The importance of insects and lerp in the diet of juvenile regent honeyeaters, Xanthomyza phrygia: implications for the conservation of an endangered woodland bird

1998 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 409 ◽  
Author(s):  
Damon L. Oliver

The dietary items fed to regent honeyeater, Xanthomyza phrygia, nestlings and fledglings by adults were recorded in two consecutive breeding seasons in the Bundarra–Barraba region west of Armidale, New South Wales. Insects were the most common dietary items fed to juveniles (53% of identified items), followed by lerp (26.5%) and nectar (20.5%). Nestlings were fed mostly insects (58% of feeds), and carbohydrates (nectar and lerp) made up the rest of their diet. Fledglings, however, were fed mainly carbohydrates (nectar and lerp comprised 61.2% of all items) while protein from insects was the other major component of their diet. Males tended to feed juveniles more insects than did females, although there were no significant divisions of labour between parents in selecting dietary items for nestlings or fledglings. This study highlights the importance of insects and lerp in the diet of juvenile regent honeyeaters, and the diversity of plant species on which their parents foraged. The species shows a broader resource selection than was found in previous studies which considered the species to be highly nectarivorous and selective for a few key eucalypt species. The importance of insects and carbohydrates other than nectar in the diet of the regent honeyeater needs to be recognised in the development of conservation strategies for the species.

1986 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 355 ◽  
Author(s):  
CJ Hollis ◽  
CJ Hollis ◽  
JD Robertshaw ◽  
JD Robertshaw ◽  
RH Harden ◽  
...  

The diet of the swamp wallaby Wallabia bicolor was determined by identifying plant fragments from the forestomachs of animals collected at two sites (Diamond Flat and the Styx River State Forest) in forests on the edge of the eastern escarpment of the Great Dividing Range in north-eastern New South Wales. Seventy-seven and 72 genera of plants were recorded in the diets at the two sites respectively. The dietary items were grouped into six categories, the overall occurrence of which ranged frcm forbs (26%), ferns (19%), shrubs (19%), grasses, sedges and rushes (17%) and fungi (15%) to vines (3%). There were broad similarities in the diets of the animals from both sites, though there were some seasonal differences both within and between sites, the most marked being an increase in grasses, sedges and rushes and a decrease in fungi in spring. It is suggested that fungi may be an important source of nitrogen during the other seasons. The wide array of plant species eaten by the swamp wallaby indicates that it is a generalist rather than specialist feeder, and more of a browser than the larger macropodids.


1998 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Damon L. Oliver

The regent honeyea ter, Xanthomyza phrygia, is an endangered woodland bird whose range and population size have decreased in the last thirty years. Suggested reasons for this decline include abnormal breeding behaviour, poor reproductive output, and excessive inter- and intra-specific aggression. This study investigated the breeding behaviour and aggressive interactions of regent honeyeaters during the nest construction, incubation, nestling, and fledgling stages in two consecutive breeding seasons in the Bundarra–Barraba region near Armidale, New South Wales. The female was entirely responsible for nest construction and incubation, which is typical of many honeyeaters. Both parents fed the nestlings, and at a similar rate, although only the female brooded chicks on the nest. Both parents fed the fledglings. The mean frequency at which nestlings (23 times per hour) and fledglings (29 times per hour) were fed is the highest published rate of any non-cooperative honeyeater. Breeding males were involved in significantly more aggressive interactions with conspecifics and other nectarivores than were females, although the overall percentage of day-time spent in aggression for both sexes was low (2.5%). It appears that abnormal breeding behaviour, poor reproductive effort, or excessive aggression are not experienced by this species in northern New South Wales, and that other factors are likely to be responsible for its current low population level.


1969 ◽  
Vol 9 (40) ◽  
pp. 541 ◽  
Author(s):  
PW Grogan ◽  
DS Teakle

Seven out of eight maize inbred lines developed at Lawes in Queensland from open-pollinated varieties were resistant to maize dwarf mosaic disease when exposed to natural infection in the field. Five of the seven resistant inbred lines failed to become systemically infected when inoculated with infectious sap in the glasshouse. By contrast, only three out of twenty lines introduced from the U.S.A., and two out of eight lines developed at the Grafton and Glen Innes Breeding Stations in New South Wales, were resistant in the field. All three resistant lines from the U.S.A. were systemically infected when inoculated in the glasshouse, but the two resistant lines from Grafton in New South Wales were not. The resistant Lawes and Grafton maize inbred lines would appear to be better sources of genes conferring resistance to maize dwarf mosaic disease than the other lines tested.


1967 ◽  
Vol 7 (24) ◽  
pp. 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
P McInnes ◽  
TJ Grainger ◽  
MD Smith

Data are presented on the recovery and reproductive performance of 2 1/2-year-old maiden Merino ewes after a prolonged period of undernutrition. The 217 sheep had been hand-fed on a submaintenance ration in pen feeding trials at Glenfield, New South Wales. During the seven months of the trials they had lost 6 kg (28 to 22 kg) body weight. They were transported to Condobolin in south-western New South Wales, divided into two treatment groups and run on good quality pastures. One group was joined immediately (May 1959) and again ten months later, and the other group was mated after six months at Condobolin (in October 1959) and again 12 months later. The ewes recovered rapidly. The mean weight of both groups had reached 30 kg within six weeks and 40 kg within six months. In the first year 73 of the 100 May-mated ewes bore lambs, but only 38 of these lambs were weaned. Ewes bearing lambs had a higher body weight at the start of joining and gained more during joining than the barren ewes. At the other three joinings (October 1959, May 1960, October 1960) lambing percentage was from 86-89 and weaning percentage from 62-69-both normal for the district. The proportion of twin lambs (3-6 per cent) was low. Wool weight in 1959 was not affected by time of mating or by pregnancy.


