Pierre Horwitz

Edith Cowan University | ECU · Centre for Ecosystem Management

As wildfires are of increasing concern in a warming world, there is a need to understand how fire temperatures affect solute concentrations of forest litter and soils in drinking water catchments. In addition, the concentrations are expected to be affected by time since the previous fire. We sampled soil and litter from recently (2 months) and less...

Rural communities in Fiji, like many countries in the Pacific region, use on-site sanitation systems which have been linked to faecal-oral diseases like typhoid fever. This study aimed to explore the safety of existing sanitation infrastructure and to estimate the proportion of safely managed systems (SDG 6.2 targets). This study was conducted in 2...

Watersheds offer opportunities for place-based interventions to transform systems health via preventative versus reactive approaches to management that achieve multiple co-benefits for public and environmental health. The Watershed Interventions for Systems Health in Fiji (WISH Fiji) project embraced participatory knowledge co-production and action...

Environmental change is often accompanied by non-tangible, non-economic losses, including loss of valued attributes, connection to place, and social cohesion through migration in the face of such changes. Over two studies we sought to test whether imagining the loss of valued environmental characteristics influences intentions to migrate elsewhere...

Fires in forested catchments pose a water contamination risk from fire-derived dissolved organic matter (DOM). Fire events are expected to increase under a projection of warmer and drier climatic conditions; therefore, understanding the consequences of fire-derived DOM is critical for water supply and management of drinking water and catchments. Th...

A wetland policy perspective based on social ecological systems accepts that wetlands are part of landwaterscapes, that people are part of wetland ecosystems, and that the health of wetlands and the health of people are interdependent, evidence of the close, reciprocal and indivisible relationships between nature and culture. These relationships ar...

Poor rural water quality is a health challenge in Fiji. A mixed-methods study in six iTaukei (Indigenous Fijian) villages was conducted to understand local perceptions of drinking water access and quality, how this changes drinking water source choices, and impacts of age and gender. Seventy-two household surveys, 30 key informant interviews (KIIs)...

Climate change puts at risk what people value in their everyday lives, with evidence of harm and suffering already taking place across all regions of the world. As societies slowly come to grips with the possibility of not being able to save everything that is valued, there is an urgent need to identify what is most important for individuals and gr...

In these regenerative times prompted by the Anthropocene, Aboriginal voices are situated to draw on ancient wisdom for local learning and to share information across the globe as ecological imperative for planetary wellbeing. In this paper, postqualitative research foregrounds the sentient nature of life as ancestral power and brings the vitality o...

Welcome to this Special Issue of River Research and Applications, entitled Voicing Rivers. As an editorial group, it has been a great privilege to read and consider responses to our call for contributions and share with readers, authors and reviewers involved in this journey. We invited proposals for articles and creative work to focus on stories o...

Leptospirosis, typhoid and dengue are three water-related diseases influenced by environmental factors. We examined whether seasonality and rainfall predict reported syndromes associated with leptospirosis, typhoid and dengue in Fiji. Poisson generalised linear models were fitted with s6 early warning, alert and response system (EWARS) syndromic co...

Welcome to this Special Issue, entitled Voicing Rivers. As an editorial group (Figure 1), it has been a great privilege to read and consider responses to our call for contributions and share with readers, authors and reviewers involved in this journey. We invited proposals for articles and creative work to focus on stories of, by, from and for rive...

Performance through language, song and dance provides alternative knowledges and ways of understanding, in this case, developing deeper relationships with living water. Drawing on Indigenous Noongar culture from south-western Australia, this paper addresses the question: How can relationships between living underground, estuarine and riverine water...

Captive breeding is a vital tool in the conservation of highly endangered species, as it is for the Margaret River hairy marron, Cherax tenuimanus , from the south west of Australia. A close relative, Cherax cainii , has almost completely displaced C. tenuimanus in the wild and is a successful aquaculture species, whereas C. tenuimanus has performe...

Declining rainfall and extraction of groundwater increase the vulnerability of wetland sediments to ignition and combustion. This study investigated the existence of a unique hydrochemical porewater signal associated with organic-rich sulfidic sediments that have been overheated, dried, cracked, and burnt, by the passage of fire. Porewater was coll...

