A taxonomic re-evaluation of Hibiscus trionum (Malvaceae) in Australasia

Inland eastern Australia has a complex array of habitats, driven by variation in topography, geology and moisture. This broad region is relatively poorly surveyed compared to coastal eastern Australia and likely contains significant numbers of undescribed reptiles. Oedura monilis is found through much of this region but has been shrouded in taxonomic uncertainty since its original description. Here I assess variation across the range of 'O. monilis' and show that it consists of two species: a widespread species in the northern half of the range and a widespread species in the southern half of the range. These two species are readily diagnosed by colour pattern and aspects of shape and scalation. I show that the name O. monilis applies to the northern species. I also show that the name O. attenboroughi Wells Wellington applies to the northern populations, making it a junior synonym of O. monilis. I describe the southern widespread species as Oedura elegans sp. nov.. I also describe two new, highly localised species from inland eastern Queensland that are allied to O. monilis: Oedura picta sp. nov. from a rocky range in the Moranbah-Dysart region, and Oedura lineata sp. nov. from brigalow forest remnants in the Arcadia Valley. These two species are distinct for colour pattern and aspects of size, shape and scalation. Oedura lineata sp. nov. has a very small and fragmented range, and is restricted to a highly threatened habitat type. It therefore warrants conservation attention. I also provide more detailed diagnoses for O. coggeri Bustard and O. tryoni De Vis, and demonstrate that the name O. ocellata Boulenger is a junior synonym of O. tryoni.

The Marine Biosecurity Porthole was created in 2010 as a collaboration between New Zealand's Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and the National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) to provide greater public access to information and data on non- indigenous marine species (NIMS) in New Zealand. The porthole is primarily an interactive mapping application that allows verified observations on the distribution of NIMS within New Zealand to be displayed. It draws upon data compiled from a range of funded surveys for NIMS, including a series of port biological baseline surveys and a continuing programme of targeted surveillance for high risk marine pests in major shipping ports and marinas. The data also include records from specimens reported via the passive surveillance system and identified through the Marine Invasives Taxonomic Service (MITS), a taxonomic clearing house service for suspect marine organisms, and observations of NIMS made through taxonomic and ecological research undertaken by NIWA. It currently contains information for over 3,600 native, cryptogenic and non-indigenous marine species with links to over 155,000 individual distribution records. Additional features include a searchable catalogue of relevant reports, papers and information about NIMS and on the surveys undertaken to obtain the data. The design and functionality of the portal have been refreshed to provide a better overall experience for users. New features will allow greater filtering and selection of distribution data, more content on NIMS within New Zealand, and connections to social media.

Little is known of owls in south-western Australia compared with the owls of southern and eastern Australia. Surveys of forest owls in the south-west are almost completely lacking. This study sought to determine the abundance and detectability of owls immediately around the Peel–Harvey Estuary in south-western Australia. The southern boobook (Ninox boobook) and the masked owl (Tyto novaehollandiae) were the only owls detected (n = 23 and n = 1 respectively), although the nocturnal tawny frogmouth (Podargus strigoides) was detected from unelicited calls on three occasions. Southern boobooks were found to be common in this area though they are reported to be in decline in south-eastern and inland Australia. Their detectability was significantly greater in August (late winter) than at other times through unelicited calls; otherwise, there were no detections in winter. A variety of small mammals were detected during the surveys, including: a little red flying-fox (Pteropus scapulatus), a western ringtail possum (Pseudocheirus occidentalis), 19 southern brown bandicoots (Isoodon obesulus), 4 common brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula), 21 rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus), a black rat (Rattus rattus), 2 red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and 22 microbats.

The present study investigated the reproductive biology of blue mackerel (Scomber australasicus) off southern and eastern Australia and assessed the suitability of the Daily Egg Production Method (DEPM) for future stock assessment. This analysis revealed that S. australasicus is a serial spawner with asynchronous oocyte development and indeterminate fecundity. S. australasicus spawns between November and April off southern Australia and between July and October off eastern Australia. In southern Australia, ~50% of males and females were mature at 236.5 and 286.8 mm fork length (FL), respectively. Size at ~50% maturity could not be estimated reliably for eastern Australia owing to the smaller proportion of mature fish in samples. Mean spawning frequencies ranged from 2 to 11 days off southern Australia. Batch fecundity was related to fish size and mean batch size was 69 894 ± 4361 oocytes per batch and 134 oocytes per g of weight. The timing and duration of the spawning season, size at maturity, spawning frequency and batch fecundity of S. australasicus off southern Australia were consistent with those of S. japonicus in the northern Pacific Ocean. The present study’s estimates of adult reproductive parameters of S. australasicus off southern Australia were suitable for the application of the DEPM for estimating spawning biomass. Collecting representative samples of mature fish from waters off eastern Australia during the spawning season is a high priority for future stock assessment of this species.

