ORCID Profile
0000-0002-4734-5976
Current Organisation
University of Technology Sydney
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Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-03-2016
DOI: 10.1111/JBI.12713
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 12-2017
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-1997
Publisher: Elsevier
Date: 2014
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 30-06-2005
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 04-2004
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-1999
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2020
DOI: 10.1071/WF19087
Abstract: Assessing wildfire regimes and their environmental drivers is critical for effective land management and conservation. We used Landsat imagery to describe the wildfire regime of the north-eastern Simpson Desert (Australia) between 1972 and 2014, and to quantify the relationship between wildfire extent and rainfall. Wildfires occurred in 15 of the 42 years, but only 27% of the study region experienced multiple wildfires. A wildfire in 1975 burned 43% of the region and is the largest on record for the area. More recently, a large wildfire in 2011 reburned areas that had not burned since 1975 (47% of the 2011 wildfire), as well as new areas that had no record of wildfires (25% of the 2011 wildfire). The mean minimum wildfire return interval was 27 years, comparable with other spinifex-dominated grasslands, and the mean time since last wildfire was 21 years. Spinifex-dominated vegetation burned most frequently and over the largest area. Extreme annual rainfall events (& 93rd percentile) effectively predicted large wildfires occurring 2 years after those events. Extreme rainfall is predicted to increase in magnitude and frequency across central Australia, which could alter wildfire regimes and have unpredictable and far-reaching effects on ecosystems in the region’s arid landscapes.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-05-2005
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-2001
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2003
DOI: 10.1071/BT02069
Abstract: In the Northern Hemisphere, a latitudinal gradient of increasing seed size towards the equator has been well documented. Because of a paucity of studies from the Southern Hemisphere, however, the global generality of this latitudinal gradient in seed size is unknown. This study investigated variation in seed size in relation to latitude among and within perennial Glycine species across Australia. Seed size was estimated from over 1500 provenances covering the latitudinal, longitudinal and altitudinal extents of 37 taxa within the subgenus. In order to ensure that any observed latitudinal gradient in seed size existed independently of two other major geographic variables, longitude and altitude, we controlled for their influence via the use of general linear models. Among species, a significant negative relationship emerged between seed size and latitude when latitude was considered on its own and after accounting for the influence of longitude and altitude in models. For Australian populations of the subgenus Glycine, mean species seed size increased by 4.23% with each shift of one degree of latitude towards the equator and increased significantly along an east–west cline across the continent, by 2.25% with each degree of longitude. This latter relationship was obtained both when longitude was considered on its own and after controlling for the influence of latitude and altitude in models. Patterns of seed size variation with latitude and longitude within species mirrored patterns among species, although there were some notable exceptions. Altitude was significantly related to seed size among species only after removing the linear effects of latitude and longitude, when the trend was for lowland species to have smaller seeds. In contrast to the interspecific pattern, some intraspecific negative trends were found within G. canescens and G. cyrtoloba, which accords with Baker's hypothesis for an inverse relation between seed size and altitude. We discuss the relationships between seed size and the three geographic variables in the subgenus Glycine, with respect to environmental factors that could account for the trends detected.
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2006
DOI: 10.1071/BT05018
Abstract: Groundwater-dependent ecosystems (GDEs) are ecosystems that must have access to groundwater to maintain their ecological structure and function. Rapidly expanding numbers of humans are placing increased demands on groundwater for consumption, industry and agriculture. These demands alter groundwater regimes of GDEs that have evolved over millennia, resulting in the degradation of ecosystem health. As a consequence, the goods and services (ecosystem services) that GDEs provide for humans, which include food production and water purification, are at serious risk of being lost. Effective management of GDEs and their ecosystem services requires prioritisation of the most valuable ecosystems, given that increasing human demands and limited time and money preclude complete protection of all GDEs. Here, we provide an eight-step method for the valuation and initial prioritisation of GDEs. The proposed methodology improves on previous, primarily subjective methods for the valuation of GDEs by employing both economic valuation of the ecosystem services provided by GDEs, and ecological valuation of significant environmental attributes of GDEs. We apply the eight-step method to a hypothetical case study in order to demonstrate its applicability to a catchment containing a range of GDEs of different sizes, each possessing its own suite of threatened taxa. The major benefit of the valuation methodology presented here is that it can be used at three levels of complexity: (1) a full-desktop study, (2) a semi-desktop study requiring stakeholder consultation, and (3) a full field-based study, according to the time and money available for initial prioritisation efforts.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 26-05-2004
Publisher: Inter-Research Science Center
Date: 30-08-2012
DOI: 10.3354/MEPS09847
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 22-01-2013
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-09-2017
DOI: 10.1111/AEC.12456
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2010
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 13-04-2011
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2006
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-2002
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2023
DOI: 10.1071/BT22117
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-04-2008
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 20-01-2005
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 24-02-2004
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2010
DOI: 10.1071/PC100187
Abstract: In many parts of the world, access to groundwater is needed for domestic, agricultural and industrial uses, and global groundwater exploitation continues to increase. The significance of groundwater in maintaining the health of rivers, streams, wetlands and associated vegetation is often underestimated or ignored, resulting in a lack of scrutiny of groundwater policy and management. It is essential that management of groundwater resources considers the needs of natural ecosystems, including subterranean. We review the limited Australian literature on the ecological impacts of groundwater overdraft and place Australian information within an international context, focusing on lentic, lotic, stygobitic and hyporheic communities as well as riparian and phreatophytic vegetation, and some coastal marine ecosystems. Groundwater overdraft, defined as abstracting groundwater at a rate which prejudices ecosystem or anthropocentric values, can substantially impact natural communities which depend, exclusively or seasonally, on groundwater. Overdraft damage is often underestimated, is sometimes irreversible, and may occur over time scales at variance to those used by water management agencies in modelling, planning and regulation. Given the dangers of groundwater overdraft, we discuss policy implications in the light of the precautionary principle, and make recommendations aimed at promoting the conservation of groundwater-dependent ecosystems within a sustainable use context.
