Nectar sources used by birds in monsoonal north-western Australia: a regional survey

2000 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 461 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald C. Franklin ◽  
Richard A. Noske
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Regional Survey ◽  
Mass Flowering ◽  
Woodland Birds ◽  
Patterns Of Use ◽  
Frequency Of Use ◽  
Nectar Sources ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
North Western

We document the flora that provides nectar for birds in monsoonal north-western Australia, and examine the relationship between floral morphology and bird morphology in the region. Twenty-four regular nectarivores (21 honeyeaters, two lorikeets, one white-eye) and 29 opportunist species have been observed probing the flowers of 116 species of plants from 28 families. Amongst the nectar sources, the Myrtaceae is dominant in both the number of species and frequency of use, followed distantly by the Proteaceae and Loranthaceae. Variation between bird species in patterns of use of different floral structures primarily reflected the habitats occupied rather than shared or co-evolved morphology. Woodland birds made particular use of staminiferous cups, mangal specialists particular use of open sepaliferous and petaliferous flowers, and forest specialists and habitat generalists intermediate use of these flower types. Bird–flower relationships in monsoonal Australia may be generalised because of a combination of the dominance of mass-flowering myrtaceous trees, aridity during past glacials that may have eliminated specialists from the system, and perhaps also because many nectar sources are shared with bats.

Protein digestibility in sheep and cattle in north-western Australia

1968 ◽  
Vol 8 (33) ◽  
pp. 419 ◽  
Author(s):  
DW Robinson ◽  
GA Stewart
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Crude Protein ◽  
Protein Digestibility ◽  
Research Station ◽  
Digestible Crude Protein ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Protein Rich ◽  
High Degree ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
North Western

Three experiments were conducted at Kimberley Research Station, Western Australia, one with local Shorthorn cattle and two with Peppin Merino sheep from the Abydos region of Western Australia, to study the protein digestibility of various combinations of low-quality roughage and protein-rich concentrates. The relationship between the crude protein and digestible crude protein content of the feed was for cattle : % DCP = 0.832% CP - 1.58 and for sheep : % DCP = 0.865% CP - 2.21 indicating a higher ability to digest protein compared with previous values in the literature for cattle and sheep. It is suggested that the difference may be due to a high degree of adaptation to semi-arid conditions of local sheep and cattle in north-western Australia.

The effect of recent chaining on birds in the eastern wheatbelt of Western Australia

2006 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham R. Fulton ◽  
Jonathan D. Majer
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Habitat Fragmentation ◽  
Western Australia ◽  
Threatened Species ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Native Vegetation ◽  
Ecological Consequences ◽  
Bird Species Richness ◽  
Woodland Birds ◽  
Near Threatened

The decline of woodland birds that follows from habitat fragmentation, degradation and loss of connectivity is well reported in the literature. However, reports of immediate responses by birds to these events are scant. This study, in the eastern whealtbelt of Western Australia, detected that when half of a 10 ha remnant of Allocasuarina shrubland was chained (vegetation knocked over and largely killed), birds responded quickly; increaser species apparently benefited and decliner species became restricted to the remaining unchained remnant of shrubland. There was some correspondence between the trends in variety and/or abundance of arthropods with those of bird species richness. Two Near-threatened species, the White-browed Babbler Pomatostomus supercilious and the Crested Bellbird Oreoica gutturalis, were only detected in the non-chained part of the remnant. These findings clearly highlight the immediate ecological consequences of clearing of native vegetation, and highlight the importance of conserving even the smallest remaining fragments.

Biogeography and conservation of reptiles, mammals and birds across north-western Australia: an inventory and base for planning an ecological reserve system

1992 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 665 ◽  
Author(s):  
JCZ Woinarski
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Endemic Species ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Biological Information ◽  
High Rainfall ◽  
The North ◽  
Arnhem Land ◽  
Northern Fringe ◽  
Reserve System ◽  
North Western