Transgenic (Bt) varieties have improved the control of key insect pests, Helicoverpa spp. (Noctuidae), and reduced pesticide use within Australian cotton crops. Approval to use Bt cotton varieties in Australia required assurance that they would have no significant adverse impact on non‐target invertebrates resident in cotton fields. However, little is known of any influences that Bt cotton might have on non‐target invertebrates, especially beneficial species, found elsewhere in cotton production landscapes. We collected large numbers of Helicoverpa eggs, larvae and pupae in various major crop types in several cotton production regions in eastern Australia over 26 years and reared them to determine parasitoid frequencies. In addition, more limited collections were made on minor crops, exotic weeds and native vegetation (the latter also surveyed in inland Australia). The most common parasitoids found in crops included Trichogramma spp. and Chelonus spp. (for eggs), Microplitis demolitor, Heteropelma scaposum, Chaetophthalmus sp. and Carcelia sp. (for larvae) and H. scaposum and Ichneumon promissorius (for pupae). Larval parasitoid communities on weeds were similar to those found on crops. Greater parasitoid frequencies were often found in eggs, larvae and pupae of Helicoverpa in crops surveyed after the advent of Bt cotton, compared with earlier years. Similar patterns were found for larvae on the common weed, Echium plantagineum, and native daisies (Asteraceae). No negative associations involving parasitoids and the use of Bt cotton were found.

Vegetation greening intensified soil drying in some semi-arid and arid areas of the world

Degraded or just dusty?: 150 years of ecological change in inland eastern Australia

Metazoan parasite assemblages of wild Seriola lalandi (Carangidae) from eastern and southern Australia

AimWe assessed the resistance and resilience of anuran amphibians to an abrupt change in weather conditions in 2010–12 (the ‘Big Wet’) following the most pronounced drought in eastern Australia's records (1997–2010, the ‘Big Dry’).LocationFive pairs of landscapes (each of 19.6 km2) spread across 30,000 km2 in temperate, inland Australia. One in each pair was eucalypt woodland while the other was cleared agricultural land; there were eight representative waterbodies in each landscape.MethodsWe collected data on anuran abundances, species richness and breeding by using aural surveys and visual searches. We surveyed six times during the austral winter–springs of 2006 and 2007 (the Big Dry) and six times in the corresponding seasons of 2011 and 2012 (the Big Wet); our results refer only to species breeding in the winter–spring season.ResultsMean species richness, total numbers of calling males and numbers of the five most common species of anurans increased in the Big Wet compared with the Big Dry, but the least common species did not. Proportions of waterbodies with eggs or tadpoles increased in the Big Wet, but the occurrence of eggs and tadpoles was still low (evidence of presence in < 50% of waterbodies). The most common species had relatively high resistance to the first 5 years of the Big Dry, but all declined sharply after a decade of drought. Four of the common species showed some resilience, but reporting rates fell much below the peak values prior to the Big Dry. There were virtually no records for seven other species that had been recorded previously in the region.Main conclusionsThe pressure of drying, warming climates, even when broken by shorter wet periods, seems to be sufficient to induce regional‐scale declines even among species that, from global analyses of risk factors, might be expected to be relatively immune from such effects.

Two noctuid moths, Helicoverpa punctigera and Helicoverpa armigera, are pests of several agricultural crops in Australia, most notably cotton. Cotton is a summer crop, grown predominantly in eastern Australia. The use of transgenic (Bt) cotton has reduced the damage caused by Helicoverpa spp., but the development of Bt resistance in these insects remains a threat. In the past, large populations of H. punctigera have built up in inland Australia, following autumn-winter rains. Moths have then migrated to the cropping regions in spring, when their inland host plants dried off. To determine if there have been any long-term changes in this pattern, pheromone traps were set for H. punctigera throughout a cropping landscape in northern New South Wales from 1992 to 2015. At least three generations of moths were caught from spring to autumn. The 1st generation (mostly spring migrants) was the most numerous. Trap captures varied between sites and decreased in time, especially for moths in the 1st generation. Nearby habitat type influenced the size of catch and there was some evidence that local weather also influenced the numbers of moths caught. There was no correlation between trap catches in the cropping region and rainfall in the inland. In addition, there was little evidence that Bt cotton has reduced the abundance of H. punctigera at landscape scale. The apparent decline in the number of presumably Bt susceptible moths arriving each spring in the cropping regions from inland habitats is of concern in relation to the management of Bt resistance.

