Refugia within refugia: in situ speciation and conservation of threatened Bertmainius (Araneae : Migidae), a new genus of relictual trapdoor spiders endemic to the mesic zone of south-western Australia

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 511 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark S. Harvey ◽  
Barbara York Main ◽  
Michael G. Rix ◽  
Steven J. B. Cooper
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
New Genus ◽  
South Australia ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Morphological Criteria ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Refugia Within Refugia ◽  
Western Australian

The trapdoor spider family Migidae has a classical Gondwanan distribution and is found on all southern continents except the Indian region. The Australian fauna consists of three genera including Moggridgea O. P. Cambridge from south-western Australia and Kangaroo Island, South Australia; Moggridgea is otherwise widespread throughout Africa. The sole named species of Moggridgea from Western Australia, M. tingle Main, and its unnamed relatives are the subject of the present paper, which was stimulated by concern for the long-term persistence of populations, and the discovery of deep genetic divergences between populations. A phylogeny of the Western Australian species relative to African and South Australian Moggridgea was generated using molecular COI and ITS rDNA data, and based on both molecular and morphological criteria we conclude that the Western Australian taxa should be removed from Moggridgea and transferred to a new genus, Bertmainius. The seven species are delimited using both morphological and molecular criteria: B. tingle (Main) (the type species), and six new species, B. colonus, B. monachus, B. mysticus, B. opimus, B. pandus and B. tumidus. All seven species are considered to be threatened using IUCN criteria, with the major threatening processes being inappropriate fire regimes and climate change.

Prevalence of blackleg (Leptosphaeria maculans) on canola (Brassica napus) in Western Australia

2001 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 71 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. K. Khangura ◽  
M. J. Barbetti
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Disease Incidence ◽  
Leptosphaeria Maculans ◽  
Sowing Date ◽  
Blackleg Disease ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Seed Yields ◽  
Blackleg Fungus ◽  
Western Australian

Canola crops were monitored throughout the Western Australian wheatbelt during 1996–99 to determine the incidence and severity of crown cankers caused by the blackleg fungus (Leptosphaeria maculans). All crops surveyed had blackleg. The incidence of crown canker was 48–100%, 15–100%, 9–94% and 48–100% during 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999, respectively. The mean incidence of crown cankers statewide was 85, 63, 55 and 85% in 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999, respectively. The severity of crown canker (expressed as percentage disease index) ranged between 30 and 96%, 3 and 94%, 5 and 78% and 21 and 96% during 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999, respectively. These high levels of blackleg can possibly be attributed to the accumulation of large amounts of infested canola residues. In 1999, there were effects of variety, application of the fungicide Impact, distance to last year’s canola residues and rainfall on the incidence and severity of blackleg. However, there were no effects of sowing date or region on the disease incidence or severity once the other factor effects listed above had been considered. In 1995, an additional survey of 19 sites in the central wheatbelt of Western Australia assessed the survival of the blackleg fungus on residues from crops grown in 1992–94. The residues at all sites carried blackleg. However, the extent of infection at any particular site varied from 12 to 100% of stems with the percentage of stems carrying pseudothecia containing ascospores varying between 7 and 96%. The high levels of blackleg disease found in commercial crops are indicative of significant losses in seed yields, making it imperative that management of blackleg be improved if canola is to remain a viable long-term cropping option in Western Australia.