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 1994
DOI: 10.1071/WR9940647
Abstract: Food preferences of two species of Australian desert rodents, the spinifex hopping-mouse (Notomys alexis) and the sandy inland mouse (Pseudomys hermannsburgensis), were investigated in cafeteria trials. Both species showed strong preference for invertebrate material (a beetle, Tenebrio molitor) over the seeds and stems of spinifex (Triodia basedowii), and fungus (Tulostoma sp.). This contrasts with previous reports that these rodents are granivores, and suggests instead that they may be omnivorous. Further investigation of the basis for food choice was carried out in a series of seed preference trials, and provided some indication that the water content of food items may underlie diet selection. We suggest that the ability of native rodents to eat a broad range of food types, particularly invertebrates, has promoted survival in arid regions that have been subjected to disturbance since European settlement.
Publisher: Elsevier
Date: 2013
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 26-07-2005
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 24-02-2023
Abstract: Loss of hollow-bearing trees threatens many hollow-dependent wildlife. To mitigate this process, artificial chainsaw-carved hollows (CHs) are often created in dead trees, yet little is known about their thermal profiles. We measured temperatures inside 13 natural hollows (8 live and 5 dead trees) and 45 CHs (5 live and 40 dead trees) in the central west of NSW, Australia, over the course of 2 summers. Maximum temperatures and daily temperature ranges within natural hollows and artificial hollows were similar in 2017–2018. Hollow temperatures were lower in thicker-walled hollows than in thinner-walled hollows. During the January 2019 heatwave, temperatures inside CHs in dead trees exceeded 4–35 °C higher than the upper limit of the thermal neutral zone of sugar gliders—for 6.2 consecutive days (range 0–9 days). CHs in dead trees provided little buffering from thermal extremes when air temperatures peaked at 44.6 °C, CHs in dead trees were on average 2.4 °C cooler than ambient (range: 5.5 °C cooler to 1.0 °C hotter than ambient). These results show that CHs created in dead trees may not provide suitable thermal conditions for hollow-dependent marsupials during summer heatwaves. Retention of large live trees, coupled with revegetation, is crucial for conserving hollow-dependent fauna in agricultural landscapes.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2023
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-2001
Publisher: The Company of Biologists
Date: 15-04-2019
DOI: 10.1242/BIO.042564
Abstract: Heatwaves are a regular occurrence in Australia, and are predicted to increase in intensity and duration in the future. These changes may elevate temperatures inside lizard nests, shortening the incubation period, so that hatchlings are more likely to emerge during heatwaves. Potentially, developmental plasticity or heat hardening could buffer hatchings from future warming. For ex le, higher incubation temperatures could shift critical thermal maxima upwards, enabling lizards to withstand higher temperatures. To investigate whether developmental plasticity affects hatchling thermal tolerance, we incubated eggs of the velvet gecko Amalosia lesueurii under two fluctuating incubation treatments to mimic current (mean=24.3°C, range 18.4–31.1°C) and future ‘hot’ (mean=28.9°C, range 19.1–38.1°C) nest temperatures. We maintained the hatchlings under identical conditions, and measured their thermal tolerance (CTmax) aged 14 days and 42 days. We then released hatchlings at field sites, and recaptured in idually marked lizards aged 6 months, to determine whether incubation induced shifts in thermal tolerance were transitory or long-lasting. We found that at age 14 days, hatchlings from hot-temperature incubation had higher CTmax [mean=39.96±0.25°C (s.d.)] than hatchlings from current-temperature incubation [mean=39.70±0.36°C (s.d.)]. Hatchlings from the current-incubation treatment also had significantly higher heat hardening capacity [mean=0.79±0.37°C (s.d.)] than hatchlings from hot-temperature incubation treatment [mean=0.47±0.17°C (s.d. )]. However, both of these incubation-induced effects did not persist into later life. By contrast, incubation treatment had significant and long-lasting effects on the cold tolerance of hatchlings. At age 14 days, current-incubated hatchlings tolerated colder temperatures [CTmin=11.24±0.41°C (s.d.)] better than hot-incubated hatchlings [CTmin=14.11±0.25°C (s.d.)]. This significant difference in cold tolerance persisted into the juvenile life stage, and was present in 6-month-old lizards that we recaptured from field sites. This finding indicates that upward shifts in cold tolerance caused by higher incubation temperatures might affect overwinter survival of lizards, but field studies linking fitness to thermal tolerance are necessary to test this idea. Overall, our results suggest that developmental plasticity for heat tolerance is unlikely to buffer lizard populations from higher temperatures. This article has an associated First Person interview with the first author of the paper.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-2007
