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Context: Environmental change impacts natural ecosystems and wildlife populations. In Australia, native forests have been heavily cleared and the local emergence of Hendra virus (HeV) has been linked to land-use change, winter habitat loss, and changing bat behavior. Objectives: We quantified changes in landscape factors for black flying foxes (Pteropus alecto), a reservoir host of HeV, in sub-tropical Queensland, Australia from 2000–2020. We hypothesized that native winter habitat loss and native remnant forest loss were greatest in areas with the most human population growth. Methods: We measured the spatiotemporal change in human population size and native 'remnant' woody vegetation extent. We assessed changes in the observed P. alecto population and native winter habitats in bioregions where P. alecto are observed roosting in winter. We assessed changes in the amount of remnant vegetation across bioregions and within 50 km foraging buffers around roosts. Results: Human populations in these bioregions grew by 1.18 M people, mostly within 50 km foraging areas around roosts. Remnant forest extent decreased overall, but regrowth was observed when policy restricted vegetation clearing. Winter habitats were continuously lost across all spatial scales. Observed roost counts of P. alecto declined. Conclusion: Native remnant forest loss and winter habitat loss were not directly linked to spatial human population growth. Rather, most remnant vegetation was cleared for indirect human use. We observed forest loss and regrowth in response to state land clearing policies. Expanded flying fox population surveys will help better understand how land-use change has impacted P. alecto distribution and Hendra virus spillover. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nipah virus (NiV) and Hendra virus (HeV) are highly pathogenic zoonotic viruses of the genus Henipavirus, family Paramyxoviridae that cause severe disease outbreaks in humans and also can infect and cause lethal disease across a broad range of mammalian species. Another related Henipavirus has been very recently identified in China in febrile patients with pneumonia, the Langya virus (LayV) of probable animal origin in shrews. NiV and HeV were first identified as the causative agents of severe respiratory and encephalitic disease in the 1990s across Australia and Southern Asia with mortality rates reaching up to 90%. They are responsible for rare and sporadic outbreaks with no approved treatment modalities. NiV and HeV have wide cellular tropism that contributes to their high pathogenicity. From their natural hosts bats, different scenarios propitiate their spillover to pigs, horses, and humans. Henipavirus-associated respiratory disease arises from vasculitis and respiratory epithelial cell infection while the neuropathogenesis of Henipavirus infection is still not completely understood but appears to arise from dual mechanisms of vascular disease and direct parenchymal brain infection. This brief review offers an overview of direct and indirect mechanisms of HeV and NiV pathogenicity and their interaction with the human immune system, as well as the main viral strategies to subvert such responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the impacts of landscape change on species behaviour is a major challenge in landscape ecology. A focus on the functional traits of species may improve this understanding if species with similar traits (functional guilds) are impacted by landscape change in similar ways, but this idea has not been widely tested on bat communities in urban landscapes. We examined changes in bat species richness and the activity level of species in different functional guilds within 72 residential neighbourhoods across 18 towns and cities spanning over 250,000 square km in south-eastern Australia. Species richness increased close to native vegetation, declined with increasing urbanization, and had a hump-shaped relationship with neighbourhood vegetation cover. Also, the activity level of all bat species combined peaked at mid-range values of neighbourhood vegetation cover. The activity of species in the open-adapted guild was not strongly related to any urban characteristic, but our results concur with previous findings that the activity of most open-adapted species does not appear to be negatively impacted by urbanization. Conversely, clutter-adapted species appear more sensitive to urbanization and their activity level was negatively related to urban intensity and increased closer to native vegetation, consistent with previous studies. The functional-trait approach may improve the capacity to make generalisations across different landscape contexts for clutter-adapted and open-adapted guilds, but is currently hampered for other bat species owing to variation in the behaviour of different species assigned to the same functional guild, and a lack of ecological knowledge regarding the impacts of different types of landscape change on particular species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wildlife and livestock are known to visit and interact with tailings dam and other wastewater impoundments at gold mines. When cyanide concentrations within these water bodies exceed a critical toxicity threshold, significant cyanide-related mortality events can occur in wildlife. Highly mobile taxa such as birds are particularly susceptible to cyanide toxicosis. Nocturnally active bats have similar access to uncovered wastewater impoundments as birds; however, cyanide toxicosis risks to bats remain ambiguous. This study investigated activity of bats in the airspace above two water bodies at an Australian gold mine, to assess the extent to which bats use these water bodies and hence are at potential risk of exposure to cyanide. Bat activity was present on most nights sampled during the 16-month survey period, although it was highly variable across nights and months. Therefore, despite the artificial nature of wastewater impoundments at gold mines, these structures present attractive habitats to bats. As tailings slurry and supernatant pooling within the tailings dam were consistently well below the industry protective concentration limit of 50 mg/L weak acid dissociable (WAD) cyanide, wastewater solutions stored within the tailings dam posed a minimal risk of cyanide toxicosis for wildlife, including bats. This study showed that passively recorded bat echolocation call data provides evidence of the presence and relative activity of bats above water bodies at mine sites. Furthermore, echolocation buzz calls recorded in the airspace directly above water provide indirect evidence of foraging and/or drinking. Both echolocation monitoring and systematic sampling of cyanide concentration in open wastewater impoundments can be incorporated into a gold mine risk-assessment model in order to evaluate the risk of bat exposure to cyanide. In relation to risk minimisation management practices, the most effective mechanism for preventing cyanide toxicosis to wildlife, including bats, is capping the concentration of cyanide in tailings discharged to open impoundments at 50 mg/L WAD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biogeographic history can lead to variation in biodiversity across regions, but it remains unclear how the degree of biogeographic isolation among communities may lead to differences in biodiversity. Biogeographic analyses generally treat regions as discrete units, but species assemblages differ in how much biogeographic history they share, just as species differ in how much evolutionary history they share. Here, we use a continuous measure of biogeographic distance, phylobetadiversity, to analyze the influence of biogeographic isolation on the taxonomic and functional diversity of global mammal and bird assemblages. On average, biodiversity is better predicted by environment than by isolation, especially for birds. However, mammals in deeply isolated regions are strongly influenced by isolation; mammal assemblages in Australia and Madagascar, for example, are much less diverse than predicted by environment alone and contain unique combinations of functional traits compared to other regions. Neotropical bat assemblages are far more functionally diverse than Paleotropical assemblages, reflecting the different trajectories of bat communities that have developed in isolation over tens of millions of years. Our results elucidate how long-lasting biogeographic barriers can lead to divergent diversity patterns, against the backdrop of environmental determinism that predominantly structures diversity across most of the world. The effect of biogeographic isolation on biodiversity remains unclear. Assessing global mammal and bird assemblages, the authors show that long-term biogeographic barriers explain reduced species richness and divergent ecological function, while environment determines diversity in most of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historical patterns of wildfires are being altered as a result of changing climate and therefore are becoming an increasingly pressing global issue. How small mammals deal physiologically with changes in landscape and food availability due to fire remains largely unknown, although recent studies on small heterothermic terrestrial mammals have shown an increase in post-fire torpor use to reduce energy and foraging requirements. However, data on the behavioural and physiological responses of bats after fires are scarce, although potentially these volant species may differ from terrestrial mammals. Therefore, we investigated the post-fire thermal biology and activity of lesser long-eared bats ( Nyctophilus geoffroyi) using temperature-telemetry in Warrumbungle National Park, NSW, which experienced a