Early and late colonizers in mine site rehabilitated waste dumps in the Goldfields of Western Australia

2007 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 235 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham G. Thomson ◽  
Scott A. Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Mammal Species ◽  
Open Spaces ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Waste Dumps ◽  
Reptile Species ◽  
Successional Stages ◽  
Generalist Diet ◽  
Species Richness And Abundance ◽  
Early And Late Colonizers

We examined the abundance of reptile and mammal species on five rehabilitated waste dumps in the early successional stages in the mined area around Ora Banda in Western Australia and compared these data with species richness and abundance in adjacent undisturbed areas. Mammal species common in the undisturbed areas were also found in relatively high abundance on waste dumps, with the exception of Pseudomys hermannsburgensis. In contrast, not all reptile species in the adjacent undisturbed areas had colonized waste dumps. However, a high proportion of those reptile species that were caught on rehabilitated waste dumps were at lower numbers than in the adjacent undisturbed areas, indicating that they were slow colonizers. Reptiles Underwoodisaurus milii, Heteronotia binoei and Pogona minor and mammals Mus musculus and Sminthopsis crassicauda are among the early colonizing species that flourish in the developing ecosystem on waste dumps. Species able to exploit a diverse range of niches, tolerate open spaces, have a generalist diet and good dispersal capabilities are the early colonizers. In contrast, species with a specialist diet or micro-habitat requirements are slow to colonize rehabilitated waste dumps and will initially be represented in low numbers. We encourage mining companies and regulators to change the size and shape of waste dumps, and to seed with species found in the adjacent undisturbed areas to hasten the colonization of vertebrate species on to waste dumps and the creation of functional ecosystems.

scholarly journals Reptiles sold as traditional medicine in Xipamanine and Xiquelene Markets (Maputo, Mozambique)

2016 ◽  
Vol Volume 112 (Number 7/8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivienne L. Williams ◽  
Thibedi J. Moshoeu ◽  
Graham J. Alexander ◽  
◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
International Trade ◽  
Traditional Medicine ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Traditional Medicines ◽  
Domestic Trade ◽  
Reptile Species

Abstract Zootherapy plays a role in healing practices in Mozambican society. Although several studies have focused on ethnobotany and traditional medicine in the country, little research has been conducted on the use of reptiles in zootherapy. The aim of this study was therefore to fill this gap by assessing the reptile species traded for traditional medicine in the Xipamanine and Xiquelene Markets in Maputo, Mozambique. We found that few reptile species are traded domestically for traditional medicine and that their use appears to be in decline in Mozambique. Our findings also suggest that the domestic trade of reptiles for traditional medicines in Maputo markets is unlikely to have a significant impact on the conservation of reptiles in Mozambique. However, we suggest that international trade with South Africa is likely having a larger impact, given observations of Mozambican nationals selling a diverse range of fauna in urban traditional medicine markets in Johannesburg and Durban.

scholarly journals Large mammal species richness and late Quaternary precipitation change in south-western Australia

2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (6) ◽  
pp. 760-769 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Tyler Faith ◽  
Joe Dortch ◽  
Chelsea Jones ◽  
James Shulmeister ◽  
Kenny J. Travouillon
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Western Australia ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Precipitation Change ◽  
Mammal Species ◽  
Large Mammal

scholarly journals Edge effects and landscape matrix use by a small mammal community in fragments of semideciduous submontane forest in Mato Grosso, Brazil

2008 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 703-710 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Santos-Filho ◽  
DJ. da Silva ◽  
TM. Sanaiotti
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Small Mammal ◽  
Species Number ◽  
Sampling Effort ◽  
Similar Species ◽  
Species Accumulation Curves ◽  
Mammal Species ◽  
Mato Grosso ◽  
Species Accumulation ◽  
Species Richness And Abundance

