ORCID Profile
0000-0002-1009-670X
Current Organisation
James Cook University
Does something not look right? The information on this page has been harvested from data sources that may not be up to date. We continue to work with information providers to improve coverage and quality. To report an issue, use the Feedback Form.
Research Topics
In Research Link Australia (RLA), "Research Topics" refer to ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes. These topics are either sourced from ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes listed in researchers' related grants or generated by a large language model (LLM) based on their publications.
Top 5 Research Topics
ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)
Environmental Science and Management | Invasive Species Ecology | Wildlife and Habitat Management | Ecological Applications | Conservation and Biodiversity | Life Histories (Incl. Population Ecology) | Conservation And Biodiversity | Pattern Recognition and Data Mining | Environmental Monitoring | Sociobiology And Behavioural Ecology | Computer-Human Interaction | Terrestrial Ecology | Biogeography and Phylogeography | Biological Adaptation
ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)
Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity at Regional or Larger Scales | Living resources (flora and fauna) | Control of Pests, Diseases and Exotic Species at Regional or Larger Scales | Control of Animal Pests, Diseases and Exotic Species in Forest and Woodlands Environments | Remnant vegetation and protected conservation areas | Living resources (flora and fauna) | Ecosystem Assessment and Management at Regional or Larger Scales | Effects of Climate Change and Variability on Australia (excl. Social Impacts) | Remnant vegetation and protected conservation areas | Living resources (flora and fauna) | Information Processing Services (incl. Data Entry and Capture) | Consumer Electronic Equipment (excl. Communication Equipment) | Control of Pests, Diseases and Exotic Species in Mountain and High Country Environments |
Related Links
Publications
White blood cell profiles in amphibians help to explain disease susceptibility following temperature shifts
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2017
DOI: 10.1016/J.DCI.2017.08.018
Abstract: Temperature variability, and in particular temperature decreases, can increase susceptibility of hibians to infections by the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). However, the effects of temperature shifts on the immune systems of Bd-infected hibians are unresolved. We acclimated frogs to 16 °C and 26 °C (baseline), simultaneously transferred them to an intermediate temperature (21 °C) and inoculated them with Bd (treatment), and tracked their infection levels and white blood cell profiles over six weeks. Average weekly infection loads were consistently higher in 26°C-history frogs, a group that experienced a 5 °C temperature decrease, than in 16°C-history frogs, a group that experienced a 5 °C temperature increase, but this pattern only approached statistical significance. The 16°C-acclimated frogs had high neutrophil:lymphocyte (N:L) ratios (suggestive of a hematopoietic stress response) at baseline, which were conserved post-treatment. In contrast, the 26°C-acclimated frogs had low N:L ratios at baseline which reversed to high N:L ratios post-treatment (suggestive of immune system activation). Our results suggest that infections were less physiologically taxing for the 16°C-history frogs than the 26°C-history frogs because they had already adjusted immune parameters in response to challenging conditions (cold). Our findings provide a possible mechanistic explanation for observations that hibians are more susceptible to Bd infection following temperature decreases compared to increases and underscore the consensus that increased temperature variability associated with climate change may increase the impact of infectious diseases.
Failure of strange females to cause pregnancy block in collared lemmings, Dicrostonyx groenlandicus
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-1985
DOI: 10.1016/S0163-1047(85)90928-8
Abstract: The effects of exposure to unfamiliar females on pregnancy success of recently mated females were examined in collared lemmings (Dicrostonyx groenlandicus). Four days after mating, females in their home cage were exposed to strange, female intruders that were either nonpregnant or 16 days pregnant. Other recently mated females were introduced to the home cage of 16-day-pregnant females. Pregnancy success of the recently mated females was not reduced in any of these treatments. In the paired encounters, there was no relationship between dominance status and pregnancy status, nor between dominance and pregnancy success. These results do not support the hypothesis that in species in which females are aggressive and readily commit infanticide, unfamiliar females should cause other females to terminate early-stage pregnancies.
Acoustic monitoring reveals year-round calling by invasive toads in tropical Australia
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 22-01-2020
Burning season influences the response of bird assemblages to fire in tropical savannas
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2007
High survivorship of an annually decreasing aggregation of hawksbill turtles, Eretmochelys imbricata, found foraging in the northern Great Barrier Reef
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-05-2012
DOI: 10.1002/AQC.2245
Belly up: Reduced crevice accessibility as a cost of reproduction caused by increased girth in a rock‐using lizard
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 21-01-2010
Heat seekers: A tropical nocturnal lizard uses behavioral thermoregulation to exploit rare microclimates at night
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2019
DOI: 10.1016/J.JTHERBIO.2019.03.018
Abstract: Environmental temperatures play a vital role in the physiological and behavioral activity of ectotherms. Behavioral thermoregulation allows animals to modify their body temperature to optimize functions critical to fitness, including digestion, growth, reproduction, and locomotor performance. Diurnal reptiles are a classic model system to answer questions related to thermal ecology, whereas behavioral thermoregulation in nocturnal species is thought to be strongly constrained by low environmental thermal heterogeneity at night. The few studies describing the thermal ecology of nocturnal reptiles indicate a majority of thermoregulatory behavior (if any) occurs during the day within diurnal retreats, but few examined this behavior throughout the night. In tropical systems, thermal heterogeneity may remain high, even at night, allowing nocturnal ectotherms to thermoregulate through conduction on surfaces that retain heat after sunset. We investigated the thermoregulatory behavior of a tropical nocturnal gecko (Australian house gecko, Gehyra dubia) by measuring its preferred temperature in a thermal gradient, and selected body temperatures using radio telemetry, in relation to available operative environmental temperatures obtained using thermal models. Preferred body temperatures of geckos ranged from 31.4 ± 0.59-34.5 ± 0.55 °C in a laboratory thermal gradient. In the field, during winter, geckos were more effective thermoregulators than in the summer. In low thermal quality habitats, geckos sought rare, warm microclimates at night to maintain body temperatures warmer than most available environmental temperatures, and were highly effective thermoregulators. For ectotherms, appropriate environmental temperatures are a vital resource for survival, similar to food or shelter. The ability to exploit rare microclimates is especially important for nocturnal species, as heterogeneity of environmental temperatures is reduced at night compared to the day. In a warming world, it is vital to understand the thermal ecology of nocturnal ectotherms, as other species may shift to become more nocturnal to avoid lethal diurnal temperatures.
Are Moms Manipulative Or Just Selfish? Evaluating the “Maternal Manipulation Hypothesis” and Implications For Life-History Studies of Reptiles
Publisher: Herpetologists League
Date: 06-2012
The nanotipped hairs of gecko skin and biotemplated replicas impair and/or kill pathogenic bacteria with high efficiency
Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
Date: 2016
DOI: 10.1039/C6NR05046H
Abstract: We show that gecko microspinules (hairs) and their equivalent replicas, bearing nanoscale tips, can kill or impair surface associating oral pathogenic bacteria with high efficiency even after 7 days of repeated attacks. Scanning Electron Microscopy suggests that there is more than one mechanism contributing to cell death which appears to be related to the scaling of the bacteria type with the hair arrays and accessibility to the underlying nano-topography of the hierarchical surfaces.
Nonlinear variation in clinging performance with surface roughness in geckos
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-02-2020
DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.6090
Australian house geckos are more aggressive than a globally successful invasive Asian house gecko
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 12-2018
After the crash: How do predators adjust following the invasion of a novel toxic prey type?
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 15-05-2014
DOI: 10.1111/AEC.12058
The return of the frogs: The importance of habitat refugia in maintaining diversity during a disease outbreak
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-2019
DOI: 10.1111/MEC.15108
Abstract: Recent decades have seen the emergence and spread of numerous infectious diseases, often with severe negative consequences for wildlife populations. Nevertheless, many populations survive the initial outbreaks, and even undergo recoveries. Unfortunately, the long-term effects of these outbreaks on host population genetics are poorly understood to increase this understanding, we examined the population genetics of two species of rainforest frogs (Litoria nannotis and Litoria serrata) that have largely recovered from a chytridiomycosis outbreak at two national parks in the Wet Tropics of northern Australia. At the wetter, northern park there was little evidence of decreased genetic ersity in either species, and all of the s led sites had high minor allele frequencies (mean MAF = 0.230-0.235), high heterozygosity (0.318-0.325), and few monomorphic markers (1.4%-4.0%) however, some recovered L. nannotis populations had low N
Locomotor performance in an invasive species: Cane toads from the invasion front have greater endurance, but not speed, compared to conspecifics from a long-colonised area
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 16-10-2010
DOI: 10.1007/S00442-009-1471-1
Abstract: Cane toads (Bufo marinus) are now moving about 5 times faster through tropical Australia than they did a half-century ago, during the early phases of toad invasion. Radio-tracking has revealed higher daily rates of displacement by toads at the invasion front compared to those from long-colonised areas: toads from frontal populations follow straighter paths, move more often, and move further per displacement than do toads from older (long-established) populations. Are these higher movement rates of invasion-front toads associated with modified locomotor performance (e.g. speed, endurance)? In an outdoor raceway, toads collected from the invasion front had similar speeds, but threefold greater endurance, compared to conspecifics collected from a long-established population. Thus, increased daily displacement in invasion-front toads does not appear to be driven by changes in locomotor speed. Instead, increased dispersal is associated with higher endurance, suggesting that invasion-front toads tend to spend more time moving than do their less dispersive conspecifics. Whether this increased endurance is a cause or consequence of behavioural shifts associated with rapid dispersal is unclear. Nonetheless, shifts in endurance between frontal and core populations of this invasive species point to the complex panoply of traits affected by selection for increased dispersal ability on expanding population fronts.
Multiple-Instance Multiple-Label Learning for the Classification of Frog Calls with Acoustic Event Detection
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Date: 2016
Monitoring urea levels during haemodialysis with a pulsed-flow chemiluminescence analyser
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2002
Thermal biology of reproduction in viviparous skinks, Eulamprus tympanum: why do gravid females bask more?
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 12-1991
DOI: 10.1007/BF00317720
The role of ecdysis in repair of an attachment system: a case study using geckos
Publisher: The Company of Biologists
Date: 12-05-2023
DOI: 10.1242/JEB.245286
Abstract: Skin provides functions such as protection and prevention of water loss. In some taxa, the outer surface of skin has been modified to form structures that enable attachment to various surfaces. Constant interaction with surfaces is likely to cause damage to these attachment systems and reduce function. It seems logical that when skin is shed via ecdysis, its effectiveness will increase, through repair of damage or other rejuvenating mechanisms. We address two questions using three diplodactylid geckos as model species. (1) Does repeated mechanical damage affect clinging ability in geckos to the point that they cannot support their own body weight? (2) Does use without induced damage reduce effectiveness of the attachment system, and if so, does ecdysis restore clinging ability? We found that repeated damage reduced clinging ability in all three species, although at different rates. Additionally, use reduced clinging ability over time when no apparent damage was incurred. Clinging ability increased after ecdysis in all three species, both when damage was specially induced, and when it was not. After normal use without induced damage, the increase in clinging ability after ecdysis was statistically significant in two of three species. Our findings show that use decreases clinging ability, and mechanical damage also effects geckos' capacity to exert shear forces consistently. Thus, ecdysis improves clinging ability both in scenarios where damage is induced and more generally. In addition to the physiological functions provided by skin, our study highlights an important function of ecdysis in a speciose vertebrate group.
