Development and Accreditation of an Applied Climate Education Unit for Sustainable Land Use in Australia

In recent years, there have been significant developments in climate science relevant to agriculture and natural resource management. Assessing impacts of climate variability and use of seasonal climate forecasts have become increasingly important elements in the management "toolkit" for many Australian farmers. Consideration of climate change further increases the need for improved management strategies. While climate risk extension activities have kept pace with advances in climate science, a national review of the Vocational Education and Training system in Australia in relation to "weather and climate" showed that these topics were "poorly represented" at the management level in the Australian Qualifications Framework, and needed increased emphasis. Consequently, a new Unit of Competency concerning management of climatic risk was developed and accredited to address this deficiency. The objective of the unit was to build knowledge and skills for better management of climate variability via the elements of surveying climatic and enterprise data; analysing climatic risks and opportunities; and developing climatic risk management strategies. This paper describes establishment of a new unit for vocational education that is designed to harness recent developments in applied climate science for better management of Australia's highly variable climate. The main benefits of the new unit of competency, "Developing climatic risk management strategies,"were seen as improving decisions in climate and agriculture, and reducing climate risk exposure to enhance sustainable agriculture. The educational unit is now within the scope of agricultural colleges, universities, and registered training organisations as an accredited unit.

Application of phytotoxicity data to a new Australian soil quality guideline framework for biosolids

To protect terrestrial ecosystems and humans from contaminants many countries and jurisdictions have developed soil quality guidelines (SQGs). This study proposes a new framework to derive SQGs and guidelines for amended soils and uses a case study based on phytotoxicity data of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) from field studies to illustrate how the framework could be applied. The proposed framework uses normalisation relationships to account for the effects of soil properties on toxicity data followed by a species sensitivity distribution (SSD) method to calculate a soil added contaminant limit (soil ACL) for a standard soil. The normalisation equations are then used to calculate soil ACLs for other soils. A soil amendment availability factor (SAAF) is then calculated as the toxicity and bioavailability of pure contaminants and contaminants in amendments can be different. The SAAF is used to modify soil ACLs to ACLs for amended soils. The framework was then used to calculate soil ACLs for copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn). For soils with pH of 4-8 and OC content of 1-6%, the ACLs range from 8 mg/kg to 970 mg/kg added Cu. The SAAF for Cu was pH dependant and varied from 1.44 at pH 4 to 2.15 at pH 8. For soils with pH of 4-8 and OC content of 1-6%, the ACLs for amended soils range from 11 mg/kg to 2080 mg/kg added Cu. For soils with pH of 4-8 and a CEC from 5-60, the ACLs for Zn ranged from 21 to 1470 mg/kg added Zn. A SAAF of one was used for Zn as it concentrations in plant tissue and soil to water partitioning showed no difference between biosolids and soluble Zn salt treatments, indicating that Zn from biosolids and Zn salts are equally bioavailable to plants.

Managing the risk of glyphosate resistance in Australian glyphosate-resistant cotton production systems

BACKGROUND: Glyphosate-resistant cotton varieties are an important tool for weed control in Australian cotton production systems. To increase the sustainability of this technology and to minimise the likelihood of resistance evolving through its use, weed scientists, together with herbicide regulators, industry representatives and the technology owners, have developed a framework that guides the use of the technology. Central to this framework is a crop management plan (CMP) and grower accreditation course. A simulation model that takes into account the characteristics of the weed species, initial gene frequencies and any associated fitness penalties was developed to ensure that the CMP was sufficiently robust to minimise resistance risks. RESULTS: The simulations showed that, when a combination of weed control options was employed in addition to glyphosate, resistance did not evolve over the 30 year period of the simulation. CONCLUSION: These simulations underline the importance of maintaining an integrated system for weed management to prevent the evolution of glyphosate resistance, prolonging the use of glyphosate-resistant cotton.

Risk management for mycotoxin contamination of Australian maize

Recent incidents of mycotoxin contamination (particularly aflatoxins and fumonisins) have demonstrated a need for an industry-wide management system to ensure Australian maize meets the requirements of all domestic users and export markets. Results of recent surveys are presented, demonstrating overall good conformity with nationally accepted industry marketing standards but with occasional samples exceeding these levels. This paper describes mycotoxin-related hazards inherent in the Australian maize production system and a methodology combining good agricultural practices and the hazard analysis critical control point framework to manage risk.

Australian gall-inducing scale insects on Eucalyptus: revision of Opisthoscelis Schrader (Coccoidea, Eriococcidae) and descriptions of a new genus and nine new species.