DOI: 10.1111/J.1472-4642.2007.00375.X
Abstract: The ecological damage caused by invasive vines poses a considerable threat to many natural ecosystems. However, very little data are available for this potentially environmentally destructive functional group in Australia. In order to address this paucity of information, we assembled the first inventory of exotic vines that have become established in natural ecosystems across Australia. The influence that introduction history attributes, variables that relate to the introduction of a species to a new area, may have on the occurrence and distribution of exotic vines was also determined. We asked whether the continent of origin, reason for introduction, and residence time related to the prevalence and distribution of exotic vines across Australia. A total of 179 exotic climbing plant species from 40 different families were found to have become established across continental Australia. However, five families accounted for over 50% of these species. Most exotic vines originated from South America, and were introduced for ornamental purposes. The length of time in which an exotic vine had been present in its new range was significantly related to its distribution, with a positive relationship found between residence time and area of occupancy across the continent. No other introduction history attribute was significantly related to the area of occupancy, or distribution, of a species. This suggests that while the trends found among introduction history attributes are important in explaining the prevalence of exotic vines in Australia, only residence time is currently a useful predictor of their future success.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 02-2003
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 04-2017
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2004
DOI: 10.1071/BT03104
Abstract: Patterns of leaf attributes were examined for six woody species growing in a eucalypt woodland, a mangrove, or a heathland in coastal New South Wales, Australia, during winter and summer. It was found that the rate of assimilation per unit leaf dry mass (Amass) of the mangrove species was largest, woodland species exhibiting an intermediate rate and heathland species the smallest values of Amass. Mean habitat Amass did not change from winter to summer in the woodland or mangrove species but increased significantly in the heathland species. Average specific leaf area (SLA) was largest for the mangrove species and smallest for the heathland species, with woodland species showing intermediate values. SLA of all species within a habitat did not change from winter to summer. Mean foliar nitrogen (Nmass) of the mangrove species was highest, intermediate for woodland species and lowest for heathland species. Nmass was significantly related to Amass in both summer and winter and the in idual slopes for this relationship in the summer and winter differed. In contrast, a common slope was fitted to the relationship between SLA and Amass for the two seasons. A common slope between seasons was also shown for the relationship between SLA and Nmass. There was no significant difference in slope elevation between summer and winter for the SLA v. Nmass relationship. Trends within relationships among leaf attributes were the same as those found for a wide range of plant species worldwide, but the absolute values were lower than those found elsewhere. Therefore, the 'global relationships' in terms of trends (positive or negative) that have been determined overseas apply in Australia but the elevation of the slope and the magnitude of the slope are reduced (Amass v. Nmass) or increased (Amass v. SLA and Nmass v. SLA) compared with global trends.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 29-08-2010
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 02-2009
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 04-2006
DOI: 10.1897/05-322R.1
Abstract: Sediment toxicity tests in the laboratory are an important part of ecological risk assessments, yet how they relate to sediment toxicity in situ has rarely been explored. Using meta-analysis, we examined differences in the toxicity of sediment tested in the laboratory and in situ. Data from four published studies were subjected to rigorous statistical analyses. Overall, the toxicity of sediments in laboratory tests was substantially less than their toxicity in situ. Differences between laboratory and in situ toxicity, expressed using the log odds ratio effect size, varied significantly among published studies. Effect size increased significantly with increasing sediment toxicity, showing that the more toxic the sediment, the greater the disparity between laboratory and field toxicities. Our findings may not apply to all laboratory/field comparisons however, we consider that the overlying water in field situations is a significant contributor to this relationship through additional contamination and toxicity. Our findings also have important implications for the use of laboratory tests to assess improvements in sediment quality and remediation, because changes in laboratory toxicity may not reflect the true improvements to sediment quality in situ.
