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European Settlement (european + settlement)
Selected AbstractsInfluence of settlement time, human population, park shape and age, visitation and roads on the number of alien plant species in protected areas in the USADIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTIONS, Issue 6 2002Michael L. McKinney Abstract. I examined a data set of 77 protected areas in the USA (including national and state parks) to determine which of the following variables most strongly influence alien plant species richness: park area, climate (temperature and precipitation), native species richness, visitation rate, local human population size, total road length, park shape and duration of European settlement. Many of these predictor variables are intercorrelated, so I used multiple regression to help separate their effects. In support of previous studies, native species richness was the best single predictor of alien species richness, probably because it was a good estimator of both park area and habitat diversity available for establishment of alien species. Other significant predictors of alien species richness were years of occupation of the area by European settlers and the human population size of adjacent counties. Climate, visitation rate, road length and park shape did not influence alien species richness. The proportion of alien species (alien richness/native richness) is inversely related to park area, in agreement with a previous study. By identifying which variables are most important in determining alien species richness, such findings suggest ways to reduce alien species establishment. [source] Post-European settlement response gradients of river sensitivity and recovery across the upper Hunter catchment, AustraliaEARTH SURFACE PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS, Issue 7 2009Kirstie Fryirs Abstract Most analyses of river adjustment have focused on parts of catchments where metamorphosis has occurred. This provides a non-representative view of river responses to human-disturbance. Although many rivers have been subjected to systematic land-use change and disturbance, significant variability is evident in the form, extent and consequences of adjustment. This study documents the catchment-wide distribution of river sensitivity and adjustment in the upper Hunter catchment, New South Wales, Australia in the period since European settlement. The spatial distribution and timing of lateral, vertical and wholesale river adjustments are used to assess river sensitivity to change. The type and pattern of rivers, influenced largely by valley setting, have induced a fragmented pattern of river adjustment in the upper Hunter catchment. Adjustments have been largely non-uniform and localized, reflecting the predominance of bedrock-controlled rivers which have limited capacity to adjust and are resilient to change. Less than 20% of river courses have experienced metamorphosis. Phases of reach-scale geomorphic adjustment to human disturbance are characterized as a gradient of primary, secondary and tertiary responses. In general terms, primary responses such as cutoffs or straightening were followed by secondary responses such as channel expansion. These secondary responses occurred between 50,70 years after initial disturbance. A subsequent tertiary phase of river recovery, denoted as a transition from predominantly erosional to predominantly depositional geomorphic processes such as channel contraction, occurred around 70,120 years after initial disturbance. Such responses are ongoing across much of the upper Hunter catchment. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Spatial variability in the timing, nature and extent of channel response to typical human disturbance along the Upper Hunter River, New South Wales, AustraliaEARTH SURFACE PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS, Issue 6 2008Joanna Hoyle Abstract Prior to European settlement, the Upper Hunter River near Muswellbrook, New South Wales, was a passively meandering gravel-bed river of moderate sinuosity and relatively uniform channel width. Analyses of floodplain sedimentology, archival records, parish maps and aerial photographs document marked spatial variability in the pattern of channel change since European settlement in the 1820s. Different types, rates and extents of change are reported for seven zones of adjustment along an 8 km study reach. This variable adjustment reflects imposed antecedent controls (buried terrace material and bedrock), which have significantly influenced local variability in river sensitivity to change, as well as contemporary morphodynamics and geomorphic complexity. Local variability in system responses to disturbance has important implications for future river management and rehabilitation. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Controlling factors of gullying in the Maracujá Catchment, southeastern BrazilEARTH SURFACE PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS, Issue 11 2005L. de A. P. Bacellar Abstract Hundreds of gullies (,voçorocas') of huge dimensions (up to 400,500 m long, 150 m wide and 50 m deep) are very common in the small Maracujá Catchment in southeastern Brazil. These erosional features, which occur with an uneven intensity throughout the area, started due to bad soil management practices at the beginning of European settlement, at the end of the 17th century, and nowadays are still evolving, but at a slower rate. As surface soils are usually very resistant to erosion, the outcrop of the more erodible basement saprolites seems to be an essential condition for their beginning. An analysis of well known erosion controlling factors was performed, aiming to explain the beginning and evolution of these gullies and to understand the reasons for their spatial distribution. Data shows that geology and, mainly, geomorphology are the main controlling factors, since gullies tend to be concentrated in basement rock areas with lower relief (domain 2) of Maracujá Catchment, mainly at the fringes of broad and flat interfluves. At the detailed scale (1:10 000), gullies are more common in amphitheatre-like headwater hollows that frequently represent upper Quaternary gullies (paleogullies), which demonstrate the recurrence of channel erosion. So, gullies occur in areas of thicker saprolites (domain 2), in places with a natural concentration of surface and underground water (hollows). Saprolites of the preserved, non-eroded hollows are usually pressurized (confined aquifer) due to a thick seal of Quaternary clay layer, in a similar configuration to the ones found in hollows of mass movement (mudflow) sites in southeastern Brazil. Therefore, the erosion of the resistant soils by human activities, such as road cuts and trenches (,valos'), or their mobilization by mudflow movements, seem to be likely mechanisms of gullying initiation. Afterwards, gullies evolve by a combination of surface and underground processes, such as wash and tunnel erosion and falls and slumps of gully walls. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] The role of floristic survey data and quantitative analysis in identification and description of ecological communities under threatened species legislation: A case study from north-eastern New South WalesECOLOGICAL MANAGEMENT & RESTORATION, Issue 2009Penny Kendall Summary The concept of ecological communities play an important role in conservation planning and natural resource management. However, inherent uncertainties in the definition and identification of individual communities make it difficult to assess whether particular communities are present on particular sites and how they may be affected by proposed developments or management actions. If communities are poorly defined or misidentified, they may not perform their intended role as effective representations of biodiversity. We use a case study of forest communities dominated by Brown Barrel (Eucalyptus fastigata) in north-eastern New South Wales to demonstrate the value of quantitative floristic survey data for resolving robust and effective classifications of communities. Numerical analyses of an extensive set of floristic data suggested a re-configuration of a prior classification based largely on subjective interpretation. Although the general existence of assemblages dominated by Brown Barrel was confirmed, the new classification replaced three prior units with two assemblages that were more robust and better reflected the overall patterns in species composition. As only one of the two assemblages potentially warranted threatened status, the new classification allows scarce conservation resources to be targeted where they are most needed. The quantitative survey data also enabled a more detailed floristic description of the assemblages and provided a basis for maps of point locations and modelled habitat. These maps identified previously undocumented occurrences of the communities and helped to assess their extent of decline since European settlement. Improving the coverage of quadrat-based floristic sampling is therefore a valuable and cost-effective investment to inform better management of native vegetation and biodiversity. [source] Anthropogenic impacts upon plant species richness and net primary productivity in CaliforniaECOLOGY LETTERS, Issue 2 2005John W. Williams Abstract We assess the importance of anthropogenic land-use, altered productivity, and species invasions for observed productivity,richness relationships in California. To this end, we model net primary productivity (NPP) c. 1750 AD and at present (1982,1999) and map native and exotic vascular plant richness for 230 subecoregions. NPP has increased up to 105% in semi-arid areas and decreased up to 48% in coastal urbanized areas. Exotic invasions have increased local species diversity up to 15%. Human activities have reinforced historical gradients in species richness but reduced the spatial heterogeneity of NPP. Structural equation modelling suggests that, prior to European settlement, NPP and richness were primarily controlled by precipitation and other abiotic variables, with NPP mediating richness. Abiotic variables remain the strongest predictors of present NPP and richness, but intermodel comparisons indicate a significant anthropogenic impact upon statewide distributions of NPP and richness. Exotic and native species each positively correlate to NPP after controlling for other variables, which may help explain recent reports of positively associated native and exotic richness. [source] Effects of sequential depositional basins on lake response to urban and agricultural pollution: a palaeoecological analysis of the Qu'Appelle Valley, Saskatchewan, CanadaFRESHWATER BIOLOGY, Issue 3 2000Aruna S. Dixit 1. Palaeolimnological analyses of fossil diatoms and pigments were conducted in four lakes of the Qu'Appelle Valley, Saskatchewan, Canada, to quantify the effect of upstream depositional basins on lake response to urban and agricultural human activities. Pasqua, Echo, Mission and Katepwa lakes exhibit similar modern limnological characteristics, lie sequentially downstream from urban point sources of growth-limiting nitrogen (N), yet drain similarly large areas of farmland (38,40 × 103 km2). 