The grasslands of Victoria’s Volcanic Plains have been extensively cleared since European settlement. They are listed as a critically endangered ecosystem under the EPBC Act. There are many small, fragmented grassland reserves in and around Victoria’s capital city, Melbourne. As part of a Myer Foundation funded project, the Australian Research Centre of Urban Ecology conducted a research project exploring the values of Melbourne’s grassland conservation reserves.
The following datasets were produced:
- A GIS layer showing Melbourne’s grassland reserve polygons.
- A spreadsheet summarising Melbourne’s grassland sites.
- A species inventory for each site.
- Transect data showing species coverage for each site.
- The monitoring protcol used to collect inventory and transect data.
Scientific articles and reports
Kendal, D., Zeeman, B., Ikin, K., Lunt, I., McDonnell, M. J., Farrar, A., Pearce, L., M., Morgan, J., (2017) The importance of small urban reserves for plant conservation, Biological Conservation, 26-27:106-113
Zeeman, B., McDonnell. M., Kendal, D., Morgan, J. W. (2017) Biotic homogenisation in an increasingly urbanised temperate grassland ecosystem, Journal of Vegetation Science, 28(3): 550-561
Kendal, D., Pearce, L. M., Morgan, J. W., Lunt, I. D., Zeeman, B. J., Farrar, A., Griffiths, K. E., McDonnell, M. J. (2015), Melbourne’s Native Grasslands: Guiding landscapes and communities in transition, Myer Foundation. Project report