devastating wildfire in 2013. The study comprised two field seasons, one in 2013 within 4 months after the fire, and one in 2015 two years after the fire to identify potential changes in behaviour and physiology. Interestingly, soon after the fire, bats showed significantly shorter torpor bout duration (11.8 ± 12.5 h) and longer normothermia duration (8.7 ± 4.6 h) in comparison to those in 2015 (torpor bout duration: 24.1 ± 23.5 h; normothermia duration: 2.5 ± 1.5 h). Insect availability was significantly (20-fold) higher in 2013 than in 2015, which was likely an important factor resulting in the short average torpor bout duration by N. geoffroyi after the fire. Our data indicate that volant bats appear to show the opposite post-fire behavioural and physiological responses to small terrestrial mammals, showing longer normothermic and active periods and shorter torpor bouts to capitalise on an increase in available post-fire resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanisation has a wide range of impacts on biodiversity, but its effects on parasitic arthropods, particularly those of bats, remain poorly studied. Ectoparasites of the large-footed myotis (Myotis macropus) in eastern Australia were sampled from 10 roost sites across an urban gradient. In total, 265 bats were examined and 447 ectoparasites were collected, comprising three species of Hippoboscoidea: Basilia hamsmithi (Nycteribiidae), Penicillidia setosala (Nycteribiidae), Brachytarsina amboinensis (Streblidae), and an acarine, Spinturnix novaehollandiae (Mesostigmata, Spinturnicidae). Degree of urbanisation was found to have a significant effect on the abundance of the batfly B. hamsmithi but had no significant effect on the abundance of the wing mite S. novaehollandiae. We hypothesise that this is due to differences in the life history of these two species and the advantage components of these differences confer in exploiting variations in host roost habits. The prevalence of the batfly B. hamsmithi was high in urban sites but comparatively low in suburban and non-urban sites. Mass, sex, and body condition were found to have no significant impact on either the parasite load or the chance of infestation. Both P. setosala and B. amboinensis were recorded from M. macropus for the first time, though only in small numbers. They were associated with mixed-species roosts in a suburban site and are evidence of parasite spillover between sympatric bat species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bats are among the most successful groups of Australian arid-zone mammals and, therefore, must cope with pronounced seasonal fluctuations in ambient temperature ( Ta), food availability and unpredictable weather patterns. As knowledge about the energy conserving strategies in desert bats is scant, we used temperature-telemetry to quantify the thermal physiology of tree-roosting inland freetail bats ( Mormopterus species 3, 8.5 g, n = 8) at Sturt National Park over two summers (2010–2012), when Ta was high and insects were relatively abundant. Torpor use and activity were affected by Ta. Bats remained normothermic on the warmest days; they employed one “morning” torpor bout on most days and typically exhibited two torpor bouts on the coolest days. Overall, animals employed torpor on 67.9 % of bat-days and torpor bout duration ranged from 0.5 to 39.3 h. At any given Ta, torpor bouts were longer in Mormopterus than in bats from temperate and subtropical habitats. Furthermore, unlike bats from other climatic regions that used only partial passive rewarming, Mormopterus aroused from torpor using either almost entirely passive (68.9 % of all arousals) or active rewarming (31.1 %). We provide the first quantitative data on torpor in a free-ranging arid-zone molossid during summer. They demonstrate that this desert bat uses torpor extensively in summer and often rewarms passively from torpor to maximise energy and water conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ghost bat, Macroderma gigas, and the orange leaf-nosed bat, Rhinonycteris aurantius, occupy similar ranges across northern Australia and are often found in the same roost caves. Both species are considered rare and vulnerable to further population decline. A third small species, the large bent-wing bat, Miniopterus schreibersii, has a similar body mass to R. aurantius, but has one of the largest ranges of any Australian mammal. In the present study we examine the effect and sensitivity of the animals' roosting microclimates on their energy and water balance. M. schreibersii exhibits a basal metabolic rate about 40% greater than other bats of similar body mass, whereas the other two species are close to predicted levels. R. aurantius shows a decrease in body temperatures below thermoneutrality. R. aurantius has levels of pulmocutaneous water loss among the highest seen for a mammal, and calculations based on nasal tip temperatures suggest that most of this loss is across the skin. Calculated ambient temperatures at which metabolic water production is equal to pulmocutaneous water loss in dry air are -14.7 °C for R. aurantius, 9.8 °C for M. schreibersii and -0.3 °C for M. gigas. Exposing the animals to relative humidities of between 80% and 90% shifted these calculated temperatures to 5.6 °C, 25.2 °C, and 2.9 °C, respectively. For each species the ratio of metabolic water production to evaporative water loss has been treated as a joint function of humidity and ambient temperature. The resulting surface plot shows that under known roosting conditions in caves R. aurantius and M. schreibersii remain in positive water balance, whereas M. gigas does not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acknowledging Australian Indigenous cultural diversity involves respecting local Indigenous knowledge and perspectives. This can be difficult for teachers who do not know about Indigenous people and their knowledge. The Differentiated Indigenous Pedagogies project evaluated digitally available information describing Indigenous in this paper, 'Indigenous' will be used when referring to First Nations and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, pedagogies, policies, and institutional contexts in Australia apart from references used which use other terminology. The authors acknowledge the contested nature of terminology and use the term 'Indigenous' as it is consistent with the title of the research project on which this article is based pedagogies in the Northern Territory. The purpose was to consolidate findings to increase positive intercultural actions in the wider education community. An important aspect of the project is addressing gaps in western, non-Indigenous teacher knowledge pertinent to the diversity within Indigenous language groups and regions. Through searching for available Indigenous pedagogies as a teacher might, we found information differs in description and levels of relationality. Pedagogies are presented in numerous ways which complicates teachers' cultural understandings. Common themes from search results and Indigenist educational research are used to define ways teachers can actively engage in more respectful, relational, and reconciliatory ways to develop a differentiated approach for themselves to use when working with Indigenous pedagogies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, the occurrence of terrestrial vertebrates in mangrove forests is poorly documented, with little empirical data available. This knowledge gap is, at least in part, explained by the challenging survey conditions typically found in these environments. As an ecological understanding of ecosystems is essential to guide conservation management actions, a lack of baseline biodiversity surveys can leave ecosystems vulnerable to degradation. To address this, we developed and tested a rapid assessment protocol for tidal regions (RAPTR), that uses a range of techniques to detect mammals, reptiles and amphibians in mangrove habitat subject to daily tidal inundation. Our approach uses seven commonly used fauna detection techniques (live traps, camera traps, nocturnal transects, hair tubes, artificial terrestrial and arboreal refuges, and high-frequency acoustic monitoring). RAPTR was implemented over four consecutive nights at each of the 10 sites spanning temperate to tropical mangrove regions of Australia. We detected 65 species of terrestrial vertebrates, of which 42 species have not previously been reported in mangroves. We demonstrated that all techniques were robust to tidal inundation, and that four consecutive trap nights were sufficient to detect all taxonomic groups and most species in temperate regions, but that additional nights may be required in subtropical and tropical regions. We recommend RAPTR be used as a biodiversity assessment protocol to identify terrestrial vertebrates in mangroves to fill critical knowledge gaps about these important ecological communities, and one which can potentially be applied to other tidal ecosystems. Such a strategy would further our understanding of the ecological role mangroves play as habitat for terrestrial fauna, and help identify management strategies to aid the conservation of these declining ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We provide an overview of the current state of knowledge of island frugivory and seed dispersal and identify knowledge gaps that are important for fundamental research on—and applied conservation of—island ecosystems. We conducted a systematic literature search of frugivory and seed dispersal on islands, omitting large, continental islands. This revealed a total of 448 studies, most (75%) published during the last two decades, especially after 2010. Nearly 65% of them were focused on eight archipelagos. There is a paucity of studies in Pacific archipelagos