Simon James Grove

• PhD, MSc, BSc (hons)
• Senior Curator of Invertebrate Zoology at Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery

This work describes a new and distinctive species of hoverfly, Xylota norma sp. nov., discovered in Malaise trap samples collected from the Tarkine rainforests of northwest Tasmania during the austral summer of 2021-22. To date, the species is only known from the type series of six specimens. It is only the second species in its genus known from Au...

An invertebrate fauna survey of the Stony Head Military Training Area in northern Tasmania was conducted over the period November 2020 to March 2021 as part of Australia’s Bush Blitz program. The survey focused on insects, spiders and molluscs, with other taxa sampled opportunistically, and identified numerous species that are noteworthy for thei...

Flora and fauna surveys were conducted at the Musselroe Wind Farm property in 2018 and 2019 as part of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery’s ongoing research, collection-building and nature-discovery program. The property was found to have significant ecological and nature conservation values and this survey program increases the number of voucher...

Flora and fauna surveys were conducted at the Spring Bay Mill property and adjacent area near Triabunna in 2019 as part of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery’s ongoing research, collection-building and nature-discovery program entitled Expeditions of Discovery. Although a large portion of the mill site has experienced significant disturbance, som...

Insect orders have been defined and stable for decades, with few notable exceptions ( e.g ., Blattodea and Psocoptera). One of the few remaining questions of order-level monophyly is that of Mecoptera in respect to the phylogenetic placement of Siphonaptera (fleas). We used a large set of transcriptomic nucleotide sequence data representing 56 spec...

Background Phylogenetic relationships among the myriapod subgroups Chilopoda, Diplopoda, Symphyla and Pauropoda are still not robustly resolved. The first phylogenomic study covering all subgroups resolved phylogenetic relationships congruently to morphological evidence but is in conflict with most previously published phylogenetic trees based on d...

The Japanese soft-shelled clam Mya japonica Jay, 1857 is native to the northwestern Pacific Ocean but has invaded the northeastern Pacific Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, Barents Sea and Mediterranean Sea. Here, we confirm its presence in the southern hemisphere using mitochondrial COI, 16S rRNA and nuclear 28S rRNA gene sequences. These analyses perm...

A flora and fauna survey was conducted at the east coast Tasmanian property Wind Song in 2017 as part of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery’s ongoing research, collection-building and nature-discovery program. The survey recorded 885 taxa, primarily from the targeted groups of vascular plants, bryophytes, lichens, butterflies, moths, beetles, sna...

Our island state of Tasmania is blessed with a long and intricate coastline. Extending over three thousand kilometres, this winding ribbon at the interface of land and sea encompasses a wide spectrum of shore types, from sheer cliffs exposed to the full force of the Roaring Forties, to muddy estuaries and tranquil lagoons. All are harsh en...

Here we present a brief timeline outlining the detection of the Southern Hemisphere’s first known incursion of the Japanese softshell clam. In providing the details, we hope that this summary will serve as a useful reference point for future publications documenting research on, and management of, this incursion.

In disturbance-dependent forest ecosystems, species associated with mature forest may maintain their ranges both by persisting in patches of mature forest and by recolonising patches regenerating after fire, harvesting or other disturbances. The null hypotheses are that these processes are both independent of the intensity of disturbance in the lan...

Variable retention (VR) is increasingly being used as an alternative to clearcutting in temperate and boreal forests. VR is an approach to harvesting and regeneration that aims to improve biodiversity and social outcomes over the subsequent rotation, while continuing to meet silvicultural and economic imperatives. Aggregated retention, a form of VR...

Altitudinal shifts in the distribution and/or composition of species communities or assemblages are often portrayed as demonstrating early signals of climate change. Mountain-top assemblages are often suggested as being particularly good indicators, as well as being potentially among the most vulnerable since they may have nowhere to go if the clim...

In a recent paper in this journal, Barry et al. (2015) reported on a pot-based trial comparing the growth of transplanted Eucalyptus obliqua seedlings in mineral vs. organic soils. Unfortunately in “Forestry Management Implications” (p. 11) they make claims regarding the appropriateness of fire as a regeneration tool in temperate Australian native...

The findings of a week-long survey of coastal marine molluscs around King Island are documented. In total, 408 species were recorded, 78 for the first time. King Island appears to be the only Tasmanian outpost for 44 species. Only two non-native species were found. A number of usually distinct species-pairs or groups appear to form intergrades arou...