Analysis of seed-bank data confirms suitability of international seed-storage standards for the Australian flora

2007 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew D. Crawford ◽  
Kathryn J. Steadman ◽  
Julie A. Plummer ◽  
Anne Cochrane ◽  
Robin J. Probert
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Seed Bank ◽  
Seed Storage ◽  
Storage Conditions ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Australian Flora ◽  
Western Australian

The suitability of applying international standards for long-term seed storage to the Australian flora was examined by reviewing seed-storage data from the Western Australian Threatened Flora Seed Centre. The 375 collections examined represented 176 taxa from 44 genera and 16 families. A high proportion of collections, representative of some of the most common genera in Australia, maintained viability in the short (<5 years) and medium (5–12 years) term. Declines in germination were evident for a small number of collections, representing 10 taxa, stored for 5–12 years. However, many of the declines were collection-specific and other collections of the same taxon did not decline. Five taxa showing germination declines were represented by a single collection so it was not possible to determine whether the germination decline was directly related to the taxa, storage conditions or to other factors. Only the closely related Stylidium coroniforme and S. amabile exhibited germination declines in all collections, but cut tests of seeds remaining from germination testing indicated that viability of the collections had not declined, just the proportion to germinate; for these species a change in germination conditions is a more likely explanation for the reduction in germination. The results illustrate the successful application of these seed-storage standards to threatened flora in Western Australia and highlight their suitability for the Australian flora.

The Wiluna Meteorite fall, Western Australia—2 September 1967

1970 ◽  
Vol 37 (292) ◽  
pp. 880-887 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. J. H. McCall ◽  
P. M. Jeffery
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
British Museum ◽  
Field Investigation ◽  
Reasonable Estimate ◽  
Total Recovery ◽  
Nickel Iron ◽  
Australian Museum ◽  
Meteorite Fall ◽  
Western Australian

SummaryThe fall of a shower of meteorites numbering several hundred fragments at Wiluna, Western Australia, on the night of 2 September 1967, has been investigated. Although the dispersion ellipse had been largely obscured by removal of fragments before a party of scientists were able to make a field investigation, it has, nevertheless, been possible to make a reasonable estimate of the shower distribution pattern. In spite of this removal of fragments, a number of pieces of meteorite were still found in situ. The bulk of the total recovery is in the collections of the Western Australian Museum, and the physical characteristics of these masses and their petrography is described. In all, some 490 individual fusion-crust coated stones and a large number of broken stony fragments are known to have been recovered. The meteorite is an olivine bronzite chondrite remarkably rich in discrete nodules of nickel iron, up to an inch across, commonly aggregated with troilite. A full chemical analysis of this fresh meteoritic material has been supplied by the British Museum (Natural History).

MORPHODYNAMICS OF THE SHORES OF THE VISTULA SPIT (THE BALTIC SEA) IN A PERIOD OF 2002-2015 BY RESULTS OF IN-SITU MEASUREMENTS

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentina Bobykina ◽  
Valentina Bobykina ◽  
Boris Chubarenko ◽  
Boris Chubarenko ◽  
Konstantin Karmanov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Erosion Rate ◽  
The South ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
The North ◽  
Quantitative Characteristics ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
First Time

For the first time, the quantitative characteristics of the Vistula Spit shore dynamics based on the ground-based monitoring data for 2002-2015 were presented. On the sea shore, 3 sections can be distinguished by the direction of coastal processes, i.e. the stable section to the north of the Strait of Baltiysk, the eroded 4-km section to the south of the Strait of Baltiysk, with maximum erosion rate up to 2 m/year; in the remaining area of the Spit (21 km) to the Polish border there is an alternation of stable, eroded and accumulative areas. Since 2011, a steady erosion (in the stable segments of the third section) and general weakening of the erosion rate (in the second section) have been recorded. 50% of the length of the lagoon shore was the subject to annual active erosion (0.2 - 1.4 m/year). The beaches of the sea and lagoon shores of the Vistula Spit were mainly composed of medium sands. The alongshore variability in particle size distribution on the sea and lagoon shores (according to the 2015 survey data) actually fail to correlate with long-term dynamic processes, with the exception of the steadily eroded 4-kilometer area on the sea coast to the south of the Strait of Baltiysk. Variations in the composition of sediment along the shore on the shoreline are most likely associated with the results of the latest wave processing (or storm processing and eolian transport in the case of an average beach sample).