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2010
DOI: 10.1071/SR10073
Abstract: Phytotoxicity due to excessive boron (B) uptake by plants impedes routine agronomic utilisation of coal fly ash. We assessed 11 fly ashes (pH 3.14–10.77) having total B content (Bt) of 12–136 mg/kg, of which 20–30% was hot water soluble (Bs) in the acidic ashes (pH ) and 5–10% in the alkaline ashes, for their potential to supply B to plants and their risk associated with phytotoxicity. We found the Bs/Bt to be negatively correlated (R2 = 0.63**, N = 11) with ash pH. We conducted two pot trials in which canola was grown in soils amended with fly ash. In the first trial, an alkaline fly ash (Bt 66 mg/kg) was incorporated at 5 rates of up to 625 Mg/ha into the top 50 mm of 2 acidic soils in 0.30-m-long intact cores, and sown with canola. Boron concentration in leaves at flowering reached the phytotoxic threshold, and both plant growth and seed yield were reduced, only at 625 Mg/ha. In the second trial, 4 fly ashes (pH 3.29–10.77, Bt 12–127 mg/kg) were incorporated at 4 rates of up to 108 Mg/ha into the top 0.10 m of 2 acidic soils in 1.0-m-long intact cores and then sown with canola. Ashes with highest Bt, when applied at 108 Mg/ha, increased B concentration in the topsoil only. Of the 2 ashes with the highest Bt, only that which produced low soil pH and applied at 108 Mg/ha increased B concentration in the shoot, but was still below phytotoxic threshold. The results suggest that B derived from these ashes may not cause phytotoxicity and excessive soil B accumulation if the ashes are applied at modest rates ( Mg/ha) to the topsoil layers.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 20-01-2022
DOI: 10.3390/F13020152
Abstract: The differential flammability of in idual plant species in landscape-scale fire behaviour is an important consideration, but one that is often overlooked. This is in part due to a relative dearth in the availability of plant flammability data. Here, we present a highly accurate predictive model of the likelihood of plant leaves entering flaming combustion as a function of leaf mass per area (LMA), leaf area (LA) and radiant heat flux using species of fire-prone dry sclerophyll forests of south-eastern Australia. We validated the performance of the model on two separate datasets, and on plant species not included in the model building process. Our model gives accurate predictions (75–84%) of leaf flaming with potential application in the next generation of fire behaviour models. Given the global wealth of species’ data for LMA and LA, in stark contrast to leaf flammability data, our model has the potential to improve understanding of forest flammability in the absence of leaf flammability information.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 04-10-2021
DOI: 10.3390/SU131911011
Abstract: Environmental databases play an essential role in the management of land and communities, including mapping and monitoring environmental hazards over time (i.e., abandoned mines). Over the last century, mines have closed for many reasons, but there has been no comprehensive database of the locations of closed and abandoned mine sites kept for many regions of the world. As such, the locations of many mines have been lost from public knowledge, with no way for managers to assess the risks of land and water contamination, as well as subsidence. To address this knowledge gap, we present an integrated framework for identifying abandoned mine sites using a combination of satellite imagery, historical records, geographic evidence, and local knowledge. We tested this framework within the Newcastle, Illawarra, and Lithgow regions of NSW, Australia. We identified 61 abandoned coal mines which are currently unaccounted for in mine registries, with 56% of all mines in the Newcastle region being unmarked (N = 32), 36% in the Illawarra region (N = 22), and 20% in the Lithgow region (N = 7). These findings demonstrate that our framework has promising utility in identifying historic and unmarked environmental hazards in both national and international contexts.
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2005
DOI: 10.1071/BT04119
Abstract: This review aims to discuss ecosystem services, provide illustrative case studies at catchment and local scales and present future research needs. This review discusses the following: (1) Ecosystem services (ES) are those goods and services that are provided by or are attributes of ecosystems that benefit humans. Ex les of ES include the timber derived from a forest, the prevention of soil and coastal erosion by vegetation and the amelioration of dryland salinity through prevention of rises in the water table by trees. The provision of ES globally is in decline because of a lack of awareness of the total economic value of ES in the public, policy and political fora. (2) Providing a scientific understanding of the relationships among ecosystem structure, function and provision of ES, plus determining actual economic value of ES, are the central challenges to environmental scientists (including triple-bottom-line economists). (3) Some ES are widely dispersed throughout many different ecosystems. Carbon accumulation in trees and the contribution of bio ersity to ES provision are two ex les of highly dispersed attributes common to many ecosystems. In contrast, other ES are best considered within the context of a single defined ecosystem (although they may occur in other ecosystems too). Mangroves as ‘nursery’ sites for juvenile fish is one ex le. (4) Ex les of catchment-scale and local-scale provision of ES are discussed, along with future research issues for the nexus between ES and environmental sciences.