1998 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 237 ◽  
Author(s):  
JA Seddon ◽  
SV Briggs

We developed an inventory of all lakes 100 ha or greater in area in the Western Division of New South Wales including information on source of water, salinity, water regime, lake area, and presence of cultivation permits. Number, area and distribution of different categories of lakes were summarised, and the use of lakes for cropping (lakebed cultivation) and water storage were analysed by category of lake. There were 567 lakes 100 ha or larger in area in the Western Division. The majority of these were mainly dry (includes dry lakes) (56%) or filled intermittently (40%), usually from river flooding. Just under 5% of lakes were perennial. Water regimes in most perennial lakes were controlled by local structures. Seventy lakes had lakebed cultivation permits. Twenty per cent of fresh lakes that filled from a river, rather than from local rainfall, in the Western Division of New South Wales were cultivated (i.e. cropped). Eighty per cent of fresh, riverine lakes larger than 2000 ha which flood and dry intermittently were cultivated. Lakebed cropping in the Western Division of New South Wales has focused on large, fresh, lakes which fill intermittently from rivers. Use of lakes as water storages has also focused on large, fresh lakes. Conservation strategies are recommended for large, fresh lakes that flood intermittently from a river, and are not cropped or used as water storages. These strategies should be directed towards developing voluntary conservation agreements with landholders. Key words: lakes, cropping, GIS, water regimes, conservation


Soil Research ◽  
1976 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 381 ◽  
Author(s):  
GJ Osborne

Six surface and subsoils known to contain native intercalary ammonium were examined to assess the importance of ammonium fixation when nitrogen fertilizers were applied, the availability of native and recently fixed intercalary ammonium to plants, and the effect of potassium on fixation. Only one soil, a grey soil of heavy texture (Ug 5.4), fixed significant amounts of added ammonium sulphate, the level of intercalary ammonium being increased by 55 % in the surface and 100% in the subsoil. The native level of intercalary ammonium was reduced by 8 and 17% by the growth of plants in the red-brown earth (Dr 2.23) and the grey soil of heavy texture, respectively, but was unchanged in the other soils. The addition of small amounts of potassium prior to the ammonium did not affect fixation; however, additions of 500 ppm reduced the fixation of a 200 ppm solution of ammonium by 80 %. Intercalary ammonium is not considered to be important in the nitrogen economy of five of the six major farming soils of the slopes and plains area of southern New South Wales. The sixth, the grey soil of heavy texture, is an alluvium associated with the Murrumbidgee River and its tributaries, and as such is used extensively for irrigated agriculture. Because this soil can fix large amounts of ammonium, the use of ammonium or ammonium forming fertilizers is not recommended.


Zootaxa ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 1441 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
DAVID T. DRUMM

Two new species of kalliapseudid tanaidacea from Australia, Kalliapseudes longisetosus and Kalliapseudes messingi, are described from marine waters off Sydney, New South Wales and the Northwest continental shelf, respectively. Kalliapseudes longisetosus is distinguished from the other congeners by the presence of a single, very long simple seta on the anterior corners of the pereonites (about as long as the first pereonite) and several very long simple setae on the basis of the second and third pereopods (about as long as the basis). This new species is the second member of the genus to be reported from New South Wales. Kalliapseudes messingi is distinguished by having two small setae medially on the dactylus of pereopods 4 and 5, by the female having a tuft of sensory setae subterminally on the dactylus of pereopod 6, and by having three plumose setae on both the cheliped and pereopod 1 exopodite and is the first member of the genus to be reported from the Northwest continental shelf of Australia. Both species have a needle-like tip on the dactylus of the second and third pereopods. A table giving the distribution data for the species of Kalliapseudes and a key to the genera and species of Kalliapseudidae now known from Australia are presented.


Two specimens of this curious animal, lately brought from New South Wales, the one male and the other female, and both full grown and perfect, having been submitted to the inspection and close examination of Mr. Home, by Sir Joseph Banks, this gentle­man has availed himself of the favourable opportunity to draw up the full account of all that is hitherto known concerning its habits, of its external appearance, and internal structure now before us. The animal has hitherto been only found in the fresh-water lakes, in the interior parts of the above-mentioned country. It does not swim upon the surface of the water, but comes up occasionally to breathe. It chiefly inhabits the banks of these lakes, and is supposed to feed in the muddy places which surround them; but the particular kind of food on which it subsists is not known.


1990 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 411 ◽  
Author(s):  
FR Roubal

Seven monogenean, 1 digenean and 9 copepod species of ectoparasite were found on 179 juvenile Acanthopagrus australis collected bimonthly over two 12-month periods from a small estuary at Red Rock in northern New South Wales. The monogenean Allomurraytrema spari and the copepod Alella macrotrachelus showed a consistent cycle of spring-summer high and late summer-autumn low in prevalence and intensity of infection, whereas the digenean Prototransversotrema steeri was present only in winter. The monogenean Haliotrema spariensis was highly prevalent year-round, but other monogeneans were inconsistent in seasonal prevalence and intensity. The copepods Paraergasilus acanthopagri and Dermoergasilus acanthopagri showed inconsistent annual cycles, but their fluctuations in prevalence and intensity were nearly identical. The other species of ectoparasite had no consistent cycles or were rarely found. Temperature does not appear to directly regulate the abundance of ectoparasites on juvenile Acanthopagrus australis in Red Rock estuary.


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