PROGRESS EXPLORATION IN THE SIMPSON DESERT OF CENTRAL AUSTRALIA

1962 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 40
Author(s):  
R. C. Sprigg
Keyword(s):  
Central Australia ◽  
Simpson Desert

Habitat use and behaviour of cattle in a heterogeneous desert environment in central Australia

2012 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anke S. K. Frank ◽  
Chris R. Dickman ◽  
Glenda M. Wardle
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Use ◽  
Arid Environments ◽  
Desert Environment ◽  
Point Location ◽  
Dune System ◽  
Grazing Impacts ◽  
Water Point ◽  
Resource Poor ◽  
Central Australia ◽  
Simpson Desert

The activities of livestock in arid environments typically centre on watering points, with grazing impacts often predicted to decrease uniformly, as radial piospheres, with distance from water. In patchy desert environments, however, the spatial distribution of grazing impacts is more difficult to predict. In this study sightings and dung transects are used to identify preferred cattle habitats in the heterogeneous dune system of the Simpson Desert, central Australia. The importance of watering points as foci for cattle activity was confirmed and it was shown that patchily distributed gidgee woodland, which comprises only 16% of the desert environment, is the most heavily used habitat for cattle away from water and provides critical forage and shade resources. By contrast, dune swales and sides, which are dominated by shade- and forage-deficient spinifex grassland and comprise >70% of the available habitat, were less utilised. These results suggest that habitat use by cattle is influenced jointly by water point location and by the dispersion of woodland patches in a resource-poor matrix. The findings were used to build a modified conceptual model of cattle habitat use which was compared with an original piosphere model, and the consequences for wildlife in environments where the model applies are discussed.

ORGANIC PETROLOGY AND GEOCHEMISTRY OF SOURCE ROCKS IN THE PEDIRKA-SIMPSON BASINS CENTRAL AUSTRALIA

1981 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 187
Author(s):  
M. Smyth ◽  
J. D. Saxby
Keyword(s):  
Petroleum Hydrocarbons ◽  
Vitrinite Reflectance ◽  
Geothermal Gradient ◽  
Source Rocks ◽  
Volatile Hydrocarbons ◽  
Organic Petrology ◽  
Reflected Light ◽  
Petrology And Geochemistry ◽  
Central Australia ◽  
Simpson Desert

Sediments from the Permian Pedirka Basin and the overlying Triassic Simpson Desert Basin have been studied to determine their potentials as source rocks for hydrocarbons. Principal techniques used are reflected light microscopy, including vitrinite reflectance, solvent extraction and kerogen isolation.Dispersed organic matter (DOM) occurs through the Permian and Triassic sequences, and is most abundant near the top of the Triassic, constituting up to 2 per cent of the sediments by volume. Of this DOM, 30 to 50 per cent is vitrinite plus exinite. The Permian and Triassic coals have vitrinite reflectivities of up to 0.9 per cent. The geothermal gradient in the vicinity of Poolowanna 1 is probably sufficient to cause the cutinite within the Triassic sediments to break down into petroleum hydrocarbons. In the case of the Poolowanna Jurassic oil show, migration up faults and accumulation in high-temperature reservoirs have been accompanied by the loss of volatile hydrocarbons.

scholarly journals Bust economics: foragers choose high quality habitats in lean times

PeerJ ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. e1609 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonny S. Bleicher ◽  
Christopher R. Dickman
Keyword(s):  
Population Level ◽  
Food Density ◽  
Habitat Patches ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Behavioral Choices ◽  
Foraging Decisions ◽  
Central Australia ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Simpson Desert ◽  
Missed Opportunity