near Asia and Australia, and in the Indian Ocean. Data on island frugivory and seed dispersal are diverse but highly uneven in geographic and conceptual coverage. Despite their limited biodiversity, islands are essential reservoirs of endemic plants and animals and their interactions. Due to the simplicity of insular ecosystems, we can assess the importance of seed dispersal theory and mechanisms at species and community levels. These include the ecological and biogeographical meaning and prevalence of non-standard mechanisms of seed dispersal on islands; the seed dispersal effectiveness and the relative roles of different frugivore guilds (birds and reptiles being the most important); and patterns of community organization and their drivers as revealed by interaction networks. Island systems are characterized by the extinction of many natives and endemics, and high rates of species introductions. Therefore, understanding how these losses and additions alter seed dispersal processes has been a prevailing goal of island studies and an essential foundation for the effective restoration and conservation of islands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The biogeographical range shift of insect pests is primarily governed by temperature. However, the range shift of seasonal long-distance migratory insects may be very different from that of sedentary insects. Nilaparvata lugens (BPH), a serious rice pest, can only overwinter in tropical-to-subtropical regions, and some populations migrate seasonally to temperate zones with the aid of low-level jet stream air currents. This study utilized the CLIMEX model to project the overwintering area under the climate change scenarios of RCP2.6 and RCP8.5, both in 2030s and 2080s. The overwintering boundary is predicted to expand poleward and new overwintering areas are predicted in the mid-latitude regions of central-to-eastern China and mid-to-southern Australia. With climate change, the habitable areas remained similar, but suitability decreased substantially, especially in the near-equatorial regions, owing to increasing heat stress. The range shift is similar between RCP2.6-2030s, RCP2.6-2080s, and RCP8.5-2030s, but extreme changes are projected under RCP8.5-2080s with marginal areas increasing from 27.2 to 38.8% and very favorable areas dropping from 27.5 to 3.6% compared to the current climate. These findings indicate that climate change will drive range shifts in BPH and alter regional risks differently. Therefore, international monitoring programs are needed to effectively manage these emerging challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exposure to pollutants is a potentially crucial but overlooked driver of population declines in shorebirds along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. We combined knowledge of moult strategy and life history with a standardised sampling protocol to assess mercury (Hg) contamination in 984 individuals across 33 migratory shorebird species on an intercontinental scale. Over one-third of the samples exceeded toxicity benchmarks. Feather Hg was best explained by moulting region, while habitat preference (coastal obligate vs. non-coastal obligate), the proportion of invertebrates in the diet and foraging stratum (foraging mostly on the surface vs. at depth) also contributed, but were less pronounced. Feather Hg was substantially higher in South China (Mai Po and Leizhou), Australia and the Yellow Sea than in temperate and Arctic breeding ranges. Non-coastal obligate species (Tringa genus) frequently encountered in freshwater habitats were at the highest risk. It is important to continue and expand biomonitoring research to assess how other pollutants might impact shorebirds. Over one-third of the sampled shorebirds along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway are facing Hg risk. Tringa genus in South China was at the highest risk. Feather Hg was best explained by feathers' moulting region, while habitat preference, diet, and foraging stratum were less important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eragrostis curvula is an agronomically and ecologically undesirable perennial tussock grass dispersed across Australia. The objective of this study is to investigate relationships of ecologically relevant abiotic variables with the presence of E. curvula at a landscape scale in the Snowy Monaro region, Australia. Through vegetation surveys across 21 privately owned properties and freely available ancillary data on E. curvula presence, we used seven predictor variables, including Sentinel 2 NDVI reflectance, topography, distance from roads and watercourses and climate, to predict the presence or absence of E. curvula across its invaded range using a random forest (RF) algorithm. Assessment of performance metrics resulted in a pseudo-R squared of 0.96, a kappa of 0.97 and an R squared for out-of-bag samples of 0.67. Temperature had the largest influence on the model's performance, followed by linear features such as highways and rivers. Highways' high importance in the model may indicate that the presence or absence of E. curvula is related to the density of human transit, thus as a vector of E. curvula propagule dispersal. Further, humans' tendency to reside adjacent to rivers may indicate that E. curvula's presence or absence is related to human density and E. curvula's potential to spread via water courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Snowpatch plant community distribution and composition are strongly tied to the duration of long-lasting snow cover in alpine areas; they are vulnerable to global climatic changes that result in warmer temperatures and longer growing seasons. We used a revisitation study to quantify early-melting snowpatch floristic and functional diversity change in southern Australia, and document shrub size-class distributions over time to detect evidence for their encroachment into snowpatches, a key prediction with climatic change. Early-melting snowpatch vegetation has declined in areal extent, changed in species composition, and shrub and tussock grass cover has increased, but changes in functional trait diversity were less clear. Species gains, particularly by non-clonal species, accounted for most of the floristic change observed. Shrub recruitment was ongoing by most shrub species. Biotic differentiation is occurring; many early-melting snowpatches are transitioning to a novel state with changed composition and taller vegetation structure, but there is little evidence for species loss having occurred. Given enough time, however, the long-term loss of species is likely (i.e. biotic homogenisation) if taller shrubs outcompete short-statured snowpatch species. Our results provide evidence that this alpine ecosystem is forming a novel community with an uncertain future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study evaluates the capability of a novel optimization method in modeling daily crop reference evapotranspiration (ETo), a critical issue in water resource management. A hybrid predictive model based on the artificial neural network (ANN) algorithm that is embedded within the COOT method (COOT bird natural life model-artificial neural network (COOT-ANN)) is developed and evaluated for its suitability for the prediction of daily ETo at seven meteorological stations in different states of Australia. Accordingly, a daily statistical period of 12 years (01-01-2010 to 31-12-2021) for climatic data of maximum temperature, minimum temperature, and ETo were collected. The results are evaluated using six performance criteria metrics: correlation coefficient (R), root mean square error (RMSE), Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE), RMSE-observation standard deviation ratio (RSR), Scatter Index (SI), and mean absolute error (MAE) along with the Taylor diagrams. The performance of the COOT-ANN model was compared with those of the conventional ANN model. The results showed that the COOT-ANN hybrid model outperforms the ANN model at all seven stations by 0.803%, 4.127%, 3.359%, 4.072%, 4.148%, and 3.665% based on the average values of the R, RMSE, NSE, RSR, SI, and MAE criteria, respectively. So, this study provides an innovative method for prediction in agricultural and water resource studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban development is thought to negatively affect most native mammals. Here we assess whether adjacent suburbia, fire regime and vegetation influence the activity of mammal species in a reserve in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. We used multiple regression to analyse the relationship between distance from houses, fire history, vegetation structure and floristics, and mammal activity, derived from camera visits and signs. Animal diggings and visits by long-nosed potoroos, southern brown bandicoots and cats were greater close to houses, while visits by red-necked wallabies, rufous-bellied pademelons, brushtail possums and short-beaked echidnas were not. The structure of the vegetation, particularly related to shelter, was important in many models. Many models also included floristic ordination axes that reflected drainage, fire regime and distance from high-density housing. Positive relationships between the introduced predatory cat and some of its potential native prey animals may reflect the influences of close proximity to suburbia, such as elevated domestic mesopredator populations, and elevated resource availability in domestic gardens. Our results suggest that urban areas can have a valuable role in nature conservation, despite, or because of, their effects on remnant native ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many species of seabird ingest or are provisioned with pumice stones, buoyant volcanic rocks that are thought