The distributions of mammals (94 spp. =38% of the Australian total), land birds (252 spp. =52%), and terrestrial reptiles (269 spp. = 39%) in north-western Australia are analysed. Of these species, 133 (mostly reptiles) are restricted to this region. Reptiles (and especially endemic species) characteristically have small ranges in this area. For all three groups, diversity is highest in coastal, high rainfall areas (especially of Arnhem Land and the northern Kimberley). Such areas are relatively well represented in the existing nature reserve system. Assemblages of species are mapped, on the basis of classification of the 123 lo latitude by lo longitude cells in the region. For both mammal and bird species, four defined assemblages were distributed in high rainfall coastal areas, inland low rainfall areas and two transitional zones, all extending over a broad east-west span. Reptile assemblages show a similar initial (wet-dry) division, but then split into east and west subdivisions. For all three animal groups, transitional and inland assemblages are poorly reserved (<0.25% of land area). A total of 58 reserves occur in the region. Most are small (median 24km*2) and concentrated around population centres. Biological information is lacking for most reserves. Largely because of the dispersion of existing reserves, almost one quarter of the species considered (and about the same proportion of endemic species) are not known to occur in any conservation reserve in the region. Priorities are assigned for the placement of future reserves. The most significant additions should be in the north Kimberley, south-west Kimberley, northern fringe of the Tanami Desert, Gulf of Carpentaria hinterland and eastern Arnhem Land. The conservation of this fauna is not dependent solely on the provision of a park network, but demands also informed management of reserves and adequate environmental protection of land outside reserves.

scholarly journals Do woodland birds prefer to forage in healthy Eucalyptus wandoo trees?

2013 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 187 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. L. Moore ◽  
L. E. Valentine ◽  
M. D. Craig ◽  
G. E. StJ. Hardy ◽  
P. A. Fleming
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Quality ◽  
Western Australia ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Bird Community ◽  
Tree Decline ◽  
Woodland Birds ◽  
South West ◽  
Conservation Park ◽  
Condition Assessments ◽  
Eucalyptus Wandoo

Globally, many forests and woodlands are in decline. The marked loss of canopy foliage typical of these declines results in reduced foraging resources (e.g. nectar, pollen, and insects) and, subsequently, can reduce habitat quality for woodland birds. In south-west Western Australia, patches of Eucalyptus wandoo woodlands have shown a decline in condition since at least 2002. We investigated how changes in E. wandoo condition affect the woodland bird community. Foraging activities of three bird species were recorded for 20 sites in Dryandra State Forest and Wandoo Conservation Park either by conducting watches on focal trees (‘sitting’ method), or following individuals through the woodland (‘following’ method). Condition assessments of trees used by the birds were compared with those for trees available at the study site. Weebills (Smicrornis brevirostris; canopy insectivore) displayed preference for healthy trees (low amounts of canopy dieback), whereas rufous treecreepers (Climacteris rufa; bark-foraging insectivore) preferred trees with a higher proportion of dead branches. Yellow-plumed honeyeaters (Lichenostomus ornatus; insectivore/nectarivore) foraged in older, larger E. wandoo trees having full canopies with few signs of tree decline. Tree declines, such as that happening in E. wandoo, alter the foraging resources and habitat available to woodland birds.

scholarly journals Domain randomization-enhanced deep learning models for bird detection

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Mao ◽  
Jun Kang Chow ◽  
Pin Siang Tan ◽  
Kuan-fu Liu ◽  
Jimmy Wu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Deep Learning ◽  
Continuous Monitoring ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Training Data ◽  
Learning Models ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Bird Detection ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractAutomatic bird detection in ornithological analyses is limited by the accuracy of existing models, due to the lack of training data and the difficulties in extracting the fine-grained features required to distinguish bird species. Here we apply the domain randomization strategy to enhance the accuracy of the deep learning models in bird detection. Trained with virtual birds of sufficient variations in different environments, the model tends to focus on the fine-grained features of birds and achieves higher accuracies. Based on the 100 terabytes of 2-month continuous monitoring data of egrets, our results cover the findings using conventional manual observations, e.g., vertical stratification of egrets according to body size, and also open up opportunities of long-term bird surveys requiring intensive monitoring that is impractical using conventional methods, e.g., the weather influences on egrets, and the relationship of the migration schedules between the great egrets and little egrets.

Factors that contribute to urban–rural gradients in risk of schizophrenia: Comparing Danish and Western Australian registers

2021 ◽  
pp. 000486742110096
Author(s):  
Oleguer Plana-Ripoll ◽  
Patsy Di Prinzio ◽  
John J McGrath ◽  
Preben B Mortensen ◽  
Vera A Morgan
Keyword(s):  
Confidence Interval ◽  
Western Australia ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Proportional Hazards ◽  
Cox Proportional Hazards ◽  
Hazard Ratio ◽  
Indigenous Status ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Western Australian

