Evidence of large-scale spatial declines in recruitment patterns of southern rock lobster Jasus edwardsii, across south-eastern Australia

Despite being one of the most economically important fisheries in south-eastern Australia, growth rates of juvenile southern rock lobster (Jasus edwardsii) have not previously been quantified in the wild. This study utilised a diver-based tag–recapture program to estimate growth rates of individuals between 40–80 mm carapace length (CL) in temperate reef sites across south-eastern Australia. Of the 7064 lobsters tagged and released, 978 (14%) were recaptured with recapture rates of 23, 5 and 7% in the States of Tasmania, South Australia and Victoria respectively. Although individual growth increments were similar between the sexes, differences in annual growth rates were evident at 50 mm CL, with males growing ~1.4 times faster than females. Increased levels of growth in males resulted from a higher moult frequency, which was found to significantly reduce in females as they reached sexual maturity at ~70–80 mm CL. No significant difference was found in growth rates of males or females between the States when all sites within each State were combined. The growth estimates from this work contribute to the understanding of juvenile lobster population dynamics and will improve current fishery models by confirming relationships between early juvenile, pre-recruit abundance and entry to the fishable biomass.

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Trends in productivity of Southern Rock Lobster Jasus edwardsii, across south-eastern Australia: Evidence of a regime shift?

Fisheries Research ◽

10.1016/j.fishres.2019.105308 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 219 ◽

pp. 105308 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Adrian Linnane ◽

Anthony D.M. Smith ◽

Richard McGarvey ◽

John E. Feenstra ◽

Janet M. Matthews ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Regime Shift ◽

Rock Lobster ◽

South Eastern ◽

Eastern Australia ◽

Jasus Edwardsii ◽

South Eastern Australia

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Large-scale patterns in puerulus settlement and links to fishery recruitment in the southern rock lobster (Jasus edwardsii), across south-eastern Australia

ICES Journal of Marine Science ◽

10.1093/icesjms/fst176 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 71 (3) ◽

pp. 528-536 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Adrian Linnane ◽

Richard McGarvey ◽

Caleb Gardner ◽

Terence I. Walker ◽

Janet Matthews ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Large Scale ◽

Carapace Length ◽

Time Lag ◽

South Australia ◽

Rock Lobster ◽

Important Data ◽

South Eastern ◽

Eastern Australia ◽

Data Source ◽

South Eastern Australia

Abstract Monthly monitoring of puerulus settlement across South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania has been undertaken since the early 1990s. Firstly, annual trends in settlement were spatially analysed across the three States. In South Australian and Victorian settlement patterns were closely related. In Tasmania, settlement sites along the northeast coast were positively correlated, but showed no relationship with areas further south or in any other State. Secondly, annual settlement indices were correlated with lagged estimates of fishery recruitment. In South Australia, the strongest correlations between settlement and recruitment to legal size were observed using a 4–5- year time-lag. Within Victoria and Tasmania, the period from settlement to recruitment at 60 mm carapace length (CL) was 2 and 3 years, respectively. The period from 60 mm to legal size was another 2–3 years, suggesting that the total time from settlement to the fishery ranges from 4–6 years in these regions. The correlation between settlement and recruitment was used to forecast future estimates of exploitable biomass in one region of South Australia. The results indicate that puerulus monitoring is a relatively robust indicator of future fishery performance and should be regarded as an important data source for rock lobster resources within south-eastern Australia.

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Effects of large fires on biodiversity in south-eastern Australia: disaster or template for diversity?

