Tina Parkhurst

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Postdoctoral Research Fellow at University of Melbourne

Nature‐based solutions (NbS) have emerged at the science, policy and practitioner interface to address environmental challenges facing society. NbS involve people working with nature to protect, restore or manage ecosystems. Yet NbS vary to the extent they support biological diversity which has implications for ecological resilience. We reviewed ho...

Demand for ecological restoration of Earth’s degraded ecosystems has increased significantly since the adoption of The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework in December 2022, with target 2 aiming to ensure that at least 30% of degraded ecosystems are under effective restoration by 2030. More recently, in December 2023, the Australian Parli...

The breakdown of plant material fuels soil functioning and biodiversity. Currently, process understanding of global decomposition patterns and the drivers of such patterns are hampered by the lack of coherent large‐scale datasets. We buried 36,000 individual litterbags (tea bags) worldwide and found an overall negative correlation between initial m...

The conversion of woodland ecosystems to agricultural landscapes has led to unprecedented losses of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning globally. Unsustainable agricultural practices have contributed to the degradation of soil's physical and biogeochemical properties. Ecological restoration of unproductive agricultural land is imperative for rev...

Ecological restoration is critical for recovering biodiversity, functionality, and resilience of degraded ecosystems. Global restoration targets have been set to ensure that 30% of all degraded ecosystems are under effective restoration by 2030. Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) quantifies the biophysical and socioeconomic characteristics of ecosyst...

Ecological restoration of former agricultural land can improve soil conditions, recover native vegetation, and provide fauna habitat. However, restoration benefits are often associated with time lags, as many attributes, such as leaf litter and coarse woody debris, need time to accumulate. Here, we experimentally tested whether adding mulch and log...

COVER PHOTO: Tina Parkhurst is shown inspecting an old field set aside for ecological restoration plantings, located on Bush Heritage Australia's Eurardy Reserve in the northern wheatbelt of Western Australia. Parkhurst et al. (this issue; Article e2547; doi:10.1002/eap.2547) show that despite restoration efforts, agricultural legacies such as elev...

Ecological restoration of former agricultural land can improve soil condition, recover native vegetation, and provide fauna habitat. However, restoration benefits are often associated with time lags, as many attributes, such as leaf litter and coarse woody debris, need time to accumulate. Here we experimentally tested whether adding fine and coarse...

Understanding constraints to ecological restoration on former agricultural land has become increasingly important due to agricultural land degradation in the developed world, and growing evidence for enduring agricultural legacies that limit native species recovery. In particular, the removal of native plant biomass and subsequent disturbance of so...

Many old fields are undergoing ecological restoration aiming to return lost biodiversity and ecosystem functions. However, there is scant evidence that this outcome is achieved. Here we investigate the effects of tree planting following cessation of cropping on ant communities. Ants are a dominant faunal group, functionally important for ecosystem...

Vegetation recovery in old fields towards mature reference states is often limited by abiotic and biotic thresholds resulting from agricultural land use legacies, as commonly highlighted using state and transition models. Old‐field restoration may include interventions (e.g. planting of vegetation) to overcome these thresholds and assist transition...

Restoration of degraded drylands is urgently needed to mitigate climate change, reverse desertification and secure livelihoods for the two billion people who live in these areas. Bold global targets have been set for dryland restoration to restore millions of hectares of degraded land. These targets have been questioned as overly ambitious, but wit...

Recovery of woody, not herbaceous native flora ten years post old-field restoration. Vegetation recovery in old fields towards mature reference states is often limited by abiotic and biotic thresholds resulting from agricultural land use legacies, as commonly highlighted using state and transition models. Old field restoration may include intervent...

A full list of affiliations appears at the end of the paper. R estoration ecology is rapidly advancing in response to the ever-expanding global decline in ecosystem integrity and its associated socioeconomic repercussions 1-4. Nowhere are these dynamics more evident than in drylands, which help sustain 39% of the world's human population 5 but rema...

Restoration of old fields in agricultural landscapes has become increasingly important for conservation of species and their habitats owing to habitat destruction and rapid environmental change. Studies examining the outcomes of old field restoration predominantly focus on plant, and sometimes, vertebrate communities. Fewer studies have systematica...

Restoration of degraded landscapes has become increasingly important for conservation of species and their habitat owing to rapid environmental change and ongoing habitat destruction. Old-field restoration funded by the emerging carbon market and other government initiatives has the potential to contribute to conservation outcomes. Here we present...

Despite decades of research into predator control, predation by exotic predators is the leading cause of reintroduction failure in Australia and New Zealand. A variety of methods are used to deal with the threat of predation, including excluding and controlling predators and improving prey responses. Fenced reserves and islands are becoming increas...

The critically endangered leaf-scaled (Aipysurus foliosquamaI) and short-nosed (A. apraefrontalis) sea snakes are currently recognised only from Ashmore and Hibernia reefs ~600km off the northwest Australian coast. Steep population declines in both species were documented over 15 years and neither has been sighted on dedicated surveys of Ashmore an...

Context Apex predators occupy the top level of the trophic cascade and often perform regulatory functions in many ecosystems. Their removal has been shown to increase herbivore and mesopredator populations, and ultimately reduce species diversity. In Australia, it has been proposed that the apex predator, the dingo (Canis dingo), has the potential...