Defining the active space of cane toad (Rhinella marina) advertisement calls: males respond from further than females
Publisher: Brill
Date: 2016
DOI: 10.1163/1568539X-00003404
Abstract: Many animals produce advertisement vocalisations to attract mates. A vocalisation’s active space is the area within which a receiver responds to it, while its maximum extent occurs when a receiver stops responding. We mapped behavioural responses of male and female cane toads ( Rhinella marina ) to advertisement calls, by conducting experimental playbacks to: (i) examine attenuation of a cane toad call, (ii) define the active space of these vocalisations, by measuring phonotaxis at different distances from the call, and (iii) quantify the active space of calls for both sexes, separately. The call was fully attenuated 120–130 m from its source. Both sexes displayed positive phonotaxis 20–70 m from calls. Males also displayed positive phonotaxis 70–120 m from calls, whereas females’ movement preferences were random m from a call. Differences between male and female responses were likely driven by differences in their use of information provided by calls.
Evidence of Geographic Variation in Lethal Temperature but Not Activity Temperature of a Lizard
Publisher: JSTOR
Date: 03-1998
DOI: 10.2307/1565487
Adaptation or preadaptation: Why are keelback snakes (Tropidonophis mairii) less vulnerable to invasive cane toads (Bufo marinus) than are other Australian snakes?
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 19-03-2011
Population growth lags in introduced species
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-03-2021
DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.7352
Comparisons through time and space suggest rapid evolution of dispersal behaviour in an invasive species
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2009
DOI: 10.1071/WR08021
Abstract: During a biological invasion, we expect that the expanding front will increasingly become dominated by in iduals with better dispersal abilities. Over many generations, selection at the invasion front thus will favour traits that increase dispersal rates. As a result of this process, cane toads (Bufo marinus) are now spreading through tropical Australia about 5-fold faster than in the early years of toad invasion but how have toads changed to make this happen? Here we present data from radio-tracking of free-ranging cane toads from three populations (spanning a 15-year period of the toads’ Australian invasion, and across 1800 km). Our data reveal dramatic shifts in behavioural traits (proportion of nights when toads move from their existing retreat-site to a new one, and distance between those successive retreat-sites) associated with the rapid acceleration of toad invasion. Over a maximum period of 70 years (~50 generations), cane toads at the invasion front in Australia apparently have evolved such that populations include a higher proportion of in iduals that make long, straight moves.
Effects of weed-management burning on reptile assemblages in Australian tropical savannas
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 14-01-2009
DOI: 10.1111/J.1523-1739.2008.01074.X
Abstract: Fire is frequently used for land management purposes and may be crucial for effective control of invasive non-native plants. Nevertheless, fire modifies environments and may affect nontarget native bio ersity, which can cause conflicts for conservation managers. Native Australian reptiles avoid habitat invaded by the alien plant rubber vine (Cryptostegia grandiflora) and may be susceptible to the impacts of burning, a situation that provides a model system in which to examine possible conservation trade-offs between managing invasive plants and maintaining native bio ersity. We used replicated, experimental fire treatments (unburned, dry-season burned, and wet-season burned) in 2 habitats (riparian and adjacent open woodland) to examine the short- (within 12 months of fire) and longer-term (within 3 years of fire) changes of reptile assemblages in response to wet- and dry-season burning for weed management in tropical savannas of northern Australia. Within 12 months of fire, abundances of the skink Carlia munda (Scincidae) were higher in the burned sites, but overall reptile composition was structured by habitat type rather than by effects of burning. Within 3 years of a fire, the effects of fire were evident. Reptiles, especially the gecko Heteronotia binoei (Gekkonidae), were least abundant in dry-season burned sites litter-associated species, including Carlia pectoralis (Scincidae), were rarely observed in burned habitat and there were fewer species in the wet-season burned sites. Reptile abundance was associated with vegetation structure, which suggests that fire-induced changes detrimentally altered the availability of resources for some reptiles, particularly leaf-litter species. Invasive alien plants, such as rubber vine, have severe effects on native bio ersity, and control of such species is a fundamental land management objective. Nevertheless, fire management of invasive alien plants may adversely affect native bio ersity, creating a conservation conundrum. In such scenarios, land managers will need to identify the most desired conservation goal and consider the consequences for native biota.
Automated species identification of frog choruses in environmental recordings using acoustic indices
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2020
Natural disturbance reduces disease risk in endangered rainforest frog populations
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 21-08-2015
DOI: 10.1038/SREP13472
Abstract: Natural disturbances can drive disease dynamics in animal populations by altering the microclimates experienced by hosts and their pathogens. Many pathogens are highly sensitive to temperature and moisture and therefore small changes in habitat structure can alter the microclimate in ways that increase or decrease infection prevalence and intensity in host populations. Here we show that a reduction of rainforest canopy cover caused by a severe tropical cyclone decreased the risk of endangered rainforest frogs ( Litoria rheocola ) becoming infected by a fungal pathogen ( Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis ). Reductions in canopy cover increased the temperatures and rates of evaporative water loss in frog microhabitats, which reduced B. dendrobatidis infection risk in frogs by an average of 11–28% in cyclone-damaged areas, relative to unaffected areas. Natural disturbances to the rainforest canopy can therefore provide an immediate benefit to frogs by altering the microclimate in ways that reduce infection risk. This could increase host survival and reduce the probability of epidemic disease outbreaks. For hibian populations under immediate threat from this pathogen, targeted manipulation of canopy cover could increase the availability of warmer, drier microclimates and therefore tip the balance from host extinction to coexistence.
Costs of reproduction in lizards: escape tactics and susceptibility to predation
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 07-1992
DOI: 10.1007/BF00167812
A Random Walk in the Park: An Individual-Based Null Model for Behavioral Thermoregulation
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Date: 04-2016
DOI: 10.1086/685433
Abstract: Behavioral thermoregulators leverage environmental temperature to control their body temperature. Habitat thermal quality therefore dictates the difficulty and necessity of precise thermoregulation, and the quality of behavioral thermoregulation in turn impacts organism fitness via the thermal dependence of performance. Comparing the body temperature of a thermoregulator with a null (non-thermoregulating) model allows us to estimate habitat thermal quality and the effect of behavioral thermoregulation on body temperature. We define a null model for behavioral thermoregulation that is a random walk in a temporally and spatially explicit thermal landscape. Predicted body temperature is also integrated through time, so recent body temperature history, environmental temperature, and movement influence current body temperature there is no particular reliance on an organism's equilibrium temperature. We develop a metric called thermal benefit that equates body temperature to thermally dependent performance as a proxy for fitness. We measure thermal quality of two distinct tropical habitats as a temporally dynamic distribution that is an ergodic property of many random walks, and we compare it with the thermal benefit of real lizards in both habitats. Our simple model focuses on transient body temperature as such, using it we observe such subtleties as shifts in the thermoregulatory effort and investment of lizards throughout the day, from thermoregulators to thermoconformers.
Methods for normalizing microbiome data: An ecological perspective
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-11-2019
Arboreality increases reptile community resistance to disturbance from livestock grazing
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-09-2018
Abundance, diet and prey selection of arboreal lizards in a grazed tropical woodland
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 25-12-2018
DOI: 10.1111/AEC.12570
Short-term responses of reptile assemblages to fire in native and weedy tropical savannah
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2016
Correction to ‘Contaminant adhesion (aerial/ground biofouling) on the skin of a gecko’
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 05-2016
Body size, sex and high philopatry influence the use of agricultural land by Galapagos giant tortoises
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 08-07-2021
DOI: 10.1017/S0030605320001167
Abstract: As agricultural areas expand, interactions between wild animals and farmland are increasing. Understanding the nature of such interactions is vital to inform the management of human–wildlife coexistence. We investigated patterns of space use of two Critically Endangered Galapagos tortoise species, Chelonoidis porteri and Chelonoidis donfaustoi , on privately owned and agricultural land (hereafter farms) on Santa Cruz Island, where a human–wildlife conflict is emerging. We used GPS data from 45 tortoises tracked for up to 9 years, and data on farm characteristics, to identify factors that influence tortoise movement and habitat use in the agricultural zone. Sixty-nine per cent of tagged tortoises used the agricultural zone, where they remained for a mean of 150 days before returning to the national park. Large male tortoises were more likely to use farms for longer periods than female and smaller in iduals. Tortoises were philopatric (mean overlap of farmland visits = 88.7 ± SE 2.9%), on average visiting four farms and occupying a mean seasonal range of 2.9 ± SE 0.3 ha. We discuss the characteristics of farm use by tortoises, and its implications for tortoise conservation and coexistence with people.
Terrestrial invertebrates: An underestimated predator guild for small vertebrate groups
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2018
Functional morphology of scale hinges used to transport water: convergent drinking adaptations in desert lizards (Moloch horridus and Phrynosoma cornutum)
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 31-05-2007
Invasive house geckos are more willing to use artificial lights than are native geckos
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 14-07-2015
DOI: 10.1111/AEC.12287
Balancing Biodiversity and Food Production: A Better Understanding of Wildlife Response to Grazing Will Inform Off-Reserve Conservation on Rangelands
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2016
Arboreal Cover Boards: Using Artificial Bark to Sample Cryptic Arboreal Lizards
Publisher: Herpetologists League
Date: 12-2015
Infection dynamics, dispersal, and adaptation: understanding the lack of recovery in a remnant frog population following a disease outbreak
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 06-2020
Complex mammal species responses to fire in a native tropical savannah invaded by non-native grader grass (Themeda quadrivalvis)
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 12-07-2016
Visible implant elastomer as a viable marking technique for common mistfrogs (Litoria rheocola)
Publisher: Herpetologists League
Date: 06-2015
Parallel evolution of toepads in rock-dwelling lineages of a terrestrial gecko (Gekkota: Gekkonidae:Heteronotia binoei)
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 07-01-2021
DOI: 10.1093/ZOOLINNEAN/ZLAA167
Abstract: Selection for effective locomotion can lead to specialized morphological structures. Adhesive toepads, which have arisen independently in different lizard clades, facilitate the use of vertical and inverted substrates. Their evolution is poorly understood because functionally intermediate morphological configurations between padless and pad-bearing forms are rare. To shed light on toepad evolution, we assessed the subdigital morphology of phylogenetically distinct lineages of the Bynoe’s gecko species complex (Heteronotia binoei). Most populations of H. binoei are terrestrial, but two relatively distantly related saxicoline (rock-dwelling) lineages have enlarged terminal subdigital scales resembling toepads. We reconstructed the ancestral terminal subdigital scale size of nine lineages of H. binoei in eastern Australia, including these two saxicoline lineages. Additionally, we compared the subdigital microstructures of four lineages: the two saxicoline lineages and their respective terrestrial sister-lineages. Surprisingly, all four lineages had fully developed setae, but the setae of the two saxicoline lineages were significantly longer, branched more often and were more widely spaced than the terrestrial sister-lineages. We conclude that the saxicoline lineages represent ex les of parallel evolution of enlarged adhesive structures in response to vertical substrate use, and their morphology represents a useful model as an intermediate state in toepad evolution.
Predation risk is a function of alternative prey availability rather than predator abundance in a tropical savanna woodland ecosystem
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 22-05-2019
DOI: 10.1038/S41598-019-44159-6
Abstract: Typically, factors influencing predation risk are viewed only from the perspective of predators or prey populations but few studies have examined predation risk in the context of a food web. We tested two competing hypotheses regarding predation: (1) predation risk is dependent on predator density and (2) predation risk is dependent on the availability of alternative prey sources. We use an empirical, multi-level, tropical food web (birds–lizards–invertebrates) and a mensurative experiment (seasonal fluctuations in abundance and artificial lizards to estimate predation risk) to test these hypotheses. Birds were responsible for the majority of attacks on artificial lizards and were more abundant in the wet season. Artificial lizards were attacked more frequently in the dry than the wet season despite a greater abundance of birds in the wet season. Lizard and invertebrate (alternative prey) abundances showed opposing trends lizards were more abundant in the dry while invertebrates were more abundant in the wet season. Predatory birds attacked fewer lizards when invertebrate prey abundance was highest, and switched to lizard prey when invertebrate abundance reduced, and lizard abundance was greatest. Our study suggests predation risk is not predator density-dependent, but rather dependent on the abundance of invertebrate prey, supporting the alternative prey hypothesis.
