Can foxes be controlled by reducing their fertility?

1997 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Pech ◽  
G. M. Hood ◽  
J. McIlroy ◽  
G. Saunders
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Variability ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Fertility Control ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Cooperative Research ◽  
Time Intervals ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Rate Of Increase ◽  
Changes In Pregnancy ◽  
Contraceptive Agent

A model based on data from research in New South Wales conducted by the Cooperative Research Centre for the Biological Control of Vertebrate Pest Populations suggests that the effectiveness of fertility control in reducing the abundance of foxes (Vulpes vulpes) can be strongly influenced by environmental variability. The model includes age-specific recruitment and survival as functions of resources indexed by rainfall. It is assumed that fertility control will affect only female foxes and that the use of a baiting regime to deliver a contraceptive agent will result in fixed proportional changes in pregnancy rates. By comparing the variability in the rate of increase of treated and untreated fox populations, the model predicts that: (i) frequent baiting, every one or two years, will be more effective than applications of baits at longer time intervals; (ii) the abundance of foxes will decline more rapidly with higher levels of fertility control; (iii) infertility which lasts for only one breeding season is less effective than permanent sterility which allows for accumulation of sterile animals in the population; and (iv) highly variable results are likely to be the outcome of low-frequency baiting with an agent that produces only temporary infertility.

Biotech prospects for the control of introduced mammals in Australia

2001 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 705 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert F. Seamark
Keyword(s):  
Genetically Modified Organisms ◽  
Significant Risk ◽  
Fertility Control ◽  
Emerging Diseases ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Cooperative Research ◽  
Wildlife Diseases ◽  
Continental Scale ◽  
Immune Resistance ◽  
Livestock Health

More than twenty exotic vertebrate species are now listed as pests in Australia. Collectively, these pests have a huge economic and environmental impact and pose a major threat to Australia’s ecosystems and unique biodiversity. Management of such pests on a continental scale is a major challenge. Recent advances in biotechnology suggest alternatives to the lethal diseases normally sought for use as biological control agents. One proposal, being investigated in the Pest Animal Control Cooperative Research Centre, Canberra, is the use of biotechnology to develop a new generation of agents that act through controlling reproduction to prevent the build up of pest populations. The core concept is fertility control through immunocontraceptive vaccines delivered by viruses that specifically infect the target pest population. Proof of this exciting concept has been obtained for the mouse and, very recently, the rabbit, and a candidate vaccine vector identified for the fox, portending better control of a trio of Australia’s most pervasive pests. Other advances in biotechnology suggest ways to negate the build up of both innate and acquired immune resistance in target pest populations that normally act to limit the efficacy and effective life of biocontrol agents in the field. Prospects for extending the use of virally vectored vaccines to the field management of wildlife diseases are also identified. Targets for such vaccines include a growing suite of emerging diseases, hosted by Australia’s wildlife, which pose a threat to human and livestock health. Numerous technical challenges remain to be addressed before any of these new agents are ready for use in the field. However, the major risk to their development is now no longer viewed as being technical, but the failure to gain public acceptance for their use in the field. This already significant risk is exasperated by the present heightened level of public concern about all introductions of genetically modified organisms.

scholarly journals Innovation Performance and Its Impact on Profitability Among Different Sectors in the Australian Construction Industry

2012 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Hardie ◽  
Graham Miller ◽  
Karen Manley ◽  
Stephen McFallan
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Innovation Performance ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Research Information ◽  
Cooperative Research ◽  
Building Research ◽  
Evaluation Systems ◽  
Formal Evaluation ◽  
Industry Sectors

The BRITE (Building Research Information Technology and Environment) project was established by the Australian Cooperative Research Centre for Construction Innovation to encourage innovation in the construction industry. While innovation is generally perceived to be broadly beneficial, there has been little formal study of its occurrence or impact in Australian construction or of the factors which foster an innovative atmosphere within an enterprise. In order to benchmark innovation performance, the BRITE project conducted a survey in 2004 into the nature, incidence and variety of technological and organisational innovations in various sectors of the industry. With some exceptions, the survey found that clients and consultants engaged in significantly higher levels of innovation than did suppliers, main contractors or trade contractors. Within the industry sectors those organisations classified as high innovators favoured the adoption of advanced management practices and had formal evaluation systems in place to judge their progress. They reported significant positive impacts on their profitability from innovation and can therefore provide instructive examples for the rest of the industry to follow.

CRC 'Regional Combinations' project — effects of genetics and growth paths on beef production and meat quality: experimental design, methods and measurements.

2005 ◽  
Vol 45 (8) ◽  
pp. 959 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. A. McKiernan ◽  
J. F. Wilkins ◽  
S. A. Barwick ◽  
G. D. Tudor ◽  
B. L. McIntyre ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Meat Quality ◽  
Bos Taurus ◽  
Experimental Designs ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Eating Quality ◽  
Beef Production ◽  
Cooperative Research ◽  
Beef Quality ◽  
Genetic Potential ◽  
And Storage

As a component of the second term of the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Cattle and Beef Quality, a project to further test and validate the effects of varying nutritional growth paths pre-finishing and slaughter on cattle of varying genetic potential for meat yield and eating quality was designed and implemented. This project, ‘Regional Combinations’, was a multi-site experiment, using Bos taurus cattle generated at 4 locations across southern Australia. The design of imposing different growth paths between weaning and finishing on cattle with specific genetic potential is common across sites. Treatment and interaction effects on beef production and meat quality were examined within and across sites. This paper describes the experimental designs, generation of experimental cattle at the various sites and the measurements, collection and storage of the data for multi-site analyses.

