Congratulations Professor Anya Reading!
RST Apology to Tasmanian Aboriginal people 2021.
RST Apology to Tasmanian Aboriginal people 2021.
Following 180 years of agricultural settlement, the Midlands area of Tasmania has been drastically transformed and 83% of the original area of native vegetation has been replaced. By comparing information from two recent intensive floristic surveys with historical botanical records, it was determined that 11.8% of the higher plant flora has vanished.
With current rates of change and land tenure, it is probable that further extinctions will occur in this environment. Grazing was found to increase significantly native species richness on loams and clays, although the same relationship was not evident on sandy soils. The management of grassy remnants should include regular burning and/or grazing as a means of intermittently depleting the grass sward. Many herbaceous exotics are habitat specific, and it is suggested that their passive spread is not an immediate threat to native vegetation on well-drained land. The long-term viability of native vegetation may, however, necessitate the implementation of simple management programs designed to maintain native species diversity and to minimise the spread of the more vigorous woody exotics.
Royal Society of Tasmania, RST, Van Diemens Land, natural history, science, ecology, taxonomy, botany, zoology, geology, geography, papers & proceedings, Australia, UTAS Library,
Published Papers
The Royal Society of Tasmania acknowledges, with deep respect, the traditional owners of this land, and the ongoing custodianship of the Aboriginal people of Tasmania. The Society pays respect to Elders past, present and emerging. We acknowledge that Tasmanian Aboriginal Peoples have survived severe and unjust impacts resulting from invasion and dispossession of their Country. As an institution dedicated to the advancement of knowledge, the Royal Society of Tasmania recognises Aboriginal cultural knowledge and practices and seeks to respect and honour these traditions and the deep understanding they represent.
On 15 February 2021, the Royal Society of Tasmania offered a formal Apology to the Tasmanian Aboriginal people.
