Lecanactis (Roccellaceae) in Tasmania, with the description of a new saxicolous species and a revised key for the genus in Australia

The lichen genus Lecanactis Körb. in Tasmania comprises six species: L. abietina (Ach.) Körb., which is widespread and pan-temperate; L. latispora Egea & Torrente and L. neozelandica Egea & Torrente, both shared with New Zealand and with the former recorded here from the Auckland Islands for the first time; L. mollis (Stirt.) Frisch & Ertz, shared with Victoria and New Zealand; L. aff. dilleniana (Ach.) Körb., a European species recorded provisionally for Tasmania on the basis of several sterile collections; L. scopulicola Kantvilas, which is described here as new to science and apparently a Tasmanian endemic. This new taxon occurs in rocky underhangs and is characterized by a thick, leprose thallus containing schizopeltic acid, and 3-septate ascospores, 19–30 × 4.5–6 μm. Short descriptions and a discussion of distribution and ecology are given for all species. A key for all 11 Australian species of the genus is provided, including L. subfarinosa (C. Knight) Hellb. and L. tibelliana Egea & Torrente, which are recorded for Australia for the first time, and L. platygraphoides (Müll.Arg.) Zahlbr., a first record for New South Wales. Lecanactis spermatospora Egea & Torrente and L. sulphurea Egea & Torrente are also included.

Corrections to the description of Tasmanura (Pseudachorutinae)

The original description of the Tasmanian endemic genus Tasmanura Womersley was based on a misunderstanding of its gross morphology. This probably led to a misidentification of the genus from South Africa. To prevent similar misidentifications, the genus is redescribed here from the holotype and comments made on its distribution and habitat as well as current and future risks to its persistence.

Tasmanian chroodiscoid thelotremoid lichens (Graphidaceae) revisited

Some thelotremoid lichens of Tasmania are reviewed. The following new combinations are proposed: Gintarasia asteliae (Kantvilas & Vĕzda) Kantvilas, G. minor (Kantvilas & Vĕzda) Kantvilas and G. tasmanica (Kantvilas & Vĕzda) Kantvilas. A revised description of Schizotrema schizolomum (Müll.Arg.) Mangold & Lumbsch, based on Tasmanian collections, is provided, and the new species, S. vezdanum Kantvilas, recorded from Tasmanian and Victoria, is described and illustrated; it is characterised by a thallus containing stictic acid, 8-spored asci, and non-amyloid, muriform ascospores, 22−44 × 9−18 µm. Schizotrema guadeloupense (Hale) Mangold & Lumbsch is deleted from the Tasmanian census. Also described as new and illustrated is the Tasmanian endemic, Topeliopsis fatiscens Kantvilas, characterised by a thallus containing salazinic acid, (1−)2(−3)-spored asci and strongly amyloid, muriform ascospores, 37−100 × 19−40 µm. Thelotrema lepadodes var. endochrysoides Jatta is identified as a synonym of the cosmopolitan species T. lepadinum (Ach.) Ach.

The reverse precautionary principle: science, the environment and the salmon aquaculture industry in Macquarie Harbour, Tasmania, Australia

Science is frequently used by opposing sides in environment–development debates. Scientific input from an environmental perspective can be inhibited if those in favour of development control research funding. We test whether such a situation can result in outcomes desired by neither of the protagonists, and seek to identify how negative outcomes can be avoided, using the example of fish farming in Macquarie Harbour, Tasmania. A marked decline in dissolved oxygen (DO) at 19–21m depth in Macquarie Harbour, Tasmania, occurred between 2009 and 2011. DO continues to be low. DO change was associated with changes in the benthic biota, with effects extending from fish farms into the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area and threatening a Tasmanian endemic fish. The reverse precautionary response of industry and government was to undertake further research because the causes of the changes were not fully understood. We present simple graphs and analyses that suggest that the only substantial predictor of benthic DO reduction is fish production from marine farms, with variability in discharge, catchment rainfall, wind speed, sea surface temperatures and sea level pressure having no effect. Adaptive management of fish farming in Macquarie Harbour seems to require an estuary-wide approach rather than the current attention to the effects of single pens. The broader implications of the case study are that the science related to the environmental impacts of an industry needs to be undertaken by scientists in secure positions funded independently of industry and government.

Chloroplast DNA phylogeography in long-lived Huon pine, a Tasmanian rain forest conifer

Genealogy based methods were used to estimate phylogeographic history for a Tasmanian endemic conifer, Huon pine ( Lagarostrobos franklinii (Hook. f.) Quinn). DNA from trees in eight populations was sequenced using three chloroplast primers (trnS–trnT, trnD–trnT, and psbC–trnS). Mean nucleotide diversity was low (π = 0.000 93 ± 0.000 06) from 892 base pairs of sequence, but varied in stands from 0.0 to 0.001 15. Two of the five haplotypes were widely distributed, but the most frequently occurring haplotype was found only in the western portion of the range. Population structure was highly significant among populations overall (GST = 0.261, where GST is the coefficient of gene differentiation, and p ≤ 0.0001), and there were indications of significant isolation by distance (p ≤ 0.022). Populations exhibited the highest levels of differentiation between the southeastern and northwestern watersheds. Estimates of migration between populations obtained using both parametric and nonparametric methods indicated levels of gene flow consistent with an isolation by distance model. Nested clade analysis demonstrated a pattern of genetic diversity in Huon pine that is consistent with a history of range expansion. The exceptionally low level of nucleotide diversity, haplotype distribution, and paleoecological data are congruent with a history of long-term range reduction, population bottlenecks, and subsequent colonization events from refugial areas.