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Abstract

The conflict that exists between the competing needs of biological conservation and

those of pastoral production is well recognised, however, few studies examine these

conflicts due to their complexity and the uncertainty that surrounds these

relationships. We describe a process for the development of a Bayesian Network

model that examines the trade-offs between the conservation value of the landscape

for a range of taxa (flora, mammals, birds, herpetofauna) and the primary production

value under alternative land-use. We identify regional vegetation context and

structural complexity as key landscape drivers of biodiversity. Simple scenarios were

used to examine the influence of alternative land use activities on multiple

components of biodiversity and demonstrate how preferred landscape designs can be

determined. The application of this model as a planning tool for land management

agencies or regional NRM bodies to develop policy or direct future investment at

multiple scales is identified.