Building on a methodology of Cooperative Inquiry, the outcomes of five interconnected place-based learning projects from Australia are synthesised and elaborated in this paper. The methodology can facilitate the everyday living and sharing of an Earth-based consciousness: one that enriches Transformative Sustainability Education (TSE) through recog...

This report presents a detailed analysis of the likely ecological effects of proposed revisions of water level criteria.

Investigations of wildfire impact on water resources have escalated globally over the last decade owing to an awareness of climate-related vulnerabilities. Within Australia, research into post-wildfire erosion has focused on water supply catchments in the south-eastern region. Here, we examine post-wildfire erosion risk and its potential for water...

In 2019, outrage against climate change inaction and sadness about species loss fostered major movements locally and globally. As environmental educators and activists, we celebrated the International Year of Indigenous Languages, fully aware that in the blink of an eye in geological time, Western civilisation has brought us to the brink. Meanwhil...

SDG3, Health and Wellbeing for All, depends on many other SDGs but there are also potential conflicts and trade-offs. In this chapter, ee stress the importance of forests to global health and well-being as well as for Indigenous and local populations. In contrast, short-term economic and human health gains from further forest conversion (e.g. defor...

Kurduboodjar means love of place, in Noongar language – the Aboriginal language of the South West of Western Australia. In this research kurduboodjar is illustrated as a way of addressing the complex problems of our time such as climate change and overclearing of natural places. Katitjiny bidi, a Noongar learning journey metaphor is used to reflect...

Policies aiming to preserve vegetated coastal ecosystems (VCE; tidal marshes, mangroves and seagrasses) to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions require national assessments of blue carbon resources. Here, we present organic carbon (C) storage in VCE across Australian climate regions and estimate potential annual CO2 emission benefits of VCE conservati...

See https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1ZUa-7szSIycY-

The stygofaunal family of Bathynellidae, is an excellent group to study the processes that shape diversity and distribution, since they have unknown surface or marine relatives, high level of endemism, and limited dispersal abilities. Recent research on Bathynellidae in Western Australia (Pilbara) has uncovered new taxa with unexpected distribution...

This study provided understanding of the oil yields from Allanblackia parviflora fruits in Ghana. The study sought patterns of variations in oil yield between 157 trees, 16 communities and 3 ecological zones. Ecological zone and soil properties were considered as surrogates for growing conditions associated with tree and fruit morphology. Kernel an...

High-rise apartment buildings have long been associated with the poor mental health of their residents. The aims of this paper are to examine whether this connection is necessarily so, by reviewing the evidence relating to the relationships between high-rise living and social wellbeing, occupant’s stress levels, and the influence they have on menta...

Proximal characteristics and conditions in the residential setting deserve greater attention for their potential to influence typhoid transmission. Using a case-control design in Central Division, Republic of Fiji, we examined bacterial (coliform and Escherichia coli) contamination and chemical composition of water and soil as potential vehicles of...

The biodiversity of our surroundings is continuing to decline worldwide in many high-density urban areas due to the conversion of nature to the built environment. A reasonable case can be made that people living in high-rise apartment buildings have reduced exposure to soil, plants and animals. The current study explored the associations between na...

Large-scale food system practices have diminished soil and water quality and negatively impacted climate change. Yet, numerous opportunities exist to harness food system practices that will ensure better outcomes for human health and ecosystems. The objective of this study was to consider food Production, Processing, Access and Consumption domains,...

Different languages, knowledge systems and ways of knowing impact upon shared understandings of place across and within landscapes. In this article we illustrate ways in which Noongar and English language-based understandings of groundwater and wetland interactions can inform a third space. Noongar knowledges recognise deep interdependences across...

In the past 20 years, the number of subterranean taxa discovered in Australia, especially in the Pilbara bioregion, has considerably increased due to incidental environmental surveys often associated with mining development. Bathynellidae are an important component of stygofauna and they occur in most Australian aquifers, but their collection and i...

Work that addresses the cumulative impacts of resource extraction on environment, community, and health is necessarily large in scope. This paper presents experiences from initiating research at this intersection and explores implications for the ambitious, integrative agenda of planetary health. The purpose is to outline origins, design features,...

