A wide diversity of epicormic structures is present in Myrtaceae species in the northern Australian savanna biome - implications for adaptation to fire

2010 ◽  
Vol 58 (6) ◽  
pp. 493 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. E. Burrows ◽  
S. K. Hornby ◽  
D. A. Waters ◽  
S. M. Bellairs ◽  
L. D. Prior ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fire History ◽  
Morphological Diversity ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
Northern Australia ◽  
Ecological Diversification ◽  
The North

Recent research has shown that the eucalypts of southern Australia have an unusual and apparently fire-adapted epicormic structure. By studying a range of myrtaceous species from northern Australia we hoped to determine if this structure was also present in northern eucalypts. We anatomically examined the epicormic structures from 21 myrtaceous species in 11 genera from the north of the Northern Territory, Australia. An extremely wide diversity of epicormic structures was found, ranging from buds absent, buds at or near the bark surface, to bud-forming meristems in the innermost bark. These Myrtaceae species displayed a far greater variation in epicormic structure than recorded in any other family. This is possibly a reflection of the importance of the resprouter strategy, a long fire history in Australia and the ecological diversification of the Myrtaceae. Nonetheless, all the investigated eucalypts (northern and southern) possessed the same specialised, apparently fire-adapted, epicormic structure. This is remarkably consistent given the taxonomic, geographical and morphological diversity of the eucalypts.

The Climatology and Meteorology of High Fire Danger in the Northern Territory.

1993 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 339 ◽  
Author(s):  
NJ Tapper ◽  
G Garden ◽  
J Gill ◽  
J Fernon
Keyword(s):  
Weather Forecasting ◽  
Austral Summer ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Fire Danger ◽  
Northern Australia ◽  
Weather Patterns ◽  
The North ◽  
Strong Winds ◽  
Objective Basis

In most areas of Australia the calculation of a fire danger index (FDI) is the cornerstone of fie weather forecasting and provides an operationally objective basis for the issue of fire weather warnings. FDI's are derived from the observation or prediction of a number of basic meteorological parameters which are then combined with information on fuel characteristics. The forest and grassland fire danger in southern Australia is greatest during the austral summer and is characterised by long periods of low fire danger interspersed with occasional extreme fire danger events. By contrast, much of tropical and subtropical Australia shows a distinctly different seasonality, magnitude and frequency of fire danger. The problem is essentially one of the austral winter-spring (dry season) period and is characterised by extended periods of moderate to high fire danger. This paper provides a broad climatological background to the problem of high fire danger in northern Australia, concentrating in particular on the Northern Territory. The paper also addresses particular meteorological situations in northern Australia which give rise to elevated fire danger. Two synoptic-scale weather patterns are discussed in particular; the passage of prefrontal troughs which seasonally produce high fire danger in the region of the tropic, and winter subtropical ridging which produces strong winds and high fire danger over the north of the continent during the dry season.

scholarly journals PREHISTORIC ARCHAEOLOGY IN NORTHERN AUSTRALIA

1986 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-3
Author(s):  
Harry Allen
Keyword(s):  
Fresh Water ◽  
Coastal Plain ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
Northern Australia ◽  
Prehistoric Archaeology ◽  
Wet Season ◽  
Mountain Area ◽  
Plain Area ◽  
The North ◽  
North Western

The northern part of North Australia is not far from Java and Timor. There are great numbers of influences in the North Western part of Australia from Indonesian region. The coast alligator river area is 200 kilometres east of Darwin, Northern Territory is now 60 kilometres from the coast to the mountain area. The plain area is flat and the water is salty, being tidal on the coast. Further inland the river is fresh water. To day there are few mangroves in this area, but there is evidence that mangroves were more widespread between 6.000 - 3.000 BP. During the wet season the coastal plain is flooded.

The Impact of Asian - Aboriginal Australian Contacts in Northern Australia

1994 ◽  
Vol 3 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 295-310
Author(s):  
Christine Choo
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Western Australia ◽  
Aboriginal People ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
Northern Australia ◽  
Australian Aborigines ◽  
State Legislation ◽  
The North ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Impact

The long history of Asian contact with Australian Aborigines began with the early links with seafarers, Makassan trepang gatherers and even Chinese contact, which occurred in northern Australia. Later contact through the pearling industry in the Northern Territory and Kimberley, Western Australia, involved Filipinos (Manilamen), Malays, Indonesians, Chinese and Japanese. Europeans on the coastal areas of northern Australia depended on the work of indentured Asians and local Aborigines for the development and success of these industries. The birth of the Australian Federation also marked the beginning of the “White Australia Policy” designed to keep non-Europeans from settling in Australia. The presence of Asians in the north had a significant impact on state legislation controlling Aborigines in Western Australia in the first half of the 20th century, with implications to the present. Oral and archival evidence bears testimony to the brutality with which this legislation was pursued and its impact on the lives of Aboriginal people.

