Pilot project to evaluate climate-ready vegetation

A Federation University researcher is leading an innovative program where 'climate future' vegetation plots in Melbourne's south east will be used to evaluate how specially selected native plants respond to climate changes in the city.

Dr Kushan Tennakoon, from the Future Regions Research Centre, is the lead research and development partner in the pilot project, which will monitor the progress of the plots within the Greater Dandenong Council, Knox City Council, and Maroondah City Council areas.

Three plots will be close to Dandenong Stadium, and the Greater Dandenong Council will include these in educational and outreach activities. The other two plots are located in Koomba Park, within the Knox City Council, and JW Manson Reserve in the Maroondah City Council area. Melbourne Water is funding the pilot study.

"Our involvement in this project is as the research and development partner and also to track the measurements of these plants into the future," Dr Tennakoon said. "The aim is to assess how these specially selected native plants will respond to predicted impacts of climate changes."

"We hope that the lessons learnt from this study can be put to good use across many other councils and across Victoria as more communities look to how they can plan for a changing climate.

"This is a long-term undertaking by each of the councils, and we hope to continue the monitoring process over the long term."

Each of the five plots will cover at least 1250 square metres and will house up to 1760 plants. They will contain five different plant species collected from four diferent climate zones.

The project is the continuation of a study that began in 2022 with a planning phase and the laying out of the plots. The plants will go into the ground in June and recent funding will see the project continue until at least 2026.

Dr Tennakoon says the project plots were carefully designed with input from each council, and each tree will be mapped using differential GPS to one-centimetre accuracy. This will continue to give accurate measurements of the plants' condition into the future.

He says the climate-ready vegetation guidelines that the project followed meant that plants were selected from different locations, with the selection process considering the predicted temperature changes from 2024 to 2050 and 2090.

"For one species, for instance, eucalyptus, we are collecting seeds from four different locations – and this includes from wetter and cooler climates as well," Dr Tennakoon said. "The project is not just selecting plants specifically from the area, it's about selecting plants and monitoring their progress with the expected rise in temperatures."

"I'm a plant physiologist and I'm always fascinated by these climate-ready initiatives and plant adaptations to environment change."

The idea for the project began during COVID-19 restrictions when Dr Tennakoon reached out to Melbourne Water, which had initiated their Living Links project — a partnership of local councils, government agencies, non-government organisations, and community groups that fund and deliver coordinated small—and large-scale projects and on-ground works.

The first phase of the pilot study is wrapping up in June as the second round of funding starts for the next phase of the project which will include plant growth monitoring and assessing their responses to changes of climate.

Dr Tennakoon says the project will offer opportunities for Federation students as some of the plots are easily accessible from the Berwick campus.

"This project really is the first of its kind and it will be immensely useful for environmental management and science discipline students because this is a natural laboratory in the outdoors, and close to our Berwick campus," he said.

"Dandenong Stadium also attracts a large number of visitors, including students, so that will create a lot of visibility for our university's commitment to net zero emissions and our sustainable development goals.

"My hope is that because we have pioneered this program and will continue to do the monitoring, I'm confident that Federation will be a very valuable research partner for this project."

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