2. Analyses indicated that all lakes were naturally productive, contained eutrophic diatoms (i.e. Stephanodiscus niagarae, S. hantzchii, S. parvus and Aulacoseira granulata), and supported blooms of colonial (as myxoxanthophyll) and potentially toxic N-fixing cyanobacteria (aphanizophyll), even prior to the onset of European settlement (ca. 1890) and urban development (ca. 1930). 3. The onset of agricultural practices ca. 1890 had only modest effects on algal communities in the Qu'Appelle lakes, with subtle increases in eutrophic diatom species (Pasqua, Mission and Katepwa lakes) and 25,50% increases in pigment-inferred algal abundance (Echo, Mission and Katepwa lakes). 4. Despite naturally high production, total algal abundance (,-carotene) in upstream Pasqua Lake increased by more than 350% after intense urbanization beginning ca. 1930, while eutrophic diatoms became more common and cyanobacteria populations increased ten-fold. Principal components analysis (PCA) explained 64% of diatom variance, and identified three eras corresponding to baseline, pre-agricultural communities (1776,1890), an era of high production (ca. 1925,1960) and recent variable community composition following tertiary treatment of urban sewage (ca. 1977,1990). 5. Analyses of three downstream lakes demonstrated that urban impacts following 1930 remained evident in fossil profiles of ,-carotene and myxoxanthophyll, but that large blooms of N-fixing cyanobacteria were restricted to the past 25 years at downstream Mission and Katepwa lakes. Similarly, PCA showed that fossil diatom assemblages exhibited little directional variation until the 1970s. 6. Together, these analyses support the hypothesis that upstream lakes were effective at reducing the impacts of point-source urban nutrients on downstream lakes. In contrast, diffuse agricultural activities had only limited impacts on water quality and these were less well ameliorated by upstream basins. [source] The Role of Surface Water Drainage in Environmental Change: a Case Example of the Upper South East of South Australia; an Historical ReviewGEOGRAPHICAL RESEARCH, Issue 3 2001Kathryn H. Taffs The role of surface water drainage in environmental change in Australia is rarely appreciated. Drains can modify surface water hydrology, not only altering flow regimes but also rapidly dispersing contaminants and altering the natural hydrological balance of associated flora and fauna. Yet drainage continues to be considered a viable management strategy rather than as a cause of land degradation. The impact of surface water drainage in an inherently saline area of South Australia, the Upper South East, is investigated. Surface water drains were constructed by developers in an attempt to increase the area of land available and viable for agricultural land use. Drainage strategies altered the natural direction, magnitude and frequency of surface water flow. The Upper South East has experienced periods of both increased surface water and flooding, and surface water deficit, in the past one hundred years. The region now receives less surface water than under pre-European conditions, but local runoff is channelled into and through the wetlands more rapidly than before European settlement. Future management strategies are likely to continue this trend, to the detriment of remnant natural wetlands. [source] Leichhardt's maps: 100 years of change in vegetation structure in inland QueenslandJOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY, Issue 1 2008R. J. Fensham Abstract Aim, To address the hypothesis that there has been a substantial increase in woody vegetation cover (,vegetation thickening') during the 100 years after the burning practices of aboriginal hunter-gatherers were abruptly replaced by the management activities associated with pastoralism in north-east Australia. Location, Three hundred and eighty-three sites on 3000 km transect, inland Queensland, Australia. Methods, Vegetation structure descriptions from the route notes of the first European exploration of the location by Ludwig Leichhardt in 1844,45 were georeferenced and compiled. Leichhardt's application of structural descriptors (e.g. ,scrub', ,open forest', ,plain') was interpreted as domains within a matrix of tall stratum and low stratum woody cover. Woody cover was also interpreted for the same locations using aerial photography that largely pre-dates extensive land clearing (1940s,1970s) and compared with their structural domain in 1844,45. The fire-sensitive tree, cypress-pine (Callitris glaucophylla) was singled out for case study because it has been widely proposed that the density of this tree has substantially increased under European pastoral management. Results, The coarse resolution of this analysis indicates that the structure of the vegetation has been stable over the first 100 years of pastoralism. For example treeless or sparsely treed plains described by Leichhardt (1844,45) had the same character on the aerial photography (1945,78). Leichhardt typically described vegetation that includes cypress-pine as having a ,thicket' structure suggesting dense regenerating stands of small trees, consistent