Bird and Mammal pollen vectors in Banksia communities at Cheyne Beach, Western Australia

1980 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 61 ◽  
Author(s):  
SD Hopper
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Adaptive Significance ◽  
Flowering Plants ◽  
House Mice ◽  
Functional Roles ◽  
Pollen Loads ◽  
Pollen Vectors ◽  
Autumn Flowering

A study of several autumn-flowering plants at Cheyne Beach was undertaken to compare pollen loads of their bird and mammal vectors and to investigate hypotheses concerning adaptations for bird and mammal pollination in Banksia. New Holland honeyeaters, white-cheeked honeyeaters, western spinebills and honey possums were all found to carry pollen of species of Banksia, Adenanthos, Lambertia (Proteaceae), Beaufortia and Calothamnus (Myrtaceae), whereas southern bush rats and house mice carried virtually none. Honeyeaters carried significantly larger pollen loads of the Proteaceae species than did honey possums. The honey possums carried the largest loads of Myrtaceae pollen. The loads on honey possums and southern bush rats may have been underestimated because these mammals were live-trapped and may have preened themselves prior to sampling for pollen. It was found that the two dominant banksias had divergent floral characteristics, some of which previous authors had suggested were adaptations to either bird or mammal pollination (e.g. straight styles in B. baxteri as against hooked styles in B. occidentalis). However, birds and mammals appeared to feed without preference on, and carry the pollen of, both species. The net effect of the divergent characteristics of the two banksias was that B. occidentalis transferred more pollen to vertebrate vectors and set more seed per inflorescence than did B. baxteri. Further work is needed to clarify the functional roles and adaptive significance of floral characteristics in these and other banksias.

Potential impacts of poison baiting for introduced house mice on native animals on islands in Jurien Bay, Western Australia

2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clifford Bennison ◽  
J. Anthony Friend ◽  
Timothy Button ◽  
Harriet Mills ◽  
Cathy Lambert ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Rhodamine B ◽  
Native Species ◽  
House Mice ◽  
Mus Domesticus ◽  
Target Species ◽  
Island Populations ◽  
Delivery Technique ◽  
Poison Baiting ◽  
Competition For Resources

Context House mice (Mus domesticus) are present on Boullanger and Whitlock islands, Western Australia, and could potentially threaten populations of the dibbler (Parantechinus apicalis) and grey-bellied dunnart (Sminthopsis griseoventer) through competition for resources. A workshop in 2007 recommended a study to assess the feasibility of eradicating house mice from the islands by using poison baits and of the risk posed to non-target native species. Aim We aimed to assess the risk to non-target native species if poison baiting was used to eradicate house mice on Boullanger and Whitlock islands. Methods Non-toxic baits containing the bait marker rhodamine B were distributed on Boullanger Island and on the mouse free Escape Island to determine the potential for primary poisoning. Acceptance of baits by mammals was measured through sampling and analysis of whiskers, and by reptiles through observations of dye in faeces. To determine the potential for secondary exposure to poison, the response of dibblers to mouse carcasses was observed using motion-activated cameras. Bait acceptance was compared using two methods of delivery, namely, scattering in the open and delivery in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) tubes. A cafeteria experiment of bait consumption by dibblers was also undertaken using captive animals held at the Perth Zoo. Ten dibblers were offered non-toxic baits containing rhodamine B in addition to their normal meals; consumption of bait and the presence of dye in whiskers were measured. Key results Bait acceptance on the islands was high for house mice (92% of individuals) and dibblers (48%) and it was independent of bait-delivery technique. There was no evidence of bait acceptance by grey-bellied dunnarts. Dibblers may consume mice carcasses if available; however, no direct consumption of mice carcasses was observed with movement sensor cameras but one dibbler was observed removing a mouse carcass and taking it away. During the cafeteria experiment, 9 of 10 captive dibblers consumed baits. Conclusions This investigation demonstrated that dibblers consume baits readily and island populations would experience high mortality if exposed to poison baits. Poison baiting could effectively eradicate mice from Boullanger and Whitlock islands but not without mortality for dibblers. Implications Toxic baits could be used to eradicate mice from Boullanger and Whitlock islands, provided that non-target species such as dibblers were temporarily removed from the islands before the application of baits.

