Pastures in temperate rice rotations of south-eastern Australia

1994 ◽  
Vol 34 (7) ◽  
pp. 959 ◽  
Author(s):  
MAE Lattimore

Legume-based pastures have long been an integral part of rice growing in the southern New South Wales irrigation areas and still offer potential to improve the productivity, profitability, and sustainability of the temperate rice-cropping system.This paper reviews both historical and current aspects of pastures in temperate rice rotations in southern New South Wales and highlights the importance of pastures in sustaining this cropping system as environmental pressures increase. Topics discussed include pasture species and rotations, their role in improving soil fertility and sustainability, the value of pastures in weed control, and their management for maximum profitability.

1969 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 665 ◽  
Author(s):  
PD Dwyer

In south-eastern Australia banding of M. schreibersii has been concentrated in four areas: north-eastern New South Wales, south-eastern New South Wales, south-eastern Victoria, and south-western Victoria and south-eastern South Australia. The present paper analyses 2083 reported movements. Only 17 of these are from one of the four areas to another with the longest movement being 810 miles. Biologically and geographically separate populations of M. schreibersii are recognized in both north-eastern and south-eastern New South Wales. Each population has its basis in dependence upon a specific nursery site which is used annually by nearly all adult females in that population. Boundaries of population ranges in New South Wales are considered to be prominent features of physiography (i.e. divides). Bats move between population ranges less often than they move within population ranges. This cannot be explained solely in terms of the distances separating roosts. Available movement records from Victoria and South Australia are consistent with the pattern described for New South Wales. Two biologically recognizable populations (i.e, different birth periods) occur in south-western Victoria and south-eastern South Australia but these may have overlapping ranges. Only one nursery colony of M. schreibersii is known from south-eastern Victoria. On present evidence it remains possible that the apparent integrity of the population associated with this nursery is merely a consequence of distance from other areas of banding activity. Detailed analyses of movements in bats may provide direct evidence as to the kinds of cues by which a given species navigates. Thus the physiographic basis described for population ranges in New South Wales is consistent with the view that M. schreibersii may orientate to waterways or divides or both. The probability that there are area differences in the subtlety or nature of navigational cues is implied by the different physiographic circumstances of south-western Victoria and south-eastern South Australia. It is suggested that knowledge of population range boundaries may aid planning of meaningful homing experiments.


Author(s):  
Michael N Dawson

Two reciprocally monophyletic mitochondrial clades of the commercially valuable jellyfish Catostylus mosaicus are endemic to south-eastern Australia. Here, medusae in the two clades are shown to differ also in colour and in the dimensions of their papillae, oral disk, and bell depth. They are referred to two varieties recognized in 1884 by von Lendenfeld. The clade occupying localities adjacent to Bass Strait is redescribed as subspecies C. mosaicus conservativus; the clade from New South Wales and southern Queensland spans the type locality (Port Jackson) of C. mosaicus and is designated C. mosaicus mosaicus. Their ecology and colour, in the context of von Lendenfeld's original descriptions, and the implications for fisheries are discussed.


1999 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 461 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. C. Miller ◽  
W. F. Ponder ◽  
S. A. Clark

The freshwater snail genus Fluvidona (Gastropoda, Caenogastropoda, Rissooidea, Hydrobiidae) is reapprasied and described using anatomical, shell, radula and opercular characters. Five species, three of them new, are described, being differentiated using anatomical, shell and opercular character states. A sixth species, similar to the Fluvidona species, is described and is tentatively assigned to the genus Austropyrgus Cotton. All six species live in northern New South Wales and southern Queensland and all are from single localities or very restricted areas. All species live in small streams, although one was found aestivating in soil in the bed of a small dry creek. The new species placed in Austropyrgus, from the Bunya Mountains, Queensland, is widely separated from putative congeners that are found in southern New South Wales and other parts of south-eastern Australia.


2012 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 389 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Thapa ◽  
D. R. Kemp ◽  
M. L. Mitchell