Cladistics, Phenetics and Biogeography of Populations of Boronia inornata Turcz. (Rutaceae) and the Eucalyptus diptera Andrews (Myrtaceae) Species Complex in Western Australia

1985 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 419 ◽  
Author(s):  
MA Burgman
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Species Complex ◽  
South Australia ◽  
Morphometric Data ◽  
Species Overlap ◽  
Replacement Pattern ◽  
Western Australian

Numerical cladistic and phenetic analyses were undertaken on morphometric data from 22 Western Australian populations of the southern Australian shrub Boronia inornata and from the southern Western Australian tree Eucalyptus diptera and its unnamed allies. The E. diptera species complex includes four taxa, three of which are at present unnamed. These species are largely allopatric, although in one location the ranges of two species overlap. Two subspecies of Boronia inornata are described and one of them, subsp. leptophylla, contains three informal variants. Subsp. inornata and two of the variants of subsp. leptophylla are restricted to Western Australia. One variant of subsp. leptophylla is sympatric with subsp. inornata in Western Australia and also occurs in southern South Australia. The events which gave rise to the four species of the E. diptera complex and to the subspecies and variants of B. inornata occurred within the semiarid mallee zone of Western Australia, probably during the Quaternary. Speciation has occurred in a replacement pattern across the southern transitional rainfall zone, which is reflected in at least one other, unrelated taxon.

A Morphological and Electrophoretic Examination of Hydrobia Buccinoides, a Variable Brackish-Water Gastropod From Temperate Australia (Mollusca, Hydrobiidae)

1988 ◽  
Vol 36 (6) ◽  
pp. 661 ◽  
Author(s):  
WF Ponder ◽  
GA Clark
Keyword(s):  
Brackish Water ◽  
New Genus ◽  
New South ◽  
South Australia ◽  
Valid Species ◽  
Separate Species ◽  
Intrapopulation Variation ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Western Australian

The morphology of the abundant brackish-water hydrobiid snail known as 'Hydrobia buccinoides' is described. A new genus, Ascorhis, is provided for it and the valid species name for the southern (South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania) and eastern (New South Wales, Queensland) populations is shown to be victoriae T. Woods. The species name buccinoides is based on Assiminea tasmanica and is an earlier name for that species. Morphological and allozyme differences indicate that the Western Australian populations should be distinguished as a separate species and a new name (A. occidua) is provided for these. Both species show a considerable intrapopulation variation in shell sculpture. Salinity tolerance experiments on three Sydney populations indicate that Ascorhis victoriae tolerates a wide range of salinities, the middle of the preferred range being about that of normal seawater.

A General Account of the Intertidal Ecology of South Australian Coasts

1958 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 217 ◽  
Author(s):  
HBS Womersly ◽  
SJ Edmonds
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Littoral Zone ◽  
South Australia ◽  
Transitional Region ◽  
The South ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Marine Angiosperms ◽  
Rocky Coast ◽  
Warm Temperate ◽  
Western Australian

