The initial Science Strategy, introduced in 2018, outlined the governing principles and research priorities for the Science and Knowledge Program over the next five years. It also described the investment mechanisms and decision-making processes to enable South Australian ecological science to grow and develop, benefiting Nature Foundation, its nature reserves, and the broader community.
The next edition of the Science Strategy, developed over the past financial year, documents the strategic actions for 2025 to 2030 supporting Nature Foundation's ongoing commitment to the protection and restoration of the natural environment. These actions are also aligned with key global and national targets, as outlined in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework1 and Australia's Strategy for Nature 2024-20302. They focus on:
- Increasing the extent of critical habitats
- Improving habitat condition
- Increasing the intactness of landscapes (i.e. the "naturalness")
- Reducing species extinction risk.
Nature Foundation's Science and Knowledge Strategy 2025- 2030 builds upon the achievements of the last 40 years. It adds value through extension and new initiatives and has been developed around five strategic pillars:
1. Ecosystem Characterisation
This pillar focuses on understanding the ecosystems and natural values that exist at our nature reserves.
- What ecosystem values are important at each reserve?
- How does this change?
- What drives this change?
We aim to gain new insights through ecosystem characterisation studies that help establish baseline datasets and develop long-term time series through regular, ongoing monitoring. These strategic activities will provide the information required to make evidence-based conservation management decisions that help restore balance to ecosystems and improve biodiversity.
2. Functional Ecosystem Restoration
This work focuses on rebuilding not only the physical components of ecosystems, such as habitats, but also the processes that support life, including nutrient cycling, energy flows, and species interactions. Understanding the complex relationships that underpin food web dynamics helps us prioritise efforts to restore critical ecosystem connections and functions that human activities, climate change, or species loss may have disrupted. This ensures that restoration efforts go beyond surface-level fixes, creating self-sustaining, resilient ecosystems that support biodiversity in the long term.
3. Threatened Species
Work in this area will increase understanding of the biology and ecology of the rare, vulnerable, and endangered species that inhabit Nature Foundation's reserves. It will focus not only on establishing the abundance and distribution of these species, but also on investigating population dynamics, and understanding movement patterns and habitat preferences, thereby promoting the conservation of threatened species in our nature reserves and across Australia.
4. Pest Species
The study of pest species benefits conservation by improving our understanding of their impacts on ecosystems and native species. Pest species—which include invasive feral and overabundant native species—can disrupt food webs, alter ecosystem processes, and cause habitat degradation. Knowledge of their behaviour, biology, and ecological roles, obtained through assessments of population dynamics, movement patterns, and habitat preferences, can identify the factors that allow pests to thrive and spread, and facilitate the development of targeted management approaches aimed at mitigating impacts.
5. Integrated Data Management
This aspect will ensure that we can seamlessly capture, process, analyse, and display all information required to meet the Foundation's strategic goals in a standardised manner across the nature reserve network and organisation, ensuring that resources are used most effectively to maximise positive outcomes for biodiversity.
The Science and Knowledge team will implement the 2025-2030 Science Strategy primarily through the Nature Foundation Biodiversity Monitoring Program, consisting of standardised surveys of vegetation, birds, reptiles, and mammals implemented across all Nature Foundation reserves each autumn and spring, combined with targeted, appropriately timed, species-specific surveys to capture important information on key threatened species.
We are looking forward to sharing more updates about the implementation and findings of the 2025-2030 Science Strategy.
References:
1: cbd.int/gbf/targets
2: dcceew.gov.au/environment/biodiversity/conservation/publications/australias-strategy-for-nature