A community of small mammals was studied in seasonal semideciduous submontane forest in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil. This study evaluated the use of edge and matrix pasture, by different small mammal species. Overall, 31 areas were studied, with a total sampling effort of 33,800 trap x nights. Only seven of the 25 species captured in the study sites were able to use the pasture matrix; we classified these species as generalists. Fourteen species were found to be intermediate in habits, being able to use forest edges. We found only four species habitat specialists, occurring only on transect lines in the interior of the fragment, at least 150 m from the edge. Transects located in the pasture matrix and 50 m from the edge had significantly lower species richness and abundance than transects located in the fragment edge or in the interior of the fragment. All transects located within the fragment had similar species richness and abundance, but transects located 50 m from the edge had slightly lower, but non-significant, species richness than transects located 100 m apart from edges. Rarefaction curves demonstrated that only medium-sized fragments (100 300 ha) reached an asymptote of species accumulation. The other areas require further sampling, or more sampling transect, before species accumulation curves stabilize, due to a continued increase in species number.

Dietary overlap between sympatric dingoes and feral cats at a semiarid rangeland site in Western Australia

2015 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim S. Doherty
Keyword(s):  
Small Mammals ◽  
Western Australia ◽  
Small Mammal ◽  
Food Item ◽  
Dietary Diversity ◽  
Dietary Overlap ◽  
Mammal Species ◽  
Feral Cats ◽  
Common Food ◽  
Semiarid Rangeland

The diet of sympatric dingoes and feral cats was studied in the semiarid southern rangelands of Western Australia. A total of 163 scats were collected over a period of 19 months. Rabbit remains were the most common food item in cat scats, followed by reptiles, small mammals and birds. Macropod remains were the most common food item in dingo scats, followed by rabbits and birds. Dingo scats did not contain small mammal remains, and infrequently contained arthropod and reptile remains. Cat and dingo scats contained remains from 11 and six mammal species, respectively. Of the small mammals, cat scats contained rodent remains more frequently than those of dasyurids. Dietary diversity of cats was higher than for dingoes and dietary overlap between the two species was relatively low.

scholarly journals Fauna of the Land Habitats of the Pivka Lakes

2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Slavko Polak
Keyword(s):  
Animal Species ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
Active Management ◽  
Mammal Species ◽  
Amphibian Species ◽  
Reptile Species ◽  
Extensive Farming ◽  
Management And Conservation

V prispevku je podan pregled trenutnega poznavanja favne kopenskih habitatov Pivških jezer. Doslej je bilo na območju ugotovljenih 20 vrst sesalcev in 127 vrst ptic. Od ptic jih 75 vrst tu tudi gnezdi. Izpostavljene so vrst evropske ohranitvene pozornosti kot so kosec, hribski škrjanec, podhujka in pisana penica. Pisana penica, poljski škrjanec, rjavi srakoper in velik strnad imajo na Pivških jezerih ene največjih gnezditvenih gostot v državi. Na območju Pivških jezer je bilo doslej ugotovljenih 8 vrst plazilcev in 9 vrst dvoživk. Večina vrst je uvrščena na rdeči seznam ogroženih živali. Metulji dnevniki so relativno dobro raziskani. Za območje je znanih 106 vrst kar znaša 57% vseh v Sloveniji živečih vrst metuljev. Tudi med metulji je veliko ogroženih in ranljivih vrst. Doslej je znanih prek 210 vrst hroščev. Ocenjeno je, da tu živi med 4000 do 6000 vrst hroščev. Veliko ogroženih vrst je vezanih na močvirne travnike jezer, suha kraška travišča ter kamnite griže. Za gozdove in grmišča je značilnih manj ogroženih vrst živali. Naravovarstveno so pomembni ostanki starih hrastovih gozdov. Na območju Pivških jezer je zaradi opuščanja človekove rabe opaziti hitro zaraščanje travišč, kar vodi v zmanjševanje biotske pestrosti. Poleg pravnega zavarovanja Pivških jezer je zato predlagano aktivno upravljanje, ohranjanje in usmerjanje ter spodbujanje dosedanje ekstenzivne kmetijske rabe.  The paper gives an overview of the current knowledge of the fauna of the land habitats around the Pivka lakes. So far 20 mammal species and 127 bird species have been identified. Of the bird species, 75 also nest here. Special attention is paid to European conservation species such as the corn crake, woodlark, nightjar and barred warbler. The nesting density of the barred warbler, skylark, red-backed shrike and corn bunting at the Pivka lakes is among the highest in the country. In the area of the Pivka lakes 8 reptile species and 9 amphibian species have been identified. The majority of these species are on the Red List of Threatened Animals. The butterflies have been relatively well researched. 106 species have been identified in the area, which amounts to 57% of all species of butterflies living in Slovenia. Many of them are threatened and vulnerable species. To the present, 210 species of beetles have been identified, live here. Many of the threatened species are connected with the marshy grasslands of the lakes, dry karst grasslands and barren rocky outcrops. There are fewer threatened animal species in the forests and brush. The remains of old oak forests are scientifically important. Due to the abandonment of land use by humans in the area of the Pivka lakes we can observe the rapid overgrowth of pasturelands, which leads to decreased biodiversity. In addition to legal protection of the Pivka lakes it is therefore also recommend active management and conservation as well as preserving and encouragement of the formerly extensive farming practices. 

