The birds of “Koobabbie” in the northern wheatbelt of Western Australia (1987–2011) and the contribution of the farm to conservation of the region’s avifauna

2013 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denis A Saunders ◽  
Alison Doley

The avifauna of Koobabbie, a 7 173 ha wheat and sheep property in the northern wheatbelt of Western Australia with 41.5% the property under remnant native vegetation, was monitored on a weekly basis from May 1987 to December 2011. Recorded during this period were 131 species, comprising 55 residents, seven regular visitors, 14 irregular visitors and 55 vagrants. Fifteen species declined over the 25 years, with one species being extirpated and two species increased. Two other species increased until early this century and then declined. The avifauna of Koobabbie was compared with that of the Northern Agricultural Catchment Council region, in the middle of which region the property is located. Koobabbie comprehensively represented the region’s avifauna and contributed significantly to conservation of the region’s avifauna. This study demonstrates the importance of continuous long-term datasets from a single locality. The need to set up a network of such monitoring sites over much of Australia in order to provide information for management of natural resources is discussed.

2012 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denis A Saunders ◽  
A J McAleer

Woopenatty was a 7,293 ha wheat-sheep property in the Geraldton Sandplains biogeographic region of the northern wheatbelt of Western Australia. Data were collected on the presence of bird species seen on a weekly basis on the property from October 1987 until the end of 2002. A total of 133 species was recorded from the property during this period with 52 species of resident, 16 species of regular visitor, 15 species of irregular visitor and 50 vagrant species. The avifauna of the property was compared with records collated from 1904 from eight locations within a radius of 110 km of the property and from records within a radius of 50 km of the property from two Birds Australia atlases (1977– 1981 and 1997–2002). Seventy-four percent of the species, including many dependent on remnant native vegetation, recorded from the other localities were recorded on Woopenatty. The property was clearly of importance for conservation of the avifauna of the Geraldton Sandplains. This study illustrates the importance of publishing descriptions of regional biota in order to assess changes over time and the significance of remnant native vegetation on private property to conservation. Suggestions for setting priorities for conservation and management of such remnant native vegetation are made.


1997 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 745 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harry F. Recher

In January 1989, a wildfire burnt 120 ha (45%) of the 267 ha of native vegetation in Kings Park, Perth, Western Australia. The area burnt included a transect along which birds had been censused during 1986 for comparison with censuses on the same transect during 1928–37 and 1952–55. Counts of birds along the transect from 1989 to 1995 indicate a slow recovery in numbers for 11 (38%) of 29 species present in 1986. Two species disappeared from the transect, but one of these was found elsewhere in the park. There are many reasons for the changes in the avifauna of Kings Park, including changes to the structure of the vegetation, the increasing isolation of the park from other native vegetation, and changes in the distribution and abundance of species outside the Perth region. The long-term trends in the avifauna and the impact of the 1989 fire indicate that a new approach to the management of the Park’s vegetation may be required. For example, to avert continuing declines in the Park’s avifauna, it may be helpful to re-establish a canopy of eucalypts and to create a more open understorey with some bare ground. However, the impact of the 1989 fire and the slow recovery of the avifauna illustrate the sensitivity of small reserves to major disturbances and the difficulty of conserving the original biota without intensive intervention.


Soil Research ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 326 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Robertson ◽  
R. J. George ◽  
M. H. O'Connor ◽  
W. Dawes ◽  
Y. M. Oliver ◽  
...  

Many estimates have been made of the future likely extent of salinity at regional and national scales in Australia; however, there are few detailed studies of changes in temporal and spatial patterns at catchment scale. This study was conducted in the Wallatin and O’Brien catchments in the low–medium rainfall zone of the central wheatbelt of Western Australia, where we examined the spatial trends in saline land over the last 18 years and related these to the likely rate and extent of future salinisation. The analysis showed that: (1) salinity has continued to expand post-1999 in landscape positions where there has been watertable rise and also in areas now at equilibrium even though rainfall has been below average; (2) increases in the area of salinity are still dominated by increases in the valley floor but there is now the emergence of many small, isolated outbreaks on the adjacent slopes; (3) widely available satellite-derived salinity maps (LandMonitor) derived in 1998 provide a reliable base-line for saline mapping but now underestimate the area of salt-affected land by 60%; (4) the trend in watertable levels and time since clearing and interactions with proximity to uncleared native vegetation provide reliable predictors of salinity risk; (5) episodic rainfall in areas of shallow watertables is proposed as a significant cause of the expansion in observed salinisation, even though some of this may be transient. These results are discussed in terms of management options for farmers and the likely long-term outlook for expansion of salinity in the catchment.


