Cristina E Ramalho

• PhD
• PostDoc Position at The University of Western Australia

Urban biodiversity conservation is critical if cities are to tackle the biodiversity‐extinction crisis and connect people with nature. However, little attention has been paid to how urban environmental managers navigate complex socio‐ecological contexts to conserve biodiversity in cities. We interviewed environmental managers from Australian cities...

The application of ecological theory in urban planning is becoming more important as land managers focus on increasing biodiversity to improve human welfare in cities. Authorities must decide not only what types of biodiversity-focused infrastructure should be prioritized, but also where new resources should be positioned and existing resources pro...

The application of ecological theory to urban planning is becoming more important as land managers focus on increasing urban biodiversity as a way to improve human welfare. City authorities must decide not only what types of biodiversity-focused infrastructure should be prioritized, but also where new resources should be positioned and existing res...

Environmental and urban forest managers in cities located in highly biodiverse regions may need to balance biodiversity conservation with the provision of ecosystem services to people. However, striking this balance is not easy and many competing factors influence the decision-making process. Set in the Perth Metropolitan Area, located in the globa...

Topographically heterogeneous areas are likely to act as refugia for species because they facilitate survival during regional climatic stress due to availability of a range of microenvironments. The Stirling Ranges are a topographically complex area in the generally subdued and ancient landscape of south-western Australia. We investigated the influ...

Across all landscape types, environmental managers work with communities to conserve biodiversity. The effectiveness of conservation practice, however, relies on acknowledging differences in preferences and values of nature. Implementing urban conservation is challenging because cities have diverse social, cultural and ecological attributes, meanin...

There is growing recognition globally, of the potential of road verges to contribute to urban greening and ecosystem service provision, beyond their original functions of utility provision and public access. Numerous, diverse stakeholders are involved in their management, yet their shared and diverging perspectives on verge greening are poorly unde...

https://nespurban.edu.au/publication/

This report documents research on suburban street verge gardens in metropolitan Perth, Australia. In this report, we refer to street verges, or nature strips, are those areas of land that lie between the road reserve, and the front boundary of a residential property. Roadside vegetation on street verges can play a key role in providing greenspace a...

The rapid expansion of urban areas worldwide is leading to native habitat loss and ecosystem fragmentation and degradation. Although the study of urbanisation’s impact on biodiversity is gaining increasing interest globally, there is still a disconnect between research recommendations and urbanisation strategies. Expansion of the Perth metropolitan...

The rapid expansion of urban areas worldwide is leading to native habitat loss and ecosystem fragmentation and degradation. Although the study of urbanisation's impact on biodiversity is gaining increasing interest globally, there is still a disconnect between research recommendations and urbanisation strategies. Expansion of the Perth metropolitan...

This report investigates the opportunities for threatened species conservation within Australian cities and towns

Urban environments provide an opportunity to conserve biodiversity while engaging people with urban nature. This booklet shares the perspectives and experiences of environmental managers who are working to conserve urban biodiversity and highlights key considerations for implementing new conservation projects. The information will be of interest to...

This report forms Part III of the CAUL project “Practical actions for the conservation of urban biodiversity”. Here, we present a detailed list of actions described by land managers across the country. This expanded inventory has been produced to provide a comprehensive list of actions, activities or programs to inspire urban land managers who are...

This report provides a summary of research activities relating to wetland species in urban environments that were undertaken by the CAUL Hub between 2015 and 2020. It covers research on the role or urban wetlands in threatened species conservation, the threats that affect urban wetland habitats, possible actions to restore and enhance wetlands in c...

During the Anthropocene, ongoing rapid environmental changes are exposing many species to novel resources. However, scientists’ understanding of what novel resources are and how they impact species is still rudimentary. Here, we used a resource‐based approach to explore novel resources. First, we conceptualized novel resource use by species along t...

Professor Richard Hobbs has had a profound influence on the development of the discipline of restoration ecology. With more than 300 publications spanning a broad scope of applied ecological sciences, he has collaborated with hundreds of researchers. His sometimes‐provocative insights, balanced by extensive empirical research, will have a lasting i...

Protecting nature is a fundamental aspect of local and Indigenous cultures that has more recently become an urban sustainability goal. The benefits provided by nature to people and other species have sparked an upsurge in research exploring how best to manage existing nature in urban environments. Here we expand this focus by drawing attention to a...

In this chapter, we set out the ascendant ideology of TOD and review the barriers to its implementation in urban densification settings in suburban cities. These barriers can include land assembly and development feasibility issues, community resistance, lack of consumer demand and infrastructure provision challenges. As a result of these barriers,...

This chapter briefly summarizes the key points of the book. We then direct researchers to potentially fertile areas for future research. These include a systematic evaluation of community sentiment in relation to urban infill strategies, and the potential effects of emerging transport types on Transit-Oriented Development, amongst others. We then s...

