ORCID Profile
0000-0003-2895-5186
Current Organisation
University of Tasmania
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Publisher: Royal Botanical Gardens and Domain Trust
Date: 10-02-2016
DOI: 10.7751/TELOPEA10037
Abstract: Prostanthera eungella B.J.Conn & K.M.Proft (Lamiaceae) is described as a new species from the South Kennedy botanical region of northern Queensland. Concatenated nuclear (ETS) and chloroplast (trnH–psbA) sequence data for 38 species of Prostanthera were analysed using maximum-likelihood and Bayesian-inference methods. These combined data recovered P. eungella as part of a polytomy that included P. galbraithiae, P. howelliae¸ and a P. tallowa + P. lasianthos clade. A detailed description, photograph of holotype specimen, and distribution map of P. eungella are provided.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 03-01-2022
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 06-01-2020
Abstract: Alien mammalian carnivores have contributed disproportionately to global loss of bio ersity. In Australia, predation by the feral cat and red fox is one of the most significant causes of the decline of native vertebrates. To discover why cats have greater impacts on prey than native predators, we compared the ecology of the feral cat to a marsupial counterpart, the spotted-tailed quoll. In idual prey are 20–200 times more likely to encounter feral cats, because of the combined effects of cats' higher population densities, greater intensity of home-range use and broader habitat preferences. These characteristics also mean that the costs to the prey of adopting anti-predator behaviours against feral cats are likely to be much higher than adopting such behaviours in response to spotted-tailed quolls, due to the reliability and ubiquity of feral cat cues. These results help explain the devastating impacts of cats on wildlife in Australia and other parts of the world.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 15-06-2021
DOI: 10.1038/S41598-021-91824-W
Abstract: Although roads are widely seen as dispersal barriers, their genetic consequences for animals that experience large fluctuations in population density are poorly documented. We developed a spatially paired experimental design to assess the genetic impacts of roads on cyclic voles ( Microtus arvalis ) during a high-density phase in North-Western Spain. We compared genetic patterns from 15 paired plots bisected by three different barrier types, using linear mixed models and computing effect sizes to assess the importance of each type, and the influence of road features like width or the age of the infrastructure. Evidence of effects by roads on genetic ersity and differentiation were lacking. We speculate that the recurrent (each 3–5 generations) episodes of massive dispersal associated with population density peaks can homogenize populations and mitigate the possible genetic impact of landscape fragmentation by roads. This study highlights the importance of developing spatially replicated experimental designs that allow us to consider the large natural spatial variation in genetic parameters. More generally, these results contribute to our understanding of the not well explored effects of habitat fragmentation on dispersal in species showing “boom-bust” dynamics.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 29-11-2011
Publisher: The Raptor Research Foundation, Inc.
Date: 09-11-2021
DOI: 10.3356/JRR-20-115
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 08-07-2021
DOI: 10.1071/SB20023
Abstract: The diagnostic characteristics and distinctiveness of plant taxa have traditionally been based on a combination of geographic and morphological discontinuity. Implicit within these concepts is the notion that morphological variation is fixed and that gene flow among taxa is limited. However, species complexes that comprise a range of more-or-less continuous morphotypes often confound such assumptions and resist formal taxonomic treatment. A range of independent data sources, namely, nucleotide sequences, volatile oils and traditional morphology, were used in an integrative approach to resolve the taxonomic structure within the geographically widespread species complex of Prostanthera lasianthos Labill. We concluded that no dataset has primacy in defining segregate taxa, and that a combination of morphological and molecular data was required to determine the taxa within. As a result, we amended the description of P. lasianthos sens. strict. and recognise the following five new segregate species: Prostanthera largiflorens B.J.Conn & K.Proft, P. lasiangustata J.Carrick ex B.J.Conn & K.Proft, P. rupicola B.J.Conn & K.Proft, P. subalpina B.J.Conn & K.Proft, and P. williamsii B.J.Conn & K.Proft.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-03-2018
DOI: 10.1111/REC.12692
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 03-2011
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 18-11-2019
DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.5837
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 15-03-2021
DOI: 10.1111/MEC.15847
Abstract: While the effects of climate (long‐term, prevailing weather) on species abundance, range and genetic ersity have been widely studied, short‐term, localized variations in atmospheric conditions (i.e., weather) can also rapidly alter species’ geographical ranges and population sizes, but little is known about how they affect genetic ersity. We investigated the relationship between weather and range‐wide genetic ersity in a marsupial, Bettongia gaimardi , using dynamic species distribution models (SDMs). Genetic ersity was lower in parts of the range where the weather‐based SDM predicted high variability in probability of B. gaimardi occurrence during 1950–2009. This is probably an effect of lower population sizes and extinction–recolonization cycles in places with highly variable weather. Spatial variation in genetic ersity was also better predicted by mean probabilities of B. gaimardi occurrence from weather‐ than climate‐based SDMs. Our results illustrate the importance of weather in driving population dynamics and species distributions on decadal timescales and thereby in affecting genetic ersity. Modelling the links between changing weather patterns, species distributions and genetic ersity will allow researchers to better forecast biological impacts of climate change.