In environments where food resources are spatially variable and temporarily impoverished, consumers that encounter habitat patches with different food density should focus their foraging initially where food density is highest before they move to patches where food density is lower. Increasing missed opportunity costs should drive individuals progressively to patches with lower food density as resources in the initially high food density patches deplete. To test these expectations, we assessed the foraging decisions of two species of dasyurid marsupials (dunnarts:Sminthopsis hirtipesandS. youngsoni) during a deep drought, or bust period, in the Simpson Desert of central Australia. Dunnarts were allowed access to three patches containing different food densities using an interview chamber experiment. Both species exhibited clear preference for the high density over the lower food density patches as measured in total harvested resources. Similarly, when measuring the proportion of resources harvested within the patches, we observed a marginal preference for patches with initially high densities. Models analyzing behavioral choices at the population level found no differences in behavior between the two species, but models analyzing choices at the individual level uncovered some variation. We conclude that dunnarts can distinguish between habitat patches with different densities of food and preferentially exploit the most valuable. As our observations were made during bust conditions, experiments should be repeated during boom times to assess the foraging economics of dunnarts when environmental resources are high.

Population dynamics of three species of dasyurid marsupials in arid central Australia: a 10-year study

2001 ◽  
Vol 28 (5) ◽  
pp. 493 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher R. Dickman ◽  
Adele S. Haythornthwaite ◽  
Gayle H. McNaught ◽  
Paul S. Mahon ◽  
Bobby Tamayo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Arid Zone ◽  
Early Spring ◽  
Early Summer ◽  
Late Winter ◽  
Sand Ridge ◽  
Red Foxes ◽  
Central Australia ◽  
Simpson Desert

This study investigated the population dynamics of three species of dasyurid marsupials in sand ridge habitat of the Simpson Desert, western Queensland, over a 10-year period between March 1990 and December 1999. The lesser hairy-footed dunnart (Sminthopsis youngsoni), was captured most consistently over the period of study, followed by the wongai ningaui (Ningaui ridei), and the mulgara (Dasycercus cristicauda). Rates of recapture were low (4.5–22.2%), probably because individuals of each species are very mobile. All species bred in late winter or early spring when animals were aged at least 8–10 months, and independent juveniles first appeared usually in summer. S. youngsoni reared a second litter in late spring or early summer in 3 of the 10 years studied, when the availability of food was likely to have been high; neither N. ridei nor D. cristicauda were known to attempt a second litter within a season. To explore factors that might influence population dynamics, we compared capture rates of each species with measures of rainfall, temperature, vegetation cover, abundance of predators [feral cats (Felis catus), red foxes (Vulpes vulpes), and goannas (Varanus spp.)], dragons, other dasyurids and indices of food abundance. The abundance of S. youngsoni appeared to depend primarily on the cover of spinifex 7–9 months earlier, that of D. cristicauda was related most strongly to rainfall 7–9 months earlier, while that of N. ridei was related to minimum temperature lagged by 1–3 months. While the dynamics of other arid-zone mammals are driven demonstrably by interactions between rainfall, resource availability and predation, our findings suggest that dasyurids have limited flexibility in their life histories and are influenced more subtly and by factors such as facilitation that are just beginning to become apparent.

The Huckitta meteorite, Central Australia (With Plates XII-XV.)

1939 ◽  
Vol 25 (165) ◽  
pp. 353-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. T. Madigan
Keyword(s):  
North East ◽  
The North ◽  
Natural Surface ◽  
Malleable Iron ◽  
Central Australia ◽  
Simpson Desert ◽  
North End

The author arrived at Huckitta station, 135 miles north-east of Alice Springs, towards the end of June, 1937, on an expedition to the Tarlton Range at the north end of the Simpson Desert. The manager of the station, Mr. W. Madrill, said that a haft-caste named Mick Laughton employed on the station had a stone he would like to show, and this was produced by Laughton in the usual diffident manner of the half-caste. It proved to be a flat, rusty mass weighing a little over nine pounds. A few knocks with a hammer soon showed it to consist in part at least of malleable iron, and a meteorite was at once suggested. The specimen was not very closely examined, and the olivines, which show up so excellently on the polished surfaces, were entirely overlooked, which is quite easily done in the case of the iron-shale or the more weathered natural surface of the meteorite, although olivine makes up more than half the volume. It was said that the specimen came off a big stone which stood several feet out of the ground.

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