with the signature typical on the aerial photography. Main conclusions, A large data set of geographically located descriptions of vegetation structure from the first European traverse of inland Australia compared with vegetation structure determined from aerial photography does not support the hypothesis that vegetation thickening has been extensive and substantial. On the contrary the study suggests that the structure of the vegetation has been relatively stable for the first 100 years of European settlement and pastoralism except for those areas that have been affected by broad-scale clearing. [source] The forests of presettlement New England, USA: spatial and compositional patterns based on town proprietor surveysJOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY, Issue 10-11 2002Charles V. Cogbill Abstract Aim, This study uses the combination of presettlement tree surveys and spatial analysis to produce an empirical reconstruction of tree species abundance and vegetation units at different scales in the original landscape. Location, The New England study area extends across eight physiographic sections, from the Appalachian Mountains to the Atlantic Coastal Plain. The data are drawn from 389 original towns in what are now seven states in the north-eastern United States. These towns have early land division records which document the witness trees growing in the town before European settlement (c. seventeenth to eighteenth century ad). Methods, Records of witness trees from presettlement surveys were collated from towns throughout the study area (1.3 × 105 km2). Tree abundance was averaged over town-wide samples of multiple forest types, integrating proportions of taxa at a local scale (102 km2). These data were summarized into genus groups over the sample towns, which were then mapped [geographical information system (GIS)], classified (Cluster Analysis) and ordinated [detrended correspondence analysis (DCA)]. Modern climatic and topographic variables were also derived from GIS analyses for each town and all town attributes were quantitatively compared. Distributions of both individual species and vegetation units were analysed and displayed for spatial analysis of vegetation structure. Results, The tally of 153,932 individual tree citations show a dominant latitudinal trend in the vegetation. Spatial patterns are concisely displayed as pie charts of genus composition arrayed on sampled towns. Detailed interpolated frequency surfaces show spatial patterns of range and abundance of the dominant taxa. Oak, spruce, hickory and chestnut reach distinctive range limits within the study area. Eight vegetation clusters are distinguished. The northern vegetation is a continuous geographical sequence typified by beech while the southern vegetation is an amorphous group typified by oak. Main conclusions, The wealth of information recorded in the New England town presettlement surveys is an ideal data base to elucidate the natural patterns of vegetation over an extensive spatial area. The timing, town-wide scale, expansive coverage, quantitative enumeration and unbiased estimates are critical advantages of proprietor lotting surveys in determining original tree distributions. This historical,geographical approach produces a vivid reconstruction of the natural vegetation and species distributions as portrayed on maps. The spatial, vegetational and environmental patterns all demonstrate a distinct ,tension zone' separating ,northern hardwood' and ,central hardwood' towns. The presettlement northern hardwood forests, absolutely dominated by beech, forms a continuum responding to a complex climatic gradient of altitude and latitude. The oak forests to the south are distinguished by non-zonal units, probably affected by fire. Although at the continental scale, the forests seem to be a broad transition, at a finer scale they respond to topography such as the major valleys or the northern mountains. This study resets some preconceptions about the original forest, such as the overestimation of the role of pine, hemlock and chestnut and the underestimation of the distinctiveness of the tension zone. Most importantly, the forests of the past and their empirical description provide a basis for many ecological, educational and management applications today. [source] Future eating and country keeping: what role has environmental history in the management of biodiversity?JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY, Issue 5 2001D.M.J.S. Bowman In order to understand and moderate the effects of the accelerating rate of global environmental change land managers and ecologists must not only think beyond their local environment but also put their problems into a historical context. It is intuitively obvious that historians should be natural allies of ecologists and land managers as they struggle to maintain biodiversity and landscape health. Indeed, ,environmental history' is an emerging field where the previously disparate intellectual traditions of ecology and history intersect to create a new and fundamentally interdisciplinary field of inquiry. Environmental history is rapidly becoming an important field displacing many older environmentally focused academic disciplines as well as capturing the public imagination. By drawing on Australian experience I explore the role of ,environmental history' in managing biodiversity. First I consider some of the similarities and differences of the ecological and historical