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 26-04-2023
DOI: 10.1071/WF22192
Abstract: Background Mitigation of wildfires at the wildland–urban interface (WUI) will be enhanced by understanding the flammability of plants growing in this zone. Aims We aimed to: (1) compare shoot flammability among wildland native, and both urban native and urban exotic ornamental plants (2) quantify relationships between shoot traits and flammability and (3) establish flammability scores to distinguish low- from high-flammability species. Methods Flammability and traits of field-collected shoots were measured and relationships quantified in 44 species from the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, Australia. Key results In our study area, urban exotic plants were less flammable than wildland and urban native plants. Slow-igniting shoots had high fuel moisture and bulk density short-burning shoots had low bulk density and volume shoots recording low maximum temperatures had high fuel moisture, low bulk density and volume and shoots with low biomass consumed in flames had high fuel moisture and low volume. Our novel flammability scores distinguished low-flammability (e.g. Lophostemon confertus) from high-flammability native species (e.g. Callistemon citrinus). Conclusions and implications Low-flammability plantings at the WUI should preferably use native species given potential ecological impacts of exotics. We suggest that future work should seek to identify broader suites of low-flammability native species.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 02-2000
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 18-11-2010
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 11-12-2012
DOI: 10.1111/EMR.12019
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 23-07-2010
Publisher: Pensoft Publishers
Date: 03-02-2017
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2007
DOI: 10.1071/BT06135
Abstract: Radiata pine (Pinus radiata D.Don) plantations are often found in close proximity to vegetation set aside for bio ersity conservation. We examined the intrusive effects of radiata pine beyond the confines of plantations by quantifying the penetration of pine litter (needles, cones, twigs and seeds) and wildings from plantations into adjacent eucalypt woodland in the Jenolan Caves Karst Conservation Reserve (south-eastern Australia). We then investigated the relationship between pine-litter intrusion and plant-community structure in adjacent woodland vegetation. We found significantly higher quantities of pine litter and wildings at all sites adjacent to plantations than at reference woodland sites that were not adjacent to plantations. At adjacent sites, pine litter decreased significantly with increasing distance from plantations. Alarmingly, native plant species richness declined and exotic plant species richness increased with increasing quantities of pine litter. Thus, there were fewer native plant species and more exotics in areas bordering pine plantations. Our findings suggest a potentially important link between the intrusion of pine litter and a loss of native bio ersity and facilitation of exotic-species invasion. We suggest the provision of a buffer zone around plantations in order to minimise intrusive impacts of plantations on native bio ersity.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 2006
Publisher: Pensoft Publishers
Date: 11-08-2011
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 10-07-2020
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 18-11-2013
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 20-04-2009
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-2001
Publisher: Southern Cross Publishing
Date: 10-04-2021
DOI: 10.21475/AJCS.21.15.04.P2806
Abstract: Food security is a critical issue for many global communities. Heavy metal contamination in soils present a major and ongoing ecological risk associated with human activities which may impact the viability and safety of seed-sown crops. To better understand the impacts of soil contamination by heavy metals on seed-sown crop viability, we examined germination responses of eight commercially-important fruit and vegetable crop species to copper, zinc, and lead contamination at levels likely to be found in contaminated regions in Australia. We compared the germination attributes of days to first germination, germination period, and total proportion of seeds germinated under concentration limits of heavy metals detected at degraded sites and current Australian National Environment Protection Measure thresholds for domestic soils (i.e., copper 6,000 mg kg-1, zinc 4,700 mg kg-1, lead 300 mg kg-1). The combined heavy metal treatment (i.e. all three metals) significantly inhibited germination for all edible crop species with only carrots able to germinate under complex, multi-metal-contaminated conditions. Seed viability was significantly decreased in mulberry (M. alba var. tatarica, M. nigra, and M. rubra) and lettuce (L. sativa), with lowered seed germination in all metals compared to carrot (D. carota), radish (R. sativus), tomato (S. lycopersicum) and common bean (P. vulgaris). These results indicate heavy metal contamination is a notable risk to seed-sown crop species, with multi-metal contamination events likely to be severely damaging to lettuce, tomato, radish, common bean, and mulberry crops
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 20-03-2009
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 1999
DOI: 10.1071/WR97046
Abstract: Very little systematic information has been collected on the diets of Australian rodents in arid and semiarid regions. The information that is available is restricted generally to short periods of s ling and small s le sizes. Here we review the diets of 15 extant and one extinct species of Australian desert rodents, and provide new results of dietary analyses for (1) Leggadina forresti, Pseudomys desertorand Rattus villosissimus from the Simpson Desert, south-western Queensland, (2) P. albocinereus and P. bolami from the western goldfields of Western Australia, and (3) Notomys alexis, P. desertor and P. hermannsburgensis from the Tanami Desert, Northern Territory. Overwhelmingly, omnivory is the predominant dietary strategy, with most species (11) taking substantial amounts of invertebrate, seed and green plant material. Of the other five species, four can be considered herbivores and one a granivore. Of the four herbivores, however, one is extinct (Leporillus apicalis), one is restricted to an offshore island (Lep. conditor), while another (P. fieldi) is classified as a herbivore from a diet s le of four in iduals only. Similarly, P. occidentalis is classified as a granivore on the basis of dietary s ling of two in iduals alone. These findings indicate that omnivory, over and above any other dietary strategy including granivory, is predominant among rodents inhabiting Australian deserts.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 05-2008
DOI: 10.2134/JEQ2007.0021
Abstract: To explore the agronomic potential of an Australian coal fly ash, we conducted two glasshouse experiments in which we measured chlorophyll fluorescence, CO2 assimilation (A), transpiration, stomatal conductance, biomass accumulation, seed yield, and elemental uptake for canola (Brassica napus) grown on soil amended with an alkaline fly ash. In Experiment 1, application of up to 25 Mg/ha of fly ash increased A and plant weight early in the season before flowering and seed yield by up to 21%. However, at larger rates of ash application A, plant growth, chlorophyll concentration, and yield were all reduced. Increases in early vigor and seed yield were associated with enhanced uptake of phosphorus (P) by the plants treated with fly ash. Fly ash application did not influence accumulation of B, Cu, Mo, or Zn in the stems at any stage of plant growth or in the seed at harvest, except Mo concentration, which was elevated in the seed. Accumulation of these elements was mostly in the leaves, where concentrations of Cu and Mo increased with any amount of ash applied while that of B occurred only with ash applied at 625 Mg/ha. In Experiment 2, fly ash applied at 500 Mg/ha and mixed into the whole 30 cm soil core was detrimental to growth and yield of canola, compared with restricting mixing to 5 or 15 cm depth. In contrast, application of ash at 250 Mg/ha with increasing depth of mixing increased A and seed yield. We concluded that fly ash applied at not more than 25 Mg/ha and mixed into the top 10 to 15 cm of soil is sufficient to obtain yield benefits.
