A red kangaroo, Macropus rufus, recovered 25 years after marking in north-western New South Wales.

1992 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 141
Author(s):  
P. Bailey ◽  
L. Best

NA

1971 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 29 ◽  
Author(s):  
PT Bailey ◽  
PN Martensz ◽  
RD Barker

1981 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 465 ◽  
Author(s):  
CN Johnson ◽  
PG Bayliss

The kangaroo populations of Kinchega National Park respond differently to shifts in pasture productivity, red kangaroos Macropus rufus being mobile and unevenly distributed with respect to soil and vegetation types, by comparison with the more evenly dispersed western grey kangaroos M. fuliginosus and the sedentary and localized euros M, robustus erubescens. Red kangaroo population classes tend to be differentially distributed, so that large males and heavily lactating females predominate on the seasonally preferred pastures, while other classes tend to predominate elsewhere. This finding has several implications for the management of red kangaroos and for our understanding of their resource ecology and mating systems.


1979 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 237 ◽  
Author(s):  
EM Russell

Red kangaroos, observed in the field in western New South Wales, were dispersed in small groups which, although aggregated near shelter, food or water, appeared to move independently. The temporal stability of these small groups is not known. Mean group size was 2.6, and more animals were seen in groups of two, three or four than were seen alone. Groups of two were most common, more than half of them containing one female with young-at-foot. Mixed-sex groups with one or several adult males were found.


1985 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 337 ◽  
Author(s):  
DB Croft

Red kangaroos Macropus rufus and euros M. robustus were observed drinking at a stock trough in northwestern New South Wales. The populations of both species were divided into five age-sex classes. Drinking and agonistic behaviour was similar across classes and species. Inter- and intraspecific conflict between these classes for a drinking position were analysed. Within species, there is a size-related hierarchy for gaining and maintaining a drinking space, favouring the larger class. Interspecifically, euros, the smaller species, dominate equivalent age classes of red kangaroos. Retaliation in aggressive encounters is more likely between adjacent rank neighbours than those more distant in the hierarchy. Drinking individuals tend to win more encounters than individuals attempting to gain a drinking place. The longer a kangaroo has been drinking the less likely it is to act aggressively to an intruder. When drinking, spacing between kangaroos is essentially random. Both species displace another individual at a similar mean distance of 0.6-0.8 m, but spacing between adult euros is wider than between adult red kangaroos. Spacing is modified by the relative positions of neighbours on either side of the trough. The results are discussed in terms of social and other factors that may have led to the euro's dominance of the red kangaroo at water.


2006 ◽  
Vol 285 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 245-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. T. McHenry ◽  
B. R. Wilson ◽  
J. M. Lemon ◽  
D. E. Donnelly ◽  
I. G. Growns

2004 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 45 ◽  
Author(s):  
AD Bilton ◽  
DB Croft

Female reproductive success and the recruitment of offspring to the next generation are key components of animal population dynamics. With an annual commercial harvest of between 13 and 22% of the red kangaroo (Macropus rufus) population, it is increasingly important that these processes are understood. We used data on the reproductive success of 33 free-ranging female M. rufus on Fowlers Gap station in far western New South Wales to determine the expected lifetime reproductive success (LRS) of females within an unharvested population. We also designed a model to generate predictions about female LRS incorporating empirical relationships between a mother?s reproductive success and maternal age, environmental conditions and the sex and survivorship of a previous reproductive attempt. Results from observations on female LRS (calculated from annual weaning rates) and those generated by the model predict that female M. rufus on ?Fowlers Gap? wean, on average, 3.7 young in a lifetime (ranges 0 - 11 and 0 - 20, respectively); representing only 41% of their maximum reproductive potential. Manipulation of initial starting conditions allowed the effect of varying environmental conditions on female LRS to be explored. The condition of the environment when females commence breeding does not appear to significantly affect their overall lifetime reproductive output. However, the occurrence of drought does. Females experiencing two droughts in a lifetime did not live as long and weaned fewer offspring and grandoffspring (from their daughters) than those females experiencing only one drought in a lifetime. In addition to the adverse effect of drought on the reproductive success of female M. rufus in this study, we suggest that, given the relatively high and stable population densities of M. rufus on ?Fowlers Gap?, other mechanisms (acting primarily on juvenile survival) must exist which limit population growth.


1998 ◽  
Vol 38 (6) ◽  
pp. 555 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. Bowman ◽  
D. M. Hebb ◽  
D. J. Munnich ◽  
J. Brockwell

Summary. Populations of Rhizobium meliloti in self-mulching clay soils (Vertisols) at 48 sites on 27 properties in north-western New South Wales were classified according to number and ability to fix nitrogen with several species of Medicago. Rhizobia were counted using serial dilution, nodulation frequency, plant infection tests. Abilities of the soil populations to fix nitrogen were determined in the laboratory with whole-soil inoculation of Medicago seedlings in test tubes with shoots exposed to the atmosphere and roots within the tubes under bacteriological control, and in the field using a technique based on the natural abundance of 15N in the soil. The majority of soils contained >1000 cells of R. meliloti per gram. The major component of those populations fixed nitrogen with lucerne (Medicago sativa) and some components of some soils also fixed nitrogen with M. polymorpha, M. scutellata, M. littoralis, M. tornata, M. laciniata and Trigonella suavissima. However, a number of soils were located which contained few if any rhizobia effective in nitrogen fixation with M. polymorpha. Overall, the effectiveness of nitrogen fixation of the naturally occurring populations of R. meliloti in association with M. polymorpha, M. scutellata, M. littoralis and M. tornata was only 46% of the effectiveness of standard strains. At one particular site, where 10 lines of annual Medicago spp. were growing experimentally, fixed nitrogen as a proportion of shoot nitrogen averaged only 28%. At that site, there were no effective rhizobia for M. scutellata and it was wholly dependent on the soil as the source of its nitrogen. The results are discussed in relation to the need for a substantial input of legume nitrogen for restoring the natural fertility of self-mulching clay soils in degraded wheat lands of north-western New South Wales. It is suggested that lucerne, or perhaps other perennial Medicago spp., might fill this role better than annual medics such as M. polymorpha and M. scutellata that are more dependent than lucerne on specific strains of R. meliloti to meet their requirements for symbiotic nitrogen fixation.


1988 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 413 ◽  
Author(s):  
D Priddel

Habitat utilisation by sympatric red kangaroos, Macropus rufus, and western grey kangaroos, M. fuliginosus, was monitored by aerial survey. Red kangaroos used floodplain and sandplain with equal intensity. Western grey kangaroos favoured floodplain and utilised woodland on both landforms relatively more than did red kangaroos. Movements of kangaroos between sandplain and floodplain paralleled changes in pasture condition. Red kangaroos responded to pasture growth, moving to sandplain immediately after rain. Western greys followed up to 3 months later, the increase in use of sandplain being weakly correlated (r = 0.70) to an increase in pasture biomass. There was no evidence of any temporal change in use of either woodland or open plain by either species.


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