Group defies species loss

Environment

Experts from the public and private sectors, research and business have banded together to help conserve and manage our local wildlife in the face of climate change.

To be headed by Professor Andy Lowe, Professor in Plant Conservation Biology at the University of Adelaide, the new Equinox Group will work together on a range of flagship programs to retain South Australian biodiversity and develop better ways of protecting it.

Membership of the group spans many key public and private organisations currently involved in shaping sustainable landscapes.

"Climate change is likely to lead to increased temperatures and drier conditions which will create pressures on both natural and production systems in South Australia," said Professor Lowe.

"It is therefore important to build knowledge about the climate dependency of native and introduced species and how they are likely to respond to variations in climate.

"Species extinction is expected to be particularly severe in the Mt Lofty Ranges. Half of the woodland bird species are facing regional extinction due to the loss of their native habitat. Ten species are already extinct and a further 60 species continue to decline.

"Our generation has a unique opportunity to take action to arrest further biodiversity loss. However this requires landscape restoration on a scale and complexity that is beyond any individual government or corporation. It requires vision and commitment at a community level."

The Equinox Group will:

• pool together and better utilise available resources and expertise in biodiversity landscape-scale restoration;
  
• attract the large amounts of investment needed to enable landscape restoration on a meaningful scale;
  
• enhance coordination of stakeholders in business, government and research;
  
• promote greater awareness and broader community participation.

The group will be supported by the University of Adelaide's Research Institute for Climate Change & Sustainability (RIsCCS).

Professor Lowe, who holds a joint position as Professor of Plant Conservation Biology within the University's School of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Head of Science, State Herbarium and Biological Survey, Department for Environment and Heritage, has extensive expertise in restoration genetics, rapid adaptations in plants and gene flow dynamics in rural and urban landscapes.

Story by Robyn Mills