International Journal of Wildland Fire ◽

10.1071/wf07153 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 17 (6) ◽

pp. 809 ◽

Cited By ~ 80

Author(s):

Ross A. Bradstock

Keyword(s):

Large Scale ◽

Fire Regimes ◽

Ecological Communities ◽

South Eastern ◽

Habitat Variation ◽

Eastern Australia ◽

Rate Adaptive ◽

Large Fires ◽

South Eastern Australia

Large fires coincident with drought occurred in south-eastern Australia during 2001–2007. Perceptions of large, intense fires as being ecologically ‘disastrous’ are common. These are summarised by four hypotheses characterising large fires as: (i) homogenous in extent and intensity; (ii) causing large-scale extinction due to perceived lack of survival and regeneration capacity among biota; (iii) degrading due to erosion and related edaphic effects; (iv) unnatural, as a consequence of contemporary land management. These hypotheses are examined using available evidence and shown to inadequately account for effects of large fires on biodiversity. Large fires do not burn homogeneously, though they may produce intensely burnt patches and areas. The bulk of biota are resilient through a variety of in situ persistence mechanisms that are reinforced by landscape factors. Severe erosive episodes following fire tend to be local and uncertain rather than global and inevitable. Redistribution of soil and nutrients may reinforce habitat variation in some cases. Signals of fire are highly variable over prehistoric and historic eras, and, in some cases, contemporary and pre-European signal levels are equivalent. The most important effects of large fires in these diverse ecological communities and landscapes stem from their recurrence rate. Adaptive management of fire regimes rather than fire events is required, based on an understanding of risks posed by particular regimes to biota.

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Paddock trees, parrots and agricultural production: An urgent need for large-scale, long-term restoration in south-eastern Australia

Ecological Management & Restoration ◽

10.1111/j.1442-8903.2009.00473.x ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 126-135 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Adrian D. Manning ◽

David B. Lindenmayer

Keyword(s):

Agricultural Production ◽

Large Scale ◽

South Eastern ◽

Eastern Australia ◽

South Eastern Australia

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Can outbreaks of house mice in south-eastern Australia be predicted by weather models?

Wildlife Research ◽

10.1071/wr03131 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 31 (5) ◽

pp. 465 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

Charles J. Krebs ◽

Alice J. Kenney ◽

Grant R. Singleton ◽

Greg Mutze ◽

Roger P. Pech ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Large Scale ◽

Southern Oscillation ◽

Plant Production ◽

House Mice ◽

Weather Variables ◽

Mouse Population ◽

Enso Events ◽

South Eastern ◽

Eastern Australia ◽

South Eastern Australia

Outbreaks of house mice (Mus domesticus) occur irregularly in the wheat-growing areas of south-eastern Australia, and are thought to be driven by weather variability, particularly rainfall. If rainfall drives grass and seed production, and vegetation production drives mouse dynamics, we should achieve better predictability of mouse outbreaks by the use of plant-production data. On a broader scale, if climatic variability is affected by El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events, large-scale weather variables might be associated with mouse outbreaks. We could not find any association of mouse outbreaks over the last century with any ENSO measurements or other large-scale weather variables, indicating that the causal change linking mouse numbers with weather variation is more complex than is commonly assumed. For the 1960–2002 period we were only partly successful in using variation in cereal production to predict outbreaks of mice in nine areas of Victoria and South Australia, and we got better predictability of outbreaks from rainfall data alone. We achieved 70% correct predictions for a qualitative model using rainfall and 58% for a quantitative model using rainfall and spring mouse numbers. Without the detailed specific mechanisms underlying mouse population dynamics, we may not be able to improve on these simple models that link rainfall to mouse outbreaks.

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Soil Properties Drive Microbial Community Structure in a Large Scale Transect in South Eastern Australia

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-018-30005-8 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 34

Author(s):

Pei-Pei Xue ◽

Yolima Carrillo ◽

Vanessa Pino ◽

Budiman Minasny ◽

Alex. B. McBratney

Keyword(s):

Community Structure ◽

Microbial Community ◽

Soil Properties ◽

Microbial Community Structure ◽

Large Scale ◽

South Eastern ◽

Eastern Australia ◽

South Eastern Australia

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Effects of large-scale high-severity fire on occupancy and abundances of an invasive large mammal in south-eastern Australia