Dose-dependent morbidity of freshwater turtle hatchlings, Emydura macquarii krefftii, inoculated with Ranavirus isolate (Bohle iridovirus, Iridoviridae)
Publisher: Microbiology Society
Date: 10-2019
DOI: 10.1099/JGV.0.001324
Abstract: Ranaviral infections cause mass die-offs in wild and captive turtle populations. Two experimental studies were performed to first determine the susceptibility of an Australian turtle species ( Emydura macquarii krefftii ) to different routes of infection and second examine the effect of viral titre on the morbidity in hatchlings. All inoculation routes (intracoelomic, intramuscular and oral) produced disease, but the clinical signs, histopathology and time to onset of disease varied with the route. The median infectious and lethal doses for intramuscularly inoculated hatchlings were 10 2 . 52 (1.98–2.93) and 10 4.43 (3.81–5.19) TCID 50 ml −1 , respectively. Clinical signs began 14 to 29 days post-inoculation and the median survival time was 22 days (16–25) across all dose groups. For every 10-fold increase in dose, the odds of developing any clinical signs or severe clinical signs increased by 3.39 [ P .01, 95 % confidence interval (CI): 1.81–6.36] and 3.71 ( P .01, 95 % CI: 1.76–7.80), respectively. Skin lesions, previously only reported in ranaviral infection in lizards, were observed in the majority of intramuscularly inoculated hatchlings that developed ranaviral disease. The histological changes were consistent with those in previous reports for reptiles and consisted of necrosis at or near the site of injection, in the spleen, liver and oral cavity. Systemic inflammation was also observed, predominantly affecting necrotic organs. The estimates reported here can be used to model ranaviral disease and quantify and manage at-risk populations.
A trade-off in conservation: Weed management decreases the abundance of common reptile and frog species while restoring an invaded floodplain
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2014
There’s more than one way to climb a tree: Limb length and microhabitat use in lizards with toe pads
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 27-09-2017
Spinal arthritis in cane toads across the Australian landscape
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 20-08-2018
DOI: 10.1038/S41598-018-30099-0
Abstract: Loss of fitness can be a consequence of selection for rapid dispersal ability in invasive species. Increased prevalence of spinal arthritis may occur in cane toad populations at the invasion front as a cost of increased invasiveness, but our knowledge of the ecological drivers of this condition is lacking. We aimed to determine the factors explaining the prevalence of spinal arthritis in populations across the Australian landscape. We studied populations across a gradient of invasion histories. We collected 2415 toads over five years and determined the presence and size of spondylosis for each in idual. We examined the effect of host size, leg length and invasion history on the prevalence of spondylosis. Host size was a significant predictor of spondylosis across populations. Contrary to our expectation, the overall prevalence of spondylosis was not positively related to invasion history and did not correlate with toad relative leg length. Rather than invasion age, the latitude at which populations were s led provided an alternate explanation for the prevalence of spondylosis in cane toad populations and suggested that the incidence of this condition did not increase as a physiological cost of invasion, but is instead related to physical variables, such as climate.
Amphibians on the brink
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date: 04-08-2017
Abstract: Preemptive policies can protect hibians from devastating fungal diseases
Sex, light, and sound: location and combination of multiple attractants affect probability of cane toad (Rhinella marina) capture
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 24-01-2014
Disease surveillance of the amphibian chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in Papua New Guinea
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 17-08-2020
DOI: 10.1111/CSP2.256
Why do lizards avoid weeds?
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 10-2013
Speciation in the mountains and dispersal by rivers: Molecular phylogeny of Eulamprus water skinks and the biogeography of Eastern Australia
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 02-07-2018
DOI: 10.1111/JBI.13385
The Australian Acoustic Observatory
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-07-2021
Abstract: Fauna surveys are traditionally manual, and hence limited in scale, expensive and labour‐intensive. Low‐cost hardware and storage mean that acoustic recording now has the potential to efficiently build scale in terrestrial fauna surveys, both spatially and temporally. With this aim, we have constructed the Australian Acoustic Observatory. It provides a direct and permanent record of terrestrial soundscapes through continuous recording across Australian ecoregions, including those periodically subject to fire and flood, when manual surveys are dangerous or impossible. The observatory comprises 360 permanent listening stations deployed across Australia. Groups of four sensors are deployed at each of 90 sites, placed strategically across ecoregions, to provide representative datasets of soundscapes. Each station continuously records sound, resulting in year‐round data collection. All data are made freely available under an open access licence. The Australian Acoustic Observatory is the world's first terrestrial acoustic observatory of this size. It provides continental‐scale environmental monitoring of unparalleled spatial extent, temporal resolution and archival stability. It enables new approaches to understanding ecosystems, long‐term environmental change, data visualization and acoustic science that will only increase in scientific value over time, particularly as others replicate the design in other parts of the world.
Realistic heat pulses protect frogs from disease under simulated rainforest frog thermal regimes
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 14-08-2017
Effects of environmental variables on invasive amphibian activity: using model selection on quantiles for counts
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 2018
DOI: 10.1002/ECS2.2067
Diet and prey selection of sympatric tropical skinks
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 28-09-2010
Fighting an uphill battle: the recovery of frogs in Australia's Wet Tropics
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 15-11-2017
DOI: 10.1002/ECY.2019
Behavioural responses of carnivorous marsupials (Planigale maculata) to toxic invasive cane toads (Bufo marinus)
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 20-07-2010
Developing conservoltaic systems to support biodiversity on solar farms
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 31-01-2023
DOI: 10.1111/AEC.13289
Island of opportunity: can New Guinea protect amphibians from a globally emerging pathogen?
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-06-2019
DOI: 10.1002/FEE.2057
Hydroregulation in a tropical dry-skinned ectotherm
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 06-07-2016
DOI: 10.1007/S00442-016-3687-1
Abstract: While temperature effects on species' vulnerability to climate change are well studied, desiccation effects receive comparatively little attention. In addition, we poorly understand the capacity of ectotherms, and especially reptiles, to control water loss rates behaviourally by selecting suitable microhabitats. This study examined water loss rates and behavioural hydroregulation in the tropical rainforest skink Carlia rubrigularis to assess whether this dry-skinned ectotherm actively avoids desiccation and whether trade-offs occur between desiccation avoidance and selection of optimal temperatures, as previously shown in hibians. Higher temperatures elicited humid refuge choice despite placing in iduals in suboptimal thermal conditions, as indicated by preferred substrate temperatures. This finding emphasizes the importance of water loss even for taxa traditionally assumed to be highly desiccation resistant, and highlights this factor's potential influence on vulnerability to climate change by limiting activity times or by restricting in iduals to thermally suboptimal microhabitats.
Extending the Cost-Benefit Model of Thermoregulation: High-Temperature Environments
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Date: 04-2011
DOI: 10.1086/658150
Abstract: The classic cost-benefit model of ectothermic thermoregulation compares energetic costs and benefits, providing a critical framework for understanding this process (Huey and Slatkin 1976 ). It considers the case where environmental temperature (T(e)) is less than the selected temperature of the organism (T(sel)), and it predicts that, to minimize increasing energetic costs of thermoregulation as habitat thermal quality declines, thermoregulatory effort should decrease until the lizard thermoconforms. We extended this model to include the case where T(e) exceeds T(sel), and we redefine costs and benefits in terms of fitness to include effects of body temperature (T(b)) on performance and survival. Our extended model predicts that lizards will increase thermoregulatory effort as habitat thermal quality declines, gaining the fitness benefits of optimal T(b) and maximizing the net benefit of activity. Further, to offset the disproportionately high fitness costs of high T(e) compared with low T(e), we predicted that lizards would thermoregulate more effectively at high values of T(e) than at low ones. We tested our predictions on three sympatric skink species (Carlia rostralis, Carlia rubrigularis, and Carlia storri) in hot savanna woodlands and found that thermoregulatory effort increased as thermal quality declined and that lizards thermoregulated most effectively at high values of T(e).
Rapid differentiation of sexual signals in invasive toads: call variation among populations
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 22-06-2016
DOI: 10.1038/SREP28158
Abstract: Advertisement calls tend to differ among populations, based on morphological and environmental factors, or simply geographic distance, in many taxa. Invasive cane toads ( Rhinella marina ) were introduced to Australia in 1935 and their distribution has expanded at increasing rates over time. Rapid evolution occurred in morphological and behavioural characters that accelerate dispersal, but the effects of rapid expansion on sexual signals have not been examined. We collected advertisement calls from four populations of different ages since invasion and analysed the geographic differentiation of seven call parameters. Our comparisons indicate that the calls of R. marina differ among Australian populations. The signal variation was not simply clinal with respect to population age, climate, or morphological differentiation. We suggest that selection on signalling among populations has been idiosyncratic and may reflect local female preferences or adaptation to environmental factors that are not clinal such as energy availability.
Moving Day and Night: Highly Labile Diel Activity Patterns in a Tropical Snake
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 24-02-2012
Factors affecting incidence of infanticide and discrimination of related and unrelated neonates in male Mus musculus
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 1983
DOI: 10.1016/S0163-1047(83)91159-7
Abstract: Infanticide by males was examined in two strains (C57B1 and DBA) of the house mouse (Mus musculus). Males that had contact with a female within the previous 2-3 weeks rarely committed infanticide when introduced to the home cage of a female and her 1-day-old neonates, even when the female and neonates were of a different strain and from a different colony. In contrast, 90% of C57B1 males that had no contact with a female for more than 7 weeks killed pups when placed in the female's home cage, and 60% killed when a 1-day-old pup was introduced to the male's home cage. No difference in levels of infanticide occurred when grouped males were compared to isolated males. These results indicate that infanticide is not dependent upon recognition of the pups or the female, but depends on the male's previous exposure to females. Infanticidal behavior is not directly determined by genetic relationship, but the factors that inhibit this behavior reduce the probability that a male will kill his own offspring.
Testing measures of boldness and exploratory activity in native versus invasive species: geckos as a model system
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2021
Life‐History Consequences of Divergent Selection on Egg Size inDrosophila melanogaster
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Date: 09-1999
DOI: 10.1086/303242
Abstract: Life histories are generally assumed to evolve via antagonistic pleiotropy (negative genetic correlations) among traits, and trade-offs between life-history traits are typically studied using either phenotypic manipulations or selection experiments. We investigated the trade-off between egg size and fecundity in Drosophila melanogaster by examining both the phenotypic and genetic relationships between these traits after artificial selection for large and small eggs, relative to female body size. Egg size responded strongly to selection in both directions, increasing in the large-egg selected lines and decreasing in the small-egg selected lines. Phenotypic correlations between egg size and fecundity in the large-egg selected lines were negative, but no relationship between these traits occurred in either the control or small-egg selected lines. There was no negative genetic correlation between egg size and fecundity. Total reproductive allocation decreased in the small-egg selected lines but did not increase in the large-egg lines. Our results have three implications. First, our selection procedure may have forced females selected for large eggs into a physiological trade-off not reflected in a negative genetic correlation between these traits. Second, the lack of a negative genetic correlation between egg size and number suggests that the phenotypic trade-off frequently observed between egg size and number in other organisms may not evolve over the short term via a direct genetic trade-off whereby increases in egg size are automatically accompanied by decreased fecundity. Finally, total reproductive allocation may not evolve independently of egg size as commonly assumed.