approaches to the history of the environment. Then I review two central questions in Australian environment history: landscape-scale changes in woody vegetation cover since European settlement and the extinction of the marsupials in both historical and pre-historical time. These case studies demonstrate that environmental historians can reach conflicting interpretations despite using essentially the same data. The popular success of some environmental histories hinges on the fact that they narrate a compelling story concerning human relationships and human value judgements about landscape change. Ecologists must learn to harness the power of environmental history narratives to bolster land management practices designed to conserve biological heritage. They can do this by using various currently popular environmental histories as a point of departure for future research, for instance by testing the veracity of competing interpretations of landscape-scale change in woody vegetation cover. They also need to learn how to write parables that communicate their research findings to land managers and the general public. However, no matter how sociologically or psychologically satisfying a particular environmental historical narrative might be, it must be willing to be superseded with new stories that incorporate the latest research discoveries and that reflects changing social values of nature. It is contrary to a rational and publicly acceptable approach to land management to read a particular story as revealing the absolute truth. [source] California annual grass invaders: the drivers or passengers of change?JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY, Issue 5 2010Janneke HilleRisLambers Summary 1.,The dominance of invasive species is often assumed to reflect their competitive superiority over displaced native species. However, invasive species may be abundant because of their greater tolerance to anthropogenic impacts accompanying their introduction. Thus, invasive species can either be the drivers or passengers of change. 2.,We distinguish between these two possibilities in California grasslands currently dominated by Mediterranean annuals (exotics) and subjected to livestock grazing since European settlement. We focused on native annual grasses and forbs, an understudied species-rich component of the California flora, and Mediterranean annual grasses, currently dominant and among the first non-native plants introduced to the area. 3.,We established a field experiment with fenced and unfenced blocks in a cattle pasture. We measured concentrations of limiting resources (nitrogen, phosphorus, light and soil moisture) in monoculture plots as an index of competitive ability (i.e. R*). We then quantified grazing impacts on biomass and seed production in grazed vs. ungrazed monoculture plots. Finally, we measured biomass and seed production of each species competing in mixture plots, in the presence and absence of grazers. 4.,We found that native and exotic species did not differ in R* indices of competitive ability, i.e. concentrations of limiting resources in ungrazed native monoculture plots did not differ from concentrations in ungrazed exotic monoculture plots. By contrast, exotic annuals suffered less from grazing than native annuals, perhaps reflecting their longer evolutionary history with cattle grazing. Consistent with these results, native and exotic annuals were equally abundant in ungrazed mixtures, but exotic species overwhelmingly dominated grazed mixtures. 5.,Species able to draw down nitrogen and light to lower levels in monocultures (i.e. those with lower R* values) dominated biomass and seeds in mixed plots without grazers. However, R* did not predict the relative abundance of species in grazed plots. Moreover, the relative abundance of species in mixtures did not correlate with grazing impacts on their monocultures, implying that grazing alters inter-specific competitive dynamics. 6.,Synthesis. We demonstrate that the displacement of native annuals by Mediterranean annual grasses in California may largely have been driven by cattle grazing. [source] LÉVI-STRAUSS AND THE POLITICAL: THE ELEMENTARY STRUCTURES OF KINSHIP AND THE RESOLUTION OF RELATIONS BETWEEN INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND SETTLER STATESTHE JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, Issue 3 2005Michael Asch This article addresses the contribution of Lévi-Strauss's The elementary structures of kinship to resolving political relations between indigenous peoples and the settler states. To this end, it explores his discussion of the origins of society within the context of Enlightenment-inspired political thought and concludes that he provides a unique, counter-hegemonic alternative to conventional narratives. It then shows how this argument thwarts the presumption in Canadian jurisprudence that indigenous peoples were automatically incorporated into the state through European settlement, and fosters an understanding that a relationship based on the concept of ,Treaty' as understood in indigenous political thought promotes a political relationship that affirms the integrity of all parties. [source] Three centuries of fire in montane pine-oak stands on a temperate forest landscapeAPPLIED VEGETATION SCIENCE, Issue 1 2010Serena R. Aldrich Abstract Question: What was the role of fire in montane pine-oak (Pinus-Quercus) stands under changing human land uses on a temperate forest landscape in eastern