Ecology is both blessed and burdened by romanticism, with a legacy that is multi-edged for health. The prefix ‘eco-’ can carry a cultural and political (subversive) baggage, associated with motivating environmental activism. Ecology is also practiced as a technical ‘science’, with quantitative and deterministic leanings and a biophysical emphasis....

The relationship between environmental factors and human mobility is neither simple nor linear, rather it is often indirect and mediated by social, cultural, and economic drivers.We present a case that one important and, until recently, neglected factor in the nexus between environmental change and decisions to migrate is attachment to place. We co...

The relationship between environmental factors and human mobility is neither simple nor linear, rather it is often indirect and mediated by social, cultural, and economic drivers. We present a case that one important and, until recently, neglected factor in the nexus between environmental change and decisions to migrate is attachment to place. We c...

Water is carried into the estuary by the Collie and the Preston rivers, although five rivers drain the Leschenault catchment into Elaap, the Leschenault Estuarine System: the Wellesley, Collie, Brunswick, Preston and Ferguson. Elaap is a Noongar word which means ‘on or by the water’, referring to the people and their place. There are many stories a...

Food Futures Conference, Brisbane 2018

Conference Presentation

Open Access Published:December, 2018 DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(18)30228-6

It seems obvious to say that research can provide benefits to multiple stakeholders and that stakeholder involvement is more often than not essential for research to proceed. Concrete examples of these mutual dependencies are valuable, where industry, government agencies and biological studies increase each others’ potential and efficiencies. In th...

Meta-communities are assembled along an ecological scale that determines local and regional diversity. Spatial patterns have been detected in planktonic bacterial communities at distances <20 m, but little is known about the occurrence of similar variation for other microbial groups and changes in microbial meta-community assembly at different leve...

Introduction/Aim: The biodiversity of our surroundings is continuing to decline worldwide in many high-density urban areas due to the conversion of nature to the built environment. A reasonable case can be made to assume that people living in high-rise apartment buildings built in place of greater biodiversity have a reduced exposure to soil, plant...

Background Typhoid fever is endemic in Fiji, with high reported annual incidence. We sought to identify the sources and modes of transmission of typhoid fever in Fiji with the aim to inform disease control. Methodology/Principal findings We identified and surveyed patients with blood culture-confirmed typhoid fever from January 2014 through Januar...

Sample size estimation. (DOCX)

Univariable analysis of risk factors for blood-culture-confirmed Salmonella Typhi among 175 cases and 175 age, ethnicity, and distant-neighborhood matched controls, Central Division, Fiji, 2014–2017. (DOCX)

Study questionnaire. (DOCX)

Directed acyclic graph used to guide variable selection. (DOCX)

Univariable analysis of risk factors for blood-culture-confirmed Salmonella Typhi among 175 cases and 175 age, ethnicity, and near-neighborhood matched controls, Central Division, Fiji, 2014–2017. (DOCX)

Groundwater-dependent wetlands (GDW) are no different to other wetlands in their need for management particularly under circumstances where hydrological changes threaten the conservation of wetland values. However, GDW have two important characteristics that make their management challenging. They derive a significant proportion of their annual inf...

This short paper outlines how intervening in the disruption to wetland ecosystem services will improve human health and help address the Millenium Development Goals. It also discusses systemic consequences, where addressing the MDGs (principally by the interventions imposed by other sectors) will need to be aware of the relationship between human h...

This paper is part of a broader longitudinal study of high-rise apartment dwellers in Perth, Western Australia that is investigating the links between occupant lifestyles, stress, physical and mental health, nature relatedness and the diversity of human skin microbiota. Participants living above the third floor in high-rise apartment buildings have...

Oceania can be characterized by a richness of culture, biodiversity and natural resources and a particular future that the changing climate will bring to islands, livelihoods and ecosystems. We reviewed literature detailing the limitations of siloed approaches to public health and conservation action for regional sustainability, highlighting opport...

The number of subterranean taxa discovered in the north of Western Australia has substantially increased due to the requirements for environmental surveys related to mining development. Challenges in estimating subterranean biodiversity and distributions are related to lack of knowledge of taxa with convergent morphological characters in a largely...

