East Of Melbourne Research Articles

Life-History of the Feathertail Glider, Acrobates-Pygmaeus (Acrobatidae, Marsupialia) in South-Eastern Australia

Acrobates pygmaeus was captured in nestboxes in three areas of central and southern Victoria: the Gembrook-Cockatoo area and Nar Nar Goon North east of Melbourne, and Daylesford north-west of Melbourne. Breeding was strictly seasonal and females produced two litters between July and February each year. Males also showed seasonal fluctuation in testes sizes. Mean litter size was 3.5 at birth and 2.5 at weaning. Pouch life lasted 65 days and young were weaned at approximately 100 days of age. Growth was slow and maternal investment in each young was high, and continued after weaning. Most individuals matured in the season following their birth, but some males did not mature until the second season after their birth. Maximum field longevity was at least three years. Comparisons are made with other small diprotodont marsupials.

Response of radiata pine to fertilisers containing N and P applied at planting

Summary A field experiment is described which evaluates the early growth response of Pinus radiata to four levels each of N (as ammonium sulphate at 0, 34, 68 and 136 g/tree) and P (as superphosphate at 0, 113, 226 and 452 g/tree) applied at planting on sites prepared by ploughing followed by ripping. The experiment was undertaken at four sites which covered a wide range of native vegetation types within a 15 km2 area of the Neerim East plantation extension area located 100 km east of Melbourne. Each site was considered to be P deficient on the basis of soil tests. Early growth was found to be significantly affected by P, site and a P x site interaction. All sites were recolonised by a wide range of native species which had an above-ground biomass of 3720 to 6570 kg/ha depending on the site and contained only 1.3 to 2.6 kg/ha P three years after planting. Growth response to P was marked at two sites but only moderate at the others, despite the occurrence of P deficiency symptoms and low foliar P levels in unfertilised trees at all sites. Differences in P response between sites is likely to be due to the demand by weeds for soil moisture rather than demand for P. The work showed growth response to the application of P soon after planting but no response to N, indicating that the use of NP fertilisers cannot be justified in the absence of chemical weed control on sites similar to those investigated.

Phosphorus in Forest Ecosystems at Beenak, Victoria

The following study was stimulated by the work of Beadle (1954, 1962a) and Baur (1957) in which the level of soil phosphorus was regarded as an important factor delimiting plant communities in the wetter parts of eastern Australia. They found that the phosphorus content of forest soils in New South Wales and Queensland could be ranked in the order of Subtropical Rain forest > Wet Sclerophyll forest > Dry Sclerophyll forest (terms defined by Beadle & Costin 1952). The Bunyip River headwaters at Tomahawk Gap, Beenak, 65 km east of Melbourne, provide an ideal situation to test whether this relationship also holds in southern Australia. On uniform Upper Devonian granite, three contrasting associations occur within a span of 1 km. The terrain is dissected by youthful streams at moderately low altitudes (500-550 m) and the annual rainfall total is high enough (1400 mm) to support tall open Eucalyptus forest* (of both Wet and Dry Sclerophyll types) and Nothofagus closed forest* of the Cool Temperate Rain forest type. The principal aim of the study was to provide students with a demonstration of the variation of phosphorus content between different communities in a wet climate in Victoria and the senior ecology classes from 1963-9 contributed to much of the infromation obtained. The species nomenclature follows that of Willis (1970-2).

Fox Scat Analysis in a Forest Park in South-Eastern Australia.

The dietary habits of foxes in a small forest park 40 km east of Melbourne were assessed from analysis of dried excreta represented by 1888 scats collected during 1 year. Of the total 67% contained remains of mammals, with rabbits showing the highest incidence, but including also antechinus, possums, rats and mice. Bird feathers were found in 17% of specimens examined and a great variety of insect remains were identified. Vegetable material was also present in 86% of samples, including the seeds of various fruits. Snails were eaten only in winter and spring; land crayfish were commonly eaten during the warmer months. The results also pointed to cannibalism; substantial amounts of fox fur were identified in 10 samples. Buried remains of cats and dogs were dug up and eaten and garbage buried at a small dump in the area was repeatedly exhumed and eaten, presumably by foxes. It is concluded that scat analysis, particularly during the colder months, provides a good indication of the mammalian species preyed upon by foxes in a given area.

