Science Education News (SEN) Journal 2017 Volume 66 Number 4 December 2017 | Page 46

GENERAL ARTICLES
Swimming in Sand – Frogs and Sand-Mining at Smiths Lake (continued)
recovery time for frogs is much longer than for small mammals
and reptiles. In a later study, Fox (1996) found that sand-mining
historically resulted in long-term changes to biodiversity, with
some ecosystems being unable to return to pre-mining levels.
Driscoll, D.A. and Roberts, J.D. 1997. Impact of fuel reduction burning
on the frog Geocrinia lutea in southwest Western Australia. Austral
Ecology 22: 334–339.
Freda, J. and Dunson, W.A. 1986. Effects of low pH and other chemical-
variables on the local-distribution of amphibians. Copeia 2: 454-466.
What can Miners do to reduce their impact on frogs?
Fox, B. and Fox, M. 1984. Small-mammal recolonization of open-forest
following sand mining. Aust. J. Ecology 9: 241-252.
The rehabilitation works carried out at Bridge Hill have been
promulgated as an example of successful mine-site rehabilitation
and recovery (Lewis 1996). The rehabilitation works included the
collection of seed-bearing topsoil during clearing, the stabilisation
of open sand areas where possible, the rapid establishment of
temporary ground cover vegetation to prevent sand loss and
excessive erosion, and finally the return of the original topsoil and
the supplementary planting of larger shrubs and trees. These
works sped up the recovery time of the vegetation communities
on site, but the nature of the dune and the dependent wetlands
around it had been severely altered.
Fox, B.J. 1996. Long-term studies of small-mammal communities
from disturbed habitats in eastern Australia. In: Long-term Studies of
Vertebrate Communities. (Eds.) M.L. Cody and J.A. Smallwood, pp.
467-501. Academic Press, New York.
Gillespie, G. and West, M. 2012. Evaluation of Impacts of Bushfire on
the Spotted Tree Frog Litoria spenceri in the Taponga River Catchment,
Northeast Victoria. Internal report,. Dept. of Sustainability and
Resources, Victoria.
Griffiths, R. A., Dewijer, P. and L. Brady. 1993. The effects of pH and
embryonic and larval development in smooth and palmate newts,
Triturus vulgaris and T. helveticus. Journal of Zoology 230: 401-409.
This study has demonstrated that the impact of mining does not
disappear as a result of rehabilitation work, no matter how good it
may be. The study has also demonstrated that the environmental
changes that result from disruptions to ecosystems are not fully
understood, and the lasting impacts can only be guessed at. The
science of mine-site recovery is not advanced enough to enable
the full recovery of a site after mining. This being the case, the
minimum that miners and other large-scale land impact activities
should be obliged to do is to monitor and record the long-term
impacts that their actions have created. It is only by creating a
long-term data base that proactive solutions to environmental
change can be addressed.
Lemckert, F.L, Brassil, T. and Haywood, A. 2004. Effects of low intensity
fire on pond-breeding anurans in mid-northern New South Wales,
Australia. Applied Herpetology 1: 183–95.
Lewis, J.W. 1996. Rehabilitation and post-mining monitoring in the
high dunes at Bridge Hill Ridge, Central Coast of New South Wales.
In: Environmental Management in the Australian Minerals and Energy
Industries: Principles and Practices, (Ed.) D. Mulligan. pp. 583-594.
UNSW Press in association with Australian Minerals and Energy
Environment Foundation, Sydney.
Meyer, E. A., Cramp, R. L. and Franklin, C. E. 2009. Damage to the gills
and integument of Litoria fallax larvae (Amphibia: Anura) associated
with ion regulatory disturbance at low pH. Comparitive Biochemistry
Physiology 155A: 164-171.
References Cited
Andersen, A., Cook, B., and Bax, N. 2014. Chapter 11: Mining and
Biodiversity, in "Biodiversity: Science and Solutions for Australia", eds.
S. Morton, A. Sheppard and M. Lonsdale. CSIRO Publishing. Canberra.
Pp 167-178.
Morley, I.W. 1981. Black Sands – a history of the mineral sand mining
industry in Eastern Australia. St Lucia: University of Queensland Press.
Penman, T., Lemckert, F. and Mahony, M. 2006. A preliminary
investigation into the potential impacts of fire on a forest dependent
burrowing frog. Pa cific Conservation Biology 12: 78–83
Bamford, M.J. and Roberts, J.D. 2003. The impact of fire on frogs and
reptiles in south-west Western Australia. In: "Fire in ecosystems of
south-west Western Australia: impacts and management". I. Abbott and
N. Burrows (Eds.) Backhuys Publishers, The Netherlands, pp. 349–361.
Picker, M. D., McKenzie, C. J. and Fielding, P. 1993. Embryonic
tolerance of Xenopus (Anura) to acidic blackwater. Copeia 4: 1072-
1081.
Barth, B.J., and Wilson, R.S. 2010. Life in acid: interactive effects of
pH and natural organic acids on growth, development and locomotor
performance of larval striped marsh frogs (Limnodynastes peronii).
Journal of Experimental Biology 213: 1293-1300.
Pierce, B. A. and Wooten, D.K. 1992. Genetic-variation in tolerance of
amphibians to low pH. Journal of Herpetology 26: 422-429.
Bunning, W. 1974. Report. Shire of Great Lakes. Proposed Mining
of High Dunes Adjoining the Myall-Smith Lakes. Appeal by Mineral
Deposits Ltd.
Twigg, L.E. and Fox, B.J. 1991. Recolonisation of regenerating open
forest by terrestrial lizards following sand mining. Australian Journal of
Ecology 16: 137-148.
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SCIENCE EDUCATIONAL NEWS VOL 66 NO 4