thesis and is aiming for the completed manuscript to be submitted within a year for final examination.
Regardless of the wet weather, SERF hosted several internationally renowned researchers. In early April SERF was home to Dr Sven Bohm, Information Manager and Dr Kevin Kahmark, Gas Flux Technician, Kellogg Biological Station, Long Term Ecological Research
(LTER) facility at Michigan State University (MSU). Dr Bohm and Dr Kahmark are working in collaboration with QUT’s Institute for Sustainable Resources Automated Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Measurement System research program.
The Kellogg Biological Station is part of the US National Science Foundation LTER network addressing research to understand ecological interaction underlying the productivity of agricultural systems. QUT and MSU have collaborated on several projects using the Automated GHG Measurement System that quantifies greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture systems.
SERF also had the privilege of hosting a team of researchers from Cornell University, New York for six months. Dan Baldassarre (PhD candidate) and three other research assistants (Ali, Jennifer and Nicole) undertook comprehensive research into the behaviour and genetics of the Australian red-backed fairy wren. The female red-back fairy wren has a brown plumage and some males also have a brown female-like plumage. Also, half way along the Queensland coastline the colour of the fairy wren changes from a brilliant red to a vibrant orange. The team from Cornell are investigating the fairy wren’s mating rituals and how plumage colour affects breeding success. They are hoping to be able to provide answers on evolutionary causes and the consequences of the variation in their reproductive behaviour.
Samford Ecological Research Facility Annual Report 2011
Emeritus Professor Stuart Gage from Michigan State University and ISR Adjunct Professor visited SERF again in November. Professor Gage has been visiting Australia for several years and SERF is always on his agenda. He is a world leader in complex biological systems analysis and has a long-term research project at SERF using acoustic sensors. Professor Gage is currently developing metrics for assessing ecosystem health and predicting future pressures on natural resources. His recent work in environmental acoustics has led to advances in acoustic research activities in Australia which QUT is pleased to be associated with.
Staying at SERF while conducting this research was a phenomenal experience. It is located very close to the field site, so it was very convenient. The facilities at SERF are incredible and more than sufficient to house my four volunteer field assistants and myself comfortably. The QUT students who remodelled the barracks truly did a wonderful job. We were also very happy to be able to support QUT and interact with the staff and faculty affiliated with SERF. Annabelle and Michelle were very helpful and supportive with logistics. Furthermore, there is a healthy population of red-backed fairy wrens located on the SERF property as well, and we were able to study those birds and compare them to the birds at Lake Samsonvale. This was very convenient, since the barracks where we were staying are located on the property. This feature makes conducting research at SERF very attractive. In short, SERF was a great boon to my research and I am very much looking forward to staying there again when I continue my research next year.
Dan Baldassare, PhD candidate, Cornell University, January 2012
The Annual Information Session was to be held on 7 November with more than 80 people planning to attend. Unfortunately, the wet weather played havoc with our plans and it had to be cancelled at the last minute. Not to be deterred, the Annual Information Session will be held again next year.
The SERF website www.serf.qut.edu.au is continually updated with the latest detailed information on the events at SERF. The SERF team is always happy to hear from members of our local community so please contact us at anytime.
Operations and management by Ian MacKinnon, Peter Grace and Michelle Gane
The activities that occurred in the past year for the ongoing maintenance and operation of the property as an ecological field research station were yet again varied. Even though the wet conditions at SERF significantly slowed down our Capital Works program, four major projects were completed.
The SERF electricity upgrade was completed in August 2011. This required coordination with Energex who were supplying the 11KVA electricity line into the property and the contractors who had to rewire the entire Barracks building and install additional lighting and electricity outlets. Energex were unable to start work until a temporary road was built due the persistent wet conditions. After the completion of the Energex line, the road was removed and the materials reused at the other end of the property to make a crossing to the flux station area.
Another major achievement in 2011 was the IT facilities upgrade at the Barracks building. This outcome was contingent on the electricity upgrade being completed due to the shared infrastructure. However, due to technical issues outside the property boundary, the IT work was not completed until late December.
A section of the SERF property boundary was refenced by a local contractor. The fence was in desperate need of attention and the north-east and south-west boundaries were replaced by four-strand non-barbed wire to make the property more fauna friendly. The
frontage fencing of the property, running along Upper Camp Mountain Road and Camp Mountain Road, will be replaced by Moreton Bay Regional Council as a condition of SERF’s Material Change of Use Development Approval.
