Health monitoring program
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- Bu səhifədəki naviqasiya:
- DOCUMENT REVISION HISTORY Revision Description Originator Internal Reviewer
- TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND ....................................................... 1
- 3.3.1 Health Ranking
- 3.3.4 Multispectral Imagery Interpretation
- 4.4.1 Interpretation of 2013 VCD Image
- 4.4.2 Interpretation of 2014 VCD Image
- REFERENCES .......................................................................................... 20
- Charts
- 1.1 Objectives
- 3.2 Plant Collection, Licensing and Nomenclature
| Kunzea similis subsp. mediterranea HEALTH MONITORING PROGRAM 2014
F Q M A U S T R A L I A N I C K E L P T Y L T D M A R C H 2 0 1 5 TEL. (08) 9315 4688
office@woodmanenv.com.au PO Box 50, Applecross WA 6953 www.woodmanenv.com.au FQM Australia Nickel Pty Ltd Kunzea similis subsp. mediterranea Health Monitoring Program 2014 Woodman Environmental Consulting Pty Ltd DOCUMENT REVISION HISTORY
Description Originator Internal Reviewer Internal Review Date Client Reviewer Client Review Date Rev A
Draft report BL CG/GW 5/3/2015 Tony
Petersen 6/03/2015 Rev 0 Final report BL GW
Report Reference: FQM14‐33‐01 Cover Photographs: Clockwise from top left – Kunzea similis subsp. mediterranea monitoring quadrat; flowers; typical yellowing of leaves on growing tip; fruit (Woodman Environmental Consulting Pty Ltd)
DISCLAIMER
This document is prepared in accordance with and subject to an agreement between Woodman Environmental Consulting Pty Ltd (“Woodman Environmental”) and the client for whom it has been prepared (“FQM Australia Nickel Pty Ltd”) and is restricted to those issues that have been raised by the Client in its engagement of Woodman Environmental and prepared using the standard of skill and care ordinarily exercised by Environmental Scientists in the preparation of such Documents.
Any organisation or person that relies on or uses this document for purposes or reasons other than those agreed by Woodman Environmental and the Client without first obtaining the prior written consent of Woodman Environmental, does so entirely at their own risk and Woodman Environmental denies all liability in tort, contract or otherwise for any loss, damage or injury of any kind whatsoever (whether in negligence or otherwise) that may be suffered as a consequence of relying on this document for any purpose other than that agreed with the Client.
FQM Australia Nickel Pty Ltd Kunzea similis subsp. mediterranea Health Monitoring Program 2014 Woodman Environmental Consulting Pty Ltd TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.
1.1
OBJECTIVES .................................................................................................................. 1
3.1
QUADRAT ESTABLISHMENT ......................................................................................... 2
3.2
PLANT COLLECTION, LICENSING AND NOMENCLATURE ............................................. 4
3.3
MONITORING ............................................................................................................... 4
3.4
RAINFALL DATA ............................................................................................................. 8
4.1
QUADRAT HEALTH ........................................................................................................ 9
4.2
PLANT HEALTH ............................................................................................................ 10
4.3
RAINFALL ..................................................................................................................... 12
4.4
MULTISPECTRAL IMAGERY RESULTS ........................................................................... 13
4.4.1.1
Correlation with Rainfall ........................................................................................................................... 16
4.4.2.1
Correlation with Health Monitoring ......................................................................................................... 16
4.4.2.2
Correlation with Rainfall ........................................................................................................................... 17
Table 1: Site Selection of Quadrats Table 2: Personnel and Licensing Information Table 3: Quadrat Vegetation Health Score Ranking Scale Table 4: Plant Health Score Ranking Scale Table 5: Plant Health Monitoring Parameters
FQM Australia Nickel Pty Ltd Kunzea similis subsp. mediterranea Health Monitoring Program 2014 Woodman Environmental Consulting Pty Ltd Appendices Appendix A: Photographic Representation of Fecundity Classifications and Upright Stems Appendix B: Pseudo‐colour Change Detection Scale Range Appendix C: Kunzea similis subsp. mediterranea
Monitoring 2014 Raw Data Appendix D: Photographic Record of Plots 2014 Appendix E: Photographic Representation of Plant and Foliage Death Appendix F: Photographic Representation of Ground‐truthed Points
Chart 1: Monthly and Mean Annual Rainfall for Ravensthorpe (Bureau of Meteorology 2015) Figures Figure 1: Field Location of Quadrats and 2013 0.5m Pseudo‐colour Image (2012‐2013 Change) Figure 2: 2013 0.2m Pseudo‐colour Image (2012‐2013 Change) Figure 3: 2014 0.2m Pseudo‐colour Image (2013‐2014 Change) Figure 4: 2014 0.2m Pseudo‐colour Image (2012‐2014 Change)
FQM Australia Nickel Pty Ltd Kunzea similis subsp. mediterranea Health Monitoring Program 2014 Woodman Environmental Consulting Pty Ltd 1
1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND FQM Nickel Australia Pty Ltd’s (FQM) Ravensthorpe Nickel Operations have approval under Part IV of the Environmental Protection Act 1986 (EP Act) for their lateritic nickel mining operations near Ravensthorpe. A condition of operation is to monitor the health of populations of the Threatened ‐ Declared Rare Flora (T‐DRF) taxon Kunzea similis subsp.