Red-capped Robin East of Melbourne

Red-capped Robin East of Melbourne

The Tertiary Volcanic Rocks of Central Victoria

The Tertiary era in Victoria was marked by two extensive periods of intermittent vulcanicity; one ranging from the Oligocene to the Middle Miocene (Older Volcanic Series), the other from the Pliocene to the Recent (Newer Volcanic Series). The Older Volcanic Series, now greatly eroded, occurs mostly south and east of Melbourne. The Newer Volcanic Series, which has suffered much less erosion, extends north-west and west from Melbourne as a broad plain of about 10,000 square miles in area, and forms the floor of the Great Valley of Victoria. This paper is concerned with lavas of the Newer Volcanic Series lying between longitudes 144° E. and 145° E. (Fig. 1). The Geological Survey of Victoria generously provided facilities for cutting 500 thin sections, and lent to me another 500 slides on my departure for England, besides putting at my disposal maps, literature, and unpublished analyses. Mr. D. E. Thomas, of the Survey, in conjunction with whom the detailed field work was done, generously withdrew from the work. Fifty chemical analyses were prepared in the Geochemistry Department, Imperial College of Science and Technology, London, under Dr. H. F. Harwood. Much helpful criticism was received from Professors Boswell and Brammall, and my thanks are due to Dr. G. W. Tyrrell of Glasgow and Dr. E. S. Hills of Melbourne for reading the manuscript, and to Professor Brammall for seeing the paper through the press. P revious L iterature A bibliography of references to Victorian basalts is provided in Professor Skeats's Presidential Address, on the volcanic

The Wood's Point Dyke, Victoria (Australia)

This dyke is intrusive into a belt of Silurian (Upper Silurian) strata which strike in a direction somewhat west of north, and extend beyond Walhalla on the south. Wood's Point is about 75 miles east of Melbourne. It may be taken as typical of the intrusions associated with the Silurian rocks of the Victorian gold-fields. Brown, original, hornblende is the dominant constituent, but it is rarely idiomorphic; augite, three varieties of felspar, micro-pegmatite, and ilmenite are also present, in a microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline groundmass. The rock is called a hornblende-porphyrite. In certain varieties cordierite occurs, and is accounted for by derivation from the adjacent shales. The reefs in the Silurian and Ordovician rocks usually occur at or near the contact with intrusive rocks. At Wood's Point the reefs are nearly horizontal, traversing dykes and shales, the junction usually marking the occurrence of rich ore. The Author notes the ‘almost invariable association of gold in this class of deposit with rocks containing original hornblende.’

XIX. Report of an examination of the meteorites of Cranbourne, in Australia; of Rowton, in Shropshire; and of Middlesbrough, in Yorkshire

Already, in 1854, it was known that masses of iron lay near Western Port, south east of Melbourne. Mr. E. Fitzgibbons, the Secretary of the Municipality of Melbourne, was the first to direct attention to their meteoric characters, and he succeeded in removing enough of the larger mass to have the pieces forged into a horseshoe. Two masses of meteoric iron were discovered in Victoria, and they were first reported upon by the late W. Haidinger in the ‘Sitzungsberichte Akad. Wien' in 1861. The smaller block became the property of Mr. Abel, the engineer ; the larger one was purchased for a sovereign by Mr. A. Bruce, now of Chislehurst. It appears that Mr. Bruce had seen a piece of iron, which had the appearance of being meteoric iron, in the fireplace of a squatter there, and he asked the man if any more of that kind was to be met with in that neighbourhood. He was conducted to a spot in the adjoining parish of Sherwood, where an irregular spur of iron projected from the surface, and he there and then purchased it with the intention of presenting it to the British Museum. Later on, when they proceeded to dig round it and uncover its sides, they were astonished at its large size ; various sums of money were offered Mr. Bruce for the splendid block, but his one answer to all such offers was : " No ! I have bought it for a sovereign ; and I am going to give it to the British Museum.” As has been stated, a point only of the iron was above the surface. Its position in the ground is well shown in a photograph taken on the spot by my late friend, Mr. R. Daintree, the Agent-general for Queensland, after the tertiary sandstone enclosing it had been removed. It is the same sandstone which crops out at Broughton ; with basalt from 12 to 15 feet below, as on the coast at Western Port. Bruce states that the lower bed is silurian, and that the block of iron penetrated a foot or more into it.