Summary

This project will result in increased vertebrate biodiversity at the farm scale through on-farm management via the rice industry’s Environmental Champions Program on both the planning and action levels. Research results will contribute significantly to building the capacity of both individual rice farmers and the rice industry as a whole in integrated biodiversity management as part of everyday farm business and culture. On-farm actions that promote both farm production and biodiversity will provide a framework for on-farm management of biodiversity that can be adopted by other industries, government bodies, and other stakeholders.

Program

Rice

Research Organisation

University Of Canberra

Objective Summary

To manage and promote existing on-farm vertebrate biodiversity using an experimental approach as a part of the rice industry’s Environmental Champions Program (ECP) Conduct medium- to long-term monitoring of selected vertebrate species in the above experiments to demonstrate the potential effectiveness of the ECP’s on-farm management program for vertebrate biodiversity Conduct parallel ecological research (e.g. habitat utilisation on rice farms or the farming matrix) on selected significantvertebrate species to facilitate on-farm management decisions