Publisher: Pensoft Publishers
Date: 16-05-2012
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 08-07-2020
DOI: 10.3390/ENVIRONMENTS7070052
Abstract: Terrestrial oil spills have severe and continuing consequences for human communities and the natural environment. Sorbent materials are considered to be a first line of defense method for directly extracting oil from spills and preventing further contaminant spread, but little is known on the performance of sorbent products in terrestrial environments. Dog fur and human hair sorbent products were compared to peat moss and polypropylene sorbent to examine their relative effectiveness in adsorbing crude oil from different terrestrial surfaces. Crude oil spills were simulated using standardized microcosm experiments, and contaminant adsorbency was measured as percentage of crude oil removed from the original spilled quantity. Sustainable-origin absorbents made from dog fur and human hair were equally effective to polypropylene in extracting crude oil from non- and semi-porous land surfaces, with recycled dog fur products and loose-form hair showing a slight advantage over other sorbent types. In a sandy terrestrial environment, polypropylene sorbent was significantly better at adsorbing spilled crude oil than all other tested products.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-04-2009
Publisher: The Company of Biologists
Date: 15-06-2017
DOI: 10.1242/JEB.152272
Abstract: In many regions, the frequency and duration of summer heatwaves is predicted to increase in future. Hotter summers could result in higher temperatures inside lizard nests, potentially exposing embryos to thermally stressful conditions during development. Potentially, developmentally plastic shifts in thermal tolerance could allow lizards to adapt to climate warming. To determine how higher nest temperatures affect the thermal tolerance of hatchling geckos, we incubated eggs of the rock-dwelling velvet gecko, Amalosia lesueurii, at two fluctuating temperature regimes to mimic current nest temperatures (mean 23.2°C, range 10–33°C, ‘cold’) and future nest temperatures (mean 27.0°C, range 14–37°C, ‘hot’). Hatchlings from the hot incubation group hatched 27 days earlier and had a lower critical thermal maximum (CTmax 38.7°C) and a higher critical thermal minimum (CTmin 6.2°C) than hatchlings from cold incubation group (40.2 and 5.7°C, respectively). In the field, hatchlings typically settle under rocks near communal nests. During the hatching period, rock temperatures ranged from 13 to 59°C, and regularly exceeded the CTmax of both hot- and cold-incubated hatchlings. Because rock temperatures were so high, the heat tolerance of lizards had little effect on their ability to exploit rocks as retreat sites. Instead, the timing of hatching dictated whether lizards could exploit rocks as retreat sites that is, cold-incubated lizards that hatched later encountered less thermally stressful environments than earlier hatching hot-incubated lizards. In conclusion, we found no evidence that CTmax can shift upwards in response to higher incubation temperatures, suggesting that hotter summers may increase the vulnerability of lizards to climate warming.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 07-2011
DOI: 10.1038/475036A
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 18-04-2020
DOI: 10.3390/FIRE3020009
Abstract: With recent and predicted increases in the frequency and intensity of wildfires, there is a pressing need for mitigation strategies to reduce the impacts of wildfires on human lives, infrastructure and bio ersity. One strategy involves the use of low-flammability plants to build green firebreaks at the wildland–urban interface. It is common, however, to encounter uncertainty in a erse range of stakeholders about the concept of flammability as it applies to plants, which may impede efforts to identify suitable low-flammability plant species. Here, we provide an approach to identify low-flammability plant species that integrates three fundamental and relatively easy-to-measure plant-flammability attributes – ignitibility, sustainability and combustibility – in a way that removes confusion about the concept of plant flammability. These three intrinsic flammability attributes relate to each other such that an ideal low-flammability species is one that is slow to ignite, sustains burning for a short period of time and combusts with low intensity. Consideration is then given to secondary attributes of plants critical to the selection of low-flammability plants, including attributes that influence the volume of fuel available for fires and the vertical and horizontal spread of fires. More work is urgently needed across the world to identify low-flammability plant species using standardised measurement protocols, and our integrated approach provides a transparent way to ensure we are selecting the right species, for the right location, in green firebreaks.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 04-03-2006
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2006
DOI: 10.1071/BT05031
Abstract: In the past, the phrase ‘environmental allocations of water’ has most often been taken to mean allocation of water to rivers. However, it is now accepted that groundwater-dependent ecosystems are an important feature of Australian landscapes and require an allocation of water to maintain their persistence in the landscape. However, moving from this theoretical realisation to the provision and implementation of a field-based management regime is extremely difficult. The following four fundamental questions are identified as being central to the effective management of groundwater-dependent ecosystems (GDEs): (1) How do we identify GDEs in the field put another way, which species or species assemblages or habitats are reliant on a supply of groundwater for their persistence in the landscape (2) what groundwater regime is required to ensure the persistence of a GDE (3) how can managers of natural resources (principally water and habitats), with limited time, money and other resources, successfully manage GDEs and (4) what measures of ecosystem function can be monitored to ensure that management is effective? This paper explicitly addresses these questions and provides a step-by-step theoretical and practical framework for providing answers. In particular, this paper provides an introduction to some of the relevant literature and from this, presents a synthesis, presented in the form of a functional methodology for managing groundwater dependent ecosystems.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-2001
