Tracking Anthropogenic Influences on the Condition of Plant Communities at Sites and Landscape Scales

Deriving vegetation condition assessments from land use classifications and mapping only provides rudimentary and very coarse insights; ones that may be misleading for planning and priority setting by regional planners and policy makers. Standardized indicators of past ecological resilience for a particular landscape can assist land managers and ecologists track, evaluate and report the outcomes of land management decisions. Developing a timetable of the varying goals of land management practices and their past effects on vegetation condition including regenerative capacity is suited to on-ground managers.Access to information about how and why landscapes were transformed helps regional planners and policy makers identify and prioritise areas for investment relative to an ideal state. Tracking the responses of previous native plant communities to a range of land management practices helps decision makers gain an understanding of which outcomes can be realistically achieved in particular landscape contexts

Adopting national vegetation guidelines and the National Vegetation Information System (NVIS) framework in the Northern Territory

Guidelines and core attributes for site-based vegetation surveying and mapping developed for the Northern Territory, are relevant to botanical research, forestry typing, rangeland monitoring and reporting on the extent and condition of native and non-native vegetated landscapes. These initiatives are consistent with national vegetation guidelines and the National Vegetation Information System (NVIS) framework. This paper provides a synopsis of vegetation site data collection, classification and mapping in the Northern Territory, and discusses the benefits of consistency between the guidelines, core attributes and the NVIS framework; both of which has an emphasis on the NVIS hierarchical classification system for describing structural and floristic attributes of vegetation. The long-term aim of the NVIS framework is that national attributes are adopted at regional levels to enable comparability of vegetation information within survey and jurisdictional boundaries in the Northern Territory and across Australia. The guidelines and core attributes are incorporated in current and future vegetation survey and mapping programs in the Northern Territory

Injury & Poisoning: Mortality Among Residents of the Illawarra Health Area

Causes of death due to injury and poisonings in 1994-1998 among people resident in the Illawarra Health Area, and each ofits Local Government Areas (LGAs), as recorded by the Australian Bureau of Statistics\u27 Death Registrations, are reported in this issue of The Illawarra Population Health Profiler

Analysis of techniques for mapping environments for fauna survey

A discussion of environmental land classification is presented for the purpose of surveying avifaunal communities. Surveying and mapping land uses the term environment in a special sense. Environment can be mapped into regions whose components are interacting climate terrain, geology, soils and biota. The problem of how to describe the environment for sampling fauna requires an approach which samples the inherent and known variability of all environmental regions present. Discovery of patterns between fauna and environment provide the basis for understanding species/habitat relationships and provides a valuable basis for management or more detailed studies. Two environmental mapping methods commonly employed in faunal survey and management are systematic grids and natural landscape patterns; these were compared to determine their effectiveness for classifying the environment for sampling avifaunal communities. A detailed study was undertaken between 1982-84 in a plot of 8km2 in the Tianjara area. The plot was chosen to encompass a representative sample of the wide range of environments described by Gunn (1985). Analysis of the systematic grids involved sampling a diverse set of environmental attributes into six different grid sizes, including 100m2, 200m2, 300m2, 400m2, 500m2 and 1000m2. Topographic maps and aerial photos provided the sources for measuring the attributes. Results of several analyses showed the 300m2 grid was the most appropriate for the Tianjara area. Analysis of natural landscape patterns involved adoption of the work done by Gunn et al (1984) and led to the preparation of a land unit map for the study plot. Detailed patterns were delineated in 1:27,000 scale air photos and described using the land unit descriptions in Gunn (1985). Results from ground site samples taken to verify the two mapping bases showed that the correspondence between map and ground data was better for sites in systematic grids than for natural landscape patterns. Notwithstanding this, a better understanding of the effects of sampling specific patches of environment was gained from examining sites in natural landscape patterns because it employed a stratified representative sampling strategy, while the systematic grids used a centric systematic sampling strategy. The effect of this was large uniform patches of habitat tended to be more oversampled by sites in systematic grids than was observed for sites in natural landscape patterns. Examination of the relationships between the sampling bases using analyses of environment was not possible because of the lack of sufficient sites in common between the two sampling bases. Comparison of the two sampling bases was, however, possible by using avifaunal data common to both sampling bases. Analysis of the relationships between avifaunal data and environmental groups showed only minor differences between the effectiveness of the two sampling bases to provide practical and realistic descriptions of environment for describing discrete assemblages of birds. The overall conclusion of this study is that any environmental classification, so long as it is based on relevant attributes known to be important for environmental structure and processes, will provide a valuable basis for sampling fauna. A number of points need to be stressed regarding analyses of this type; care needs to be exercised in choosing surrogate environmental attributes between the mapping and ground site data and caution is required when allocating sampling sites to avoid overemphasising area of environmental groups as more important than the inherent variability of the attributes within the environmental groups. An understanding of this problem will greatly improve the nature of sampling fauna in environmental regions