to aide in digestion, occasionally during times of poor prey availability. Unlike other indigestible matter, like plastics, the effect of pumice on chick growth, its relationship with ingested plastics, and variation among years has not yet been examined. We analysed the amount of ingested pumice from 739 Flesh-footed (Ardenna carneipes) and 173 Wedge-tailed Shearwaters (A. pacifica) from Lord Howe Island, Australia sampled using stomach lavage between 2011 and 2022. The total mass of ingested pumice was positively related to the mass of ingested plastics in Flesh-footed, but not Wedge-tailed Shearwaters, but not when using mean stone mass. Pumice mass did not vary over time, except for one higher year for each species (2016 for Flesh-footed Shearwaters and 2014 for Wedge-tailed Shearwaters), and there was no effect of pumice mass on chick body size at fledgling. Our results are consistent with the coexistence over geological time of seabirds and floating pumice, and future work should focus on aspects of retention in the digestive system and potential interactions with and efficacy in the presence of novel materials, like plastics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eimeria is an important coccidian enteric parasite that infects a wide range of hosts and can cause substantial economic losses in the poultry and livestock industries. It is common for multiple Eimeria species to infect individual hosts, and this can make species identification difficult due to morphological similarities between species and mixed chromatograms when using Sanger sequencing. Relatively few studies have applied next-generation amplicon sequencing (NGS) to determining the genetic diversity of Eimeria species in different hosts. The present study screened 408 faecal samples from a range of hosts including livestock and wildlife using a previously developed quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) at the 18S locus and conducted amplicon NGS on the positives using a ~ 455-bp fragment of the 18S locus. A total of 41 positives (10.1%) were identified by qPCR from various hosts and NGS was successful for 38 of these positives. Fifteen Eimeria species and three genotypes were detected by NGS: E. ferrisi, E. kanyana, E. potoroi, E. quokka, E. setonicis, E. trichosuri, E. reichenowi, E. angustus, E. ahsata, E. auburnensis, E. bovis, E. brasiliensis, E. christenseni, E. crandallis, E. ovinoidalis, Eimeria sp. (JF419345), Eimeria sp. (JF419349) and Eimeria sp. (JF419351). Mixed infections were detected in 55.3% (21/38) of positive samples. The most striking finding was the identification of the same species in different hosts. This could be due to contamination and/or mechanical transmission or may provide support for previous studies suggesting that Eimeria species can infect not just closely related hosts but different genera and further research is required. This is also the first study to audit Eimeria populations in livestock (sheep and cattle) by NGS and could be applied in the future to determine the extent of pathogenic species and outcomes of Eimeria control strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Children with chronic kidney disease (CKD) generally have worse educational and psychosocial outcomes compared with their healthy peers. This can impair their ability to manage their treatment, which in turn can have long-term health consequences through to adulthood. We attempted to capture the experiences of children with CKD and to describe the perspectives of their parents and caregivers on access to educational and psychosocial support. Methods: Children with CKD (n = 34) and their caregivers (n = 62) were sampled via focus groups from pediatric hospitals in Australia, Canada, and the USA. Sixteen focus groups were convened and the transcripts were analyzed thematically. Results: We identified four themes: disruption to self-esteem and identity (emotional turmoil of adolescence, wrestling with the sick self, powerlessness to alleviate child's suffering, balancing normality and protection); disadvantaged by lack of empathy and acceptance (alienated by ignorance, bearing the burden alone); a hidden and inaccessible support system (excluded from formal psychological support, falling behind due to being denied special considerations); and building resilience (finding partners in the journey, moving towards acceptance of the illness, re-establishing childhood). Conclusions: Children with CKD and their caregivers encountered many barriers in accessing psychosocial and educational support and felt extremely disempowered and isolated as a consequence. Improved availability and access to psychosocial and educational interventions are needed to improve the wellbeing and educational advancement of children with CKD. A higher resolution version of the Graphical abstract is available as Supplementary information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bergmann's and Allen's rules state that endotherms should be larger and have shorter appendages in cooler climates. However, the drivers of these rules are not clear. Both rules could be explained by adaptation for improved thermoregulation, including plastic responses to temperature in early life. Non-thermal explanations are also plausible as climate impacts other factors that influence size and shape, including starvation risk, predation risk, and foraging ecology. We assess the potential drivers of Bergmann's and Allen's rules in 30 shorebird species using extensive field data (>200,000 observations). We show birds in hot, tropical northern Australia have longer bills and smaller bodies than conspecifics in temperate, southern Australia, conforming with both ecogeographical rules. This pattern is consistent across ecologically diverse species, including migratory birds that spend early life in the Arctic. Our findings best support the hypothesis that thermoregulatory adaptation to warm climates drives latitudinal patterns in shorebird size and shape. Global patterns in animal size and shape have been long observed, but their underlying drivers are not well understood. Here the authors suggest latitudinal patterns in shorebird size and shape are best explained by thermal adaptation to warm climates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Citizen science offers a unique opportunity to connect urban-dwellers with the often hidden natural world upon their doorsteps and to contribute to authentic research that increases knowledge of urban ecology and biodiversity. With the majority of Australia's population residing in large cities, this diverse potential pool of participants in science creates a significant opportunity to increase the spatial and temporal scale of research. Herein, we provide an overview of Australian urban citizen science projects based on an analysis of the projects listed in the Australian Citizen Science Association's Citizen Science Project Finder. We draw out key features (such as those with research questions specific to cities such as reintroduction and persistence of species in urban environments) from urban citizen science projects that make them suitable for the urban environment and use these features to suggest recommendations for further expansion and development of this important subset of projects. We conclude that the number and diversity of urban citizen science projects is relatively low in Australia, and advocate for an increase in initiatives that can tap into a large pool of potential participants for the benefit of science and society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biological essentialism, the belief that human attributes are determined by biology, is a core component of essentialist thinking. Previous studies have shown that individual differences in essentialist thinking are associated with heuristic thinking, cognitive ability and style, conservative values, and prejudice. None, however, have examined whether biological essentialism is itself heritable, or the extent to which familial aggregation explains associations with core correlates. In order to do this, we analyzed data from a genetically informative sample of families with twins in Australia (N = 2,103), as well as general population samples from the UK (N = 501) and the US (N = 500). Genetic factors had little influence in individual differences in biological essentialism or in its relationship with heuristic thinking. Conservative values were genetically correlated with cognitive styles (i.e., need for closure and heuristic thinking). These findings support a bigger role of genes in explaining the relationship between cognitive processes and moral reasoning and ideology than they do the association between cognitive processes and essentialist thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanisation threatens species through habitat loss, isolation and fragmentation. Greenspace in urban landscapes often provides connectivity and habitat for wetland-dependent species. Accessible greenspace measures the combined effects of movement barriers (e.g., roads) and the total amount of greenspace on populations. I determined whether accessible greenspace was a better predictor of amphibian occupancy at ponds than the total amount of greenspace, and at what spatial scale. I also assessed the relative importance of habitat variables at the local pond-scale. Frog surveys were conducted at 65 ponds distributed along an urban–rural gradient over two breeding seasons in the greater Melbourne region, Australia. Accessible greenspace was mapped around ponds at varying spatial scales (250 m – 2000 m) using potential barriers to amphibian movement. The best-ranked multi-species occupancy model included the proportion of total greenspace within a 1000-m radius of a pond and four local-scale covariates (presence of mosquitofish, pond permanence, vertical pond walls and water conductivity). There was no support for models containing accessible greenspace. There was a positive relationship between the probability of community and species-level occupancy and total greenspace within 1000 m of a pond. There was a negative relationship between mean community occupancy and the presence of a vertical pond wall at a site. There was no apparent effect of barriers on occupancy, indicating that urban areas may be more permeable for movement by some species than predicted. Individual species responses demonstrated that management actions are required at fine and broad spatial scales to benefit amphibian communities in urban landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mental health care planning is an important part of holistic, patient-centred care provision. Rural older adults represent a vulnerable population with unique and complex care needs requiring robust care planning approaches. This study's aim was to audit care plan documentation for rural older Australians against quality standards. A retrospective review of the care plans from electronic case records was performed for all patients who were 65 years or older and managed by rural community mental health teams over a 12-month period. 