Reply and discussion regarding the Mary Anne Bay dune site to Murray-Wallace et al. (2013) in Quaternary Australasia 30(1).

Forests carrying large quantities of live and dead wood are important carbon (C) stores. Here, we investigate how the inventory of coarse woody debris (CWD) and its embedded C (CWD-C) may be designed efficiently at the scale of logs, plots, and the landscape in Tasmanian tall Eucalyptus obliqua forests, which have very high levels of CWD (here 375-...

Commission's 1994 corporatisation, the collection passed into the care of Forestry Tasmania. The new forestry model that emerged following the 1997 Tasmanian Regional Forest Agreement (TFA) demanded an expansion of insect-related research. By early 2013, with over 90% of the accessions databased, the TFIC comprised close to 227 000 databased, dry-m...

The Miena jewel beetle Castiarina insculpta (Carter, 1934) is classified as endangered on the Tasmanian Threatened Species Protection Act 1995 and has been infrequently recorded since its re-discovery in 2004. Multiple searches during February 2013 resulted in observations of large numbers of live individuals of the species at several sites on Tasm...

Forests carrying large quantities of live and dead wood are important carbon (C) stores. Here, we investigate how the inventory of coarse woody debris (CWD) and its embedded C (CWD-C) may be designed efficiently at the scale of logs, plots, and the landscape in Tasmanian tall Eucalyptus obliqua forests, which have very high levels of CWD (here 375–...

Tree ferns are a conspicuous element of many wet forests in Australia, and in increasing demand in export markets, but little is known about their beetle fauna. The tree fern Dicksonia antarctica Labill. was sampled over four seasons at four sites in Tasmania. A total of 108 species of beetles, representing 35 families, were collected from three di...

Abstract Sandy deposits containing shells occur at c. 20 m above present high water mark at Mary Ann Bay in southern Tasmania, Australia. Shells in the deposits have previously been dated to the Last Interglacial by amino acid racemisation analysis and on this basis the deposits have been interpreted to be marine, indicating rapid uplift of about 0...

The first decade of sequential and cyclical sampling of saproxylic beetles by means of eclector traps on 12 freshly-felled Eucalyptus obliqua logs at Warra, Tasmania has allowed documentation of a taxonomically and ecologically diverse fauna present in such logs in their early decompositional state. About half of all species are apparently undescri...

The first decade of sequential and cyclical sampling of the saproxylic beetles of twelve freshly felled Eucalyptus obliqua logs at Warra, Tasmania has allowed comparisons between larger-diameter mature and smaller-diameter regrowth log-classes and between successive sampling cycles and years; and consideration of the interplay between these two asp...

The use of decay-class systems in characterising the state of decomposition of a forest’s complement of rotting logs is widespread. While most systems are based on an assessment of logs’ external characteristics, there is an implicit assumption that doing so captures important information on the underlying processes of internal decomposition. Howev...

The use of decay-class systems in characterising the state of decomposition of a forest’s complement of rotting logs is widespread. While most systems are based on an assessment of logs’ external characteristics, there is an implicit assumption that doing so captures important information on the underlying processes of internal decomposition. Howev...

This paper describes the wood-inhabiting fungi found in an intensive study of living Eucalyptus obliqua trees in Tasmania. Three hundred and twelve isolates of wood-inhabiting fungi were obtained from 18 trees, representing 91 species or operational taxonomic units (OTUs). A number of these were new records for Australia or for the living tree subs...

In managed forest landscapes, understanding successional processes is critical to management for sustainable biodiversity. Coarse woody debris is a key substrate for forest biodiversity, particularly because it undergoes complex succession reflecting the effects of changes in both forest structure and substrate characteristics. The present study us...

In managed forest landscapes, understanding successional processes is critical to management for sustainable biodiversity. Coarse woody debris is a key substrate for forest biodiversity, particularly because it undergoes complex succession reflecting the effects of changes in both forest structure and substrate characteristics. The present study us...

Carabid beetles (Insecta: Coleoptera: Carabidae) were sampled with pitfall traps in central Tasmania to assess the conservation utility of wildlife habitat strips (WHS) in native high-altitude wet eucalypt forest. Sampling followed a Before-After, Control-Impact design, with replicated samples being collected at one control site and two treatment s...