Two foot bridges were also built over two notoriously wet gullies on the walking track, slowly increasing all-weather access to various parts of the property.
A controlled hazard reduction burn had been planned for sometime with Samford Rural Fire Brigade. However, wet conditions in 2010 resulted in the burn being rescheduled. After many months of planning and coordination, the burn took place on 13 August. The designated 10 hectares of forest to be burnt was part of a greenhouse gas emissions research project. Despite the weather and site conditions being favourable, the forest would not burn and the hot intense fire that had us all concerned did not eventuate. However, after a 12-hour day and much encouragement by the Samford Rural Fire Brigade a cool forest burn was finally produced.
The Capital Works program for 2012 is limited to the addition of three insect screen houses. However, this will allow us to consolidate our long-term ecological monitoring research program with TERN and continue to chip away at our invasive weeds.
Samford Ecological Research Facility Annual Report 2011
When the property was bequeathed to QUT, the university made a commitment to ‘touch the ground lightly’ and it is with great pride that we continue to meet that goal. The installation of a composting toilet system, rainwater tanks and solar panels means the property is almost a self-sustaining system. Throughout the year, the property has consistently generated excess electricity that has been fed back into the grid.
corporate goals for 2012:
• Refence the property frontage by Moreton Bay Regional Council.
• Develop visualisation webpage to stream environmental sensor data live from SERF.
• Continue to roll out the TERN Supersite monitoring network at SERF and into the Samford Valley and establish vegetation research.
• Continue to maintain a high level of community interaction to ensure the sustainable development of the Samford Valley.
capital works program ($)
Budget Spent
Electrical upgrade (including tree removal)
– 31 524
Fence replacement 229 600 100 000
IT upgrade 100 000 100 000
Solar Power/Electricity to southern end 153 300 153 300
total $482 900 $384 824
Retained $98 076
Expense summary ($)
Research support 94 135
Land management 20 315
Equipment and IT 33 894
Operations 25 087
Community outreach 8036
Administration 34 053
total $215 520
Expense Summary
Equipment and it 16%
Land management 9%
Research support 44%
community outreach 4%
Administration 16%
Operations 11%
Dr E. N. Marks Sustainability Award winner
After a very wet summer the conditions at SERF were ready for the long-awaited hazard reduction burn. Only a small section (10 hectares) would be burnt as the burning regime is part of a long-term ecological research project. On Saturday 13 August, the local Fire Warden Councillor Bob Millar issued the Permit to Light Fire and the Officer in Charge Alan Wells supervised the burn.
Since 2008, the ISR has been presenting an annual award to recognise outstanding contributions to sustainability made by students working at SERF.
David Benfer is a third-year undergraduate student completing a Bachelor of Applied Science (majoring in Ecology) at QUT.
David participated in a number of undergraduate activities at SERF during 2011, in particular, the Ecological System unit (NQB623) where he undertook a short research project with a small group of student colleagues. The project examined the recruitment of native and lantana seedlings after a low-intensity burn, in order to provide some information about how fire might impact on lantana and native species, and therefore how fire might best be used as a management tool. The nature of the work is highly relevant to our understanding of the ecology of native plants at SERF,
and to the long-term management of problem weeds. If management can be based on sound scientific knowledge then we are far more likely to be able to achieve sustainable management outcomes for native plants and animals at SERF.
David’s student project was an important contribution to the SERF knowledge base and the ISR is pleased to present the 2011 Dr E. N. Marks Sustainability award recipient.
Spotlight on the Samford Rural Fire Brigade
The burn would not have been possible without the support of the Samford Rural Fire brigade volunteers. QUT would like to thank the 18 volunteer fire fighters who gave up their weekend to help: Alan Wells (Officer in Charge), Tony Marks, Les Bateman, Greg Hoyes, Chris Brett, Frank McGaw, Anne Wells, Brett Worsley, Les Austin, Don Greenhalgh, Glenn Batson, Ferg Adrian, Marilyn Kunde, Sheree Osborne, Ian Uhr, Geoff Pullen, Jenny Marks and Mark Wall.
R E S E A R C H E D U C A T I O N O U T R E A C H
Samford Ecological Research Facility
ANNUAL REPORT 2011
Institute for Sustainable Resources Level 3 D Block, Gardens Point campus, 2 George Street Brisbane Queensland, 4000 Australia Phone +61 7 3138 1904 Fax +61 7 3138 4438
www.serf.qut.edu.au
© QUT 2012 18582