Publisher: Royal Botanical Gardens and Domain Trust
Date: 11-2013
Abstract: Prostanthera densa A.A.Ham. and P. marifolia R.Br. (Lamiaceae) are endemic species with restricted distributions within the near-coastal regions of New South Wales (Australia). Prostanthera marifolia was previously presumed extinct, but is now known from a small population in the Manly-Warringah area of metropolitan Sydney, and is morphologically very similar to P. densa. Prostanthera densa is known from five disjunct populations, distributed from Port Stephens (in the north) to Jervis Bay (in the south). The sequence variation of two chloroplast spacer regions, trnT-trnL and psbA-trnH, and the external transcribed spacer (ETS) region of nuclear ribosomal DNA were analysed to evaluate the phylogenetic relationship and taxonomic integrity of these species. Although trnT-trnL data were uninformative, trees generated from psbA-trnH data provided support for recognising P. marifolia as a distinct species sister to P. densa. A multivariate evaluation of the variation in morphological characters also supported the distinction of these two morphologically similar and closely related species. The ETS data indicated that each of the disjunct populations of P. densa were genetically isolated. Since there was no gene flow between populations of P. densa, it was concluded that the conservation of this species requires all populations to be protected.
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 16-11-2022
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2022
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 21-03-2019
DOI: 10.1111/EVA.12785
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-2021
DOI: 10.1111/EMR.12505
Abstract: The benefits of using remote sensing technologies for informing and monitoring ecological restoration of forests from the community to the in idual are presented. At the community level, we link remotely sensed measures of structural complexity with animal behaviour. At the plot level, we monitor the return of vegetation structure and ecosystem services (e.g. carbon sequestration) using data‐rich three‐dimensional point clouds. At the in idual‐level, we use high‐resolution images to accurately classify plants to species and provenance and show genetic‐based variation in canopy structural traits. To facilitate the wider use of remote sensing in restoration, we discuss the challenges that remain to be resolved.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-2021
DOI: 10.1111/EMR.12504
Abstract: Temperate woodlands are amongst the most threatened ecosystems in Australia because the land on which they occur is highly suited to agriculture. Two hundred years of habitat loss and fragmentation in the Midlands agricultural region in Tasmania have led to widespread declines in native vertebrates and landscapes with populations of predators including feral Cat ( Felis catus ) and the native‐invasive Noisy Miner ( Manorina melanocephala ). Ecologists at the University of Tasmania co‐designed mechanistic animal‐centric research on mammals and birds in the Midlands to inform vegetation restoration carried out by Greening Australia that would support the recovery of wildlife species. We used species‐appropriate technologies to assess the decisions made by in idual animals to find food and shelter and to disperse across this fragmented landscape, and linked these, together with patterns of occupancy, across multiple spatial and temporal scales. We focussed on a native (Spotted‐tailed Quoll, Dasyurus maculatus ) and an invasive (feral Cat, Felis catus ) carnivore, a woodland‐specialist herbivore (Eastern Bettong, Bettongia gaimardi ) and woodland birds including the native‐invasive Noisy Miner. Our results, which show intense predatory and competitive pressure of cats and populations of Noisy Miner on native fauna, highlight how grounding restoration in the context of ecological interactions is essential to success in managing the impacts of invasive species in restored landscapes. Successful restoration will require innovative approaches in plantings and field experimentation with artificial refuges, to reduce habitat suitability for the Noisy Miner and cats and provide refuges for native mammals and birds to live in the landscape where cats also occur. Our results emphasise the significance of structural complexity of restoration plantings for supporting the recolonisation and persistence of native fauna. At large landscape‐scale, we demonstrate the importance of retaining small habitat elements, including ancient paddock trees, pivot irrigation corners and small, degraded remnants, in facilitating occupancy and dispersal and, therefore, persistence of wild animals across this agricultural region.
No related grants have been discovered for Kirstin Proft.