While in the previous chapter we defined Greenspace-Oriented Development (GOD) and explained the multitude of benefits it offers, here we explain how practitioners can implement GOD. We suggest a step-by-step process that aims to guide GOD implementation. These steps are: (1) select parks for upgrading; (2) upgrade parks; (3) rezone the urban preci...

In this chapter, we set out a strategy for urban densification, which we name Greenspace-Oriented Development (GOD). While Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) co-locates urban densification with public transport hubs, GOD co-locates urban densification with significant, upgraded public green spaces (such as parks) that are relatively well served by...

Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) planning principles have informed Australian city planning for over two decades. As such, policy makers and planners often unquestioningly apply its principles. In contrast, this book critiques TOD and argues that while orientating development towards public transport hubs makes some sense, the application of TOD...

Geranium malviflorum Boiss. & Reut. (Geraniaceae), a new species for the Portuguese flora Palavras chave. Geranium malviflorum, Geraniaceae, corologia, Baixo-Alentejo, Portugal. Key words. Geranium malviflorum, Geraniaceae, chorology, Baixo-Alentejo, Portugal.

The purpose of this research report is to identify current approaches to urban biodiversity conservation in Australian cities and identify opportunities and challenges for undertaking future actions. This project forms the first Australian assessment of its kind, where findings can be used to facilitate improved practice.

The Vasse Wonnerup wetlands are an extensive, shallow, nutrient enriched system with wide ranging salinities. Water levels in the two major areas of the wetlands, the Vasse and Wonnerup lagoons (formerly estuaries), are partially managed through the use of floodgates (established in 1925) to minimise flooding of adjoining lands and largely exclude...

The rapid and large-scale urbanization of peri-urban areas poses major and complex challenges for wildlife conservation. We used population viability analysis (PVA) to evaluate the influence of urban encroachment, fire, and fauna crossing structures, with and without accounting for inbreeding effects, on the metapopulation viability of a medium-siz...

Extended information on the metapopulation model parameterization. (DOCX)

Additional results. (DOCX)

Expected minimum abundance under different management scenarios estimated using RAMAS and Vortex software. (DOCX)

Allele frequency and genetic diversity in the study metapopulations. (DOCX)

Questions How do plant functional trait abundance and diversity in urban remnants of a rapidly urbanizing city change with fragmentation? Is there a delayed functional response to fragmentation? Location Thirty remnant Banksia woodlands, Perth, Australia. Methods We used GLMM to examine the effects of remnant age and area, and their interaction,...

There is increasing awareness that the long-term success of ecological restoration efforts can be compromised if projected climate change is not effectively incorporated in restoration planning. We propose an approach that aims to support the decision-making process for seed provenance selection in ecological restoration when clear genetic-based gu...

A worldwide increase in tree decline and mortality has been linked to climate change and, where these represent foundation species, this can have important implications for ecosystem functions. This study tests a combined approach of phylogeographic analysis and species distribution modelling to provide a climate change context for an observed decl...

This paper explores the potential of a strategy for achieving infill development in Australian greyfield suburbs in which redesigned, ecologically enhanced urban parks, in areas with reasonable access to public transport, are employed to encourage, catalyze, and ultimately support, residential densification. This process involves the upzoning of a...

In many cities worldwide, urbanization is leading to the rapid and extensive fragmentation of native vegetation into small and scattered urban remnants. We investigated the effects of fragmentation on plant species richness and abundance in 30 remnant Banksia woodlands in the rapidly expanding city of Perth, located in the southwestern Australian g...

http://www.wwf.org.au/ArticleDocuments/353/pub-community-quenda-bandicoot-survey-2012-report-26nov14.pdf.aspx

In this pilot study, we have used a systematic conservation planning approach in order to address four questions of major importance to the Department of Parks and Wildlife (DPaW) Swan Region: • To what extent does the current DPaW managed IUCN I-IV conservation reserve network provide sufficient protection to the main conservation assets identifi...

Restoration is a young and swiftly developing field. It has been almost a decade since the inception of one of the field's foundational documents—the Society for Ecological Restoration International Primer on Ecological Restora-tion (Primer). Through a series of organized discussions, we assessed the Primer for its currency and relevance in the mod...

This chapter addresses the facets of novelty that pervade the urban environment before reviewing the ecosystem services that different components of the urban environment provide. It describes the known and potential contribution of novel elements to these services, with a particular focus on vegetation. The services reviewed include biodiversity m...

Background/Question/Methods Urban remnants of native vegetation can act as rich repositories of biodiversity, but their conservation value depends on whether they also conserve ecological processes such as pollination. We expect that larger and more recently isolated remnants have a greater likelihood of containing higher biodiversity and maintai...

Contemporary cities are expanding rapidly in a spatially complex, non-linear manner. However, this form of expansion is rarely taken into account in the way that urbanization is classically assessed in ecological studies. An explicit consideration of the temporal dynamics, although frequently missing, is crucial in order to understand the effects o...