72.1% of patients had a care plan available. Multiple assessment areas were sparsely documented, such as cognition (32%), self-harm risk assessments (29.8%), visual impairment (5.5%), hearing issues (5%) and Advance Care Directives (35.4%). This study highlighted the need for the development and implementation of a care plan template specific to rural older patients. Further research into care planning processes and barriers to implementation is also required for this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Noninvasive genetic sampling (genetic tagging) of individuals is one of the most powerful and ethical tools for threatened species population monitoring. A recent review of the threats to Australia's rock-wallabies (Petrogale spp.) and the methods for their monitoring stated that noninvasive genetic sampling (faecal DNA analysis) is not viable for estimating population size and trends for species in this genus. We feel that it is important to respond as such statements have the potential to stifle the development and application of an important tool for threatened species monitoring and lead to lost opportunities for collection of high-quality data to inform conservation of these species. We take the opportunity to describe the breadth of successful application of noninvasive genetic sampling for monitoring rock wallabies and other mammal taxa, the research and development requirements for successful implementation of noninvasive DNA-based population monitoring and thoughts on why this powerful approach has not been implemented to its full potential in many jurisdictions. We need to be careful not to dismiss one of the most powerful and ethical threatened species monitoring tools due to lack of familiarity with the requirements for its implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The classical account of reasoning posits that analytic thinking weakens belief in COVID-19 misinformation. We tested this account in a demographically representative sample of 742 Australians. Participants completed a performance-based measure of analytic thinking (the Cognitive Reflection Test) and were randomized to groups in which they either rated the perceived accuracy of claims about COVID-19 or indicated whether they would be willing to share these claims. Half of these claims were previously debunked misinformation, and half were statements endorsed by public health agencies. We found that participants with higher analytic thinking levels were less likely to rate COVID-19 misinformation as accurate and were less likely to be willing to share COVID-19 misinformation. These results support the classical account of reasoning for the topic of COVID-19 misinformation and extend it to the Australian context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Queensland fruit fly (Q-fly), Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt), is a significant pest of horticultural crops in Australia. The sterile insect technique (SIT) is currently employed to eradicate outbreaks in fruit fly free regions and may also be used to suppress populations in endemic regions. For SIT to succeed, it is imperative that the released sterile males survive, disperse, attain sexual maturity, and are sexually competitive against their wild rivals. Q-fly SIT programmes have conventionally held adult flies for two to three days and have sometimes fed them only sugar before release, providing little time or nutrition for development prior to release. We investigated whether a 5-d pre-release holding period and provision of yeast hydrolysate (YH) together with sugar in the pre-release diet increase abundance of mature male Q-fly in the field. Indicating increased survivorship and/or maturation, the combination of YH feeding and 5-d pre-release holding period resulted in 6–8 times more recaptures of mature male flies in cuelure traps than was the case for flies released at 2 d with or without YH and for flies released at 5 d without YH. Flies held for 5 d and fed YH were relatively more abundant than flies from other treatments in traps close to the release point and were as abundant as other treatments in traps at the greatest assessed distances. These findings strongly support a recommendation that sterile Q-flies be provided a pre-release diet of YH and sugar and be held for 5-d post-eclosion before release. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Widespread degradation across Australia's inland wetland network has contributed to severe declines for many waterbird species. In contrast, breeding colonies of the Australian white ibis (Threskiornis molucca) have increased in urbanised areas along the coast, but the level of dispersal and gene flow between inland and coastal areas remain unknown. This study uses single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to ascertain the variables influencing genetic connectivity among several inland and urban colonies of white ibis across south-eastern Australia between 2015 and 2018. The contemporary effective population size was estimated, and this value was used in simulations to evaluate the impact of various management scenarios on future genetic diversity. We found no significant differences in allele frequencies between localities, or robust evidence of site fidelity, therefore suggesting widespread dispersal and gene flow between inland and urban colonies. Furthermore, effective sizes were large enough to maintain genetic diversity into the future under various realistic management scenarios. However, the lack of genetic partitioning found suggests that urban management of the ibis should not be undertaken in isolation of the conservation requirements of inland colonies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the faunal use of Eucalyptus globulus plantations in southern Western Australia, and compared use of remnant vegetation, agricultural land and plantations in different positions relative to large tracts of remnant vegetation. In general, faunal use of plantations is less than in comparison with adjacent remnant vegetation, but more than in open pasture. For all faunal groups there were almost twice as many species recorded in the native vegetation than in any site in the plantations or on agricultural land and they were in greater abundance. Faunal use of plantation edges and interiors did not show consistent patterns. Generally, edges next to remnants were most frequently used, but individual species showed a wide range of patterns of use across the various habitat types studied. More species of bird identified as being “at risk” were found in plantation edges than in interiors. Adjacency to remnant vegetation increased plantation use by some species, but the overall differences between isolated plantations and those adjacent to remnant vegetation were relatively small. We conclude that plantations provide some value in terms of habitat for some species, including some of conservation concern, but that this value is limited by the lack of habitat complexity in the intensively-managed plantations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Waterbird populations in eastern Australia have been declining over the past 35 years primarily due to water resource development and resultant changes to natural river flows and flooding. To mitigate these impacts there is an increased allocation of water for the environment, including waterbird populations. We used population viability models to identify the frequency of breeding events required to reverse the trend and achieve long-term species' management objectives. We found that the population size of straw-necked ibis was primarily dictated by the frequency of large breeding events and to a lesser extent by adult annual survival and the frequency of small breeding events. We identified combinations of small and large breeding events over the next 10 years required for increased population growth. We also assessed the likelihood of current water management policies increasing populations and thereby reversing the decline in eastern Australia's waterbird populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Future soil moisture (SM) estimation is a practically useful task for eco-hydrologists, agriculturists, and stakeholders in environment health monitoring to generate comprehensive understanding of hydro-physical and soil dynamic system. This paper demonstrates the capability of a hybridised long short-term memory (LSTM) predictive framework to emulate SM under global warming