The Social Life of Invasive Plants

Invasive species are now recognised as one of the leading threats to global biodiversity and the viability of agriculture and other human enterprises, but they have usually been studied from an ecological rather than a human perspective. In this project we focus on relationships between people and invasive plants. We aim to provide innovative new perspectives by tracing and connecting the cultural, social, economic and ecological processes in which a number of introduced species are understood and managed across a range of environments.

Why?

Invasive plants are a significant agent of landscape change and have important consequences for biodiversity, agriculture and tourism.

Managing invasive plants requires significant economic, social and other resources.

Invasive plant species are considered to be an increasingly important issue with predicted future climate change.

How are we doing it?

A particular focus for us is ethnography – interviews with people and observation of their actions and daily lives. We hope to interview a range of stakeholders, including environmental managers and their staff in local, state and federal government, farmers, tourism operators, and local residents to hear about their professional and personal interactions with invasive plants.

Why is it useful?

In exploring these relationships we particularly hope to help Australians understand

the social, cultural and ecological relations and processes that contribute to contemporary land management decisions. We are interested in both policy development and in decision making process including the practical everyday experiences of what it takes to manage invasive plants. We recognise that invasive plant management is extremely labour intensive, and it is important to hear the voices of people involved in this work. We hope to contribute to debates about human-plant relations as well as debates about the sustainability of Australian rural environments.

The Team

Professor Lesley Head is a geographer who has worked on long term landscape change, Aboriginal interactions with the environment, suburban people’s relationship with their backyards and wheat production across rural Australia. Dr Jenny Atchison is an environmental scientist and geographer.