Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research

Last updated

Focus Conservation, Animal Welfare and Biodiversity
Location
  • Heidelberg, Melbourne, Australia
Coordinates 37°45′08″S145°03′43″E / 37.7523°S 145.0620°E / -37.7523; 145.0620 Coordinates: 37°45′08″S145°03′43″E / 37.7523°S 145.0620°E / -37.7523; 145.0620
MethodResearch
Employees
65
Website www.depi.vic.gov.au/environment-and-wildlife/arthur-rylah-institute

The Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research (ARI) is the biodiversity research organisation for the government of Victoria, Australia. It provides advice on ecologically sustainable land and water management issues and with regard to threatened native flora and fauna. [1] It is named after Sir Arthur Rylah, a long-serving Victorian politician and deputy state premier between 1955 and 1971.

Contents

History

Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research (ARI) was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth on 8 April 1970 as part of the Fisheries and Wildlife Division. The foundation Director was Alfred Dunbavin Butcher who also had an association with Melbourne Zoo and Healesville Sanctuary. He had a keen interest in art and this attracted a large collection of wildlife art and the commissioning of a large mural at the institute. The institute was subsequently incorporated into various Victorian Government Departments since then including the Ministry for Conservation, the Department of Conservation Forests and Lands, the Department of Sustainability and Environment; and is currently (2017) within the Department of Environment Land Water and Planning.

Publications

There have been many published reports, journal articles, book sections, books, theses and conference proceedings from the ARI releasing information about scientific research on plants and animals.

ARI Publication List

Annual Report

The ARI annual report summarises key activities and research completed that have importance in changing the way Australian fauna and flora thrive in 21st century environments.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yarra Ranges National Park</span> Protected area in Victoria, Australia

Yarra Ranges National Park is located in the Central Highlands of Australia's southeastern state Victoria, 107 km northeast of Melbourne. Established in 1995 and managed by the statutory authority Parks Victoria, the park features a carbon-rich, temperate rainforest and a subalpine eucalypt forest on its northern plateau. It is home to large stands of mountain ash, the tallest tree species in Australia and among the tallest in the world. A wide diversity of fauna make their home across the park's 76,003 hectares, including kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, platypuses and 120 species of native birds. Among the conservation challenges facing Yarra Ranges National Park are climate change and invasive species of weeds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black bittern</span> Species of bird

The black bittern is a bittern of Old World origin, breeding in tropical Asia from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka east to China, Indonesia, and Australia. It is mainly resident, but some northern birds migrate short distances.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black-eared miner</span> Species of bird

The black-eared miner is an endangered honeyeater endemic to mallee woodland in south-eastern Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giant burrowing frog</span> Species of amphibian

The giant burrowing frog or eastern owl frog is a large frog species that occurs in coastal south-east New South Wales and Victoria in Australia. It is also known as the owl frog, southern owl frog, spotted owl frog, burrowing owl frog.

<i>Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988</i>

The Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988, also known as the FFG Act, is an act of the Victorian Parliament designed to protect species, genetic material and habitats, to prevent extinction and allow maximum genetic diversity within the Australian state of Victoria for perpetuity. It was the first Australian legislation to deal with such issues. It enables the listing of threatened species and communities and threats to native species, and the declaration of critical habitat necessary for the survival of native plants and animals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999</span> Environmental law in Australia

The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999(Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia that provides a framework for protection of the Australian environment, including its biodiversity and its natural and culturally significant places. Enacted on 17 July 2000, it established a range of processes to help protect and promote the recovery of threatened species and ecological communities, and preserve significant places from decline. The Act is as of June 2020 administered by the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment. Lists of threatened species are drawn up under the Act, and these lists, the primary reference to threatened species in Australia, are available online through the Species Profile and Threats Database (SPRAT).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conservation in Papua New Guinea</span>

Papua New Guinea together with the West Papua region of Indonesia make up a major tropical wilderness area that still contains 5% of the original and untouched tropical high-biodiversity terrestrial ecosystems. PNG in itself contains over 5% of the world's biodiversity in less than 1% of the world's total land area. The flora of New Guinea is unique because it has two sources of origin; the Gondwana flora from the south and flora with Asian origin from the west. As a result, New Guinea shares major family and genera with Australia and the East Asia, but is rich in local endemic species. The endemicity is a result of mountainous isolation, topographic and soil habitat heterogeneity, high forest disturbance rates and abundant aseasonal rainfall year round. PNG boasts some 15–21,000 higher plants, 3,000 species of orchids, 800 species of coral, 600 species of fish, 250 species of mammals and 760 species of birds and 8 species of tree-kangaroos out of which 84 genera of animals are endemic. Ecosystems range from lowland forests to montane forests, alpine flora down to coastal areas which contains some of the most extensive pristine mangrove areas in the world. Much of this biodiversity has remained intact for thousands of years because the ruggedness of the terrain made the interior lands inaccessible; furthermore low population density and restrictions on the effectiveness of traditional tools, ensured that these biodiversity was never overexploited.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dryandra Woodland National Park</span> National park in Western Australia