Biology of Fire Ephemerals of the Sandplains of the Kwongan of South-Western Australia

1985 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 641 ◽  
Author(s):  
JS Pate ◽  
NE Casson ◽  
J Rullo ◽  
J Kuo
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Reproductive Biology ◽  
Seedling Growth ◽  
Western Australia ◽  
Growth Rates ◽  
Dry Matter ◽  
Dry Weight ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Adaptive Significance ◽  
Sexually Dimorphic

The growth, longevity, mineral relationships and reproductive biology of 18 species of fire ephemerals were examined in sclerophyllous shrubland, located mainly within the Jurien : Badgingarra region of the Northern Sandplains of the kwongan of SW. Australia. Ten of the species were monocarpic, completing their life cycle within the 6-8 month winter growing season after a summer or autumn fire. The remaining species were polycarpic, commencing reproduction in their second season and surviving and reproducing for a further two to eight seasons (depending on species). Detailed study was made of growth and dry matter allocation in the dioecious, sexually dimorphic, polycarpic species Tersonia brevipes (Gyrostemonaceae). Monocarpic species tended to produce smaller seeds, and exhibited greater seed output per unit biomass and higher harvest indices for dry matter and minerals than polycarpic species. Certain monocarpic species showed great plasticity in final dry weight, e.g. a 2700-fold difference between largest and smallest individuals in a sample of 250 plants of Stipa elegantissima (Poaceae), and a 180-fold range in a similarly sized sample of Macarthuria apetala (Aizoaceae). The fire ephemerals studied generally exhibited faster seedling growth rates, greater concentrations of P and N (but not of Ca, Mg and K) in seedling dry matter, but usually lesser concentrations of P and N (but not of Ca, Mg and K) in seed dry matter than in cohabiting obligate seeder or sprouter species with potential life spans exceeding 15 years. The above-mentioned features of fire ephemerals are suggested to be of special adaptive significance within the context of exploitation of transiently non-limiting habitat resources immediately following fire.

scholarly journals A major gene controlling warfarin-resistance in the house mouse

1976 ◽  
Vol 76 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret E. Wallace ◽  
Felicity J. MacSwiney
Keyword(s):  
House Mouse ◽  
Wild Population ◽  
Major Gene ◽  
Adaptive Significance ◽  
Chromosome 7 ◽  
House Mice ◽  
Wild Populations ◽  
Partial Dominance ◽  
Resistant Gene ◽  
Warfarin Resistance

SUMMARYThe spread of a 'cream' mutant in a wild population of house mice is reported. The hypothesis that the gene responsible for the colour, extreme chinchilla, ce, has spread because of linkage with a major gene for warfarin-resistance, is tested by a linkage backcross.The results prove that a major gene does exist, that it is very closely linked with frizzy, fr, in chromosome 7, which in turn is linked with ce, that it is fully dominant in females at 4 months of age, and that its partial dominance in males is under the control of modifiers.The symbol War is proposed for the gene. Its position in chromosome 7 is analagous with the position of the resistant gene, Rw2, in the rat in the analagous chromosome.The adaptive significance of this finding is discussed, as also are reports of certain other mutants in wild populations of mice.

scholarly journals XVI.—Examination of the Storms of Wind which occurred in Europe during October, November, and December 1863

1865 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 191-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Buchan
Keyword(s):  
High Temperature ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Flowering Plants ◽  
Botanic Garden ◽  
Average Temperature ◽  
Autumn Flowering ◽  
In The Beginning

A brief account of the weather of this period as regards temperature was read before the Royal Society last year. It was drawn up at the request of Professor Balfour, to accompany his paper “On the Remarkable State of Vegetation in the Edinburgh Botanic Garden in December 1863.”From the 26th of October to the end of December the weather was in every way remarkable. Though frost occurred in the end of October and beginning of November it was not severe, and the temperature continued on the whole seasonable till the 12th of November. From this date till the end of the month it ranged unprecedently high, being 9° above the average temperature of the season. It then fell for the next ten days, but on no occasion below the average; and again rose considerably above the average during the week ending with the 18th of December. Under this genial weather vegetation in the open air advanced rapidly to a state of forwardness not usually seen till the month of March. In December 245 plants were in flower in the Gardens in the open air, and of these 35 were spring flowers. The frost which had occurred was insufficient to damage, to any material extent, 210 autumn-flowering plants; and the high temperature of November, which was as high as what ordinarily occurs in the beginning of May, brought the spring flowers prematurely into bloom, so that there was to be seen the rare spectacle of sweet peas and hepaticas flowering together.