Introduction: An association between schizophrenia and urbanicity has long been observed, with studies in many countries, including several from Denmark, reporting that individuals born/raised in densely populated urban settings have an increased risk of developing schizophrenia compared to those born/raised in rural settings. However, these findings have not been replicated in all studies. In particular, a Western Australian study showed a gradient in the opposite direction which disappeared after adjustment for covariates. Given the different findings for Denmark and Western Australia, our aim was to investigate the relationship between schizophrenia and urbanicity in these two regions to determine which factors may be influencing the relationship. Methods: We used population-based cohorts of children born alive between 1980 and 2001 in Western Australia ( N = 428,784) and Denmark ( N = 1,357,874). Children were categorised according to the level of urbanicity of their mother’s residence at time of birth and followed-up through to 30 June 2015. Linkage to State-based registers provided information on schizophrenia diagnosis and a range of covariates. Rates of being diagnosed with schizophrenia for each category of urbanicity were estimated using Cox proportional hazards models adjusted for covariates. Results: During follow-up, 1618 (0.4%) children in Western Australia and 11,875 (0.9%) children in Denmark were diagnosed with schizophrenia. In Western Australia, those born in the most remote areas did not experience lower rates of schizophrenia than those born in the most urban areas (hazard ratio = 1.02 [95% confidence interval: 0.81, 1.29]), unlike their Danish counterparts (hazard ratio = 0.62 [95% confidence interval: 0.58, 0.66]). However, when the Western Australian cohort was restricted to children of non-Aboriginal Indigenous status, results were consistent with Danish findings (hazard ratio = 0.46 [95% confidence interval: 0.29, 0.72]). Discussion: Our study highlights the potential for disadvantaged subgroups to mask the contribution of urban-related risk factors to risk of schizophrenia and the importance of stratified analysis in such cases.

scholarly journals Large‐scale eDNA metabarcoding survey reveals marine biogeographic break and transitions over tropical north‐western Australia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katrina West ◽  
Michael J. Travers ◽  
Michael Stat ◽  
Euan S. Harvey ◽  
Zoe T. Richards ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
North Western

scholarly journals Adolescent impulsiveness and use of alcohol and tobacco

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 371-382
Author(s):  
Mª del Carmen Pérez-Fuentes ◽  
José J. Gázquez ◽  
Mª del Mar Molero ◽  
Fernando Cardila ◽  
África Martos ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factor ◽  
Drug Use ◽  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Intervention Program ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Demographic Characteristics ◽  
The State ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Frequency Of Use ◽  
The Relationship

Adolescence is characterized by premature experimentation with new experiences and sensations. These experiences sometimes include drugs, which even though legal and socially accepted, begin to have noticeable negative consequences to the adolescent’s development. In recent years, a decrease in use of tobacco by Spanish adolescents has been observed, but not in alcohol. One of the causes of initiation in drug use is impulsive personality or behavior. Thus the purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between impulsiveness and frequency of use of alcohol and tobacco in 822 students aged 13 to 18 years of age. The State Impulsivity Scale (SIS) and an ad hoc questionnaire on demographic characteristics and use of alcohol and tobacco were used for this. The results showed that students who stated they were users scored significantly higher on impulsivity. Thus detailed analysis of the profile of individuals with this risk factor could favor more adequate intervention program design.

Tree Species Preferences of Foraging Birds in Jarrah Forest in Western Australia.

1985 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 461 ◽  
Author(s):  
I Abbott ◽  
PV Heurck
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Selective Logging ◽  
Jarrah Forest ◽  
Eucalyptus Marginata ◽  
Silvicultural Treatments ◽  
Species Preferences

A study of foraging by 10 bird species suggests that selective logging of large Eucalyptus marginata will only have affected Melithreptus lunatus, but that proposed silvicultural treatments, including removal of Banksia grandis, may affect several other bird species.

Ethno-ornithology of Temuan Community in Ledang, Johor

2021 ◽  
Vol 02 (01) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nor Atiqah Binti Norazlimi ◽  
◽  
Amirah Binti Mohd Sarif ◽  
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Daily Activities ◽  
Interview Session ◽  
Scientific Approach ◽  
Knowledge And Practice ◽  
The Village ◽  
The Relationship

Ethno-ornithology is the study of the relationship between people and birds. It is a natural scientific approach that explains the relationship between people’s knowledge and the use of birds in their culture. Temuan community is one of the aborigine ethnics in Malaysia. They practice lifestyles that closely associated with nature. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the ethno-ornithology knowledge and practice by Temuan Community lived around the Gunung Ledang National Park, Johor, Malaysia. A set of questionnaires was distributed to 40 respondents from the Temuan community to gather the information of birds used in their daily activities. In addition, the information was also obtained from the interview session with the head of the village (Tok Batin). The identification of the birds obtained from the questionnaire and interview was further confirmed by using reliable resources. A total of 29 bird species was successfully identified. Temuan community used birds in their daily life in many ways such as, food, pet, folklore, entertainment, and many more. Understanding ethno-ornithology between local community and avifauna is good as it helps conservationists to keep track of bird species they use and identify the sustainable ways of this practice that align with the conservation of avifauna species.

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