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 08-2003
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 09-05-2018
DOI: 10.3390/FIRE1010015
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-2021
DOI: 10.1111/CONL.12758
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 12-12-2022
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 27-06-2006
DOI: 10.1111/J.1365-2656.2006.01126.X
Abstract: 1. Differences in body size between mainland and island populations have been reported for reptiles, birds and mammals. Despite widespread recognition of insular shifts in body size in these taxa, there have been no reports of such body size shifts in hibians. 2. We provide the first evidence of an insular shift in body size for an hibian species, the rice frog Rana limnocharis. We found significant increases in body size of rice frogs on most s led islands in the Zhoushan archipelago when compared with neighbouring mainland China. 3. Large body size in rice frogs on islands was significantly related to increased population density, in both breeding and non-breeding seasons. Increases in rice frog density were significantly related to higher resource availability on islands. Increased resource availability on islands has led to higher carrying capacities, which has subsequently facilitated higher densities and in idual growth rates, resulting in larger body size in rice frogs. We also suggest that large body size has evolved on islands, as larger in iduals are competitively superior under conditions of harsh intraspecific competition at high densities. 4. Increases in body size in rice frogs were not related to several factors that have been implicated previously in insular shifts in body size in other taxa. We found no significant relationships between body size of rice frogs and prey size, number of larger or smaller frog species, island area or distance of islands from the mainland. 5. Our findings contribute to the formation of a broad, repeatable ecological generality for insular shifts in body size across a range of terrestrial vertebrate taxa, and provide support for recent theoretical work concerning the importance of resource availability for insular shifts in body size.
Publisher: IWA Publishing
Date: 12-2005
DOI: 10.2166/WH.2005.060
Abstract: Water quality in recreational areas in Sydney Harbour, Australia, was analysed first to identify spatial patterns in faecal coliform and enterococci densities, and then to determine the relationship between bacterial densities and catchment rainfall. Non-metric multidimensional scaling separated sites closest to the mouth of the harbour from those further up the harbour's west and north-west arms. Sites closest to the harbour mouth generally had lower frequencies of high bacterial densities that exceeded median water quality guideline values. We attribute this to greater tidal flushing at sites closer to the harbour mouth. Eight site groups were identified within the harbour. Within each group, multiple regression analyses indicated rainfall accounted for between 15 and 66% of the variability in the bacterial densities. Variation in bacterial densities explained by rainfall was lower for sites closer to the harbour mouth where tidal flushing is greatest. Thus, our findings indicate that simple rainfall-based regression models are appropriate for predicting bacterial concentrations when flushing at a site is limited. More complex models incorporating a suite of environmental variables may improve the ability to predict bacterial concentrations at well-flushed sites, but even then, their predictive ability may be low.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-05-2003
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 23-11-2021
DOI: 10.1071/ZO21012
Abstract: The loss of hollow-bearing trees is a key threat for many hollow-dependent taxa. Nesting boxes have been widely used to offset tree hollow loss, but they have high rates of attrition, and, often, low rates of usage by target species. To counter these problems, chainsaw carved hollows (artificial cavities cut into trees) have become a popular alternative, yet little research has been published on their effectiveness. We examined the usage of 150 chainsaw carved hollows by cavity-dependent fauna in the central west of New South Wales using observations from traditional inspection methods and remote cameras. Between October 2017 and April 2019, we detected 21 species of vertebrates (two reptile, one hibian, 10 bird, and eight mammal species) inside chainsaw carved hollows, but the number of species detected was dependent on the chosen monitoring method. We detected six species inside hollows during physical inspections, whereas remote cameras detected 21 species entering hollows. Cameras detected eight species using hollows as breeding sites, whereas physical inspections detected just four species. Cameras detected two threatened mammals (squirrel glider (Petaurus norfolcensis) and greater glider (Petauroides volans)) raising young inside hollows, yet we failed to detect these species during physical inspections. For birds, the two methods yielded equivalent results for detection of breeding events. Overall, our study showed that few cavity-dependent species used chainsaw carved hollows as breeding sites. This highlights how artificial hollows are not a substitute for retaining naturally occurring hollows in large trees and revegetation programs.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 1994
DOI: 10.1007/BF00627733
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 21-05-2011
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 16-03-2016
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2019
DOI: 10.1071/WF18167