Building on ‘Red Dirt’ Perspectives: What Counts as Important for Remote Education?

2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 194-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Guenther ◽  
Samantha Disbray ◽  
Sam Osborne
Keyword(s):  
Educational Outcomes ◽  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Cooperative Research ◽  
Remote Communities ◽  
Remote Education ◽  
Community Expectations ◽  
Torres Strait ◽  
Indicators Of Success

The Remote Education Systems (RES) project within the Cooperative Research Centre for Remote Economic Participation (CRC-REP) has, over the last four years, gathered and analysed qualitative data directly from over 230 remote education stakeholders and from more than 700 others through surveys. The research was designed to answer four questions: (1) What is education for in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities?; (2) What defines ‘successful’ educational outcomes from the remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander standpoint?; (3) How does teaching need to change in order to achieve ‘success’ as defined by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander standpoint?; and (4) What would an effective education system in remote Australia look like? Based on this data, the paper reveals how perceptions differ for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from remote communities compared with people who come from elsewhere. The analysis points to the need for some alternative indicators of ‘success’ to match the aspirations of local people living in remote communities. It also points to the need for school and system responses that resonate with community expectations of education, and to develop narratives of aspiration and success alongside community views.

A review of genetic and non-genetic opportunities for manipulation of marbling

2004 ◽  
Vol 44 (7) ◽  
pp. 687 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. M. Bindon
Keyword(s):  
Vitamin A Deficiency ◽  
Genetic Correlations ◽  
Consumer Preference ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Water Soluble ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Chemical Extraction ◽  
Eating Quality ◽  
Gene Marker ◽  
Cooperative Research

The biology of marbling is a considerable issue for the Australian beef industry. Measurement of the trait is still a concern: subjective assessment based on the degree of visual fat deposition and its distribution is the 'industry standard' and the basis for payment of marbling grades. Yet this measurement may be subject to operator error and is influenced by chiller temperature. Chemical extraction gives an unequivocal measure of all fat in the muscle (intramuscular fat percentage: IMF%) and has higher heritability and genetic variation than marble score; but does this mirror exactly what the trade regards as 'marbling'?Progeny test results from the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Cattle and Beef Quality breeding projects provide improved understanding of breed and genetic effects on IMF% and marble score. Estimated breeding values (EBVs) for IMF% have been released to the industry for 7 breeds. Heritability estimates confirm that genetic progress will be faster when selection is based on IMF% rather than marble score. Genetic correlations of IMF% with growth, retail beef yield (RBY%), P8 fat, residual feed intake (RFI) and tenderness are now available to underpin selection indices. A favourable allele for marbling (TG5) on chromosome 14 has been identified by CSIRO/MLA as a direct gene marker for the trait. This is now being marketed as GeneSTAR marbling. Other favourable chromosomal regions are under investigation by the CRC.Nutritional manipulation of marbling remains problematic. It is accepted that high-energy grain diets achieve higher marbling than pasture diets. Within grain-based feedlot diets higher marbling is achieved with maize than barley, while barley diets in turn are better than sorghum. Steam flaking produces higher marbling than dry rolled grain and this effect is more marked with sorghum than maize. Beyond these establishments there are many uncertainties: experiments have examined the effects of diets with high protein; low protein; protected lipid; protected protein; added oil with and without calcium; vitamin A deficiency. None of these manipulations gave consistent improvement in marble score or IMF%. Commercial feedlots supplying Japanese B3/B4 markets may have successful dietary manipulations to enhance marbling but because of its proprietary nature the information is not normally available for scientific scrutiny.Japan is the only market for Australian beef where marbling is an important component of the market specification. There can be no doubt that marbling meets a special consumer preference in that niche market. In other markets scientific evidence for a link between marbling and beef tenderness or eating quality has been difficult to define (marbling is a key component of the USA grading scheme for primal cuts but Australia is not a big supplier to that market). In the domestic Meat Standards Australia market there is a trend for marbling to become more important as a consumer issue in 5-star products where higher order sensory attributes of beef come into play. Early meat science investigations concluded that beef flavour elements were water-soluble. This would exclude marbling fat as having a notable influence on flavour.Marbling remains the major determinant of carcass value in Australia's most valuable beef market. Research should continue to assist Australian producers to meet the specifications of that market with increased precision and reduced costs.

Annoyance of Low Frequency Tones and Objective Evaluation Methods

2005 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jishnu K. Subedi ◽  
Hiroki Yamaguchi ◽  
Yasunao Matsumoto ◽  
Mitsutaka Ishihara
Keyword(s):  
Sound Pressure ◽  
Hearing Threshold ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Objective Evaluation ◽  
Evaluation Methods ◽  
Frequency Separation ◽  
Rate Of Increase ◽  
Pure Tones ◽  
Four Levels ◽  
Loudness Model

Annoyance of low frequency pure and combined tones was measured in a laboratory experiment. Three low frequency tones at frequencies of 31.5, 50 and 80 Hz at four sound pressure levels, from about 6 dB to 24 dB above average hearing threshold, were selected as pure tones. The combined tones were combinations of two tones: the four levels of 31.5, 50 and 80 Hz tones and a constant level 40 Hz tone. The results showed that the rate of increase in annoyance of pure tones with increase in the sound pressure level was higher at lower frequencies, as reported in previous studies. The results for the combined tones showed that the increase in the annoyance of the combined tone compared to the annoyance of pure tone was dependent on the level difference of the two tones and their frequency separation. These results were compared with the evaluation obtained from different objective methods. The three methods were Moore's loudness model, the low frequency A-weighting and the total energy summation used as objective evaluation methods. Among the methods, the low frequency A-weighting gave the best correlation.

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