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Topic Grassland ecosystems
Question How do we know if grasslands are ‘healthy’? Can we measure this?
Expert Fiona Smith
Fiona Smith is an environmental planner in the Environment and Heritage Division of Parks Victoria. Fiona is currently working on planning for the establishment of the Western Grassland Reserves, a new grassland park which will connect the You Yangs area to the Werribee River across the Volcanic Plains west of Melbourne.
A healthy grassland in the Victorian Volcanic Plains would have diverse grassland flora and fauna, open spaces between the grass tussocks and very few weeds. We are able to measure aspects that we think make up a healthy grassland, such as the number and extent of weeds, the diversity of the flora and fauna, and, we can measure the spaces between the tussocks.
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