Abstract: Leaf flammability is a multidimensional plant functional trait with emerging importance for wildfire risk management. Understanding relationships among leaf flammability attributes not only provides information about the properties of leaves as fuels in the wildland–urban interface (WUI), it can also offer an effective way to identify low-leaf-flammability species. We examined relationships between leaf ignitibility, sustainability and combustibility among 60 plant species of the WUI of eastern Australia. We found that leaf ignitibility and sustainability worked in opposition to each other as dimensions of flammability. Species with leaves that were slow to ignite were those with leaves that sustained burning for the longest, whereas species with leaves that were fast to ignite had leaves that burned for the shortest periods of time. Low leaf combustibility was related to short leaf burning sustainability but not to ignitibility. We created an overall leaf flammability index (OLFI) to rank species on emergent properties of ignitibility, sustainability and combustibility attributes in combination. We found that low-leaf-flammability species with low OLFI values had small leaf area, high leaf mass per area and high leaf water content. Our findings have implications for species selection for green firebreaks in the WUI.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2012
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2004
DOI: 10.1071/FP03220
Abstract: Xylem sap velocity of two dominant tree species, Eucalyptus crebra F. Muell. and Callitris glaucophylla J. Thompson & L.A.S. Johnson, in a native remnant forest of eastern Australia was measured in winter and summer during a prolonged ( 12 months) and extensive drought. The influence of vapour pressure deficit (VPD) and solar radiation levels on the velocity of sap was determined. Pronounced hysteresis in sap velocity was observed in both species as a function of VPD and solar radiation. However, the rotation of the hysteresis curve was clockwise for the response of sap velocity to VPD but anti-clockwise in the response of sap velocity to radiation levels. A possible reason for this difference is discussed.The degree of hysteresis (area bounded by the curve) was larger for the VPD response than the response to solar radiation and also varied with season. A simple linear model was able to predict sap velocity from knowledge of VPD and solar radiation in winter and summer. The consistent presence of hysteresis in the response to sap velocity to VPD and solar radiation suggests that large temporal and spatial models of vegetation water use may require some provision for the different responses of sap velocity, and hence water use, to VPD and solar radiation, between morning and afternoon and between seasons.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-1998
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-08-2005
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 02-2018
DOI: 10.1002/ECS2.2093
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-12-2022
DOI: 10.1111/PLB.13381
Abstract: Leaf flammability is a functional trait that can vary widely among plant species. At present, however, the effects that increasing radiant heat flux have on variation in leaf flammability among species are not well understood. Yet, such effects could have important implications for wildfire models that take into account species’ differences in flammability. We examined how five leaf flammability attributes spanning ignitibility (times to incandescence and flaming), sustainability (incandescence and flame durations) and combustibility (proportion of leaves entering flaming combustion) responded to increasing radiant heat fluxes (29.6 to 96.6 kWm −2 ) in 10 species of fire‐prone woodlands. As radiant heat flux increased, times to incandescence and flaming became significantly faster and proportions of leaves entering flaming combustion became significantly higher. In contrast, incandescence duration became significantly shorter at high radiant heat flux. Differences among species in these flammability attributes decreased with increasing radiant heat flux, with species becoming significantly more similar to each other. Differences among species in flame duration, however, were not significantly affected by increasing radiant heat flux, with leaf flaming durations in each species remaining relatively fixed across the radiant heat flux gradient. Our findings show that leaf flammability is significantly affected by increasing radiant heat flux. We suggest that of the flammability attributes assessed in our study, flame duration is the most informative to include in wildfire models which explicitly consider species’ flammability, given that differences among species in flame duration are maintained across a radiant heat flux gradient.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-1998
Publisher: Hindawi Limited
Date: 2009
DOI: 10.1155/2009/490395
Abstract: We present an empirical comparison of invertebrate community structure between areas of undisturbed native eucalypt woodland and areas that have been cleared and replaced with plantations of exotic radiata pine ( Pinus radiata ). Implementation of a novel conceptual framework revealed that both insect (in autumn) and arachnid (in winter) assemblages demonstrated inhibition in response to the pine plantations. Species richness declines occurred in several taxonomic Orders (e.g., Hymenoptera, Blattodea, Acari) without compensated increases in other Orders in plantations. This was, however, a seasonal response, with shifts between inhibition and equivalency observed in both insects and arachnids across autumn and winter s ling periods. Equivalency responses were characterized by relatively similar levels of species richness in plantation and native habitats for several Orders (e.g., Coleoptera, Collembola, Psocoptera, Araneae). We propose testable hypotheses for the observed seasonal shifts between inhibition and equivalency that focus on diminished resource availability and the d , moist conditions found in the plantations. Given the compelling evidence for seasonal shifts between categories, we recommend that seasonal patterns should be considered a critical component of further assemblage-level investigations of this novel framework for invasion ecology.
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 19-12-2012
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 28-05-2009
No related grants have been discovered for Brad Murray.