scenarios. The proposed model is developed by integrating Boruta-random forest (BRF) feature selection and capturing significant antecedent memory of SM behaviour were applied to estimate the future SM using Coupled Model Intercomparison Phase-5 (CMIP5) repository. The BRF is adapted to extract pertinent features in hydro-meteorological variables intrinsically related to SM, and therefore, is used to construct a hybridised deep learning (i.e., BRF-LSTM) model. To establish the viability of deep learning model for SM estimation until 2100, five stations closely matched to the global climate model grid are selected in Australia's Murray Darling Basin. The performance skill of BRF-LSTM model is compared against standalone models (i.e., LSTM, SVR, and MARS). The results showed that the hybrid deep learning model (i.e., BRF-LSTM) with a feature selection capability could significantly outperform the standalone models for both warming simulations. The proposed hybrid model also demonstrated superiority in SM estimation with over 95% of all predictive errors lying below 0.02 mm, and low relative root means square error (≈ 1.06% for RCP4.5 and ≈ 1.888% for RCP8.5) to outperform all the benchmark models. This study demonstrates the capability of LSTM algorithm coupled with BRF feature selection to simulate future soil moisture under climate change, and so, can be successfully implemented in hydrology, agriculture, soil use management and environmental management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tree hollows are a critical resource for many arboreal vertebrates, including many threatened species. In northern Australia's vast tropical savannas, arboreal mammals are of particular conservation concern, as many have exhibited rapid population declines in recent decades. To understand the extent to which arboreal vertebrates compete for tree hollows in these savannas, we used motion-activated cameras to estimate rates of hollow visitation (i.e. individuals seen at the hollow entrance) and hollow use (i.e. individuals seen entering or exiting a hollow) by all vertebrate species at 29 hollows over a nine-month wet season period in the tropical savanna of Melville Island, Australia. We assessed the frequency of interactions between vertebrate species at the tree hollows. We recorded 21 vertebrate species visiting hollows, with larger hollows most frequently visited: 84% with entrance diameter > 10 cm. Larger-bodied mammal species were more likely to use larger hollows, in larger trees, at greater heights. However, smaller-bodies species also visited and used large hollows. The brush-tailed rabbit-rat (Conilurus penicillatus) used relatively shallow hollows close to the ground, and these hollows were most frequently visited by monitors (Varanus spp.) and snakes. This arboreal rodent has declined severely in recent decades, most likely due to predation by feral cats, and it is noteworthy that their hollow selection behaviour may be associated with increased predation risk. Our study highlights the importance of large tree hollows for a range of taxa in the tropical savannas of northern Australia and the potential impact of reductions in the density of large hollows on hollow-dependent species. Frequent, intense fires are a threat to large hollow-bearing trees, with appropriate fire management needed to conserve this resource and help to stem mammal declines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Understanding the relationships between spatial pattern, spatial scale and biodiversity can help ecologists to assess the impacts of environmental change and inform management plans. Spatial pattern research has often focussed on the effect of modified landscapes on species diversity. However, few studies have examined species responses to spatial pattern from other sources, including those which vary over time, such as fire. Objectives: We investigated the effect of composition and configuration for topographic, ecological and disturbance factors on mammal species richness. In addition, we examined whether the magnitude and predictive strength of the relationship with richness varied with spatial scale. Methods: We sampled ground-dwelling mammals at 187 sites in the Otway Ranges of south-eastern Australia. A gradient modelling approach was used to characterise landscape composition and configuration for each predictor. Relationships with mammal richness were modelled using Bayesian Networks at ten different spatial scales (7–1165 ha). Results: Composition and configuration were both important to species richness, although the strength and presence of relationships varied across the ten scales. Patterns in NDVI, time since fire, habitat complexity and elevation had the strongest effects on mammal species richness. Conclusions: Our findings highlight the importance of measuring both the composition and configuration of environmental measures at different spatial scales to assess their effect on species richness. Further, studies focusing on just one environmental measure of spatial pattern or one spatial scale will miss important relationships between environmental variables and species richness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of recognising, valuing and respecting a child's family, culture, language and values is increasingly articulated in educational policy. Diversity and inclusion are central themes of the guiding principles of early childhood education and care in Australia. Children's literature can be a powerful tool for extending children's knowledge and understandings of themselves and others who may be different culturally, socially or historically. However, evidence suggests many settings provide monocultural book collections which are counterproductive to principles of diversity. This paper reports on a larger study investigating factors and relationships influencing the use of children's literature to support principles of cultural diversity in the kindergarten rooms of long day care centres. The study was conducted within an ontological perspective of constructivism and an epistemological perspective of interpretivism informed by sociocultural theory. A mixed methods approach was adopted and convergent design was employed to interpret significant relationships and their meanings. Twenty-four educators and 110 children from four long day care centres in Western Australia participated. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, video-based observations, field notes, document analysis and a book audit. This study identified that current book collections in these four kindergarten rooms of long day care centres promote monocultural viewpoints and 'othering' of minority groups through limited access to books portraying inclusive and authentic cultural diversity. These findings have important social justice implications. The outcomes of this study have implications for educators, policy makers, early childhood organisations and those providing higher education and training for early childhood educators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanisation threatens biodiversity globally, yet some animal populations persist within urban landscapes. Conservation of urban wildlife has prioritised parks and remnant bushland as critical habitat and neglected the role that residential gardens offer for conservation. We explored the potential for residential gardens to assist the conservation of mammals using an online questionnaire administered to residents of two case study cities in Australia to identify how widespread mammals in cities can be, which garden features promote mammal presence, and if the features varied among species with different habitat requirements. From 649 responses we found that three mammal species with different habitat requirements occurred in residential gardens throughout the city landscape. Garden features promoting mammal presence were consistent with broad ecological and habitat requirements of each species, but differed among both species and regions. Our study demonstrates that residential gardens offer a valuable habitat for mammals, and that garden features could be manipulated to promote use of gardens by these species. By considering gardens in urban planning and management actions aimed at conserving urban wildlife, residential gardens offer additional habitat to parks, roadside vegetation and urban bushland, and can play a significant role in biodiversity conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Australian data regarding the management of patients with bronchiectasis is scarce. We sought to compare the management of adults with bronchiectasis attending tertiary Australian centres with recent national and international guidelines. Methods: The Australian Bronchiectasis Registry is a centralised database of patients with radiologically confirmed bronchiectasis unrelated to cystic fibrosis recruited from 14 tertiary Australian hospitals. We excluded children (<18 years) and those with incomplete data, leaving 589 adults for cross-sectional analyses. We compared the proportion of patients receiving certain therapies, as compared to the proportion eligible for those treatments according to the current guidelines and baseline clinical information available from the registry. Results: Pulmonary rehabilitation was attended by 22%, although it was indicated in 67% of the cohort. Airway clearance was undertaken in 52% of patients, although 71% reported chronic productive cough. Sputum bacterial culture results were available for 59%, and mycobacterial culture results were available for 29% of the cohort. Inhaled antibiotics were used in half of potentially eligible patients. Despite guideline recommendations against routine use, inhaled corticosteroids were used in 48% of patients. Long-term macrolides were