scholarly journals A Convolutional Neural Network for Automated Detection of Humpback Whale Song in a Diverse, Long-Term Passive Acoustic Dataset

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann N. Allen ◽  
Matt Harvey ◽  
Lauren Harrell ◽  
Aren Jansen ◽  
Karlina P. Merkens ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neural Network ◽  
Convolutional Neural Network ◽  
Characteristic Curve ◽  
Humpback Whale ◽  
Learning Approaches ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Patterns ◽  
Mammal Species ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Acoustic Data ◽  
Passive Acoustic

Passive acoustic monitoring is a well-established tool for researching the occurrence, movements, and ecology of a wide variety of marine mammal species. Advances in hardware and data collection have exponentially increased the volumes of passive acoustic data collected, such that discoveries are now limited by the time required to analyze rather than collect the data. In order to address this limitation, we trained a deep convolutional neural network (CNN) to identify humpback whale song in over 187,000 h of acoustic data collected at 13 different monitoring sites in the North Pacific over a 14-year period. The model successfully detected 75 s audio segments containing humpback song with an average precision of 0.97 and average area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC-ROC) of 0.992. The model output was used to analyze spatial and temporal patterns of humpback song, corroborating known seasonal patterns in the Hawaiian and Mariana Islands, including occurrence at remote monitoring sites beyond well-studied aggregations, as well as novel discovery of humpback whale song at Kingman Reef, at 5∘ North latitude. This study demonstrates the ability of a CNN trained on a small dataset to generalize well to a highly variable signal type across a diverse range of recording and noise conditions. We demonstrate the utility of active learning approaches for creating high-quality models in specialized domains where annotations are rare. These results validate the feasibility of applying deep learning models to identify highly variable signals across broad spatial and temporal scales, enabling new discoveries through combining large datasets with cutting edge tools.

scholarly journals Genetic Consequences of Multiple Translocations of the Banded Hare-Wallaby in Western Australia

Diversity ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 448
Author(s):  
Daniel J. White ◽  
Kym Ottewell ◽  
Peter B. S. Spencer ◽  
Michael Smith ◽  
Jeff Short ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Allelic Diversity ◽  
Population Viability Analysis ◽  
High Survival ◽  
Mammal Species ◽  
Viability Analysis ◽  
Invasive Predators ◽  
Source Populations ◽  
Environmental Events ◽  
The Impact