As forests undergo succession after major disturbance events their assemblages of birds also change. Thus the frequency and extent of wildfire or clearfelling in the landscape can potentially affect the species-richness and abundance of forest birds. We used a chronosequence approach to investigate succession of bird communities in Tasmanian lowlan...

Reservation of forest in riparian buffers is common practice in commercial forestry areas worldwide, potentially providing valuable habitat for biodiversity dependent on mature forest. However, the habitat value of narrow reserve corridors can be compromised by edge effects. We investigated the habitat value of streamside buffers in wet eucalypt fo...

Over the past decade, considerable research has been done in Tasmania to better understand the ecological value of old eucalypts in temperate wet forests with respect to communities of wood-decay fungi and wood-inhabiting (saproxylic) beetles. Old eucalypts provide unique habitats for these organisms, and support a high species diversity and distin...

The macrofungi of an aggregated retention coupe harvested and burnt in April 2004 at the Warra long-term ecological research (LTER) site were documented at approximately fortnightly intervals over a period of 16 months between February 2005 and June 2006. In transects of approximately 400 m total length, 167 macrofungal species were recorded in the...

Over the past decade, considerable research has been done in Tasmania to better understand the ecological value of old eucalypts in temperate wet forests with respect to communities of wood decay fungi and wood-inhabiting (saproxylic) beetles. Old eucalypts provide unique habitats for these organisms, and support a high species diversity and distin...

The impacts on bird assemblages of silvicultural alternatives to clearfelling in lowland wet eucalypt forest were studied over a decade at Warra, Tasmania. Using a multiple-visit point-count procedure and a before-after-control-impact design, indices of relative incidence were derived for the 44 bird species recorded at 177 survey-points, and used...

Coarse woody debris (CWD) is a fundamental component of forest ecosystems, but one whose management presents challenges for land managers because its inputs and outputs are linked to, but not often in equilibrium with, disturbance events, including wildfire and logging. Understanding its rate of decomposition is one key element in being able to mod...

The Warra Silvicultural Systems Trial (SST) in Tasmania, Australia provides a framework for investigating the responses of beetles (Order: Coleoptera) to three alternative systems in lowland wet eucalypt forest: aggregated retention; dispersed retention; and understorey islands retained in clearfelled areas. Beetles from three families known to be...

As we increasingly realise that maintaining ecological processes of the forests requires understanding and managing the landscape, one of the key sustainability challenges is the explicit integration of landscape ecology into forest management. There have been two decades worth of developing landscape pattern analysis tools and metrics. However the...

Proceedings of the Old Forests, New Management Sir Mark Oliphant Conference, Hobart, Tasmania,17-21 February, 2008 Ground-active beetles have been sampled continuously at Warra for a decade as part of Forestry Tasmania’s ecological assessment of the silvicultural systems trial exploring alternatives to clearfelling. Arrays of standard pitfall trap...

There is increasing recognition of the need to ensure the continued representation of late successional forests in production forestry landscapes for conservation purposes. Yet native forestry rotation lengths are typically too short to allow for late successional forest to develop between successive harvests. Addressing these potentially conflicti...

The Warra log-decay project is a long-term study of biodiversity in decaying logs of two age classes ('oldgrowth' and 'regrowth'), aimed at developing a better understanding of the ecology of coarse woody debris (CWD) and its biodiversity in Tasmanian wet eucalypt forests. Analyses of the first year's data demonstrate the existence of a rich saprox...

Clearfell, burn, and sow (CBS) is the most efficient silvicultural system for the regeneration of wet eucalypt forests in southeastern Australia but it raises concerns because of aesthetics and a reduction in late-successional species and structures when rotations of 90 years are used. The 200-ha Warra Silvicultural Systems Trial was established fr...

The results of a beach seine survey of an East African mangrove creek are presented. The fish community of the creek is described and is compared with that of a nearby lagoonal site and with those described for other mangrove and estuarine systems. The species composition was found to differ substantially between the creek and the lagoon site, thou...

Abstract  In Tasmania, plantation establishment is often concentrated in ‘nodes’, a practice that can result in a high degree of fragmentation of remaining native forest in these areas. In this study we examined the sensitivity of ground-active beetles to the effects of conversion of native forest to plantation in which remaining native forest is l...