Local provenance survey
Aim of survey
The use of local provenance genetic material is a requirement for the attainment of a
Section 132C licence to bring in new plant material &/or to collect seed for revegetation
in Threatened Ecological Communities (TECs) and for threatened species in NSW. Its
use is also a recommendation or specification of many restoration projects and grant
applications.
This survey is aimed at collating information on the current use of local provenance
plants in restoration projects in New South Wales and the appropriateness of current
seed-sourcing guidelines. Participation is voluntary and is targeted towards people who
select seeds or seedlings for revegetation or restoration projects. The results of this survey
will be published in a peer-reviewed journal and will be made available to the wider
community upon request.
Content of survey
This survey should take approximately 15 minutes. The first section of the survey asks
questions about your use of local and non-local provenance plants and the conditions
under which your decisions are made. The second section seeks your opinion on the
future direction of current practice. The third section asks questions about you and your
work role so that we can understand how practices may be associated with different
organizations and decision-makers. Please choose the best answer in each case and if you
answer “other” we would appreciate your further comments.
This survey is being conducted by Nola Hancock at Macquarie University and forms part
of Nola’s PhD thesis “The role of plant provenance in restoration ecology under climate
change”. To complete this survey, please click onto the SurveyMonkey link (or copy
and paste to a web page) at the bottom of this document or to receive a hard copy of the
survey contact Nola at nola.hancock@mq.edu.au or phone 0419 262 116. The survey will
be forwarded through several natural resource email networks. If you receive this survey
from more than one source, please only complete the survey once.
The ethical aspects of this study have been approved by the Macquarie University Human
Research Ethics Committee. If you have any complaints or reservations about any ethical
aspect of your participation in this research, you may contact the Committee through the
Director, Research Ethics (telephone (02) 9850 7854; email ethics@mq.edu.au). Any
complaint you make will be treated in confidence and investigated, and you will be
informed of the outcome.
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For the purpose of this survey, the following definitions are used:
Ecosystem: the biota (plants, animals & microorganisms) within a given area, the
environment that sustains it, and their interactions
Genetic material: seed, cuttings, tubestock or other propagules
Local provenance: genetic material that has been sourced locally or close to the
proposed planting site
Inbreeding Depression: A reduction in survival, growth & reproduction in inbreed
offspring (caused by mating between relatives), relative to the parents
Outbreeding Depression: A reduction in survival, growth & reproduction of offspring
from crosses between plants from different populations, relative to the parental
populations i.e. sterile hybrids
Restoration (Ecological): the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has
been degraded, damaged, or destroyed
Provenance: the geographic location/origin of the genetic material
Revegetation: adding plants to the ecosystem by planting, seeding or translocating
Threatened Ecological Community: a group of species that occur together in a
particular area of the landscape that has been listed as threatened (either categorized as
Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable) under the NSW Threatened Species
Conservation Act, 1995 &/or under the Commonwealth EPBC Act
http://www.environment.gov.au/epbc/protect/species-communities.html
The link to the survey:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CWG8ZQ8
Thank you
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