Can Geckos Increase Shedding Rate to Remove Fouling?
Publisher: Herpetologists League
Date: 04-03-2020
Giant snakes in tropical forests: a field study of the Australian scrub python, Morelia kinghorni
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2005
DOI: 10.1071/WR04084
Abstract: Studies on species that attain very large body sizes provide a powerful opportunity to clarify the ecological correlates and consequences of body size, but logistical obstacles mean that most ‘giant’ species have attracted little field-based research. The Australian scrub python, Morelia kinghorni (= M. amethistina in earlier literature), is the largest Australian snake. Our three-year field study in the Tully River Gorge of tropical north-eastern Australia provides the first detailed ecological data on this species. Snakes aggregate in the gorge during the dry season for reproductive activities (combat, courtship and mating), and these aggregations consist primarily of large adult males. Wet-season s les from a nearby road contained more females, and more juvenile animals. Body temperatures of diurnally active pythons averaged 25.2°C, and were highly correlated with air and substrate temperatures. Larger snakes were cooler than smaller conspecifics, perhaps reflecting their slower heating rates. Recapture of marked in iduals suggests that pythons of both sexes and all body sizes maintain fixed home ranges, as the distance from initial capture did not increase through time most animals were recaptured m from their initial capture point, but some dispersed at least 1.5 km. Adult male pythons spanned a massive range in body sizes (1.3–3.76 m in snout–vent length, 0.30–11 kg in mass), and larger males were more likely to engage in combat, exhibit combat-related injuries (bite wounds) and obtain matings. Presumably reflecting the reproductive advantage of larger body size, males attained much larger maximum sizes than did females within our study population.
Assessing the value of acoustic indices to distinguish species and quantify activity: A case study using frogs
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 16-12-2020
DOI: 10.1111/FWB.13222
Detrimental influence on performance of high temperature incubation in a tropical reptile: is cooler better in the tropics?
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 11-07-2013
DOI: 10.1007/S00442-012-2409-6
Abstract: Global temperatures have risen over the last century, and are forecast to continue rising. Ectotherms may be particularly sensitive to changes in thermal regimes, and tropical ectotherms are more likely than temperate species to be influenced by changes in environmental temperature, because they may have evolved narrow thermal tolerances. Keelback snakes (Tropidonophis mairii) are tropical, oviparous reptiles. To quantify the effects of temperature on the morphology and physiology of hatchling keelbacks, clutches laid by wild-caught females were split and incubated at three temperatures, reflecting the average minimum, overall average and average maximum temperatures recorded at our study site. Upon hatching, the performance of neonates was examined at all three incubation temperatures in a randomized order over consecutive days. Hatchlings from the 'hot' treatment had slower burst swim speeds and swam fewer laps than hatchlings from the cooler incubation temperatures in all three test temperatures, indicating a low thermal optimum for incubation of this tropical species. There were no significant interactions between test temperature and incubation temperature across performance variables, suggesting phenotypic differences caused by incubation temperature did not acclimate this species to post-hatching conditions. Thus, keelback embryos appear evolutionarily adapted to development at cooler temperatures (relative to what is available in their habitat). The considerable reduction in hatchling viability and performance associated with a 3.5 °C increase in incubation temperature, suggests climate change may have significant population-level effects on this species. However, the offspring of three mothers exposed to the hottest incubation temperature were apparently resilient to high temperature, suggesting that this species may respond to selection imposed by thermal regime.
No behavioural compensation for fitness costs of autotomy in a lizard
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-10-2005
Condition-dependent reproductive effort in frogs infected by a widespread pathogen
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 07-07-2015
Abstract: To minimize the negative effects of an infection on fitness, hosts can respond adaptively by altering their reproductive effort or by adjusting their timing of reproduction. We studied effects of the pathogenic fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis on the probability of calling in a stream-breeding rainforest frog ( Litoria rheocola ). In uninfected frogs, calling probability was relatively constant across seasons and body conditions, but in infected frogs, calling probability differed among seasons (lowest in winter, highest in summer) and was strongly and positively related to body condition. Infected frogs in poor condition were up to 40% less likely to call than uninfected frogs, whereas infected frogs in good condition were up to 30% more likely to call than uninfected frogs. Our results suggest that frogs employed a pre-existing, plastic, life-history strategy in response to infection, which may have complex evolutionary implications. If infected males in good condition reproduce at rates equal to or greater than those of uninfected males, selection on factors affecting disease susceptibility may be minimal. However, because reproductive effort in infected males is positively related to body condition, there may be selection on mechanisms that limit the negative effects of infections on hosts.
LIFE ON THE ROCKS: HABITAT USE DRIVES MORPHOLOGICAL AND PERFORMANCE EVOLUTION IN LIZARDS
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-2008
DOI: 10.1890/07-2093.1
Abstract: As a group, lizards occupy a vast array of habitats worldwide, yet there remain relatively few cases where habitat use (ecology), morphology, and thus, performance, are clearly related. The best known ex les include: increased limb length in response to increased arboreal perch diameter in anoles and increased limb length in response to increased habitat openness for some skinks. Rocky habitats impose strong natural selection on specific morphological characteristics, which differs from that imposed on terrestrial species, because moving about on inclined substrates of irregular sizes and shapes constrains locomotor performance in predictable ways. We quantified habitat use, morphology, and performance of 19 species of lizards (family Scincidae, subfamily Lygosominae) from 23 populations in tropical Australia. These species use habitats with considerable variation in rock availability. Comparative phylogenetic analyses revealed that occupation of rock-dominated habitats correlated with the evolution of increased limb length, compared to species from forest habitats that predominantly occupied leaf litter. Moreover, increased limb length directly affected performance, with species from rocky habitats having greater sprinting, climbing, and clinging ability than their relatives from less rocky habitats. Thus, we found that the degree of rock use is correlated with both morphological and performance evolution in this group of tropical lizards.
Mechanisms causing variation in sexual size dimorphism in three sympatric, congeneric lizards
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-2014
DOI: 10.1890/13-0693.1
Abstract: Sexual differences in adult body size (sexual size dimorphism, or SSD) ultimately can be favored by selection because larger males are more likely to be successful competitors for females, because larger females bear larger clutches, or because intersexual size differences reduce resource competition. Natural selection during juvenile development can influence sexual dimorphism of adults, and selection on adults and juveniles may differ. Studies that address the relative contributions of adult body shape dimorphism and sexually dimorphic patterns of growth and maturity are particularly useful in understanding the evolution of size dimorphism, yet they are rare. We investigated three sympatric, congeneric lizard species with different degrees and directions of adult sexual dimorphism and compared their growth patterns, survival probabilities, and intersexual trophic niche differences. Different mechanisms, even within these closely related, sympatric species, acted on juvenile lizards to produce species differences in adult SSD. Both degree and direction of dimorphism resulted from differences between the sexes in either the duration of growth or the rate of growth, but not from differences in rates of survival or selection on juvenile growth rate. Species‐ and sex‐specific trade‐offs in the allocation of energy to growth and reproduction, as well as differential timing of maturation, thus caused the growth patterns of the sexes to erge, producing SSD. The differences that we observed in the direction of SSD among these species is consistent with their different social systems, suggesting that differential selection on adult body size has been responsible for the observed species‐specific differences in juvenile growth rates and maturational timing.
Can an acoustic observatory contribute to the conservation of threatened species?
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 31-07-2023
DOI: 10.1111/AEC.13398
Abstract: Observatories are designed to collect data for a range of uses. The Australian Acoustic Observatory (A2O) was established to collect environmental sound, including audible species calls, from 344 recorders at 86 sites around Australia. We examine the potential of the A2O to monitor near threatened, threatened, endangered and critically endangered species, based on their vocal behaviour, geographic distributions in relation to the sites of the A2O and on some knowledge of habitat use. Using IUCN and EPBC lists of threatened and endangered species, we extracted species that vocalized in the audible range, and using conservative estimates of their geographic ranges, determined whether there was a possibility of hearing them at these sites. We found that it may be possible to detect up to 171 threatened species at sites established for the A2O, and that in idual sites have the potential to detect up to 40 threatened species. All 86 sites occurred in locations where threatened species could possibly be detected, and the list of detectable species included birds, hibians, and mammals. We have incidentally detected one mammal and four bird species in the data during other work. Threatening processes to which potentially detectable species were exposed included all but two IUCN threat categories. We concluded that with applications of technology to search the audio data from the A2O, it could serve as an important tool for monitoring threatened species.
Infection dynamics in frog populations with different histories of decline caused by a deadly disease
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 21-08-2015
DOI: 10.1007/S00442-015-3422-3
Abstract: Pathogens can drive host population dynamics. Chytridiomycosis is a fungal disease of hibians that is caused by the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). This pathogen has caused declines and extinctions in some host species whereas other host species coexist with Bd without suffering declines. In the early 1990s, Bd extirpated populations of the endangered common mistfrog, Litoria rheocola, at high-elevation sites, while populations of the species persisted at low-elevation sites. Today, populations have reappeared at many high-elevation sites where they presently co-exist with the fungus. We conducted a capture-mark-recapture (CMR) study of six populations of L. rheocola over 1 year, at high and low elevations. We used multistate CMR models to determine which factors (Bd infection status, site type, and season) influenced rates of frog survival, recapture, infection, and recovery from infection. We observed Bd-induced mortality of in idual frogs, but did not find any significant effect of Bd infection on the survival rate of L. rheocola at the population level. Survival and recapture rates depended on site type and season. Infection rate was highest in winter when temperatures were favourable for pathogen growth, and differed among site types. The recovery rate was high (75.7-85.8%) across seasons, and did not differ among site types. The coexistence of L. rheocola with Bd suggests that (1) frog populations are becoming resistant to the fungus, (2) Bd may have evolved lower virulence, or (3) current environmental conditions may be inhibiting outbreaks of the fatal disease.
Geckos cling best to, and prefer to use, rough surfaces
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 16-10-2020
DOI: 10.1186/S12983-020-00374-W
Abstract: Fitness is strongly related to locomotor performance, which can determine success in foraging, mating, and other critical activities. Locomotor performance on different substrates is likely to require different abilities, so we expect alignment between species’ locomotor performance and the habitats they use in nature. In addition, we expect behaviour to enhance performance, such that animals will use substrates on which they perform well. We examined the associations between habitat selection and performance in three species of Oedura geckos, including two specialists, (one arboreal, and one saxicolous), and one generalist species, which used both rocks and trees. First, we described their microhabitat use in nature (tree and rock type) for these species, examined the surface roughnesses they encountered, and selected materials with comparable surface microtopographies (roughness measured as peak-to-valley heights) to use as substrates in lab experiments quantifying behavioural substrate preferences and clinging performance. The three Oedura species occupied different ecological niches and used different microhabitats in nature, and the two specialist species used a narrower range of surface roughnesses compared to the generalist. In the lab, Oedura geckos preferred substrates (coarse sandpaper) with roughness characteristics similar to substrates they use in nature. Further, all three species exhibited greater clinging performance on preferred (coarse sandpaper) substrates, although the generalist used fine substrates in nature and had good performance capabilities on fine substrates as well. We found a relationship between habitat use and performance, such that geckos selected microhabitats on which their performance was high. In addition, our findings highlight the extensive variation in surface roughnesses that occur in nature, both among and within microhabitats.
