15 March - Dr Grey Coupland

Dr Grey Coupland is a Research Fellow at the Harry Butler Institute, Murdoch University. She is passionate about environmental restoration, urban greening and connecting science with the community. Ecology is her base, and her research has covered everything from seagrass ecology and restoration, mangrove ecology, plant-animal interactions, novel techniques for detecting environmental impacts and terrestrial plant biosecurity. Her current research is investigating use of Miyawaki forests for urban greening in Australia, and bringing these amazing pocket forests into schools via a dedicated STEM outreach program.

Abstract:

 Biodiversity is under threat on a global scale, with action required at the national level to mitigate the crisis. At the local level, however, people often feel overwhelmed by the enormity of the crisis, and powerless to act. Miyawaki forests offer a hands-on and practical way of empowering people to take climate and biodiversity action. Planting these forests has become an increasingly popular choice globally for non-government organisations, community groups and local councils. The Miyawaki method is appealing because these forests are perceived as small-scale projects that can be carried out by citizen scientists and can have a range of environmental benefits. There have been reports of Miyawaki forests maturing up to ten times faster and containing up to 18 times the biodiversity of forests planted using traditional reforesting techniques. As such, these forests have the potential to punch above their tiny size in terms of their ability to engage the community in environmental action, as well as create biodiversity hotspots and more liveable urban environments. As part of a Miyawaki forest research and outreach program from the Harry Butler Institute, seven Miyawaki forests has been planted to date in schools and in the community in Perth and regional WA. The program is assessing how well these forests can perform under Australian conditions, and how they can promote community led environmental action and engage citizen scientists.