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Historic Content you are reading content from a previous reporting year.

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Resistance to change

2016
Coasts
Resilience
Report Content
For ecological habitats, species and processes, strong resistance to change is often related to high biodiversity ...
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Resilience of the coastal environment 2016

2016
Coasts
Resilience
At a glance

At a glanceResilience of the coastal environment includes its resistance to change and its ability to recover once disturbed. Resistance to change is linked to the maintenance of high biodiversity, which is expected to provide greater redundancy in ecological functions. Resistance can also...

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Escalation of existing pressures

2016
Biodiversity
Risks
Report Content

2016 Biodiversity Risks It is inevitable that the impact of climate change will continue to increase, given current trajectories (see the Drivers and Atmosphere reports). The interaction of climate change with other...

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Invasive species are a potent, persistent and widespread threat to Australia’s environment

2016
Pressures
Report Content

2016 Pressures Invasive species are animals, plants, parasites or disease-causing organisms that establish themselves outside their natural range and become pests. Although native species can also become invasive if transferred outside their natural...

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Regional and landscape-scale pressures: Invasive species

2016
Land
Pressures
Report Content

2016 Land Pressures South East Coast South West Coast North East Coast Tasmania Greater Brisbane...

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Resilience of biodiversity 2016

2016
Biodiversity
Resilience
At a glance

At a glanceResilience is a key underpinning principle of Australia’s Biodiversity Conservation Strategy 2010–2030, as well as state and territory, and regional biodiversity strategies. The definition of resilience in biodiversity strategies and policies is still relatively ambiguous, and...

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Resilience of inland water environments 2016

2016
Inland water
Resilience
At a glance

At a glanceA challenge in assessing resilience of inland water environments is recognising resilience when it occurs, especially because Australian ecosystems have developed to be both resistant and resilient. We can contribute to resilience by reducing extreme and detrimental ecosystem...

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Preparedness for future pressures

2016
Heritage
Resilience
Report Content

2016 Heritage Resilience Antarctica The drivers and pressures that threaten Australia’s heritage do so in different ways, leading to different opportunities to prepare for future pressures or...

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Box HER45 Macquarie Island pest-eradication project—recovery of significance at a natural heritage place

2016
Heritage
Resilience
Case Study

Between 2006 and 2014, the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service, in collaboration with the Australian Government, successfully undertook one of the world’s most extensive rabbit and rodent eradication programs on Macquarie Island (Tasmanian PWS 2016b). Macquarie Island is...

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Box LAN4 Extinctions due to myrtle rust

2016
Land
Pressures
Case Study
... For populations that comprise individuals with innate resistance to the rust, a reduction in genetic diversity will ... of highly susceptible species that have no natural resistance and a range that coincides with the predicted ...
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Land pressures - At a glance

2016
Land
Pressures
At a glance

At a glanceWhile changing climates have shaped the Australian landscape and its vegetation, the current rate of climate change is likely to result in changes to the distribution and composition of vegetation communities. Some communities are likely to disappear, others will be transformed as...

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Toxins, pesticides and herbicides

2016
Marine environment
Pressures
Report Content

2016 Marine environment Pressures Great Barrier Reef The group of chemicals typically regarded as pollutants encompasses a large array of compounds, and is generally divided into chemical...

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Resilience of marine systems

2016
Marine environment
Resilience
Report Content

2016 Marine environment Resilience Tasmania Great Barrier Reef The concept of resilience is not straightforward, with definitions varying across social and scientific...

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Regional and landscape-scale pressures: Bushfire

2016
Land
Pressures
Report Content

2016 Land Pressures Bushfires (wildfires) are uncontrolled fire in the landscape. These particularly affect natural or seminatural vegetation, and have significant positive and negative effects on landscape and...

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Overview of resilience of biodiversity

2016
Biodiversity
Resilience
Report Content

2016 Biodiversity Resilience Resilience is a key underpinning principle of biodiversity strategies at all levels of government. However, the definition of resilience in most strategies and policies is still relatively...