Discriminatory Taxation in Light of Fortescue: Its Implications for the Development of Northern Australia

2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Anthony Gray
Keyword(s):  
Federal Government ◽  
Court Decision ◽  
Northern Australia ◽  
High Court ◽  
The North ◽  
Northern Regions ◽  
Word Discrimination ◽  
Taxation System

In the recent Fortescue decision, the High Court made some interesting observations regarding interpretation of the word ‘discrimination’ in the context of the Federal Government's power with respect to taxation in s 51(2) of the Australian Constitution. Coincidentally, the Federal Government has commenced consideration of options for the development of northern regions of Australia. Of course, one option would be to introduce a variable taxation system to encourage businesses and individuals to be based, and/or invest, in northern Australia. This article considers possible constitutional issues associated with variable taxation schemes overtly favouring businesses and individuals based in the ‘north’, given the recent High Court decision.

Fire regimes and vegetation sensitivity analysis: an example from Bradshaw Station, monsoonal northern Australia

2003 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cameron Yates ◽  
Jeremy Russell-Smith
Keyword(s):  
Fire History ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Landscape Scale ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Northern Australia ◽  
Sensitive Species ◽  
Obligate Seeder ◽  
Return Interval ◽  
Noaa Avhrr

The fire-prone savannas of northern Australia comprise a matrix of mostly fire-resilient vegetation types, with embedded fire-sensitive species and communities particularly in rugged sandstone habitats. This paper addresses the assessment of fire-sensitivity at the landscape scale, drawing on detailed fire history and vegetation data assembled for one large property of 9100�km2, Bradshaw Station in the Top End of the Northern Territory, Australia. We describe (1) the contemporary fire regime for Bradshaw Station for a 10 year period; (2) the distribution and status of 'fire sensitive' vegetation; and (3) an assessment of fire-sensitivity at the landscape scale. Fire-sensitive species (FSS) were defined as obligate seeder species with minimum maturation periods of at least 3 years. The recent fire history for Bradshaw Station was derived from the interpretation of fine resolution Landsat MSS and Landsat TM imagery, supplemented with mapping from coarse resolution NOAA-AVHRR imagery where cloud had obstructed the use of Landsat images late in the fire season (typically October–November). Validation assessments of fire mapping accuracy were conducted in 1998 and 1999. On average 40% of Bradshaw burnt annually with about half of this, 22%, occurring after August (Late Dry Season LDS), and 65% of the property burnt 4 or more times, over the 10 year period; 89% of Bradshaw Station had a minimum fire return interval of less than 3 years in the study period. The derived fire seasonality, frequency and return interval data were assessed with respect to landscape units (landsystems). The largest landsystem, Pinkerton (51%, mostly sandstone) was burnt 41% on average, with about 70% burnt four times or more, over the 10 year period. Assessment of the fire-sensitivity of individual species was undertaken with reference to data assembled for 345 vegetation plots, herbarium records, and an aerial survey of the distribution of the long-lived obligate-seeder tree species Callitris intratropica. A unique list of 1310 plant species was attributed with regenerative characteristics (i.e. habit, perenniality, resprouting capability, time to seed maturation). The great majority of FSS species were restricted to rugged sandstone landforms. The approach has wider application for assessing landscape fire-sensitivity and associated landscape health in savanna landscapes in northern Australia, and elsewhere.

Ecological thresholds and the status of fire-sensitive vegetation in western Arnhem Land, northern Australia: implications for management

2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew C. Edwards ◽  
Jeremy Russell-Smith
Keyword(s):  
National Parks ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Fire Management ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Vegetation Types ◽  
Northern Australia ◽  
Study Region ◽  
Ecological Thresholds ◽  
Arnhem Land ◽  
The Status

The paper examines the application of the ecological thresholds concept to fire management issues concerning fire-sensitive vegetation types associated with the remote, biodiversity-rich, sandstone Arnhem Plateau, in western Arnhem Land, monsoonal northern Australia. In the absence of detailed assessments of fire regime impacts on component biota such as exist for adjoining Nitmiluk and World Heritage Kakadu National Parks, the paper builds on validated 16-year fire history and vegetation structural mapping products derived principally from Landsat-scale imagery, to apply critical ecological thresholds criteria as defined by fire regime parameters for assessing the status of fire-sensitive habitat and species elements. Assembled data indicate that the 24 000 km2 study region today experiences fire regimes characterised generally by high annual frequencies (mean = 36.6%) of large (>10 km2) fires that occur mostly in the late dry season under severe fire-weather conditions. Collectively, such conditions substantially exceed defined ecological thresholds for significant proportions of fire-sensitive indicator rain forest and heath vegetation types, and the long-lived obligate seeder conifer tree species, Callitris intratropica. Thresholds criteria are recognised as an effective tool for informing ecological fire management in a variety of geographic settings.