scholarly journals The forgotten flies: the importance of non-syrphid Diptera as pollinators

2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1805) ◽  
pp. 20142934 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine A. Orford ◽  
Ian P. Vaughan ◽  
Jane Memmott
Keyword(s):  
Transport Networks ◽  
Pollinator Visitation ◽  
Pollen Loads ◽  
Flower Visitation ◽  
Pollen Transport ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Pollen Vectors ◽  
Total Pollen ◽  
Flower Visiting

Bees, hoverflies and butterflies are taxa frequently studied as pollinators in agricultural and conservation contexts. Although there are many records of non-syrphid Diptera visiting flowers, they are generally not regarded as important pollinators. We use data from 30 pollen-transport networks and 71 pollinator-visitation networks to compare the importance of various flower-visiting taxa as pollen-vectors. We specifically compare non-syrphid Diptera and Syrphidae to determine whether neglect of the former in the literature is justified. We found no significant difference in pollen-loads between the syrphid and non-syrphid Diptera. Moreover, there was no significant difference in the level of specialization between the two groups in the pollen-transport networks, though the Syrphidae had significantly greater visitation evenness. Flower visitation data from 33 farms showed that non-syrphid Diptera made up the majority of the flower-visiting Diptera in the agricultural studies (on average 82% abundance and 73% species richness), and we estimate that non-syrphid Diptera carry 84% of total pollen carried by farmland Diptera. As important pollinators, such as bees, have suffered serious declines, it would be prudent to improve our understanding of the role of non-syrphid Diptera as pollinators.

Flowering in darkness: a new species of subterranean orchid Rhizanthella (Orchidaceae; Orchidoideae; Diurideae) from Western Australia

Phytotaxa ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 334 (1) ◽  
pp. 75 ◽  
Author(s):  
KINGSLEY W. DIXON ◽  
MAARTEN J. M. CHRISTENHUSZ
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Soil Surface ◽  
Single Species ◽  
Flowering Plants ◽  
Disjunct Distribution ◽  
New Taxon ◽  
Australian Species ◽  
Western Australian ◽  
A New Species ◽  
Eastern Seaboard

Few plants are so cryptic as the underground orchids, Rhizanthella Rogers (1928: 1), of Australia. Unlike the species on the eastern seaboard of Australia, the Western Australian species spend their entire life cycle, including flowering, below the soil surface (only rarely with the tips of the bracts showing), making them unique among orchids and indeed, among flowering plants generally (Brown et al. 2013). Discovery in 1928 of the first underground orchid in Western Australia was an international sensation where the plant was described as ‘a remarkable subterranean orchid’ (Wilson 1929). The new taxon described in this paper resolves the enigmatic, disjunct distribution of Rhizanthella in Western Australia, where there was thought to be a central and southern node of a single species, R. gardneri Rogers (1928: 1).

Disassortative pollination in the distylous plant Jepsonia heterandra

1974 ◽  
Vol 52 (11) ◽  
pp. 2401-2406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fred R. Ganders
Keyword(s):  
Seed Set ◽  
Adaptive Significance ◽  
Pollen Loads ◽  
Self Pollination

Stigmatic pollen loads were analyzed from naturally pollinated intact and emasculated pin- and thrum-form flowers of Jepsonia heterandra. Observed pollen loads on stigmas of emasculated flowers were compared with expected loads based on random pollination. Observed pollen loads indicated that 13.2% disassortative pollination occurred in the pin form and 43.5% disassortative pollination in the thrum form. Pollen loads from intact flowers indicated that much more self pollination and geitonogamy takes place in the pin form than in the thrum form. In this species, distyly effectively promotes phenotypic disassortative pollination.It is suggested that the adaptive significance of distyly m a diallelic self-incompatible species is that the resultant disassortative pollination increases seed set in the population.

scholarly journals MURINE VIRUSES IN AN ISLAND POPULATION OF INTRODUCED HOUSE MICE AND ENDEMIC SHORT-TAILED MICE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA

1999 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 301-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Moro ◽  
M. L. Lloyd ◽  
A. L. Smith ◽  
G. R. Shellam ◽  
M. A. Lawson
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
House Mice ◽  
Island Population
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