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Evidence of past resilience

2016
Biodiversity
Resilience
Report Content

2016 Biodiversity Resilience Much of Australia’s biodiversity is renowned for its ability to deal with massive ecosystem shocks (e.g. fire, extended periods of dry or wet, extreme weather events such as cyclones)....

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Overview of resilience of the marine environment

2016
Marine environment
Resilience
Report Content

2016 Marine environment Resilience Great Barrier Reef Marine North Marine North West Marine South East Current...

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Resilience of the Antarctic environment 2016

2016
Antarctic environment
Resilience
At a glance

At a glanceAlthough organisms living in Antarctica have evolved to cope with severe events, it is challenging to measure their level of resilience and to predict how future climate change will affect Antarctic ecosystems. This is largely because our understanding of key parameters is still...

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Pressures affecting the marine environment 2016

2016
Marine environment
Pressures
At a glance

At a glanceAustralia’s marine environment is experiencing pressures from a wide range of sources that affect its habitats, communities, species and ecosystem functioning to varying degrees. With many pressures affecting the marine environment and its inhabitants at any one time, it can be...

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Pressures affecting the land environment 2016

2016
Land
Pressures
At a glance

At a glanceAlthough a changing climate has shaped the Australian landscape and its vegetation, the current rate of climate change is likely to result in changes in the distribution and composition of vegetation communities. Some communities are likely to disappear, and others will be...

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Box ATM12 Persistent organic pollutants in Australian air

2016
Ambient air quality
State and trends
Case Study

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are semivolatile chemicals that resist degradation. Once in the environment, they can cycle through water, soil and air, ultimately to bioaccumulate in humans and other species. Exposure to POPs can lead to serious health effects, including...

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Coastal land

2016
Coasts
Pressures
Report Content

2016 Coasts Pressures Great Barrier Reef Antarctica Terrestrial pollution Terrestrial pollution occurs when solid or liquid waste is deposited on land or underground,...

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Resilience

2016
Resilience
At a glance

Resilience is the ability of the environment to withstand or recover from a shock or disturbance. Although the concept of resilience was developed and is mainly used in relation to ecosystems, it is a valuable concept across the environment and in environmental management. Effective...

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Regional and landscape-scale pressures: Land clearing

2016
Land
Pressures
Report Content

2016 Land Pressures Land clearing represents a fundamental pressure on the land environment, causing the loss and fragmentation of native vegetation. Depending on subsequent management, land clearing can also lead to a...

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Soil: Carbon dynamics

2016
Land
State and trends
Report Content

2016 Land State and trends South Australian Gulf Tasmania Carbon dynamics In light of international agreements such as the Paris Agreement—which emerged from the 21st...

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Land use and management

2016
Land
State and trends
Report Content

2016 Land State and trends North East Coast Great Barrier Reef Australia’s population is concentrated along the eastern, south-eastern and south-western coastal fringes...

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Air toxics

2016
Ambient air quality
State and trends
Report Content

2016 Ambient air quality State and trends North East Coast South Western Plateau Tasmania Greater Brisbane Greater...

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Marine debris

2016
Marine environment
Pressures
Report Content

2016 Marine environment Pressures Within the marine environment, marine debris is sourced from both the land (rubbish flushed out to sea; see further detail on coastal pollution in the Coasts report) and marine...

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Pressures on the marine environment

2016
Antarctic environment
Pressures
Report Content

2016 Antarctic environment Pressures Antarctica The water chemistry of the Southern Ocean appears to be changing at a faster rate than previously estimated, particularly in the deep ocean...

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Pest species and pathogens

2016
Biodiversity
Pressures
Report Content

2016 Biodiversity Pressures Murray Darling Tasmania Australian Capital Territory Pest plants, pest animals and pathogens have been identified by...

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Australia State of the Environment 2016 has been prepared by independent experts using the best available information to support assessments of environmental condition, pressures, management effectiveness, resilience, risks and outlook.

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We, the authors, acknowledge the traditional owners of Country throughout Australia and their continuing connection to land, sea and community; we pay respect to them and their cultures and to their elders both past and present.

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