The mongoose in Australia: failed introduction of a biological control agent

2010 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 205 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Peacock ◽  
Ian Abbott

We reviewed historical literature and obtained nearly 200 records of the mongoose in Australia up to 1942. Although the earliest importations (from 1855) were for its snake-killing prowess, often as entertainment, its perceived potential as a control agent for the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) plague saw concerted introductions made in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, primarily in 1883 and 1884. At least 1000 mongoose were released to control rabbits at 14 reported release locations in these states. As many as 700 of these mongoose were reported released in one New South Wales rabbit-control trial. These numbers indicate that insufficient propagule pressure does not explain why Australia escaped the additional devastation of an established mongoose population. The only reason stated for the failure of the mongoose releases to control rabbits is destruction of the mongoose by rabbit trappers, both inadvertently and in seeking to protect their employment. Unfavourable climate was implicated by CLIMATCH modelling in the failure of all releases, especially those into semiarid areas such as western New South Wales. No contemporary detail could be located of the reported 1884 failed introduction of ‘numbers’ of mongoose into North Queensland to control rats in sugarcane plantations.

2009 ◽  
Vol 100 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Dhileepan ◽  
D. Bayliss ◽  
M. Treviño

AbstractThe specialist tingid, Carvalhotingis visenda, is a biological control agent for cat's claw creeper, Macfadyena unguis-cati (Bignoniaceae). Cat's claw creeper is an invasive liana with a wide climatic tolerance, and for biological control to be effective the tingid must survive and develop over a range of temperatures. We evaluated the effect of constant temperatures (0–45°C) on the survival and development of C. visenda. Adults showed tolerance for wider temperature ranges (0–45°C), but oviposition, egg hatching and nymphal development were all affected by both high (>30°C) and low (<20°C) temperatures. Temperatures between 20°C and 30°C are the most favourable for adult survival, oviposition, egg hatching and nymphal development. The ability of adults and nymphs to survive for a few days at high (40°C and 45°C) and low (0°C and 5°C) temperatures suggest that extreme temperature events, which usually occur for short durations (hours) in cat's claw creeper infested regions in Queensland and New South Wales states are not likely to affect the tingid population. The potential number of generations (egg to adult) the tingid can complete in a year in Australia ranged from three to eight, with more generations in Queensland than in New South Wales.


2013 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-298
Author(s):  
Peter Congdon

Constitutional systems of Westminster heritage are increasingly moving towards fixed-term parliaments to, amongst other things, prevent the Premier or Prime Minister opportunistically calling a ‘snap election’. Amongst the Australian states, qualified fixed-term parliaments currently exist in New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria. Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia have also deliberated over whether to establish similar fixed-term parliaments. However, manner and form provisions in those states' constitutions entrench the Parliament's duration, Governor's Office and dissolution power. In Western Australia and Queensland, unlike Tasmania, such provisions are doubly entrenched. This article considers whether these entrenching provisions present legal obstacles to constitutional amendments establishing fixed-term parliaments in those two states. This involves examining whether laws fixing parliamentary terms fall within section 6 of the Australia Acts 1986 (Cth) & (UK). The article concludes by examining recent amendments to the Electoral Act 1907 (WA) designed to enable fixed election dates in Western Australia without requiring a successful referendum.


1957 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 29 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Blackburn

The diet of surface-swimming Australian barracouta was studied from over 10,000 stomachs. The principal prey organisms in Bass Strait are the euphausiid Nyctiphanes australis Sars, the anchovy Engraulis australis (White), and young barracouta, in that order; and in eastern Tasmania Nyctiphanes, Engraulis, and the sprat Clupea bassensis McCulloch, in that order. The pilchard Sardinops neopilchardus (Steindachner) is not an important item of the diet in these regions although it is so in New South Wales, South Australia, and Western Australia. The jack mackerel Trachurus declivis Jenyns is a significant item in eastern Tasmania and New South Wales but not in Bass Strait. These and other features of the fish diet of the barracouta reflect actual availability of the various small fish species in the waters. Barracouta eat Nyctiphanes by herding them into dense masses (or finding them already concentrated) and swallowing them. The movements of the anchovy make it unavailable to Bass Strait and eastern Tasmanian barracouta for much of the summer and autumn period, when the barracouta are thus dependent upon Nyctiphanes for the bulk of their food. A close positive relationship between the availability of barracouta and Nyctiphanes might therefore be expected at those seasons. There is evidence of such a relationship between mean availability (catch per boat-month) of barracouta and mean percentage of barracouta stomachs containing Nyctiphanes, at those seasons, from year to year. For southern Victorian coastal waters both show a downward trend from 1948-49 to 1950-51 and then an upward trend to 1953-54; for eastern Tasmania both show a downward trend (for autumn only) from 1949-50 through 1952-53. The records of catch per boat-month furnish independent evidence that the main variations in this index were effects of availability (population distribution or behaviour) rather than abundance (population size), at least for southern Victoria. It is therefore considered that when scarcity of barracouta occurs in summer and autumn in the coastal fishing areas it may be due to scarcity of Nyctiphanes, forcing the fish to go offshore for this food which is known to be available there. This would take the fish out of range of the fishermen.


Author(s):  

Abstract A new distribution map is provided for Dacus tryoni[Bactrocera tryoni] (Frogg.) (Dipt., Trypetidae) (Queensland Fruit-fly) Hosts: Many deciduous and subtropical fruits. Information is given on the geographical distribution in AUSTRALIA, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria.


Author(s):  
D. W. Minter

Abstract A description is provided for Podospora excentrica. Some information on its associated organisms and substrata, dispersal and transmission, habitats and conservation status is given, along with details of its geographical distribution (South America (Venezuela), Atlantic Ocean (Portugal (Madeira)), Australasia (Australia (New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia)), New Zealand, Europe (Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, UK)).


2021 ◽  
pp. 0310057X2110315
Author(s):  
Rajesh P Haridas

John Davies Thomas (1844–1893) described a two-ounce drop-bottle for chloroform in 1872 while he was a resident medical officer at University College Hospital, London. After working as a ship’s surgeon, he settled in Australia. In May 1875, Thomas presented a paper on the mortality from ether and chloroform at a meeting of the Medical Society of Victoria in Melbourne, Victoria. Surveys conducted in Europe and North America had established that the mortality from chloroform was eight to ten times higher than that from ether. At that time, chloroform was the most widely administered anaesthetic in Australia. Thomas’ paper was published in The Australian Medical Journal and reprinted by the Medical Society of Victoria for distribution to hospitals in the Colony of Victoria. Later that year, Thomas moved to Adelaide, South Australia, where he may have been influential at the Adelaide Hospital in ensuring that ether was administered more often than chloroform. It does not appear that Thomas’ papers on anaesthesia had a significant effect on the conduct of anaesthesia in Victoria or New South Wales.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document