Regeneration of monsoon rain forest in northern Australia: the sapling bank

Aeschynanthus monetaria, a beautiful epiphytic species of Gesneriaceae, was rediscovered in monsoon rain forest along the Yarlung Zangbo River in Motuo County, Southeast Tibet (Xizang), China. Its description is amended and completed with both fresh and dried specimens in this discovery. To better facilitate its identification, the color images in the field and line illustrations based on our specimens are given. A taxonomic note concerning its lectotype and the ending of specific epithet is discussed.

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Herpetofauna of a northern Australian monsoon rain forest: seasonal changes and relationships to adjacent habitats

Journal of Tropical Ecology ◽

10.1017/s0266467400002790 ◽

1988 ◽

Vol 4 (3) ◽

pp. 227-238 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

K. C. Martin ◽

W. J. Freeland

Keyword(s):

Rain Forest ◽

Dry Season ◽

Lizard Species ◽

Tropical Regions ◽

Australian Monsoon ◽

Monsoon Rain ◽

Frog Species ◽

Cape York ◽

Forest Habitats ◽

Monsoon Forests

ABSTRACTThe herpetofauna of a floodplain monsoon rain forest in northern Australia is composed primarily of species from non rain forest habitats. The majority of frog species use rain forest as a seasonal refuge, and there is a marked increase in numbers during the dry season. Faunal richness lies within limits expected on the basis of the length of the dry season and species richnesses of non-Australian faunas. There are few lizard species and an abundance of frog species (none of which is a rain forest specialist) in comparison to rain forest herpetofaunas in other tropical regions. The impoverished lizard fauna, and the paucity of rain forest specialists may be because (a) seasonal invasion of rain forest by frogs prevents evolution of, or colonization by, specialists or (b) rain forest specialists may not have been able to cross semiarid habitats separating the Northern Territory from eastern Australian rain forests. The herpetofaunas of monsoon forests in Cape York Peninsula may provide a means of distinguishing between these hypotheses.

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Vagile but inbred: patterns of inbreeding and the genetic structure within populations of the monsoon rain forest tree Syzygium nervosum (Myrtaceae) in northern Australia

Journal of Tropical Ecology ◽

10.1017/s026646749800042x ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 14 (5) ◽

pp. 595-614 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Alison Shapcott

Keyword(s):

Genetic Diversity ◽

Rain Forest ◽

Forest Canopy ◽

Plant Size ◽

Forest Tree ◽

Population Isolation ◽

Forest Patch ◽

High Genetic Diversity ◽

Monsoon Rain ◽

Individual Trees

Patterns of gene flow within 21 northern Australian populations of Syzygium nervosum a dominant, mass-flowering, monsoon rain forest canopy tree were investigated using 10 isozyme loci. S. nervosum was found to have relatively high genetic diversity within populations (He = 0.307, AP = 3.7, P = 65) but also to have significantly lower frequencies of heterozygotes than expected (Ho = 0.126) and high allelic fixation (F = 0.512). Heterozygosity and allelic fixation were not correlated with measures of genetic diversity within populations, nor were they correlated with rain forest patch size, plant size or population isolation. Within populations, trees, of the same genotype (at each loci tested) were significantly clumped at short distances (c. 20 m), whereas trees of unlike genotypes were negatively associated. S. nervosum trees however, were not clonal in origin and had unique multilocus genotypes. The results suggest that the high levels of homozygosity recorded are the result of restricted pollination, primarily among flowers within individual trees or among closely related neighbouring trees, rather than rectricted seed dispersal. High homozygosity, the large fruit crop produced by trees of this species and the lack of association between heterozygosity and plant size, indicate that, S. nervosum is self-compatible, its fecundity does not appear to be impaired by inbreeding depression.

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Pollen evidence for Late Cretaceous differentiation of Proteaceae in southern polar forests

Canadian Journal of Botany ◽

10.1139/b91-116 ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 69 (4) ◽

pp. 901-906 ◽

Cited By ~ 27

Author(s):

Mary E. Dettmann ◽

David M. Jarzen

Keyword(s):

Key Words ◽

Late Cretaceous ◽

Rain Forest ◽

Northern Australia ◽

Climatic Region ◽

Grevillea Robusta ◽

Rain Forests ◽

Geographic Ranges ◽

Modern Analogue

Amongst diverse and abundant fossil proteaceous pollen in southeastern Australian Late Cretaceous (Campanian–Maastrichtian) sediments are forms identical with pollen of extant taxa within subfamilies Proteoideae, Persoonioideae, Carnarvonioideae, and Grevilleoideae. Taxa identified now have disparate geographic ranges within Australasia. Sclerophyllous Adenanthos and Stirlingia (Proteoideae) are restricted to the southern Australian Mediterranean climatic region; Persoonia (Persoonioideae) ranges into higher rainfall areas of eastern and northern Australia. Grevillea exul – Grevillea robusta and Telopea (Grevilleoideae) and Carnarvonia (Carnarvonioideae) occur in or fringe rain forests in eastern Australasia, as do other members (Macadamia, Gevuina–Hicksbeachia, Knightia, and Beauprea) reported previously. Pollen evidence thereby confirms evolution of both rain forest and sclerophyll members by the Campanian–Maastrichtian. Turnover of proteaceous pollen taxa near the Cretaceous–Tertiary boundary may reflect contemporaneous modifications to the proteaceous communities. Associated with the Late Cretaceous Proteaceae were diverse conifers (Microcachrys, Lagarostrobus, Podocarpus, Dacrydium, Dacrycarpus, and Araucariaceae), Nothofagus, Ilex, Gunnera, Ascarina, Winteraceae, Trimeniaceae, and probable Epacridaceae. The vegetation, which fringed a narrow estuary separating Antarctica from southern Australia, implies a mosaic of rain forest and sclerophyll communities but has no modern analogue. Key words: Proteaceae, Late Cretaceous, Australia, Antarctica.

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