used in 28% of participants. Conclusions: Discrepancies exist between guideline recommendations and real-world treatment of bronchiectasis in Australia, even in tertiary centres. These findings suggest the need for increased patient referral to pulmonary rehabilitation, increased attention to airway clearance, increased collection of sputum samples (especially for mycobacterial culture) and rationalisation of inhaled corticosteroid use. These findings encourage a review of treatment access and will inform ongoing education to promote evidence-based care for people living with bronchiectasis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Isolated pasture trees play an important role in forest recovery within fragmented tropical landscapes by attracting seed dispersers and facilitating seedling growth. However, studies with conflicting results have led to confusion about what drives variation in zoochorous-dispersed seed rain patterns under isolated tree canopies. Objectives: To assess the role of landscape and biological factors impacting zoochorous-dispersed seed rain under isolated pasture trees across three tropical regions of the world. Methods: We measured seed dispersal under 144 isolated pasture trees found in 12 fragmented tropical and sub-tropical landscapes in Australia, Colombia and Nigeria. Using linear mixed effect models, we modeled seed diversity, abundance, richness and evenness as functions of the biological features and landscape context of isolated trees. Results: Throughout all regions, the amount of woody vegetation surrounding trees in pastures was negatively related to rainforest seed diversity, evenness and abundance. Seed diversity and evenness increased significantly with the distance of isolated trees to forest fragments in the Australian sub-tropics, but elsewhere, seed diversity and evenness tended to decline with distance to forest, though not significantly. Conclusions: Our results suggest that the tree composition of landscapes surrounding isolated pasture trees is important for influencing zoochorous-dispersed seed rain, regardless of the region studied. Our study highlights the prominent role of landscape-scale, rather than local-scale factors on seed dispersal to isolated pasture trees, while providing strong evidence that early stage successional processes involving isolated pasture trees are similar throughout global tropical regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In early childhood education, a long-standing debate exists around issues related to school readiness and the transition to school. This paper describes an action research project implemented by teachers in an urban Australian preschool which gathered multiple stakeholder perspectives about school transition. The project was initiated to support more collaborative partnerships across the local community in which the preschool was located. Data were gathered from children, parents and local school personnel. Specific research objectives included locating similarities in perceptions about school readiness between stakeholders to use as a basis for strengthening collaboration. Further, identifying ways to form connections between a play-based programme implemented at the preschool and the more didactic teaching and learning approaches within local schools. A blueprint on school transitions was developed that considered how local systems operate in both cooperative and opposing ways. The project identified multiple and complex factors that require consideration within the community to support children’s successful transition to school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recovery plans are the main tool used for restoration of threatened species in Australia, and identification of key threatening processes is an important feature of them. The aim of this study was to identify how climate change can be incorporated into the recovery planning process using a case study of threatened vertebrates in a global biodiversity hotspot, southwestern Australia. Analysis of 79 recovery planning documents for threatened vertebrate species in the region found that prior to the year 2004, climate change was not included as a threatening process. Post 2004, 32 of 54 (59.3%) documents included climate change as a threatening process. Using bioclimatic modelling, 43 of these species were ranked in terms of their potential exposure to climate change, and a gradient of management intervention aimed at mitigating their exposure to climate change was proposed. This intervention gradient ranged from active management actions aimed at species potentially at risk of extinction due to climate change, through to preservation of habitat in species predicted to lose between 0 and 25% of their current population size. It was proposed that as a priority, the recovery documentation of the 20 species predicted to be most at risk and thus needing a high level of management intervention should identify climate change as a key threatening process, and that more comprehensive analyses of climate change vulnerability be undertaken for these species. Such an approach aimed at prioritising climate change mitigation in threatened species would be useful for other regions where it has been predicted that climate change could have a negative impact on biodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One Health (OH) is an interdisciplinary approach aiming to achieve optimal health for humans, animals and their environments. Case reports and systematic reviews of success are emerging; however, discussion of barriers and enablers of cross-sectoral collaboration are rare. A four-phase mixed-method Delphi survey of Australian human and animal health practitioners and policymakers ( n = 52) explored areas of consensus and disagreement over: (1) the operational definition of OH; (2) potential for cross-sectoral collaboration; and (3) key priorities for shaping the development of an OH response to significantly elevated zoonotic disease risk. Participants agreed OH is essential for effective infectious disease prevention and control, and on key priorities for outbreak responses, but disagreed over definitions and the relative priority of animal health and welfare and economic considerations. Strong support emerged among Australian experts for an OH approach. There was also recognition of the need to ensure cross-sectoral differences are addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spatial arrangement and vertical structure of vegetation in urban green spaces are key factors in determining the types of benefits that urban parks provide to people. This includes opportunities for recreation, spiritual fulfilment and biodiversity conservation. However, there has been little consideration of how the fine-scale spatial and vertical structure of vegetation is distributed in urban parks, primarily due to limitations in methods for doing so. We addressed this gap by developing a method using Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data to map, at a fine resolution, tree cover, vegetation spatial arrangement, and vegetation vertical structure. We then applied this method to urban parks in Brisbane, Australia. We found that parks varied mainly in their amount of tree cover and its spatial arrangement, but also in vegetation vertical structure. Interestingly, the vertical structure of vegetation was largely independent of its cover and spatial arrangement. This suggests that vertical structure may be being managed independently to tree cover to provide different benefits across urban parks with different levels of tree cover. Finally, we were able to classify parks into three distinct classes that explicitly account for both the spatial and vertical structure of tree cover. Our approach for mapping the three-dimensional vegetation structure of urban green space provides a much more nuanced and functional description of urban parks than has previously been possible. Future research is now needed to quantify the relationships between vegetation structure and the actual benefits people derive from urban green space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exercise physiology courses have transitioned to competency based, forcing Universities to rethink assessment to ensure students are competent to practice. This study built on earlier research to explore rater cognition, capturing factors that contribute to assessor decision making about students' competency. The aims were to determine the source of variation in the examination process and document the factors impacting on examiner judgment. Examiner judgement was explored from both a quantitative and qualitative perspective. Twenty-three examiners viewed three video encounters of student performance on an OSCE. Once rated, analysis of variance was performed to determine where the variance was attributed. A semi-structured interview drew out the examiners reasoning behind their ratings. Results highlighted variability of the process of observation, judgement and rating, with each examiner viewing student performance from different lenses. However, at a global level, analysis of variance indicated that the examiner had a minimal impact on the variance, with the majority of variance explained by the student performance on task. One anomaly noted was in the assessment of technical competency, whereby the examiner had a large impact on the rating, linked to assessing according to curriculum content. The thought processes behind judgement were diverse and if the qualitative results had been used in isolation, may have led to the researchers drawing conclusions that the examined performances would have yielded widely different ratings. However, as a cohort, the examiners were able to distinguish good and poor levels of competency with the majority of student competency linked to the varying ability of the student. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For over two centuries, the platypus ( Ornithorhynchus anatinus) has been constructed and categorized in multiple ways. An unprecedented mélange of anatomical features and physiological functions, it long remained a systematic quandary. Nevertheless, since 1797, naturalists and biologists have pursued two recurring obsessions. Investigations into platypus reproduction and lactation have focused attention largely upon females of the species. Despite its apparent admixture of avian, reptilian and mammalian characters, the platypus was soon placed as a rudimentary mammal - primitive, naïve and harmless. This article pursues a different taxonomic trajectory, concentrating on a specifically male anatomical development: the crural spur and venom gland on the hind legs. Once the defining characteristic of both the platypus and echidna ( Tachyglossus aculeatus), by 1830 this sexed spur had been largely dismissed as inactive and irrelevant. For a creature regularly depicted as a biological outlier, the systematic and evolutionary implications of platypus poison have remained largely overlooked. In Australia, however, sporadic cases of 'spiking' led to consistent homologies being remarked between the platypus crural system and the venom glands of snakes. As with its reproductive reliance upon eggs, possession of an endogenous poison suggested significant reptilian affinities, yet the platypus has rarely been classed as an advanced reptile. Indeed, ongoing uncertainty regarding the biological purpose of the male's spur has ostensibly posed a directional puzzle. As with so many of its traits, however, platypus poison has been consistently described as a redundant remnant, rather than an emergent feature indicating evolutionary advance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: The identification of habitat structures with biologically meaningful links to habitat quality has enabled an increased understanding of wildlife distributions in fragmented landscapes. However, knowledge is lacking of where these structures occur in the landscape. Objectives: For a broad-scale agricultural landscape, we investigated how the occurrence and abundance of wildlife habitat structures is related to abiotic conditions and land management practices, and whether this differed between old growth and regrowth woodland. Methods: We used generalised linear mixed models to investigate the distribution of eight habitat structures in the South-West Slopes bioregion of south-eastern Australia. Results: Only one habitat structure, canopy depth, was related to abiotic conditions alone, whereas only leaf litter cover was related to land management practices only. Each of the other structures (abundance of logs, large trees, hollow-bearing trees, mid-sized trees and dead trees, and amount of native grass cover) was related to a combination and/or interaction of abiotic conditions and land management practices. Old growth woodland had higher log, large tree and hollow-bearing tree abundance, whereas regrowth woodland had higher mid-sized tree and dead tree abundance. Conclusions: Our findings inform key management prescriptions that can be used to improve conservation efforts so they have strong, quantifiable effects on wildlife habitat in temperate agricultural landscapes. Our case study shows that by understanding how management actions in specific abiotic conditions lead to the increased occurrence or abundance of particular habitat structures, management can be spatially targeted to alternative conservation strategies relevant to the landscape of interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most woody plants are animal-pollinated, but the global problem of habitat fragmentation is changing the pollination dynamics. Consequently, the genetic diversity and fitness of the progeny of animal-pollinated woody plants sired in fragmented landscapes tend to decline due to shifts in plant-mating patterns (for example, reduced outcrossing rate, pollen diversity). However, the magnitude of this mating-pattern shift should theoretically be a function of pollinator mobility. We first test this hypothesis by exploring the mating patterns of three ecologically divergent eucalypts sampled across a habitat fragmentation gradient in southern Australia. We demonstrate increased selfing and decreased pollen diversity with increased fragmentation for two small-insect-pollinated eucalypts, but no such relationship for the mobile-bird-pollinated eucalypt. In a meta-analysis, we then show that fragmentation generally does increase selfing rates and decrease pollen diversity, and that more mobile pollinators tended to dampen these mating-pattern shifts. Together, our findings support the premise that variation in pollinator form contributes to the diversity of mating-pattern responses to habitat fragmentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There have been more than 100 reports focusing on the effectiveness of teacher education in Australia over the last 35 years with many positioning teacher education as flawed and in need of reform. These frequent criticisms have drawn attention to the difficulty teacher educators can experience when trying to interrupt or contest this representation: a situation not unique to Australia. In the United States, for example, Pam Grossman has suggested that those in teacher education 'seem ill prepared to respond to critics who question the value of professional education for teachers with evidence of our effectiveness' (Grossman in J Teach Educ 59(1):10-23, ). A key question facing teacher educators, therefore, concerns the kinds of research that will most effectively allow us to lead debates about teacher preparation. This paper outlines an approach to the conceptualization and conduct of research into the effectiveness of teacher education that seeks to move debates in new directions. Drawing upon the theoretical resources of Soja (Thirdspace: journeys to Los Angeles and other real-and-imagined places, ) and Lefebre (The production of space, ) we outline the ways in which a spatial approach to conceptualizing teacher education influenced the design and conduct of a large scale, longitudinal project that investigated the question of the effectiveness of teacher education in Australia. In exploring the design features of this ARC linkage grant the paper demonstrates how research changes when teacher education is conceptualised from a spatial point of view and illustrates the ways in which consideration of the conceived, perceived and lived spaces of teacher education can move research about effectiveness into new directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanisation has the potential to increase the risk of parasitism on wildlife. Although some ectoparasite groups appear unaffected, different responses are hypothesised for parasites with simpler life histories such as gastrointestinal parasites. Red-browed finches (RBF) and the superb fairywrens (SFW), two native passerine birds affected by urbanisation, were examined for Coccidian parasites along an urbanisation gradient in New South Wales, Australia, in order to detect if prevalence might be directly related to the degree of urbanisation. Influence of urbanisation on Coccidian infection was differential. In RBF, the prevalence of Isospora increased significantly in more urbanised areas but prevalence did not change between breeding and non-breeding seasons. In contrast, in SFW, the degree of urbanisation did not significantly change with the degree of urbanisation, and season exhibited no significant effects on the prevalence of coccidians. Diet, behaviour and habits are suspected to be the most influential factors on the variation seen between both species where granivorous and gregarious species are significantly infected. Since the dynamics of urban wildlife-pathogen interactions is largely unexplored, more studies are needed to corroborate if this pattern of Isospora infections can be extended to other passerine birds in cities from Australia and overseas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Avian Haemoproteus (Haemosporida) parasites occur in birds on all continents apart from Antarctica. Molecular screening techniques have uncovered previously unforeseen levels of Haemoproteus lineage diversity; however, fewer than 20 % of genetic parasite lineages have been linked to morphological descriptions. The process of linking morphological descriptions to DNA barcodes for Haemoproteus spp. is important for the study of host-parasite interactions and the potential for cryptic speciation. Here, we describe cytochrome- b barcodes and morphological diagnostics for the identification of Haemoproteus ( Parahaemoproteus) ptilotis, a systematically confusing parasite found in Australian honeyeaters (family Meliphagidae). We characterised infections from the original type host ( Lichenostomus chrysops; Family Meliphagidae) as well as from four co-occurring meliphagid species in southeast Queensland, Australia, to investigate intraspecific variation in morphology and lineage identity. We recorded eight lineages that grouped into a well-supported monophyletic group, supporting the linkage of the described lineages to H. ptilotis. However, comparisons of diagnostics between the type host and co-occurring meliphagid hosts revealed high genetic diversity and variable morphology that could be indicative of cryptic speciation. This study highlights that morphological descriptions alongside molecular characterisation remain crucial if we are to gain an understanding of the true diversity and host specificity of protozoan parasites in Australia and elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]