Spatial Variability of the ‘Airbnb Effect’: A Spatially Explicit Analysis of Airbnb’s Impact on Housing Prices in Sydney

Over the last decade, the emergence and significant growth of home-sharing platforms, such as Airbnb, has coincided with rising housing unaffordability in many global cities. It is in this context that we look to empirically assess the impact of Airbnb on housing prices in Sydney—one of the least affordable cities in the world. Employing a hedonic property valuation model, our results indicate that Airbnb’s overall effect is positive. A 1% increase in Airbnb density is associated with approximately a 2% increase in property sales price. However, recognizing that Airbnb’s effect is geographically uneven and given the fragmented nature of Sydney’s housing market, we also employ a GWR to account for the spatial variation in Airbnb activity. The findings confirm that Airbnb’s influence on housing prices is varied across the city. Sydney’s northern beaches and parts of western Sydney experience a statistically significant value uplift attributable to Airbnb activity. However, traditional tourist locations focused around Sydney’s CBD and the eastern suburbs experience insignificant or negative property price impacts. The results highlight the need for policymakers to consider local Airbnb and housing market contexts when deciding the appropriate level and design of Airbnb regulation

Inclusion of mobile phone numbers into an ongoing population health survey in Australia using an overlapping dual frame: description of methods, call outcomes and acceptance by staff and respondents

In Australia telephone surveys has been the method of choice for ongoing population health surveys. Although it was estimated in 2011 that 20% of the population were mobile phone only persons the inclusion of mobile only phone users into these existing landline population health surveys has not occurred. This paper is part of a project that is looking in detail at the inclusion of mobile phone numbers into an ongoing population health survey in Australia. This paper describes the methods used, the call outcomes and acceptance by the population, supervisors and interviewing staff

Epidemiology of Influenza-like Illness during Pandemic (H1N1) 2009, New South Wales, Australia

To rapidly describe the epidemiology of influenza-like illness (ILI) during the 2009 winter epidemic of pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus in New South Wales, Australia, we used results of a continuous population health survey. During July–September 2009, ILI was experienced by 23% of the population. Among these persons, 51% were unable to undertake normal duties for <3 days, 55% sought care at a general practice, and 5% went to a hospital. Factors independently associated with ILI were younger age, daily smoking, and obesity. Effectiveness of prepandemic seasonal vaccine was ≈20%. The high prevalence of risk factors associated with a substantially increased risk for ILI deserves greater recognition

Should cities hosting mass gatherings invest in public health surveillance and planning? Reflections from a decade of mass gatherings in Sydney, Australia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Mass gatherings have been defined by the World Health Organisation as "events attended by a sufficient number of people to strain the planning and response resources of a community, state or nation". This paper explores the public health response to mass gatherings in Sydney, the factors that influenced the extent of deployment of resources and the utility of planning for mass gatherings as a preparedness exercise for other health emergencies.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>Not all mass gatherings of people require enhanced surveillance and additional response. The main drivers of extensive public health planning for mass gatherings reflect geographical spread, number of international visitors, event duration and political and religious considerations. In these instances, the implementation of a formal risk assessment prior to the event with ongoing daily review is important in identifying public health hazards.</p> <p>Developing and utilising event-specific surveillance to provide early-warning systems that address the specific risks identified through the risk assessment process are essential. The extent to which additional resources are required will vary and depend on the current level of surveillance infrastructure.</p> <p>Planning the public health response is the third step in preparing for mass gatherings. If the existing public health workforce has been regularly trained in emergency response procedures then far less effort and resources will be needed to prepare for each mass gathering event. The use of formal emergency management structures and co-location of surveillance and planning operational teams during events facilitates timely communication and action.</p> <p>Summary</p> <p>One-off mass gathering events can provide a catalyst for innovation and engagement and result in opportunities for ongoing public health planning, training and surveillance enhancements that outlasted each event.</p