Lead Investigator: Dr Michael Franklin (WSU)

Co-Investigators: Associate Professor Uffe Nielsen (WSU) and Professor Jeff Powell (WSU)

Project Summary: To better understand and monitor ecosystem function and biodiversity values of threatened Cumberland Plain Woodland (CPW) communities, we are establishing a network of sentinel sites, representing the geographical coverage of CPW and across the climatic gradients of the Cumberland Plain. The project will establish and conduct baseline ecological surveys in a network of 100 research and monitoring plots in Cumberland Plain Woodland. The project contributes to Obj. III of the CPCP by defining the spectrum of extant CPW ecosystem states: from poor to best condition. The project will help define factors that make remnant and restoration sites healthy and self-sustaining and how site characteristics affect composition, structure and function. Survey results will provide a platform for projects assessing biodiversity and ecosystem structure and function. In 2023, 65 plots were established and surveyed for floristics and vegetation structure. In 2024, 35 plots are being added to the network, as five clusters with seven plots each. The project will contribute to the generation of new knowledge on the linkages between ecosystem structure and function that can guide future management and conservation efforts, including definition of high-quality Cumberland Plain Woodland. The project will establish a network of sites that can act as sentinels for threatening processes throughout the Cumberland Plains to guide evidence-based adaptive management.