Wildlife Research ◽

10.1071/wr12033 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 39 (7) ◽

pp. 555 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

David M. Forsyth ◽

Andrew M. Gormley ◽

Luke Woodford ◽

Tony Fitzgerald

Keyword(s):

National Park ◽

Large Scale ◽

Survey Methods ◽

Large Mammal ◽

South Eastern ◽

High Severity ◽

Eastern Australia ◽

Pellet Counts ◽

Sambar Deer ◽

South Eastern Australia

Context Despite large mammals being an important component of many ecosystems, there is little information on the impacts of fire on large mammal populations. Aims We evaluated the effects of the large-scale high-severity ‘Black Saturday’ fires of 7 February 2009 on occupancy and abundances of an invasive large mammal, the sambar deer (Cervus unicolor), in south-eastern Australia. Methods The effects of the Black Saturday fires on the abundance of sambar deer were assessed using repeated annual counts of faecal pellets during 2007–11 in Kinglake National Park, which was burnt, and in Mount Buffalo National Park, which was not burnt. Pre-fire occupancy was modelled from data collected at 80 4-km2 cells using three survey methods. The same survey methods were used at 15 burnt (n = 9 sampled pre-fire) and 15 unburnt (n = 5 sampled pre-fire) cells 16–24 months after Black Saturday. Because multiple surveys were performed in each cell, we used a Bayesian state–space site-occupancy model to partition changes in the probability of occupancy from changes in the probability of detection. Key results Counts of sambar deer pellets increased linearly during 2007–11 in the unburnt Mount Buffalo National Park. Pellet counts also increased linearly in Kinglake National Park from 2007 to 2008, and then decreased (to zero) following Black Saturday; pellet counts increased again in 2010 and 2011. Sambar deer occupancy was weakly reduced (from 0.99 to 0.88) in burnt cells 16–24 months after Black Saturday, but was little changed in unburnt cells (from 0.99 to 0.98). Conclusions We conclude that the abundance of sambar deer was substantially reduced by the large-scale high-severity Black Saturday fires, but that most burnt habitat was reoccupied 16–24 months later. Implications There is concern about the negative impacts of invasive sambar deer on native biodiversity, particularly immediately post-fire. Our study suggests that it takes at least 8 months before sambar deer recolonise areas burnt by a large-scale high-severity fire; however, a risk-averse approach would be to act (e.g. by erecting fences or culling) sooner than that.

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Genetic Variation and Phenotypic Plasticity in Populations of Paterson's Curse (Echium plantagineum L.) In South-Eastern Australia

Australian Journal of Botany ◽

10.1071/bt9850677 ◽

1985 ◽

Vol 33 (6) ◽

pp. 677 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

H Wood ◽

R Degabriele

Keyword(s):

Genetic Variation ◽

Phenotypic Plasticity ◽

Large Scale ◽

Natural Populations ◽

Moisture Stress ◽

Climatic Indices ◽

South Eastern ◽

Moisture Regimes ◽

Eastern Australia ◽

South Eastern Australia

Natural populations of Echium plantagineum on an east-west line across south-eastern Australia were sampled on three occasions during the growing season, and seeds collected from individual plants in each population were grown in a common glasshouse. In another experiment seedlings of E. plantagineum were divided and clones from each plant were grown under two soil moisture regimes. Field populations differed significantly in all seven characters measured at all sampling dates but, with one exception, between-population differences were unrelated to five climatic indices. Glasshouse populations differed significantly in 15 of 27 characters; variations in some of these characters were related by regression analysis to one or more of the climatic indices. Clones grown under moisture stress flowered later, had proportionally wider leaves and were smaller than well watered clones. The data suggest that an ecocline has developed, or is developing, in E. plantagineum in south- eastern Australia in response to large-scale and long-term aspects of climate, although extensive genetic variation between individuals in each population was also observed. This species exhibits a great deal of phenotypic plasticity in response to localized environmental factors.

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