Many Australian mammal species now only occur on islands and fenced mainland havens free from invasive predators. The range of one species, the banded hare-wallaby (Lagostrophus fasciatus), had contracted to two offshore islands in Western Australia. To improve survival, four conservation translocations have been attempted with mixed success, and all occurred in the absence of genetic information. Here, we genotyped seven polymorphic microsatellite markers in two source (Bernier Island and Dorre Island), two historic captive, and two translocated L. fasciatus populations to determine the impact of multiple translocations on genetic diversity. Subsequently, we used population viability analysis (PVA) and gene retention modelling to determine scenarios that will maximise demographic resilience and genetic richness of two new populations that are currently being established. One translocated population (Wadderin) has undergone a genetic bottleneck and lost 8.1% of its source population’s allelic diversity, while the other (Faure Island) may be inbred. We show that founder number is a key parameter when establishing new L. fasciatus populations and 100 founders should lead to high survival probabilities. Our modelling predicts that during periodic droughts, the recovery of source populations will be slower post-harvest, while 75% more animals—about 60 individuals—are required to retain adequate allelic diversity in the translocated population. Our approach demonstrates how genetic data coupled with simulations of stochastic environmental events can address central questions in translocation programmes.

Theoretical foundations of narrative care: Turning towards relational ethics

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 1917-1927 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bodil H Blix ◽  
Charlotte Berendonk ◽  
Vera Caine
Keyword(s):  
Political Activism ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Relational Ethics ◽  
Open Spaces ◽  
Social Equality ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Jane Addams ◽  
Ethical Frameworks ◽  
The Past ◽  
Theoretical Foundations

In the past decades, narrative practices have been developed, and care has been conceptualized as being narrative in nature. More recently, narrative care has been developing both as a practice and a field of study. It is necessary to make the theoretical foundations of narrative care visible to avoid the risk of narrowly defining narrative care as a matter of storytelling and listening. In this article, we develop an understanding of narrative care grounded in early feminist pragmatist philosophy, with a focus on social and political activism and experience. Pragmatism holds the possibilities to open spaces for realities that are constantly in flux and for emergent situations that must be considered across time, diverse places and social contexts. With the aid of Vera’s stories about her relationship with Tammy, we demonstrate the importance of recognizing that realities are multiple, complex and uncertain. Furthermore, we discuss how the stronghold of formula stories and issues of power, positioning and inequities, restrict people’s possibilities to be, become and co-author their stories. We also argue that the playfulness, imagination and world travelling of narrative care are in line with early feminist pragmatism, which draws on a wide and diverse range of experiences. Jane Addams linked democracy to dialogue, joint experiences and social equality. This calls for the development of ethical frameworks grounded in care that are more specifically focused on relational ethics and a commitment to dialogical and relational democracy and the prioritization of community.

Influence of pit-trap type on the interpretation of fauna diversity

2005 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott A. Thompson ◽  
Graham G. Thompson ◽  
Philip C. Withers
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Mammal Species ◽  
Faunal Diversity ◽  
The Common ◽  
Mammal Assemblages

We compare bias in the interpretation of sampled reptile and mammal assemblages caught using 20-L PVC buckets and PVC pipes (150 mm by 600 mm deep) when used as pit-traps. We report on 16 632 pipe- and 16 632 bucket-nights of pit-trap data collected over 11 survey periods spread over 2.5 years around Ora Banda in Western Australia. Buckets caught more reptiles and more of the common ‘small’ and ‘medium’-sized reptiles, whereas pipes caught more mammals and the larger of the small trappable mammals. The trappability of some families of reptiles and some mammal species differs between buckets and pipes. We conclude that different pit-trap types provide a bias in the interpretation of the sampled fauna assemblage. Differences in the interpretation of vertebrate faunal diversity were accentuated by low trapping effort but attenuated by high trapping effort. We recommend that both buckets and pipes be employed as pit-traps during fauna surveys (as well as alternatives such as funnel traps) to more fully document fauna assemblages being surveyed.

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