North America? Location: Mill Mountain in the central Appalachian Mountains, Virginia, US. Methods: A dendroecological reconstruction of fire history was generated for four stands dominated by xerophytic pine and oak species. The fire chronology began under presettlement conditions following aboriginal depopulation. Subsequent land uses included European settlement, iron mining, logging, and US Forest Service acquisition and fire protection. Results: Fires occurred approximately every 5 years until 1930 without any evidence of a temporal trend in fire frequency. Burning ceased after 1930. Area-wide fires affecting multiple pine stands were common, occurring at intervals of approximately 16 years. Most living pines became established during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Dead pines indicated that an older cohort established ca. 1730. Most hardwoods were established between the 1920s and 1940s. Conclusions: Except for fire protection, changes in land use had no discernible influence on fire frequency. Lightning ignitions and/or large fire extent may have been important for maintaining frequent burning in the 1700s, while fuel recovery may have constrained fire frequency during later periods. The disturbance regime appears to be characterized by frequent surface fires and occasional severe fires, insect outbreaks or other disturbances followed by pine recruitment episodes. Industrial disturbances appear to have had little influence on the pine stands. The greatest impact of industrial society is fire exclusion, which permitted hardwood establishment. [source] The effect of a single burn event on the aquatic invertebrates in artesian springsAUSTRAL ECOLOGY, Issue 8 2009NICOLA THERESE MUNRO Abstract Fire can often occur in aquatic ecosystems, which may affect aquatic invertebrates. Despite the importance of aquatic invertebrates to ecosystem function, the effect of fire on these environments has been little studied. We studied the effects of fire on aquatic invertebrates in artesian springs in the arid zone of South Australia. Artesian springs are a unique and threatened ecosystem, containing several rare and endemic species. Evidence suggests these wetlands were routinely burnt by indigenous Aboriginal people before European settlement over 100 years ago. Recently, burning has been suggested as a reinstated management tool to control the dominant reed Phragmites australis. A reduction in the cover of the reed may benefit the threatened flora and fauna through enhancement of water flow. Three artesian springs were burnt and aquatic invertebrates sampled from the burnt and three unburnt springs. A single fire in late winter completely burnt the dominant vegetation, followed by recovery of Phragmites over the following 2 years. A single fire event did not deplete populations of endemic aquatic invertebrates in artesian springs, but probably did not substantially benefit these populations either. Isopods, amphipods, ostracods and three species of hydrobiid snail survived the fire event, and most had increased in number 1 month post fire but then returned to pre-burnt numbers by 1 year post fire. Morphospecies richness of all identified invertebrates increased over time in all springs, but did not differ appreciably between burnt and unburnt springs. If burning artesian springs is to be adopted as a management tool to suppress the growth of Phragmites australis, we conclude that the endemic aquatic invertebrates will survive a single burn event, without negative effect to their populations. [source] THE DEVELOPMENT OF ACCOUNTING REGULATION, EDUCATION, AND LITERATURE IN AUSTRALIA, 1788,2005AUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC HISTORY REVIEW, Issue 3 2009Garry D. Carnegie accounting history; Australia; education; literature; regulation Accounting involves the recording of events, the preparation and reporting of results and is a key medium in discharging accountability. It pervades organisations and institutions in every country and is a key element of the business fabric and economic development of any nation. This study examines the development of accounting regulation, education, and literature in Australia across five key phases of European settlement from 1788 to 2005 and presents an overview of the major historical trends in each of these periods. The development of accounting and the profession is intimately linked with significant economic development in Australia over 200 years. [source] EXPLOITING MARINE WILDLIFE IN QUEENSLAND: THE COMMERCIAL DUGONG AND MARINE TURTLE FISHERIES, 1847,1969AUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC HISTORY REVIEW, Issue 3 2008Ben Daley commercial fisheries; dugongs; Great Barrier Reef; marine turtles; Australia The historical exploitation of marine resources in Queensland has only been partially documented. In particular, the history of the commercial fishing of dugongs and marine turtles has received comparatively little scholarly attention. Since European settlement in Queensland, various human activities have exploited these resources. We present documentary and oral history evidence of the scale of those industries. Based on extensive archival and oral history research, we argue that diverse fishing practices occurred and that the sustained exploitation of dugongs, green turtles, and hawksbill turtles led to observable declines in the numbers of these animals , now species of conservation concern. [source] | ||||||||||||||||