PRIMATE SPECIES RICHNESS IN RELATION TO HABITAT STRUCTURE IN AMAZONIAN RAINFOREST FRAGMENTS
Publisher: No publisher found
Date: 1989
Mechanisms of the impact of a weed (grader grass, Themeda quadrivalvis ) on reptile assemblage structure in a tropical savannah
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2015
Tropical reptiles in pine forests: Assemblage responses to plantations and plantation management by burning
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2010
An endangered bird calls less when invasive birds are calling
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 2021
DOI: 10.1111/JAV.02642
Abstract: Novel noises can affect various animal behaviours, and changes to vocal behaviour are some of the most documented. The calls of invasive species are an important source of novel noise, yet their effects on native species are poorly understood. We examined the effects of invasive bird calls on the vocal activity of an endangered Australian finch to investigate whether: 1) native finch calling behaviour was affected by novel invasive bird calls, and 2) the calls of the finches overlapped in frequency with those of invasive birds. We exposed a wild population of black‐throated finch southern subspecies Poephila cincta cincta to the vocalisations of two invasive birds, nutmeg mannikins Lonchura punctulata and common mynas Acridotheres tristis , a synthetic ‘pink' noise, and a silent control. To determine whether the amount of black‐throated finch calling differed in response to treatments, we recorded and quantified black‐throated finch vocalisations, and assessed the amount of calling using a generalised linear mixed model followed by pairwise comparisons. We also measured, for both black‐throated finches and the stimulus noises: dominant, minimum and maximum frequency, and assessed the degree of frequency overlap between black‐throated finch calls and stimulus noises. Compared to silent controls, black‐throated finches called less when exposed to common myna calls and pink noise, but not to nutmeg mannikin calls. We also found that pink noise overlapped most in frequency with black‐throated finch calls. Common myna calls also somewhat overlapped the frequency range of black‐throated finch calls, whereas nutmeg mannikin calls overlapped the least. It is possible that masking interference is the mechanism behind the reduction in calling in response to common myna calls and pink noise, but more work is needed to resolve this. Regardless, these results indicate that the calls of invasive species can affect the behaviour of native species, and future research should aim to understand the scope and severity of this issue.
Visible Implant Elastomer Marking Does Not Affect Short-term Movements or Survival Rates of the Treefrog Litoria rheocola
Publisher: Herpetologists League
Date: 03-2014
SEXUAL DIMORPHISM IN BODY SHAPE WITHOUT SEXUAL DIMORPHISM IN BODY SIZE IN WATER SKINKS (EULAMPRUS QUOYII)
Publisher: Herpetologists League
Date: 06-2005
DOI: 10.1655/04-66
microDecon: A highly accurate read‐subtraction tool for the post‐sequencing removal of contamination in metabarcoding studies
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 05-2019
DOI: 10.1002/EDN3.11
Contaminant adhesion (aerial/ground biofouling) on the skin of a gecko
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 07-2015
Abstract: In this study, we have investigated the micro- and nano-structuring and contaminant adhesional forces of the outer skin layer of the ground dwelling gecko— Lucasium steindachneri. The lizard's skin displayed a high density of hairs with lengths up to 4 μm which were spherically capped with a radius of curvature typically less than 30 nm. The adhesion of artificial hydrophilic (silica) and hydrophobic (C 18 ) spherical particles and natural pollen grains were measured by atomic force microscopy and demonstrated extremely low values comparable to those recorded on superhydrophobic insects. The lizard scales which exhibited a three-tier hierarchical architecture demonstrated higher adhesion than the trough regions between scales. The two-tier roughness of the troughs comprising folding of the skin (wrinkling) limits the number of contacting hairs with particles of the dimensions used in our study. The gecko skin architecture on both the dorsal and trough regions demonstrates an optimized topography for minimizing solid–solid and solid–liquid particle contact area, as well as facilitating a variety of particulate removal mechanisms including water-assisted processes. These contrasting skin topographies may also be optimized for other functions such as increased structural integrity, levels of wear protection and flexibility of skin for movement and growth. While single hair adhesion is low, contributions of many thousands of in idual hairs (especially on the abdominal scale surface and if deformation occurs) may potentially aid in providing additional adhesional capabilities (sticking ability) for some gecko species when interacting with environmental substrates such as rocks, foliage and even man-made structuring.
Removal mechanisms of dew via self-propulsion off the gecko skin
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 04-2015
Abstract: Condensation resulting in the formation of water films or droplets is an unavoidable process on the cuticle or skin of many organisms. This process generally occurs under humid conditions when the temperature drops below the dew point. In this study, we have investigated dew conditions on the skin of the gecko Lucasium steindachneri . When condensation occurs, we show that small dew drops, as opposed to a thin film, form on the lizard's scales. As the droplets grow in size and merge, they can undergo self-propulsion off the skin and in the process can be carried away a sufficient distance to freely engage with external forces. We show that factors such as gravity, wind and fog provide mechanisms to remove these small droplets off the gecko skin surface. The formation of small droplets and subsequent removal from the skin may aid in reducing microbial contact (e.g. bacteria, fungi) and limit conducive growth conditions under humid environments. As well as providing an inhospitable microclimate for microorganisms, the formation and removal of small droplets may also potentially aid in other areas such as reduction and cleaning of some surface contaminants consisting of single or multiple aggregates of particles.
Ecological niche and microhabitat use of Australian geckos
Publisher: Brill
Date: 06-11-2020
DOI: 10.1163/22244662-BJA10002
Abstract: Modern biological research often uses global datasets to answer broad-scale questions using various modelling techniques. But detailed information on species–habitat interactions are often only available for a few species. Australian geckos, a species-rich group of small nocturnal predators, are particularly data-deficient. For most species, information is available only as scattered, anecdotal, or descriptive entries in the taxonomic literature or in field guides. We surveyed gecko communities from 10 sites, and 15 locations across central and northern Queensland, Australia, to quantify ecological niche and habitat use of these communities. Our surveys included deserts, woodlands, and rainforests, examining 34 gecko species. We assigned species to habitat niche categories: arboreal (9 species), saxicoline (4), or terrestrial (13), if at least 75% of our observations fell in one microhabitat otherwise we classified geckos as generalists (8). For arboreal species, we described perch height and perch diameter and assigned them to ecomorph categories, originally developed for Anolis lizards. There was lower species richness in rainforests than in habitats with lower relative humidity the highest species richness occurred in woodlands. Most arboreal and generalist species fit the trunk-ground ecomorph, except those in the genus Strophurus , whose members preferred shrubs, twigs of small trees, or, in two cases, spinifex grass hummocks, thus occupying a perch space similar to that of grass-bush anoles. Habitat use by Pseudothecadactylus australis , Saltuarius cornutus , and Gehyra dubia fit the trunk-crown ecomorph. We provide quantified basic ecological data and habitat use for a large group of previously poorly documented species.
Costs of Reproduction in Water Skinks
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-1993
DOI: 10.2307/1940840
In Situ Cane Toad Recognition
Publisher: IEEE
Date: 12-2018
Acoustic attractants enhance trapping success for cane toads
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2007
DOI: 10.1071/WR06173
Abstract: Cane toads are an introduced pest in many tropical locations around the world, but, surprisingly, there are few methods available for their control. Highly effective trapping may provide a means of controlling toads, either alone or as part of an integrated pest-management scheme. Existing cane toad trap designs use lights to lure insects to traps, and toads enter the traps to feed. Using a large, outdoor experimental arena and playback of cane toad mating calls, we examined the possibility that cane toads, like many other anurans, are attracted to conspecific mating vocalisations. We found that both male and female toads were attracted to quiet (47dB(A) at 1 m) playbacks, whereas only males responded to loud (67dB(A) at 1 m) playbacks with phonotaxis. We also tested whether playbacks broadcast from traps would be useful attractants to traps in the field. We captured three times more toads in traps with playbacks than in traps without playbacks, suggesting that playbacks can be used to enhance trapping success for toads.
Extensive Acclimation in Ectotherms Conceals Interspecific Variation in Thermal Tolerance Limits
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 18-03-2016
Spinal arthritis in invasive cane toads is linked to rate of dispersal as well as to latitude
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 27-09-2019
DOI: 10.1038/S41598-019-50314-W
Abstract: Initial research on the spread of cane toads ( Rhinella marina ) through tropical Australia reported a high incidence of spinal arthritis (spondylosis) in toads at the invasion front (where toads disperse rapidly), but not in areas colonized earlier (where toads are more sedentary). The idea that spondylosis was a cost of rapid dispersal was challenged by wider spatial s ling which linked rates of spondylosis to hot (tropical) climates rather than to dispersal rates. Here, the authors of these competing interpretations collaborate to reinterpret the data. Our reanalysis supports both previous hypotheses rates of spondylosis are higher in populations established by fast-dispersing toads, and are higher in tropical than in temperate environments they are also higher in larger toads. The functional reason for climatic effects is unclear, but might involve effects on the soil-living bacteria involved in the induction of spondylosis and/or may reflect higher movement (as opposed to dispersal) or more pronounced dry-season aggregation rates of toads in tropical conditions.
Ants drive invertebrate community response to cattle grazing
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2020
Wary invaders and clever natives: sympatric house geckos show disparate responses to predator scent
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 12-03-2014
Annual variations in reproductive characteristics of painted turtles (Chrysemys picta)
Publisher: Canadian Science Publishing
Date: 05-1986
DOI: 10.1139/Z86-173
Abstract: In Algonquin Park, Ontario, body size and clutch characteristics were recorded for 51 female painted turtles (Chrysemyspicta) in 1983, 61 in 1984, and 24 in 1985. Clutch size, clutch mass, and egg width correlated significantly with body size (carapace length) in all 3 years. Egg length and egg mass were significantly related to body size in 1984 and 1985, but not in 1983. There were no significant correlations of egg width or egg mass to clutch size. For a group of the same in iduals compared by repeated-measures ANOVA, mean clutch mass and mean egg size, but not mean clutch size, varied significantly among years. Correlation of egg size with body size, lack of correlation between egg size and clutch size, and annual variation in egg size, but not clutch size, all fail to support current versions of optimal egg size theory. Twenty-six females nested in both 1983 and 1984 and 11 females nested in both 1984 and 1985. Fourteen females nested twice in 1 year: six in 1983 and eight in 1984. Between 43 and 73% of adult females nested in a given year and 12–13% nested twice in a single season. These estimates are similar to those reported for other populations of this species. It appears that variations in both clutch size (frequency) and egg size are important sources of variation in reproductive output.
Energy, Risk, and Reptilian Reproductive Effort: A Reply to Niewiarowski and Dunham
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 10-1996
DOI: 10.2307/2410770
Passive acoustic monitoring in terrestrial vertebrates: a review
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 10-05-2023
Infection increases vulnerability to climate change via effects on host thermal tolerance
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 24-08-2017
DOI: 10.1038/S41598-017-09950-3
Abstract: Unprecedented global climate change and increasing rates of infectious disease emergence are occurring simultaneously. Infection with emerging pathogens may alter the thermal thresholds of hosts. However, the effects of fungal infection on host thermal limits have not been examined. Moreover, the influence of infections on the heat tolerance of hosts has rarely been investigated within the context of realistic thermal acclimation regimes and potential anthropogenic climate change. We tested for effects of fungal infection on host thermal tolerance in a model system: frogs infected with the chytrid Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis . Infection reduced the critical thermal maxima (CT max ) of hosts by up to ~4 °C. Acclimation to realistic daily heat pulses enhanced thermal tolerance among infected in iduals, but the magnitude of the parasitism effect usually exceeded the magnitude of the acclimation effect. In ectotherms, behaviors that elevate body temperature may decrease parasite performance or increase immune function, thereby reducing infection risk or the intensity of existing infections. However, increased heat sensitivity from infections may discourage these protective behaviors, even at temperatures below critical maxima, tipping the balance in favor of the parasite. We conclude that infectious disease could lead to increased uncertainty in estimates of species’ vulnerability to climate change.
