SGSL Biodiversity Theme

Product Information

The complete analysis of the biodiversity data is made difficult by issues of scale. The SGSL Biodiversity Theme protocols were written to focus on measures of biodiversity at a plot scale. However, the way that salinity is manifested in the landscape means that salt-affected areas may or may not operate at a comparable scale. This is especially apparent in the NSW and VIC projects, where the strongly salt-affected areas constituted only a small proportion of the whole plot. In both of these projects, attempts were made to more closely characterise the environment of these subplot areas. This additional data cannot be easily considered with any of the biodiversity data, however, since these have been collected from the whole plot. Under these circumstances, the averages of the environmental data from the whole plot are of questionable value. Nevertheless, for this report, the analysis focuses on the whole-plot data. Where it is available, analysis of the subplot data will be presented in the SGSL Biodiversity Theme paper at the International Salinity Conference in 2008.

The data were analysed by considering the differences between the ‘control,’ ‘treatment’ and remnant plots. These categories, however, do not easily fit the treatments imposed in the WA1 project, where saltbush and perennial grasses were ‘added’ in a factorial combination to a ‘control’ of an annual-grass based pasture. This report focuses on the distinction between the control and all other treatments, and is based on data collected on a seasonal basis.

In addition to the description of biodiversity data itself, this report includes a preliminary examination of the relationship between biodiversity data and some selected environmental data – especially pasture data. A complete analysis, including consideration of all environmental data (esp. soil factors) will be prepared for the SGSL Biodiversity Theme paper.