focusing on transect based sampling conducted on a quarterly basis.
Woodman Environmental Consulting Pty Ltd (Woodman Environmental) were commissioned to design a less intensive and intrusive monitoring program to monitor the health of the naturally occurring population of Kunzea similis subsp. mediterranea (Kunzea) within the Kunzea Conservation Area, that could be used in conjunction with remote sensing multispectral imagery (flown annually in October) to track vegetation health on an annual basis.
(Western Botanical 2008), a revised method utilising a quadrat based sampling regime with parameters designed to be repeatable, reduce observer variation during monitoring, limit errors in interpretation of parameters by different recorders, and take into account the form of the taxon, was proposed (Woodman Environmental 2014). This report details the new methods and 2014 monitoring results (baseline sampling) for the program.
The objectives required to fulfil the condition of monitoring the health of Kunzea similis subsp. mediterranea include:
Establish a new monitoring method to reduce variations and errors in results due to human sampling, and to increase time effectiveness;
method; and
Prepare a report documenting the methods and results of the initial sampling, and recommendations for additional investigations if deemed appropriate.
The monitoring program incorporates 2 distinct aspects (interpretation of remotely sensed multispectral imagery / field observation of vegetation and plant health) that are compared to each other. The program is designed to provide correlation of multispectral data with field observations which will allow the use of the multispectral data as a monitoring tool in the absence of annual field monitoring. Field monitoring would therefore become a regular (every 3 to 5 years) check on the multispectral data and also a response to observed significant change in vegetation health when indicated by the remote sensing imagery.
The first aspect (multispectral imagery) is utilised to provide an overview of the Kunzea Conservation Zone, focussing on general vegetation health. The vegetation health is FQM Australia Nickel Pty Ltd Kunzea similis subsp. mediterranea Health Monitoring Program 2014 Woodman Environmental Consulting Pty Ltd 2
interpreted from data presented in the imagery on photosynthesising plant cell density, with changes in health identified from comparison of digital images collected over time.
The second aspect (field observation) involves the use of a plant and vegetation health ranking system applied to a set of small portions (subsamples/quadrats) of the Kunzea population to assess visual symptoms of vegetation health/stress.
The monitoring program design was initially provided to FQM in a separate report (Woodman Environmental 2014) that described the approach and proposed data collection and analysis methods. Some aspects of the proposed design have been modified to reflect field conditions and these revised methods are described below.
Identification of potential sampling locations (quadrats) within the Conservation Area involved inspection of existing remote sensing data at 0.2m pixels (the 2013 pseudo‐colour image showing changes in vegetation from 2012 to 2013, specifically plant cell density (loss/gain of leaves)) in conjunction with previously prepared Kunzea population polygons (Western Botanical 2008). Proposed sampling locations were chosen to incorporate areas that appeared to be healthy and also areas that appeared to be distressed (as per the 2013 pseudo‐colour image) to provide an overview of the population health and also to help calibrate the monitoring method. Another parameter utilised in the selection of sampling sites was proximity to areas of mine activity in order to monitor or gauge the effects of mining activities, both direct and indirect on the community and the Kunzea itself (i.e. dust, spread of Dieback, altered hydrological regimes, disturbance).
Quadrats locations were spread across the Kunzea population to measure variation and incorporated some of the original transect locations (Western Botanical 2008). Six quadrats were initially proposed, three placed in vegetation showing signs of foliage loss and three in vegetation in good health (foliage gain) based on the vegetation change detection (VCD) multispectral image, with one of each in proximity to the original monitoring transects. Final selection of quadrat locations was determined on‐site following a reconnaissance of the Kunzea Conservation Area in conjunction with the 2013 0.5m pixel VCD pseudo‐colour image which gave the impression of more drastic change from 2012 to 2013 (see Section 2.2.4).
A total of eight quadrats measuring 10m x 10m were established during the field assessment, with 30 individual plants tagged and monitored within each quadrat. Table 1 presents quadrat location information and justification for site selection. Figure 1 presents the quadrat locations in conjunction with the 2013 0.5m pixel VCD pseudo‐colour image.