Multiple mate choice criteria and the importance of age for male mating success in the microhylid frog, Cophixalus ornatus
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 11-01-2006
Ontogenetic shifts in a prey's chemical defences influence feeding responses of a snake predator
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 03-02-2012
DOI: 10.1007/S00442-012-2268-1
Abstract: Foraging theory suggests that predator responses to potential prey should be influenced by prey chemical defences, but the effects of ontogenetic variation in such defences on prey vulnerability to predators remain unclear. Cane toads (Rhinella marina) are toxic to anurophagous snakes, including the keelback (Tropidonophis mairii, a natricine colubrid that occurs within the toads' invasive range in Australia). Toxin levels and ersity change through toad ontogeny, decreasing from the egg stage to metamorphosis, then increasing in postmetamorphic toads. If the toxin content of a prey item influences predator responses, we predict that keelbacks should exhibit selective predation on toads close to metamorphosis. The results of our laboratory trials on adult (field-collected, and thus toad-experienced) and hatchling (laboratory-incubated, and thus toad-naive) keelbacks supported this prediction. The snakes selectively consumed later-stage rather than earlier-stage tadpoles, and earlier-stage rather than later-stage metamorphs. Our data are thus consistent with the hypothesis that ontogenetic changes in toxin content can affect in iduals' vulnerability to predation.
Differential behavioural flexibility in response to predation risk in native and introduced tropical savannah rodents
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2016
Success of capture of toads improved by manipulating acoustic characteristics of lures
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 29-06-2017
DOI: 10.1002/PS.4629
Abstract: Management of invasive vertebrates is a crucial component of conservation. Trapping reproductive adults is often effective for control, and modification of traps may greatly increase their attractiveness to such in iduals. Cane toads (Rhinella marina) are invasive, and males use advertisement vocalisations to attract reproductive females. In hibians, including toads, specific structural parameters of calls (e.g. dominant frequency and pulse rate) may be attractive to females. Some cane toad traps use an artificial advertisement vocalisation to attract toads. We determined whether variation of the call's parameters (volume, dominant frequency and pulse rate) could increase the capture rate of gravid females. Overall, traps equipped with loud calls (80 dB at 1 m) caught significantly more toads, and proportionally more gravid females, than traps with quiet calls (60 dB at 1 m), and traps with low dominant frequency calls caught more gravid females than traps with median frequency calls. Traps with high pulse rate calls attracted more females than traps with low pulse rate calls. Approximately 91% of the females trapped using a low frequency and high pulse rate combination call were gravid, whereas in traps using a call with population median parameters only approximately 75% of captured females were gravid. Calls that indicated large-bodied males (low frequency) with high energy reserves (high pulse rate) are often attractive to female anurans and were effective lures for female toads in our study. The design of future trapping regimes should account for behavioural preferences of the target sex. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.
Why do male and female cane toads, Rhinella marina, respond differently to advertisement calls?
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2015
Navigating agricultural landscapes: responses of critically endangered giant tortoises to farmland vegetation and infrastructure
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 05-12-2022
Ranaviruses and reptiles
Publisher: PeerJ
Date: 12-12-2018
DOI: 10.7717/PEERJ.6083
Abstract: Ranaviruses can infect many vertebrate classes including fish, hibians and reptiles, but for the most part, research has been focused on non-reptilian hosts, hibians in particular. More recently, reports of ranaviral infections of reptiles are increasing with over 12 families of reptiles currently susceptible to ranaviral infection. Reptiles are infected by ranaviruses that are genetically similar to, or the same as, the viruses that infect hibians and fish however, physiological and ecological differences result in differences in study designs. Although ranaviral disease in reptiles is often influenced by host species, viral strain and environmental differences, general trends in pathogenesis are emerging. More experimental studies using a variety of reptile species, life stages and routes of transmission are required to unravel the complexity of wild ranavirus transmission. Further, our understanding of the reptilian immune response to ranaviral infection is still lacking, although the considerable amount of work conducted in hibians will serve as a useful guide for future studies in reptiles.
Thermal performance of squamate embryos with respect to climate, adult life history, and phylogeny
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 17-04-2012
Seasonal Reproductive Cycles of Cane Toads and Their Implications for Control
Publisher: Herpetologists League
Date: 12-2016
Something different for dinner? Responses of a native Australian predator (the keelback snake) to an invasive prey species (the cane toad)
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 14-07-2010
Do morphological adaptations for gliding in frogs influence clinging and jumping?
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 04-09-2019
DOI: 10.1111/JZO.12725
A gecko skin micro/nano structure – A low adhesion, superhydrophobic, anti-wetting, self-cleaning, biocompatible, antibacterial surface
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2015
DOI: 10.1016/J.ACTBIO.2015.03.007
Abstract: Geckos, and specifically their feet, have attracted significant attention in recent times with the focus centred around their remarkable adhesional properties. Little attention however has been dedicated to the other remaining regions of the lizard body. In this paper we present preliminary investigations into a number of notable interfacial properties of the gecko skin focusing on solid and aqueous interactions. We show that the skin of the box-patterned gecko (Lucasium sp.) consists of dome shaped scales arranged in a hexagonal patterning. The scales comprise of spinules (hairs), from several hundred nanometres to several microns in length, with a sub-micron spacing and a small radius of curvature typically from 10 to 20 nm. This micro and nano structure of the skin exhibited ultralow adhesion with contaminating particles. The topography also provides a superhydrophobic, anti-wetting barrier which can self clean by the action of low velocity rolling or impacting droplets of various size ranges from microns to several millimetres. Water droplets which are sufficiently small (10-100 μm) can easily access valleys between the scales for efficient self-cleaning and due to their dimensions can self-propel off the surface enhancing their mobility and cleaning effect. In addition, we demonstrate that the gecko skin has an antibacterial action where Gram-negative bacteria (Porphyromonas gingivalis) are killed when exposed to the surface however eukaryotic cell compatibility (with human stem cells) is demonstrated. The multifunctional features of the gecko skin provide a potential natural template for man-made applications where specific control of liquid, solid and biological contacts is required.
Self-made shelters protect spiders from predation
Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Date: 30-09-2008
Abstract: Many animals modify their environments, apparently to reduce predation risk, but the success of such endeavors, and their impact on the density and distribution of populations, are rarely rigorously demonstrated. We staged a manipulative experiment to assess the effectiveness of self-made shelters by web spiders as protection from natural enemies. Scincid lizards were included or excluded from 21 replicated 200-m 2 plots, and spiders therein were classified as exposed or sheltered, depending on whether they were uncovered in their web or hidden in cocoons, leaves/debris, or burrows. We found that exposed spiders were greatly affected by the presence of predatory scincid lizards, whereas sheltered spiders were not. More specifically, lizards, which forage close to the ground, reduced the abundance of exposed spiders by two-thirds but had no effect on the abundance of sheltered spiders. Sheltered spiders were able to avoid predation and share space with lizards, suggesting that shelter construction is a mechanism for reducing predation risk and has important population consequences.
Too cold is better than too hot: Preferred temperatures and basking behaviour in a tropical freshwater turtle
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 05-05-2023
DOI: 10.1111/AEC.13335
Abstract: Thermoregulation is critical to the survival of animals. Tropical environments can be particularly thermally challenging as they reach very high, even lethal, temperatures. The thermoregulatory responses of tropical freshwater turtles to these challenges are poorly known. One common thermoregulatory behaviour is diurnal basking, which, for many species, facilitates heat gain. Recently, however, a north‐eastern Australian population of Krefft's river turtles ( Emydura macquarii krefftii ) has been observed basking nocturnally, possibly to allow cooling. To test this, we determined the thermal preference (central 50% of temperatures selected) of E. m. krefftii in an aquatic thermal gradient in the laboratory. We then conducted a manipulative experiment to test the effects of water temperatures, both lower and higher than preferred temperature, on diurnal and nocturnal basking. The preferred temperature range fell between 25.3°C (±SD: 1.5) and 27.6°C (±1.4) during the day, and 25.3°C (±2.4) and 26.8°C (±2.5) at night. Based on this, we exposed turtles to three 24 h water temperature treatments (‘cool’ [23°C], ‘preferred’ [26°C] and ‘warm’ [29°C]) while air temperature remained constant at 26°C. Turtles basked more frequently and for longer periods during both the day and night when water temperatures were above their preferred range (the ‘warm’ treatment). This population frequently encounters aquatic temperatures above the preferred thermal range, and our results support the hypothesis that nocturnal basking is a mechanism for escaping unfavourably warm water. Targeted field studies would be a valuable next step in understanding the seasonal scope of this behaviour in a natural environment.
The Function of Tail Displays in Male Rainbow Skinks (Carlia jarnoldae)
Publisher: Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles
Date: 06-2005
Mixed population genomics support for the central marginal hypothesis across the invasive range of the cane toad (Rhinella marina) in Australia
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 08-08-2016
DOI: 10.1111/MEC.13754
Nomadic movement in tropical toads
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-2002
Chemical discrimination among predators by lizards: Responses of three skink species to the odours of high‐ and low‐threat varanid predators
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-01-2009
Skin hydrophobicity as an adaptation for self‐cleaning in geckos
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-04-2020
DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.6218
Low‐cost fluctuating‐temperature chamber for experimental ecology
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 30-08-2016
Desiccation and Shelter-Site Use in a Tropical Amphibian: Comparing Toads with Physical Models
Publisher: JSTOR
Date: 04-1996
DOI: 10.2307/2389843
Robust calling performance in frogs infected by a deadly fungal pathogen
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 27-07-2016
DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.2256
New weapons in the toad toolkit: A review of methods to control and mitigate the biodiversity impacts of invasive cane toads (rhinella marina)
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Date: 06-2017
DOI: 10.1086/692167
Abstract: Our best hope of developing innovative methods to combat invasive species is likely to come from the study of high-profile invaders that have attracted intensive research not only into control, but also basic biology. Here we illustrate that point by reviewing current thinking about novel ways to control one of the world’s most well-studied invasions: that of the cane toad in Australia. Recently developed methods for population suppression include more effective traps based on the toad’s acoustic and pheromonal biology. New tools for containing spread include surveillance technologies (e.g., eDNA s ling and automated call detectors), as well as landscape-level barriers that exploit the toad’s vulnerability to desiccation—a strategy that could be significantly enhanced through the introduction of sedentary, range-core genotypes ahead of the invasion front. New methods to reduce the ecological impacts of toads include conditioned taste aversion in free-ranging predators, gene banking, and targeted gene flow. Lastly, recent advances in gene editing and gene drive technology hold the promise of modifying toad phenotypes in ways that may facilitate control or buffer impact. Synergies between these approaches hold great promise for novel and more effective means to combat the toad invasion and its consequent impacts on bio ersity.
A simple method to predict body temperature of small reptiles from environmental temperature
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 31-03-2016
DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.1961
One lump or two? Explaining a major latitudinal transition in reproductive allocation in a viviparous lizard
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 02-2016
Decreased food intake in reproducing lizards: A fecundity‐dependent cost of reproduction?
