The Western Australian portion of the Nullarbor Plain currently supports 19 pastoral leases. The most remarkable feature one notices when looking at satellite imagery of the area are the 'streetlights' of the Nullarbor. The `streetlights' are light areas on the satellite imagery that indicate a piosphere effect surrounding each watering point. These areas are created by the exposure of the Nullarbor's lightly coloured soils as a result of over-utilisation that has lead to a loss in vegetation cover and damage to cryptogam crust. However, evidence of this is not always discernible when ground-truthing light areas. Though the effect looks obvious, our experience indicates that a combination of ground-truthing and recent imagery is necessary to reliably assess changes in rangeland condition as a result of pastoralism on the Nullarbor.
Renmark, South Australia
ISSN 1323 660
Â
Full-text publications from the Australian Rangelands Society (ARS) Biennial Conference Proceedings (1997-), Rangeland Journal (ARS/CSIRO; 1976-), plus videos and other resources about the rangelands of Australia.