An account is given of the environmental features. the intertidal ecology. and the biogeographical relationships of the coast of the State of South Australia . The central and western coasts of South Australia are similar ecologically in comparable areas . In the supralittoral Melaraphe unifasciata (Gray) is dominant (except where conditions are very calm) and at high levels on very exposed coasts Calothrix fasciculata C. Agardh is found. The littoral zone where the coast is most exposed consists of barnacles-Chamaesipho in the upper littoral, Catophragmus in the mid littoral, and Balanus in the lower littoral-but where the coast is more sheltered it consists of molluscs in the upper and mid littoral and algae (Corallina, Gelidium, or Hormosira) in the lower littoral. In the upper sublittoral fucoid algae or in calm regions marine angiosperms are dominant. The south-east coast, however, differs in some respects from the central and west coasts. The number of barnacles found in the littoral zone is much reduced and the giant brown algae, Durvillea potatorum Areschoug and Macrocystis angustifolia Bory, are dominant in the upper sublittoral. This is associated with slightly lower sea temperatures. Sheltered coasts are more prominent in South Australia than in the eastern States of Australia. These include the shores of Spencer and St. Vincent Gulfs, the northern shores of Kangaroo I., and a number of scattered bays. The similarities between the coasts of South Australia and Victoria (Bennett and Pope 1953) are greater than the differences. Consequently the proposal of Bennett and Pope to recognize the Victorian and Tasmanian coasts as the Maugean Biogeographical Provinoe and the South Australian and the south-west Western Australian coasts as the Flindersian Province appears to be unjustified. It is suggested that the Naugean is best regarded as a subprovince with the Flindersian. The latter includes most of the coast of southern Australia. Considerable differences are noticeable between the organisms which inhabit the rocky coast of South Australia and the south coast of Western Australia. The available evidence indicates that a transition from the Flindersian to the tropical Dampierian Province occurs along the south and west coasts of Western Australia. The terms "Indo-Australian Province" and "Baudinian Province" have been proposed by previous authors to describe this transitional region. The Flindersian Province appears to be intermediate between cold-temperate and warm-temperate regions, becoming distinctly cool-temperate in Tasmania. It is relatively distinct from the warm-temperate Peronian Province of the coast of New South Wales.

The distribution and biology of the genus Coptotermes (Isoptera) in Western Australia.

1956 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 19 ◽  
Author(s):  
JH Calaby ◽  
FJ Gay
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
South Australia ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
Biological Data ◽  
The State ◽  
Fourth Species ◽  
First Time ◽  
Western Australian ◽  
Wide Zone

Knowledge of the distribution and biology in Western Australia of species of Coptotermes has been very incomplete and in some respects erroneous, due partly to a lack of collecting and partly to the fact that the genus is notoriously difficult taxonomically. This genus, which includes the most destructive Australian termites, is represented in the State by four species and one subspecies. The form raffrayi previously thought to be a good species occurring sympatrically with acinaciformis is shown to be a subspecies of the latter form intergrading with it through a wide zone of intermediate forms and replacing it geographically in the wetter south-western corner of the State. C. michaelseni is restricted to south-western Australia and previous records from South Australia, Victoria, and Queensland are shown or considered to be misidentifications of C. frenchi. C. frenchi is definitely recorded from Western Australia for the first time. The separation of these two species by microscopical measurements is discussed. The fourth species is the recently discovered and described C. brunneus. The known Western Australian distributions of all species except C. brunneus are given. New biological data for all species are recorded, particularly on tree species attacked, dispersal of alates, and construction of mounds. C. acinaciformis builds symmetrical domed mounds in parts of southern Western Australia. Mound nests had not previously been recorded in 'the State and they differ considerably in construction from those recorded from the Northern Territory and north Queensland. C. frenchi is here definitely recorded as a mound builder. The mound-building habit erroneously attributed in the literature to C. michaelseni is shown to be due to the confusion of this species with frenchi. Photographs of mounds of C. acinaciformis raffrayi, C. frenchi, and C. brunneus are published for the first time.

scholarly journals Many Bottles for Many Flies: Managing Conflict over Indigenous Peoples’ Cultural Heritage in Western Australia

2006 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Ritter
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Western Australia ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Public Law ◽  
Native Title ◽  
Contractual Arrangements ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Western Australian

This article critically considers the legal regulation of Indigenous people's cultural heritage in Western Australia and its operation within the framework of Australia's federal system of government. The article also sets out the different ways in which Indigenous cultural heritage is conceptualised, including as a public good analogous to property of the crown, an incidental right arising from group native title and as the subject of private contract. The article explores the various notions of 'Indigenous cultural heritage' that exist under Western Australian public law and the significant role of private contractual arrangements. Particular attention is devoted to the uneasy nexus between the laws of native title and heritage in Western Australia.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document