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-1996
Social context alters retreat- and nest-site selection in a globally invasive gecko, Hemidactylus frenatus
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 21-11-2019
DOI: 10.1093/BIOLINNEAN/BLZ188
Abstract: Microhabitat orientation and structure and the presence of conspecifics may strongly influence the choice of habitat. We studied how these variables influence retreat- and nest-site selection in gravid females of a globally successful invasive species, the Asian house gecko (Hemidactylus frenatus). When provided with various substrates (vertical and horizontal ceramic tiles, vertical and horizontal plywood tiles, horizontal bark over leaf litter, vertical bark over a log, and sand) gravid female geckos preferred to retreat to, and nest in, materials with crevices commonly found in urban habitats. When housed alone, gravid females most frequently retreated to vertical ceramic tile or wooden crevices, and 66.7% nested in vertical ceramic tiles. When housed with two other conspecifics, gravid females most frequently retreated to vertical ceramic tiles, but selected a wider range of nest sites. Overall, gravid geckos housed alone typically nested in the same substrates that they used as diurnal retreats when housed in groups, however, females oviposited in locations different from those they selected as retreats. Thus, H. frenatus females use a wider range of substrates when conspecifics are present. Invasion success in this species might be driven, in part, by preferences for retreat and nest substrates that are common in human-dominated habitats.
Environmental and social factors influence chorusing behaviour in a tropical frog: examining various temporal and spatial scales
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 04-12-2000
Acoustic classification of frog within-species and species-specific calls
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2018
Effects of emerging infectious diseases on host population genetics: a review
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 18-04-2017
A New Method to Examine the Oberhautchen of Lizard Skin
Publisher: American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (ASIH)
Date: 18-12-2008
DOI: 10.1643/CH-07-152
Behavioural responses of an Australian colubrid snake (Dendrelaphis punctulatus) to a novel toxic prey item (the Cane Toad Rhinella marina)
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 26-03-2018
Profitable and Sustainable Cattle Grazing Strategies Support Reptiles in Tropical Savanna Rangeland
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2018
DOES TOTAL REPRODUCTIVE EFFORT EVOLVE INDEPENDENTLY OF OFFSPRING SIZE?
Publisher: The Society for the Study of Evolution
Date: 2001
Rapoport's rule: Do Climatic Variability gradients shape range extent?
Publisher: No publisher found
Date: 2015
Antipredator behaviour of invasive geckos in response to chemical cues from snakes
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 04-12-2019
DOI: 10.1111/ETH.12826
Conserving the endangered Black-throated Finch southern subspecies: what do we need to know?
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 16-05-2019
Relative effectiveness of trapping and hand-capture for controlling invasive cane toads (Rhinella marina)
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 10-08-2017
Sex determination in northern painted turtles: effect of incubation at constant and fluctuating temperatures
Publisher: Canadian Science Publishing
Date: 11-1985
DOI: 10.1139/Z85-378
Abstract: Temperature-dependent sex determination was studied in a northern population of painted turtles (Chrysemys picta) in both laboratory and field. Eggs incubated at constant temperatures of 30 and 32 °C produced females only, whereas those kept at 22, 24, and 26 °C produced males only. Both sexes occurred at 20 and 28 °C. The threshold temperatures (temperatures producing 50% males) were estimated to be 27.5 and 20.0 °C, and were similar to those reported for more southerly populations of C. picta. In both 1983 (a relatively warm summer) and 1984 (an average summer), temperatures in natural nests regularly fluctuated above and below both threshold temperatures. Mean nest temperatures were warmer in 1983 than in 1984, but were not useful to predict nest sex ratios. Mean nest temperatures were not similar to constant temperatures in their effect on sex ratio. Sex ratios in nests could be described best by the total number of hours for which the temperature at each nest was intermediate to the two threshold temperatures. Sex ratios (proportion male) of hatchlings in 1983 and 1984 were similar and female biased (0.12 and 0.13, respectively).
Exploring relationships between native vertebrate biodiversity and grazing land condition
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2017
DOI: 10.1071/RJ16049
Abstract: Although commercial grazing can degrade natural habitats, sustainably grazed land may be effective for wildlife conservation. Thus, land condition frameworks that assess the landscape quality of grazed land may also be useful for assessment of habitat quality for wildlife. However, the relationship between the condition of grazed land and native bio ersity is mostly unknown, and this knowledge gap must be addressed to adequately balance commercial production and conservation. In the present case study we determined the relevance of a widely used grazing land condition scale to understanding native vertebrate species richness and abundance (birds, reptiles, hibians, mammals and all these vertebrate classes grouped) in grazed rangelands in northern Australia (~24–13°S annual rainfall ranging from to mm), s led over approximately 10 years from 17 unique sites, containing 381 1-ha study plots. We defined the land condition scale relative to climate and comprehensive assessment of habitat attributes, and then described the relationships between land condition, habitat and bio ersity. The land condition scale partially explained richness and abundance patterns only for mammals (especially rodents), which tended to be higher in better-condition pasture. For other vertebrate groups, the scale was a very poor descriptor of richness and abundance. The land condition scale was not useful to assess wildlife ersity primarily because ‘woody thickening’ (increases in woody vegetation on grazed land, including shrubs and trees) lowers the ‘grazing value’ of land while also generally promoting vertebrate ersity. In line with this, bio ersity decreased with increasing bare ground and erosion, together with, and in the absence of, vegetation cover (i.e. desertification), consistent with grazing land degradation. The present study supports observations that land clearing and reductions in woody vegetation on grazed rangelands are particularly detrimental to native vertebrates.
Phenotypic Integration in Response to Incubation Environment Adaptively Influences Habitat Choice in a Tropical Lizard
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Date: 11-2013
DOI: 10.1086/673299
Abstract: Phenotypic integration, in which a suite of traits change in a correlated or covarying response to shifts in environmental conditions, may enhance an organism's fitness. In skinks, rocky environments select for longer limbs and rapid running and climbing. We examined whether differences in nest temperature coincident with specific habitats caused phenotypically integrated effects on morphology, locomotor performance, and behavior in the skink Carlia longipes. Specifically, we determined whether microhabitat choices were integrated with adaptive morphology for each habitat. Using a split-clutch design, we incubated eggs at thermal regimes that mimicked the thermal environments of nests from two habitat types (forest = warm rocky = cool). Hatchlings from cool incubation environments had longer limbs and greater running and climbing speeds, which are likely to be beneficial for rocky habitats. In addition, in iduals from cool incubation environments selected rocky microhabitats more frequently than did hatchlings from warm incubation environments. We demonstrate phenotypic integration in response to nest temperature that affected morphology, performance, and ultimately habitat selection in a way that should increase hatchling fitness.
Heavy livestock grazing negatively impacts a marsupial ecosystem engineer
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 24-01-2018
DOI: 10.1111/JZO.12533
Cool temperatures reduce antifungal activity of symbiotic bacteria of threatened amphibians - implications for disease management and patterns of decline.
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 18-06-2014
Leech removal is not the primary driver of basking behavior in a freshwater turtle
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 08-2021
DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.7876
Abstract: Leaving the water to bask (usually in the sun) is a common behavior for many freshwater turtles, with some species also engaging in “nocturnal basking.” Ectoparasite removal is an obvious hypothesis to explain nocturnal basking and has also been proposed as a key driver of diurnal basking. However, the efficacy of basking, day or night, to remove leeches has not been experimentally tested. Therefore, we examined the number of leeches that were removed from Krefft's river turtles ( Emydura macquarii krefftii ) after experimentally making turtles bask at a range of times of day, durations, and temperatures. Turtles had high initial leech loads, with a mean of 32.1 leeches per turtle. Diurnal basking under a heat l for 3 hr at ~28°C significantly reduced numbers of leeches relative to controls. In diurnal trials, 90.9% of turtles lost leeches (mean loss of 7.1 leeches per turtle), whereas basking for 30 min under the same conditions was not effective (no turtles lost leeches, and all turtles were still visibly wet). Similarly, “nocturnal basking” at ~23°C for 3 hr was not effective at removing leeches. Only 18% of turtles lost leeches (one turtle lost one leech and another lost four leeches). Diurnal basking outdoors under direct sunlight for 20 min (mean temp = 34.5°C) resulted in a small reduction in leeches, with 50% of turtles losing leeches and an average loss of 0.7 leeches per turtle. These results indicate basking can remove leeches if temperatures are high or basking durations are long. However, it was only effective at unusually long basking durations in this system. Our data showed even the 20‐min period was longer than 70.1% of natural diurnal basking events, many of which took place at cooler temperatures. Therefore, leech removal does not appear to be the purpose of the majority of basking events.
THE EVOLUTION OF BODY SHAPE IN RESPONSE TO HABITAT: IS REPRODUCTIVE OUTPUT REDUCED IN FLAT LIZARDS?
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 05-2009
DOI: 10.1111/J.1558-5646.2009.00621.X
Abstract: Body size and shape are primary determinants of reproductive output in a variety of taxa, so selection favoring specific body sizes and shapes may, in turn, have a direct affect on reproductive output, and ultimately fitness. In reptiles, species that occupy rocky habitats are often flattened, a morphological character that aids locomotion and life on rocks, but which may constrain reproductive output by reducing the amount of abdominal space available to fill with eggs or offspring. Using 20 species of tropical skink from a wide range of habitats, we quantified habitat use, body height, body volume, and reproductive output, to determine whether the evolution of a flattened body was correlated with a reduction in abdominal volume, and, in turn, with reduced reproductive output. In this group of lizards, the occupation of rocky habitats has led (1) to the evolution of a flattened body, and this shift in body shape has (2) caused a reduction in abdominal volume. Despite this reduction in abdominal volume reproductive output was unaffected, as flatter species compensate by being more "full" of eggs. Thus, we demonstrate that morphological adaptation for enhanced performance in specific habitats did not cause a reduction in instantaneous reproductive output.
COMPLEX GROWTH RATE EVOLUTION IN A LATITUDINALLY WIDESPREAD SPECIES
Publisher: The Society for the Study of Evolution
Date: 2004
DOI: 10.1554/03-493
The country toad and the city toad: comparing morphology of invasive cane toads (Rhinella marina) from rural and urban environments
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 02-09-2022
DOI: 10.1093/BIOLINNEAN/BLAC100
Abstract: Urbanization is a principal driver of global bio ersity loss. Although many studies have examined the impacts of urbanization on bio ersity, we are only beginning to study urbanization as an evolutionary force. Urban environments are hotspots for invasive species, but most previous studies have focused on phenotypic changes in native species responding to urbanization. Quantifying the phenotypic responses of invasive species to urbanization may help reveal mechanisms promoting invasion. There are, however, few studies investigating the phenotypic response of invasive species to urbanization. We compared morphological traits of invasive cane toads (Rhinella marina) between urban and rural areas in three cities in north-eastern Australia using generalized linear mixed models. We found that the parotoid glands, which are the major anti-predator defence of toads were smaller in urban than in rural populations. The tibiofibula length of males in urban populations was longer than those in rural populations, but females showed opposite trends, suggesting potential effects of urbanization on sexual dimorphism. These results demonstrate that urbanization drives morphological changes in invasive toads, suggesting they may adapt to urban environments rapidly.
Elevation, Temperature, and Aquatic Connectivity All Influence the Infection Dynamics of the Amphibian Chytrid Fungus in Adult Frogs
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 04-12-2013
Can environmental DNA be used to detect first arrivals of the cane toad, Rhinella marina, into novel locations?