FQM Australia Nickel Pty Ltd Kunzea similis subsp. mediterranea Health Monitoring Program 2014 Woodman Environmental Consulting Pty Ltd 3
Table 1: Site Selection of Quadrats Quadrat Original Transect Vegetation Health* Other Parameter Q1
Potentially distressed ‐ Intense area of red on imagery indicating reduction of foliage) Located on northern edge of population adjacent to cleared area; potentially prone to dust, altered hydrology and future ground disturbance/excavation Q2 X
Area with yellow patches on imagery
Located on northern edge of population adjacent to cleared area; potentially prone to dust, altered hydrology and future ground disturbance/excavation Q3
Area of green with little to no yellow or red present on imagery Objective to observe any differences in vegetation health between Q3 and Q4 given distinction in imagery along track (i.e. N versus S) Q4
X Possibly slightly stressed ‐ Area with yellow patches on imagery
Located towards eastern edge of the population and located adjacent to a haul road Q5
Possibly slightly stressed ‐ Area with yellow patches on imagery
Located on western slope/change of slope; near northern edge of the population with potential of future ground disturbance adjacent Q6 X
Area of green with little to no yellow or red present on imagery Located near northern edge of the population with potential of future ground disturbance adjacent Q7 X
Area of green with little to no yellow or red present on imagery Located on southern slope; to the south of potential future ground disturbance Q8
Probably healthy vegetation ‐ Area of green with little to no yellow or red present on imagery Located
towards the
centre of
Conservation Area away from any potential direct impacts of mining * ‐ Based on the 2013 0.5m pixel VCD pseudo colour image
Initially, quadrat dimensions of 20m x 20m were proposed in order to capture a suitable sample size of at least 5‐10 plants/quadrat (Woodman Environmental 2014). However, once in the field the density of plants was found to be extremely high, with plant numbers within a 20m x 20m quadrat too large (100+) to effectively monitor all plants present. Monitoring of individuals was therefore restricted to 30 plants per quadrat, regardless of the total number of plants in the quadrat, to establish consistency between quadrats for comparative purposes and limit monitoring time. The smaller quadrat dimensions will also assist with relocating plants in subsequent monitoring periods given the extremely dense nature of the vegetation.
The quadrats were orientated along cardinal points with a pink pin dropper placed in each corner and pink flagging tape tied above the location of each pin dropper. A quadrat FQM Australia Nickel Pty Ltd Kunzea similis subsp. mediterranea Health Monitoring Program 2014 Woodman Environmental Consulting Pty Ltd 4
identifier (unique number) was labelled on the north‐west pin dropper, with a photograph of the quadrat and its vegetation taken from this corner towards the south‐east corner. A structural description of the vegetation, with identification of dominant taxa, was recorded to describe and characterise the vegetation associated with the Kunzea in each quadrat.
Each Kunzea to be monitored was demarcated with pink flagging tape and a labelled ear tag (with unique identifier number) attached to an upright stem. A number of existing tagged plants (with ear tags) from the original monitoring transects were utilised. The GPS location of each plant was also recorded, utilising a hand‐held GPS. A total of 240 Kunzea individuals were demarcated for monitoring. 3.2 Plant Collection, Licensing and Nomenclature Specimens of dominant taxa were collected for positive identification under scientific licence pursuant to the Wildlife Conservation Act 1950 Section 23C and Section 23F as listed in Table 2. Taxon nomenclature generally follows Florabase (DPaW 2015b) with all names checked against the current DPaW Max database to ensure their validity. However, in cases where names of plant taxa have been published recently in scientific literature but have not been adopted on Florabase (DPaW 2015), nomenclature in the published literature is followed. The conservation status of each taxon was checked against Florabase, which provides the most up‐to‐date information regarding the conservation status of flora taxa in Western Australia.
Каталог: seven-day-comment-on-referrals -> changes-to-ravensthorpe-nickel-operations -> supporting documents seven-day-comment-on-referrals -> Flora Survey of Battler Tenements M77/166 & P77/3645 seven-day-comment-on-referrals -> 14 th August 2013 For Extension Hill Pty Ltd: Extension Hill Magnetite Project seven-day-comment-on-referrals -> Figure 19: Eucalyptus desmondensis modelling results seven-day-comment-on-referrals -> Warriedar p seven-day-comment-on-referrals -> Fauna and Fauna Assemblages Survey of the Kundip and Trilogy Study Sites seven-day-comment-on-referrals -> User Community seven-day-comment-on-referrals -> User Community supporting documents -> Fqm nickel australia p ty ltd Yüklə 10,89 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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