Recruitment of new perennial grass plants within existing grassland ecosystems is determined by seed availability, suitable microsites, nutrients and climatic conditions, water and temperatures. This paper reports on the development of criteria to predict recruitment events using modelled soil moisture conditions associated with recruitment of species in five field experiments at Orange (Phalaris aquatica), Trunkey Creek (Austrodanthonia spp.), and Wellington (Bothriochloa macra) in central New South Wales, Australia, and the frequency of those conditions during the past 30 years. Recruitment events were recorded when a rainfall event (median 68 mm across the three sites) kept the surface volumetric soil moisture (0–50 mm) above the permanent wilting point for at least 15 continuous days, allowing for, at most, two ‘dry days’ in between. A key finding from our study is that rainfall events creating favourable soil moisture conditions for seedling emergence typically occurred in the second half of February, sometimes extending to early March. Previously it was thought that recruitment would more likely occur through autumn, winter, and spring when rainfall in southern Australia is more reliable. The 30 years’ data (1975–2004) showed that the P. aquatica site had a median of 20 continuous moist days each year in February–March, whereas, there were 16 and 10 days for the Austrodanthonia and B. macra sites, respectively. The probabilities of exceeding seven or 15 continuous days of moist surface soil were 98% and 78% at the P. aquatica site, 91% and 49% at the Austrodanthonia site, and 73% and 30% at the B. macra site, and indicated that some recruitment is possible in most years. These analyses were extended to several sites across New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania to estimate the frequency with which recruitment could occur within natural swards. Across these sites, the probabilities of exceeding seven continuous days of soil moisture were >55% and of exceeding 15 continuous days were lower, which showed that suitable climatic conditions exist during late summer–early autumn across south-eastern Australia for a recruitment event to occur. Future research may show that the criteria developed in this paper could have wider regional application.


2009 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven L. Stephenson ◽  
John D. L. Shadwick

Nivicolous myxomycetes were collected from alpine areas of south-eastern Australia during the period of middle to late October 2004. Most collections came from the high-elevation area around Mount Kosciuszko, the highest peak on the continent at 2228 m, in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, and additional collections were obtained from two areas, Mount Buller and Mount Hotham, in the Victorian Alps of northern Victoria. Approximately 300 collections were obtained during a period of 2 weeks, including species such as Diderma alpinum, Didymium dubium, Lamproderma ovoideum, Physarum albescens and P. alpinum, not previously known to occur in mainland Australia. Lamproderma maculatum and L. zonatum were collected for the first time in the southern hemisphere, and another species of Lamproderma was described as new to science in a previous paper. In contrast to most other areas of the world where nivicolous myxomycetes have been studied, species of Diderma have been represented poorly among the collections from Australia.


2002 ◽  
Vol 53 (10) ◽  
pp. 1173 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. H. Ryan ◽  
R. M. Norton ◽  
J. A. Kirkegaard ◽  
K. M. McCormick ◽  
S. E. Knights ◽  
...  

Most crops host arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). Canola and other brassicas are some of the few exceptions. This study examined AM fungal colonisation, uptake of phosphorus (P) and zinc (Zn), growth, and yield of wheat following brassicas and crops that host AMF in 5 crop-sequence experiments in southern New South Wales and Victoria. All experiments were on alkaline Vertosols, similar to soils in the northern wheatbelt on which low AM fungal colonisation of wheat following canola, or long-fallow, has been reported to induce poor crop growth. Soils with a broad range of extractable P concentrations were chosen. AM fungal colonisation of wheat was generally lower following brassicas than hosts of AMF, although this varied with year and location. The effect on wheat AM fungal colonisation levels did not vary between brassicas with differing levels and types of root glucosinolates. Low AM fungal colonisation did not affect early wheat growth, pre-anthesis P and Zn uptake, or yield. A positive relationship between AM fungal colonisation and grain Zn and P concentrations occurred in one experiment. High levels of colonisation by AMF did not protect crop roots from damage by root pathogens and high levels of pathogen damage made interpretation of results difficult in some instances. As these findings are consistent with results from an experiment on an acidic Kandosol in southern New South Wales, it appears farmers do not need to consider the degree to which wheat will be colonised by AMF when planning crop sequences in south-eastern Australia.


Check List ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 578 ◽  
Author(s):  
Damian R. Michael ◽  
David B. Lindenmayer

We present new records of the Diplodactylid lizard Diplodactylus tessellatus and Elapid snakes Parasuta dwyeri and Suta suta for the Murray Catchment Management Area of New South Wales, south-eastern Australia. These records extend the distribution of these species by approximately 55 km and 45 km south-eastward (D. tessellatus and S. suta respectively) and 74 km north-westward (P. dwyeri). 


2006 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Turbill ◽  
M. Ellis

In south-eastern Australia, the greater long-eared bat (Nyctophilus timoriensis) has been rarely captured and is considered uncommon, although large areas within its range have received little survey effort. We collate existing capture records and present new data on N. timoriensis captures from recent fauna inventory surveys across the western slopes and plains of New South Wales (NSW). From 1628 trap nights at 39 study areas, 118 N. timoriensis were captured out of a total of 8266 bats. In larger remnants in the Brigalow Belt South Bioregion, N. timoriensis was captured at a rate of 0.1 to 0.6 per trap night and made up 7 to 9% of bat captures. This was approximately an order of magnitude greater than in other study areas throughout western NSW. There were no captures from the Darling Riverine Plains Bioregion. These surveys show that the large vegetation remnants of Goonoo, Pilliga West and Pilliga East study areas are a distinct stronghold in the distribution of the south-eastern form of N. timoriensis.


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