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 27-06-2020
DOI: 10.1002/EDN3.114
“Selfish Mothers” Use “Maternal Manipulation” To Maximize Lifetime Reproductive Success
Publisher: Herpetologists League
Date: 09-2012
Reduced competition may allow generalist species to benefit from habitat homogenization
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 13-11-2018
Using a Bayesian network to clarify areas requiring research in a host–pathogen system
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-08-2017
DOI: 10.1111/COBI.12950
Abstract: Bayesian network analyses can be used to interactively change the strength of effect of variables in a model to explore complex relationships in new ways. In doing so, they allow one to identify influential nodes that are not well studied empirically so that future research can be prioritized. We identified relationships in host and pathogen biology to examine disease-driven declines of hibians associated with hibian chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis). We constructed a Bayesian network consisting of behavioral, genetic, physiological, and environmental variables that influence disease and used them to predict host population trends. We varied the impacts of specific variables in the model to reveal factors with the most influence on host population trend. The behavior of the nodes (the way in which the variables probabilistically responded to changes in states of the parents, which are the nodes or variables that directly influenced them in the graphical model) was consistent with published results. The frog population had a 49% probability of decline when all states were set at their original values, and this probability increased when body temperatures were cold, the immune system was not suppressing infection, and the ambient environment was conducive to growth of B. dendrobatidis. These findings suggest the construction of our model reflected the complex relationships characteristic of host-pathogen interactions. Changes to climatic variables alone did not strongly influence the probability of population decline, which suggests that climate interacts with other factors such as the capacity of the frog immune system to suppress disease. Changes to the adaptive immune system and disease reservoirs had a large effect on the population trend, but there was little empirical information available for model construction. Our model inputs can be used as a base to examine other systems, and our results show that such analyses are useful tools for reviewing existing literature, identifying links poorly supported by evidence, and understanding complexities in emerging infectious-disease systems.
Disentangling causes of seasonal infection prevalence patterns: Tropical tadpoles and chytridiomycosis as a model system
Publisher: Inter-Research Science Center
Date: 10-09-2018
DOI: 10.3354/DAO03269
Abstract: Identifying the factors that affect pathogen prevalence is critical to understanding the effects of wildlife diseases. We aimed to examine drivers of seasonal changes in the prevalence of infection by the hibian chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in tadpoles. Because tadpoles may be important reservoirs for this disease, examining them will aid in understanding how chytridiomycosis affects entire hibian populations. We hypothesized that temperature is a strong driver of prevalence of Bd in tadpoles, and the accumulation of infection as tadpoles become larger and older also drives prevalence in this system. We studied Litoria rheocola, a tropical rainforest stream frog with seasonal recruitment of annual tadpoles, and surveyed 6 streams in northeastern Queensland, Australia. Comparisons among models relating infection status to stream type, season, their interaction, tadpole age, and water temperature showed that age explained a large portion of the variance in infection status. Across sites and seasons, larger, older tadpoles had increased mean probabilities of infection, indicating that a large component of the variation among in iduals was related to age, and thus to cumulative infection risk. Our results indicate that in systems with annual tadpoles, seasonal changes in infection prevalence may be strongly affected by seasonal patterns of tadpole growth and development in addition to stream type, season, and water temperature. These effects may then influence prevalence of infection in terrestrial in iduals in species that have relatively frequent contact with water. This reinforces the need to integrate studies of the drivers of pathogen prevalence across all host life history stages.
Foraging behaviour of the Peaceful Dove (Geopelia striata) in relation to predation risk: group size and predator cues in a natural environment
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 03-2013
DOI: 10.1071/MU12023
The interplay of fungal and bacterial microbiomes on rainforest frogs following a disease outbreak
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-2022
DOI: 10.1002/ECS2.4037
Abstract: Emerging infectious diseases are a serious threat to wildlife populations, and there is growing evidence that host microbiomes play important roles in infection dynamics, possibly even mitigating diseases. Nevertheless, most research on this topic has focused only on bacterial microbiomes, while fungal microbiomes have been largely neglected. To help fill this gap in our knowledge, we examined both the bacterial and fungal microbiomes of four sympatric Australian frog species, which had different population‐level responses to the emergence of chytridiomycosis, a widespread disease caused by the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) . We sequenced 16,884 fungal licon sequence variants (ASVs) and 41,774 bacterial ASVs. Bacterial communities had higher richness and were less variable within frog species than were fungal communities. Nevertheless, both communities were correlated for both ASV richness and beta ersity (i.e., frogs with similar bacterial richness and community composition tended to also have similar fungal richness and community composition). This suggests that either one microbial community was having a large impact on the other or that they were both being driven by similar environmental factors. For both microbial taxa, we found little evidence of associations between Bd (prevalence or intensity) and either in iduals' ASVs or beta ersity. However, there was mixed evidence of associations between richness (both bacterial and fungal) and Bd , with high richness potentially providing a protective effect. Surprisingly, the relative abundance of bacteria that have previously been shown to inhibit Bd was also positively associated with Bd infection intensity, suggesting that a high relative abundance of those bacteria provides poor protection against infection.
Invasive wild deer exhibit environmental niche shifts in Australia: Where to from here?
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-2023
DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.10251
Abstract: Invasive species have established populations around the world and, in the process, characteristics of their realized environmental niches have changed. Because of their popularity as a source of game, deer have been introduced to, and become invasive in, many different environments around the world. As such, deer should provide a good model system in which to test environmental niche shifts. Using the current distributions of the six deer species present in Australia, we quantified shifts in their environmental niches that occurred since introduction we determined the differences in suitable habitat between their international (native and invaded) and their Australian ranges. Given knowledge of their Australian habitat use, we then modeled the present distribution of deer in Australia to assess habitat suitability, in an attempt to predict future deer distributions. We show that the Australian niches of hog ( Axis porcinus ), fallow ( Dama dama ), red ( Cervus elaphus ), rusa ( C. timorensis ), and sambar deer ( C. unicolor ), but not chital deer ( A. axis ), were different to their international ranges. When we quantified the potential range of these six species in Australia, chital, hog, and rusa deer had the largest areas of suitable habitat outside their presently occupied habitat. The other three species had already expanded outside the ranges that we predicted as suitable. Here, we demonstrate that deer have undergone significant environmental niche shifts following introduction into Australia, and these shifts are important for predicting the future spread of these invasive species. It is important to note that current Australian and international environmental niches did not necessarily predict range expansions, thus wildlife managers should treat these analyses as conservative estimates.
Parasite loads are higher in the tropics: temperate to tropical variation in a single host‐parasite system
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 08-2008
The impact of cattle grazing regimes on tropical savanna bird assemblages
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 21-09-2018
DOI: 10.1111/AEC.12663
Impacts of artificial light on food intake in invasive toads
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 16-04-2020
DOI: 10.1038/S41598-020-63503-9
Abstract: Artificial light at night (ALAN) is a major form of anthropogenic disturbance. ALAN attracts nocturnal invertebrates, which are a food source for nocturnal predators, including invasive species. Few studies quantify the effects of increased food availablity by ALAN on invasive vertebrate predators, and enhancement of food intake caused by ALAN may also be influenced by various environmental factors, such as proximitity to cities, moon phase, temperature, rainfall and wind speed. Revealing the potential impacts on invasive predators of ALAN-attracted invertebrates, and the influence of other factors on these effects, could provide important insights for the management of these predators. We constructed and supplied with artificial light field enclosures for invasive toads, and placed them at locations with different levels of ambient light pollution, in northeastern Australia. In addition, we determined the effect of rainfall, temperature, wind speed, and lunar phase on food intake in toads. We found that ALAN greatly increased the mass of gut contents of invasive toads compared to controls, but that the effect was increased in dark lunar phases, and when there were low ambient light pollution levels. Effects of rainfall, temperature and wind speed on food intake were comparatively weak. To avoid providing food resources to toads, management of ALAN in rural areas, and during dark lunar phases may be advisable. On the contrary, to effectively capture toads, trapping using lights as lures at such times and places should be more successful.
Experimental manipulation reveals the importance of refuge habitat temperature selected by lizards
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 20-04-2010
Mechanisms driving avoidance of non-native plants by lizards
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 20-11-2007
Designing solar farms for synergistic commercial and conservation outcomes
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2021
Epizootiology of blood parasites in an Australian lizard: a mark-recapture study of a natural population
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2005
DOI: 10.1016/J.IJPARA.2004.09.005
Abstract: The dynamics of a naturally endemic blood parasite (Hepatozoon hinuliae) were studied in a lizard (Eul rus quoyii) host population, using 2 years of longitudinal data. We investigated how parasite abundance in the population varied over time, examined whether certain host sub-populations were more prone to infection, and compared parasite loads in relation to host reproductive behaviour. We recorded blood parasite infections of 331 in iduals, obtained in 593 captures. Prevalence (the proportion of the host population infected) of blood parasites was high approximately 66% of the lizard population was infected. Probability of infection increased with host age and size, but did not differ between the sexes. Within in iduals, parasite load (the intensity of infection within in iduals) did not vary over time, and was independent of host reproductive behaviour. Parasite load was significantly higher in males compared to females.
The response of an arboreal mammal to livestock grazing is habitat dependant
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 12-12-2017
DOI: 10.1038/S41598-017-17829-6
Abstract: Inappropriate livestock grazing is implicated in the decline of vertebrate fauna species globally. Faunal responses to grazing can interact with the vegetation community in which they occur. We measured the response of an arboreal marsupial, the common brushtail possum ( Trichosurus vulpecula vulpecula ) to different cattle grazing strategies and vegetation types, and examined whether micro-habitat selection is driving this response. We hypothesised that where arboreal habitat is intact, brushtail possums would be resistant to the impacts of heavy grazing. We conducted a mark-recapture survey among four grazing treatments and in two vegetation types (Box and Ironbark), at a 20-year grazing trial in northern Australia. We found that brushtail possums were resistant to the impact of heavy grazing in both vegetation types, but preferred the heavy grazing treatment in the Box vegetation type. Complex arboreal habitat and low ground cover was preferred, and high grass cover and low tree species richness avoided. Most in iduals exclusively used one vegetation type, with few using both, suggesting a ‘matrix’ vegetation between the Box and Ironbark may be creating a movement barrier. Vegetation type should provide a context for determining the benefits to arboreal wildlife of adopting a particular grazing management strategy.
Effects of a short fire-return interval on resources and assemblage structure of birds in a tropical savanna
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 04-04-2012
Some lights repel amphibians: implications for improving trap lures for invasive species
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 07-07-2015
Related Organisations
Related Funding Activities
Discovery Projects - Grant ID: DP130101635
Start Date: 04-2013
End Date: 12-2017
Amount: $387,000.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityDiscovery Projects - Grant ID: DP200101365
Start Date: 07-2020
End Date: 12-2024
Amount: $560,082.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityLinkage Projects - Grant ID: LP100200327
Start Date: 03-2011
End Date: 03-2014
Amount: $91,653.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityLinkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE170100033
Start Date: 05-2017
End Date: 12-2024
Amount: $900,000.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityLinkage Projects - Grant ID: LP150100675
Start Date: 11-2015
End Date: 12-2020
Amount: $593,519.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityDiscovery Projects - Grant ID: DP0557170
Start Date: 2005
End Date: 03-2008
Amount: $215,000.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityLinkage Projects - Grant ID: LP180100267
Start Date: 10-2019
End Date: 10-2024
Amount: $394,015.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityLinkage Projects - Grant ID: LP0776927
Start Date: 03-2008
End Date: 03-2011
Amount: $98,299.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityDiscovery Projects - Grant ID: DP0344219
Start Date: 2003
End Date: 12-2005
Amount: $96,000.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded Activity