scholarly journals ‘Little Gunshots, but with the blaze of lightning’: Xavier Herbert, Visuality and Human Rights

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 87-105
Author(s):  
Jane Lydon
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Aboriginal People ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Narrative Strategies ◽  
World War ◽  
Major Work ◽  
The North ◽  
Significant Difference

Xavier Herbert published his bestseller Capricornia in 1938, following two periods spent in the Northern Territory. His next major work, Poor Fellow My Country (1975), was not published until thirty-seven years later, but was also set in the north during the 1930s. One significant difference between the two novels is that by 1975 photo-journalism had become a significant force for influencing public opinion and reforming Aboriginal policy. Herbert’s novel, centring upon Prindy as vulnerable Aboriginal child, marks a sea change in perceptions of Aboriginal people and their place in Australian society, and a radical shift toward use of photography as a means of revealing the violation of human rights after World War II. In this article I review Herbert’s visual narrative strategies in the context of debates about this key historical shift and the growing impact of photography in human rights campaigns. I argue that Poor Fellow My Country should be seen as a textual re-enactment, set in Herbert’s and the nation’s past, yet coloured by more recent social changes that were facilitated and communicated through the camera’s lens. Like all re-enactments, it is written in the past conditional: it asks, what if things had been different? It poses a profound challenge to the state project of scientific modernity that was the Northern Territory over the first decades of the twentieth century.

scholarly journals Morphological diversity of wild and semi-wild chili populations of Tabasco and the north of Chiapas States, Mexico

Phyton ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 87 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-67
Author(s):  
G醠vez Mu駉z YA ◽  
E Mart韓ez Moreno ◽  
S Ram韗ez Vera ◽  
L Latournerie Moreno ◽  
JM Lesher Gordillo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Morphological Diversity ◽  
The North

scholarly journals Genome-wide sequence-based genotyping supports a nonhybrid origin of Castanea alabamensis

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Taylor Perkins ◽  
Tetyana Zhebentyayeva ◽  
Paul H. Sisco ◽  
J. Hill Craddock
Keyword(s):  
North American ◽  
Distinct Group ◽  
Morphological Diversity ◽  
Hybrid Origin ◽  
Putative Hybrid ◽  
Eastern United States ◽  
The North ◽  
Snp Data ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Conservation Concern

AbstractThe genus Castanea in North America contains multiple tree and shrub taxa of conservation concern. The two species within the group, American chestnut (Castanea dentata) and chinquapin (C. pumila sensu lato), display remarkable morphological diversity across their distributions in the eastern United States and southern Ontario. Previous investigators have hypothesized that hybridization between C. dentata and C. pumila has played an important role in generating morphological variation in wild populations. A putative hybrid taxon, Castanea alabamensis, was identified in northern Alabama in the early 20th century; however, the question of its hybridity has been unresolved. We tested the hypothesized hybrid origin of C. alabamensis using genome-wide sequence-based genotyping of C. alabamensis, all currently recognized North American Castanea taxa, and two Asian Castanea species at >100,000 single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loci. With these data, we generated a high-resolution phylogeny, tested for admixture among taxa, and analyzed population genetic structure of the study taxa. Bayesian clustering and principal components analysis provided no evidence of admixture between C. dentata and C. pumila in C. alabamensis genomes. Phylogenetic analysis of genome-wide SNP data indicated that C. alabamensis forms a distinct group within C. pumila sensu lato. Our results are consistent with the model of a nonhybrid origin for C. alabamensis. Our finding of C. alabamensis as a genetically and morphologically distinct group within the North American chinquapin complex provides further impetus for the study and conservation of the North American Castanea species.

Encounters on the Frontier: Banteng in Australia’s Northern Territory

2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanessa deKoninck
Keyword(s):  
Introduced Species ◽  
National Park ◽  
Genetic Resource ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
Nonhuman Animal ◽  
The North ◽  
Bos Javanicus ◽  
Environmental Threat ◽  
Tropical Australia ◽  
Over Time

Abstract This paper considers the case of an introduced species that resides in what is now a jointly managed national park in the north of tropical Australia. Banteng (Bos javanicus) are a peculiar feral nonhuman animal in that they constitute a potential environmental threat within the domestic conservation goals of the park, but they also hold the prospect of being a major genetic resource in the international conservation of the species. Thus, perspectives on the use and management of these animals are varied between different actors in the park landscape, and are subject to fluctuations over time, especially in response to wider social and political circumstances. This paper argues that seemingly objective views of these animals are actually a series of subjectivities, which have less to do with any concrete aspects of the animals themselves and more to do with the way that particular people orient themselves toward, and within, the landscape.

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