Skin barrier structure and function is essential to human health. Hitherto unrecognized functions of epidermal keratinocytes show that the skin plays an important role in adapting whole-body physiology to changing environments, including the capacity to produce a wide variety of hormones, neurotransmitters and cytokine that can potentially influenc...

Knowledge exchange involves a suite of strategies used to bridge the divides between research, policy and practice. The literature is increasingly focused on the notion that knowledge generated by research is more useful when there is significant interaction and knowledge sharing between researchers and research recipients (i.e., stakeholders). Thi...

To further understand the evolutionary history and mitogenomic features of Australia's highly distinctive freshwater crayfish fauna, we utilized a recently described rapid mitogenome sequencing pipeline to generate 24 new crayfish mitogenomes including a diversity of burrowing crayfish species and the first for Astacopsis gouldi, the world's larges...

The factors that shape microbial community assembly in aquatic ecosystems have been widely studied yet it is still unclear how distinct communities within a connected landscape influence one another. Coastal lakes are recipients of, and thus are connected to, both marine and terrestrial environments. Thus they may host microbial assemblages that re...

In this paper we reflect on land, language and law in Wiilman Noongar Boodjar (Country), which has recently become known as the Upper Blackwood River Catchment in the South West of Western Australia. By intertwining historical perspectives with Western science and Noongar katitjiny (knowledge and understandings, or rationality) we argue that this r...

The saline wetlands of the Northern Ponds, Lake MacLeod, contravene general classifications for salt lakes because, despite enduring high levels of evaporation, they contain permanently inundated ponds that are continually supplied with seawater by a seepage face from the Indian Ocean. The present study investigated the physical, sediment and chemi...

Länsi-Australiassa ravustetaan kuivalla maalla. Sen lisäksi että sikäläiset ravut elävät suuren osa elämästään maan alla, niiden sakset ovat kääntyneet meikäläisittäin kummallisesti ylöspäin.

The impact of environmental change on transmission patterns of waterborne enteric diseases is a major public health concern. This study concerns the burden and spatial nature of enteric fever, attributable to Salmonella Typhi infection in the Central Division, Republic of Fiji at a sub-catchment scale over 30-months (2013–2015). Quantitative spatia...

This case study focuses on the inland, freshwater ecosystems of the Gnangara Groundwater System, principally those ecosystems with an interaction between surface water and groundwater or a dependence upon groundwater. It discusses the hydrology, water chemistry, soils and sediments, and plant and animal communities of groundwater dependent ecosyste...

This report provides a summary of the research conducted by Edith Cowan University (ECU) in a research collaboration with Dampier Salt Ltd. (DSL): a Quantification of the Biodiversity of the Lake MacLeod Northern Ponds. The research set out a number of projects that were to address knowledge gaps for the system.

Biodiversity, ecosystems and the essential services that they deliver are central pillars for all life on the planet, including human life. They are sources of food and essential nutrients, medicines and medicinal compounds, fuel, energy, livelihoods and cultural and spiritual enrichment. They also contribute to the provision of clean water and air...

The relative importance of groundwater in the development and maintenance of hydrological and ecological character is recognized as an important feature that distinguishes so-called “groundwater-dependent” wetlands. A categorisation is presented here according to three types of groundwater dependent ecosystems (1: subterranean or cave; 2: surface e...

Groundwater-dependent wetlands (GDW) are no different to other wetlands in their need for management particularly under circumstances where hydrological changes threaten the conservation of wetland values. However, GDW have two important characteristics that make their management challenging. They derive a significant proportion of their annual inf...

Since 2011, Myanmar has progressively liberalized its international trade and investment policies, resulting in both opportunities and challenges. The rising inequality between urban and non-urban areas, and within urban areas, has become a growing concern for policy makers, in addition to the existing pervasive poverty issue. This research attempt...

This article highlights contributions that can be made to the public health field by incorporating "ecosystem approaches to health" to tackle future environmental and health challenges at a regional level. This qualitative research reviews attitudes and understandings of the relationship between public health and the environment and the priorities,...