2000 ◽  
Vol 151 (3) ◽  
pp. 80-83
Author(s):  
Pascal Schneider ◽  
Jean-Pierre Sorg

In and around the state-owned forest of Farako in the region of Sikasso, Mali, a large-scale study focused on finding a compromise allowing the existential and legitimate needs of the population to be met and at the same time conserving the forest resources in the long term. The first step in research was to sketch out the rural socio-economic context and determine the needs for natural resources for autoconsumption and commercial use as well as the demand for non-material forest services. Simultaneously, the environmental context of the forest and the resources available were evaluated by means of inventories with regard to quality and quantity. According to an in-depth comparison between demand and potential, there is a differentiated view of the suitability of the forest to meet the needs of the people living nearby. Propositions for a multipurpose management of the forest were drawn up. This contribution deals with some basic elements of research methodology as well as with results of the study.


2011 ◽  
Vol 48 (No. 1) ◽  
pp. 20-26
Author(s):  
M. Birkás ◽  
T. Szalai ◽  
C. Gyuricza ◽  
M. Gecse ◽  
K. Bordás

This research was instigated by the fact that during the last decade annually repeated shallow disk tillage on the same field became frequent practice in Hungary. In order to study the changes of soil condition associated with disk tillage and to assess it is consequences, long-term tillage field experiments with different levels of nutrients were set up in 1991 (A) and in 1994 (B) on Chromic Luvisol at Gödöllö. The effects of disk tillage (D) and disk tillage combined with loosening (LD) on soil condition, on yield of maize and winter wheat, and on weed infestation were examined. The evaluation of soil condition measured by cone index and bulk density indicated that use of disking annually resulted in a dense soil layer below the disking depth (diskpan-compaction). It was found, that soil condition deteriorated by diskpan-compaction decreased the yield of maize significantly by 20 and 42% (w/w), and that of wheat by 13 and 15% (w/w) when compared to soils with no diskpan-compaction. Averaged over seven years, and three fertilizer levels, the cover % of the total, grass and perennial weeds on loosened soils were 73, 69 and 65% of soils contained diskpan-compaction.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (8) ◽  
pp. 2681
Author(s):  
Kedir Mamo Besher ◽  
Juan Ivan Nieto-Hipolito ◽  
Raymundo Buenrostro-Mariscal ◽  
Mohammed Zamshed Ali

With constantly increasing demand in connected society Internet of Things (IoT) network is frequently becoming congested. IoT sensor devices lose more power while transmitting data through congested IoT networks. Currently, in most scenarios, the distributed IoT devices in use have no effective spectrum based power management, and have no guarantee of a long term battery life while transmitting data through congested IoT networks. This puts user information at risk, which could lead to loss of important information in communication. In this paper, we studied the extra power consumed due to retransmission of IoT data packet and bad communication channel management in a congested IoT network. We propose a spectrum based power management solution that scans channel conditions when needed and utilizes the lowest congested channel for IoT packet routing. It also effectively measured power consumed in idle, connected, paging and synchronization status of a standard IoT device in a congested IoT network. In our proposed solution, a Freescale Freedom Development Board (FREDEVPLA) is used for managing channel related parameters. While supervising the congestion level and coordinating channel allocation at the FREDEVPLA level, our system configures MAC and Physical layer of IoT devices such that it provides the outstanding power utilization based on the operating network in connected mode compared to the basic IoT standard. A model has been set up and tested using freescale launchpads. Test data show that battery life of IoT devices using proposed spectrum based power management increases by at least 30% more than non-spectrum based power management methods embedded within IoT devices itself. Finally, we compared our results with the basic IoT standard, IEEE802.15.4. Furthermore, the proposed system saves lot of memory for IoT devices, improves overall IoT network performance, and above all, decrease the risk of losing data packets in communication. The detail analysis in this paper also opens up multiple avenues for further research in future use of channel scanning by FREDEVPLA board.