The Dryandra Woodland National Park is a national park in Western Australia within the shires of Cuballing, Williams and Wandering, about 164 kilometres south-east of Perth and 22 kilometres north-west of the town of Narrogin. It is a complex of 17 distinct blocks managed by the Western Australian Department of Parks and Wildlife and spread over approximately 50 kilometres separated by areas of agricultural land. The area is considered to be one of the state's major conservation areas, and although it is far from pristine due to its history of logging operations, a number of species of threatened fauna are rebuilding populations through the removal of introduced predators such as foxes and feral cats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lewin's rail</span> Species of bird

Lewin's rail is a species of bird in the family Rallidae. It is also known as the water rail, Lewin's water rail, Lewin's grind rail, slate-breasted rail, slate-breasted water rail, pectoral rail, pectoral water rail, short-toed rail and short-toed water rail.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastern bristlebird</span> Species of bird

The eastern bristlebird is a species of bird in the bristlebird family, Dasyornithidae. It is endemic to Australia. Its natural habitats are temperate forests, temperate shrubland, and temperate grassland. It is threatened by habitat loss.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hooded robin</span> Species of songbird native to Australia

The hooded robin is a small passerine bird native to Australia. Like many brightly coloured robins of the Petroicidae, it is sexually dimorphic; the male bears a distinctive black-and-white plumage, while the female is a nondescript grey-brown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barmah National Park</span> Protected area in Victoria, Australia

The Barmah National Park, formerly Barmah State Park, is a national park located in the Hume region of the Australian state of Victoria. The park is located adjacent to the Murray River near the town of Barmah, approximately 225 kilometres (140 mi) north of Melbourne. The park consists of river red gum floodplain forest, interspersed with treeless freshwater marshes. The area is subject to seasonal flooding from natural and irrigation water flows.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve</span> Protected area in Victoria, Australia

Established in 1965, the Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve is located 45 km east of Melbourne in the Upper Yarra Valley, near the towns of Yellingbo, Launching Place, Yarra Junction, Hoddles Creek, Cockatoo, Emerald, Monbulk and Seville. Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve is a narrow riparian reserve with stream-frontage land along the Woori Yallock, Shepherd, Cockatoo, Macclesfield and Sheep Station Creeks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yanga National Park</span> Protected area in New South Wales, Australia

The Yanga National Park is a newly formed national park, located near the township of Balranald in south- western New South Wales. It covers an area of 66,734 hectares which includes 1,932 hectares of Yanga Nature Reserve, and has a frontage of 170 kilometres (110 mi) on the Murrumbidgee River. It is largely located in the Lower Murrumbidgee Floodplain, which is included on A Directory of Important Wetlands in Australia because of its importance as a breeding site for waterbirds when flooded.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wombat State Forest</span> Protected area in Victoria, Australia

The Wombat State Forest is located 50 kilometres (31 mi) west of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, between Woodend and Daylesford, at the Great Dividing Range. The forest is approximately 70,000 hectares in size and sits upon Ordovician or Cenozoic sediments. The Bullarook Wombat State Forest was proclaimed in 1871.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cats in Australia</span> Overview of the role and status of cats in Australia

Cats are an invasive species in Australia. Because they are not native to Australia and were only introduced by colonisers as pets in the early 1800s, native Australian animals did not co-evolve with them. As of 2016, some 3.8 million domestic cats and up to 6.3 million feral cats continue to live in Australia. Every year domestic and feral cats in Australia are estimated to kill 1.067 billion mammals, 399 million birds, 609 million reptiles, and 92 million frogs. As one of the most ecologically damaging and the most costly invasive species in Australia, predation by both domestic and feral cats has played a role in the extinction of many of Australia's Indigenous animals. For instance, cats are found to have significantly contributed to the extinction of at least 22 endemic Australian mammals since the arrival of Europeans.

Lindy Lumsden is a principal research scientist with the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, at the Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research, in Melbourne, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Menkhorst</span>

Peter Menkhorst is an Australian ecologist and an authority on Australian mammals and birds. He is experienced in wildlife management, including management of over-abundant Koalas, and in threatened species recovery; he has developed recovery plans and led recovery teams for a number of species including the Orange-bellied Parrot; Helmeted Honeyeater, Regent Honeyeater, Mountain Pygmy Possum and Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby. Menkhorst is also a natural history author and recently co-authored The Australian Bird Guide.

Lepidium monoplocoides, the winged peppercress, is a nationally endangered plant species endemic to inland south-eastern Australia. The winged peppercress can grow from 15 up to 20 centimetres tall. This plant has long, slender leaves. Because of destruction of habitat, this plant is endangered. The winged peppercress has green-brown flowers which grow at the end of stems.

<i>Thaumatoperla alpina</i> Species of stonefly

Thaumatoperla alpina is a species of stonefly in the genus Thaumatoperla, and are the largest Australian stonefly. They are endemic to the Bogong High Plains area of the Victorian alps, Australia.

References

  1. DSE: About the Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research Archived 30 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  2. "DELWP" (PDF). 10 November 2020.
  3. "DELWP" (PDF). 10 November 2020.
  4. "DELWP" (PDF). 10 November 2020.
  5. "DELWP" (PDF). 10 November 2020.
  6. "DELWP" (PDF). 10 November 2020.
  7. "DELWP" (PDF). 10 November 2020.
  8. "DELWP" (PDF). 10 November 2020.
  9. "DELWP" (PDF). 10 November 2020.
  10. "DELWP" (PDF). 10 November 2020.
  11. "DELWP" (PDF). 10 November 2020.