SUMMARYFORD, J. 1981. Morphological and behavioural evolution in populations of the Gerygone fusca complex. Emu 81: 57–81.Gerygone fusca, G. levigaster and G. mouki are considered to compose a complex that speciated after a common ancestral form was split by severe aridity in the Pleistocene into isolated populations respectively in south-western, north-western and eastern Australia. Subsequently, fusca spread eastward along the southern part of the continent into inland eastern Australia, then northward to the Carpentarian lowlands and finally westward into the semi-deserts of central Australia, while levigaster, which had become adapted to mangroves, spread eastward to coastal eastern Australia and southern New Guinea. The allospecies fusca and levigaster are now in secondary contact without interbreeding along the southern Kimberley, head of the Gulf of Carpentaria and lower Hunter River. G. mouki, being largely confined to rainforest, has not spread from eastern Australia. The various populations of fusca have diverged behaviourally as well as morphologically: the western population tends to migrate inland and northwards in winter and is known to breed only in the southwest; the south-eastern plus central-eastern population is partly migratory and apparently breeds throughout most of its range: the Eyre Peninsula and Carpentarian populations are sedentary; and the desert population is partly nomadic. An analysis of characters in Gerygone indicates that Australian species fall into three distinct groups and that G. sulphurea and probably G. inornata-dorsalis are not particularly close to the G. fusca complex.

Prickly Pear Menace in Eastern Australia 1880-1940

Declining winter rainfall coupled with recent prolonged drought poses significant risks to water resources and agriculture across southern Australia. While rainfall declines over recent decades are largely consistent with modelled climate change scenarios, particularly for southwest Australia, the significance of these declines is yet to be assessed within the context of long-term hydroclimatic variability. Here, we present a new 668-year (1350–2017 CE) tree-ring reconstruction of autumn–winter rainfall over inland southwest Australia. This record reveals that a recent decline in rainfall over inland southwest Australia (since 2000 CE) is not unusual in terms of either magnitude or duration relative to rainfall variability over the last seven centuries. Drought periods of greater magnitude and duration than those in the instrumental record occurred prior to 1900 CE, including two ‘megadroughts’ of > 30 years duration in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. By contrast, the wettest > decadal periods of the last seven centuries occurred after 1900 CE, making the twentieth century the wettest of the last seven centuries. We conclude that the instrumental rainfall record (since ~ 1900 CE) does not capture the full scale of natural hydroclimatic variability for inland southwest Australia and that the risk of prolonged droughts in the region is likely much higher than currently estimated.

Molecular and morphological techniques were used to examine New Zealand ascomycetous truffle (Tuber spp.) samples deposited in the Plant & Food Research and Landcare Research Fungi Herbarium collections. Truffles have been found on the roots of many Northern Hemisphere tree species growing in New Zealand, but not on indigenous plant species. Comparisons of ribosomal DNA sequences proved to be a simple and rapid method to identify the Tuber species. Tuber maculatum was by far the predominant species in New Zealand, and was distributed throughout the country. A single truffle sample from Christchurch was identified as T. rufum. Two other groups of truffle samples from Pinus spp. were closely related to anonymous Northern Hemisphere Tuber sequences. Ascocarps with these sequences have not previously been described. Specific primers for the PCR detection of these Pinus isolates were developed. None of these Tuber species accidentally introduced to New Zealand is of economic value.

Musk Ducks (Biziura lobata) are endemic to Australia and occur as two geographically isolated populations separated by the Nullarbor Plain, a vast arid region in southern Australia. We studied genetic variation in Musk Duck populations at coarse (eastern versus western Australia) and fine scales (four sites within eastern Australia). We found significant genetic structure between eastern and western Australia in the mtDNA control region (ΦST = 0.747), one nuclear intron (ΦST = 0.193) and eight microsatellite loci (FST = 0.035). In contrast, there was little genetic structure between Kangaroo Island and adjacent mainland regions within eastern Australia. One small population of Musk Ducks in Victoria (Lake Wendouree) differed from both Kangaroo Island and the remainder of mainland eastern Australia, possibly due to genetic drift exacerbated by inbreeding and small population size. The observed low pairwise distance between the eastern and western mtDNA lineages (0.36%) suggests that they diverged near the end of the Pleistocene, a period characterised by frequent shifts between wet and arid conditions in central Australia. Our genetic results corroborate the display call divergence and Mathews’ (Austral Avian Record 2:83–107, 1914) subspecies classification, and confirm that eastern and western populations of Musk Duck are currently isolated from each other.