Focaal ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 2009 (54) ◽  
pp. 89-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Projit Bihari Mukharji

The reflections in this article were instigated by the repeated and brutal clashes since 2007 between peasants and the state government’s militias—both official and unofficial—over the issue of industrialization. A communist government engaging peasants violently in order to acquire and transfer their lands to big business houses to set up capitalist enterprises seemed dramatically ironic. De- spite the presence of many immediate causes for the conflict, subtle long-term change to the nature of communist politics in the state was also responsible for the present situation. This article identifies two trends that, though significant, are by themselves not enough to explain what is happening in West Bengal today. First, the growth of a culture of governance where the Communist Party actively seeks to manage rather than politicize social conflicts; second, the recasting of radical political subjectivity as a matter of identity rather than an instigation for critical self-reflection and self-transformation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-103
Author(s):  
László Simon ◽  
Marianna Makádi ◽  
György Vincze ◽  
Zsuzsanna Uri ◽  
Katalin Irinyiné Oláh ◽  
...  

A small-plot long-term field fertilization experiment was set up in 2011 with willow (Salix triandra x Salix viminalis ’Inger’) grown as an energy crop in Nyíregyháza, Hungary. The brown forest soil was treated three times (in June 2011, May 2013, May 2016) with municipal biocompost (MBC), municipal sewage sludge compost (MSSC) or willow ash (WA), and twice (June 2011, May 2013) with rhyolite tuff (RT). In late May – early June 2016 urea (U) and sulphuric urea (SU) fertilizers were also applied to the soil as top-dressing (TD). These fertilizers and amendments were also applied to the soil in 2016 in the combinations; MBC+SU, RT+SU, WA+SU and MSSC+WA. All the treatments were repeated four times. In July 2016 the highest nitrogen concentrations in willow leaves were measured in the U (3.47 m/m%) and SU (3.01 m/m%) treatments, and these values were significantly higher than the control (2.46 m/m%). An excess of nitrogen considerably reduced the Zn uptake of the leaves, with values of 39.5 μg g-1 in the U treatment, 53.4 μg g-1 in the SU treatment, and 63.5 μg g-1 in the control. All other amendments or TDs, except for WA, enhanced the specific potassium concentrations in willow leaves compared to the control. No significant quantities of toxic elements (As, Ba, Cd, Pb) were transported from soil amendments or TDs to the willow leaves. In July 2016 the most intensive leaf chlorophyll fluorescence was observed in the MSSC and MSSC+WA treatments.


2021 ◽  
Vol 108 (Supplement_2) ◽  
Author(s):  
R Mistry

Abstract Introduction Scarring is the final common pathway for healing within the skin. Scars can be itchy, painful, tight, and disfiguring. Despite advances in surgery there is currently no reliably effective treatment for reducing or preventing scarring. The primary aim of this research is to assess the currently available models for scarring and evaluate/further develop the utility of current assessment tools, in an effort to design a pilot randomised control trial (RCT) for silicone gel treatment of scars. Method A systematic review of scar models in humans and animals. Examination of currently used subjective and objective scar assessment tools in a plastic surgery scar clinic. A retrospective cohort study assessing long-term scar outcomes in paediatric burn patients. Results Limitations and drawbacks of many existing methods to assess scar treatments were found. No statistically significant difference in long-term scarring outcomes was found between paediatric burns patients treated surgically versus conservatively. A RCT for silicone gel sheeting in the treatment of scars was set up and successful in recruitment. Conclusions Here, we have demonstrated difficulties in establishing a scientific scar treatment model; and created a pilot study that will help to provide high-quality evidence for the efficacy of silicone gel sheeting as a treatment for scars.


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