We revise the genus Opisthoscelis Schrader, and erect the genus Tanyscelis gen. n. with Opisthoscelis pisiformis Froggatt as its type species. Species of both genera induce sexually dimorphic galls on Eucalyptus (Myrtaceae) in Australia, with Opisthoscelis subrotunda Schrader also in Papua New Guinea. We synonymise the following taxa (junior synonym with senior synonym): Opisthoscelis fibularis Froggatt, syn. n. with Opisthoscelis spinosa Froggatt; Opisthoscelis recurva Froggatt, syn. n. with Opisthoscelis maculata Froggatt; Opisthoscelis globosa Froggatt, syn. n. (=Opisthoscelis ruebsaameni Lindinger) with Opisthoscelis convexa Froggatt; and Opisthoscelis mammularis Froggatt, syn. n. with Opisthoscelis verrucula Froggatt. We transfer seven Opisthoscelis species to Tanyscelis as Tanyscelis conica (Fuller), comb. n., Tanyscelis convexa (Froggatt), comb. n., Tanyscelis maculata (Froggatt), comb. n., Tanyscelis maskelli (Froggatt), comb. n., Tanyscelis pisiformis (Froggatt), comb. n., Tanyscelis spinosa (Froggatt), comb. n., and Tanyscelis verrucula (Froggatt), comb. n. We redescribe and illustrate the adult female of each named species of Opisthoscelis for which the type material is known, as well as the first-instar nymph of the type species of Opisthoscelis (Opisthoscelis subrotunda) and Tanyscelis (Opisthoscelis pisiformis). We describe four new species of Opisthoscelis: Opisthoscelis beardsleyi Hardy & Gullan, sp. n., Opisthoscelis thurgoona Hardy & Gullan, sp. n., Opisthoscelis tuberculata Hardy & Gullan, sp. n., and Opisthoscelis ungulifinis Hardy & Gullan, sp. n., and five new species of Tanyscelis: Tanyscelis grallator Hardy & Gullan, sp. n., Tanuscelis megagibba Hardy & Gullan, sp. n., Tanyscelis mollicornuta Hardy & Gullan, sp. n., Tanyscelis tripocula Hardy & Gullan, sp. n., and Tanyscelis villosigibba Hardy & Gullan, sp. n. We designate lectotypes for Opisthoscelis convexa, Opisthoscelis fibularis, Opisthoscelis globosa Froggatt, Opisthoscelis maculata, Opisthoscelismammularis, Opisthoscelis maskelli, Opisthoscelis pisiformis, Opisthoscelis recurva, Opisthoscelis serrata, Opisthoscelis spinosa, and Opisthoscelis verrucula. As a result of our taxonomic revision, Opisthoscelis has six species and Tanyscelis has 12 species. We describe the galls of females for all 18 species and galls of males for 10 species of Opisthoscelis and Tanyscelis, and provide photographs of the galls for most species. A key to the adult females of the species of both genera is included.

The August 2007 equine influenza response management framework.

This section outlines the most important issues addressed in the management of the response in the two infected states, New South Wales and Queensland. There were differences in the management of the response between the states for logistic, geographic and organisation structural reasons. Issues included the use of control centres, information centres, the problems associated with the lack of trained staff to undertake all the roles, legislative issues, controls of horse movements, the availability of resources for adequate surveillance, the challenges of communication between disparate groups and tracing the movements of both humans and horses.

Latitudinal and seasonal effects on growth of the Australian eastern king prawn (Melicertus plebejus)

The growth of the Australian eastern king prawn (Melicertus plebejus) is understood in greater detail by quantifying the latitudinal effect. The latitudinal effect is the change in the species’ growth rate during migration. Mark–recapture data (N = 1635, latitude 22.21°S–34.00°S) presents northerly movement of the eastern king prawn, with New South Wales prawns showing substantial average movement of 140 km (standard deviation: 176 km) north. A generalized von Bertalanffy growth model framework is used to incorporate the latitudinal effect together with the canonical seasonal effect. Applying this method to eastern king prawn mark–recapture data guarantees consistent estimates for the latitudinal and seasonal effects. For M. plebejus, it was found that growth rate peaks on 25 and 29 January for males and females, respectively; is at a minimum on 27 and 31 July, respectively; and that the shape parameter, k (per year), changes by –0.0236 and –0.0556 every 1 degree of latitude south increase for males and females, respectively.

Thriocerodes anthicides (newman), Comb. N. (Coleoptera: Cleridae): An australian, not South African, species

Corynetes compactus Westwood is recognised as a junior synonym (syn. n.) of Pylus anthicides Newman, which is transferred from the South African genus Thriocera Gorham to the endemic Australian genus Thriocerodes Wolcott & Dybas, resulting in the combination Thriocerodes anthicides (Newman), comb. n.

Nineteenth century narratives reveal historic catch rates for Australian snapper (Pagrus auratus)

Snapper (Pagrus auratus) is widely distributed throughout subtropical and temperate southern oceans and forms a significant recreational and commercial fishery in Queensland, Australia. Using data from government reports, media sources, popular publications and a government fisheries survey carried out in 1910, we compiled information on individual snapper fishing trips that took place prior to the commencement of fisherywide organized data collection, from 1871 to 1939. In addition to extracting all available quantitative data, we translated qualitative information into bounded estimates and used multiple imputation to handle missing values, forming 287 records for which catch rate (snapper fisher−1 h−1) could be derived. Uncertainty was handled through a parametric maximum likelihood framework (a transformed trivariate Gaussian), which facilitated statistical comparisons between data sources. No statistically significant differences in catch rates were found among media sources and the government fisheries survey. Catch rates remained stable throughout the time series, averaging 3.75 snapper fisher−1 h−1 (95% confidence interval, 3.42–4.09) as the fishery expanded into new grounds. In comparison, a contemporary (1993–2002) south-east Queensland charter fishery produced an average catch rate of 0.4 snapper fisher−1 h−1 (95% confidence interval, 0.31–0.58). These data illustrate the productivity of a fishery during its earliest years of development and represent the earliest catch rate data globally for this species. By adopting a formalized approach to address issues common to many historical records – missing data, a lack of quantitative information and reporting bias – our analysis demonstrates the potential for historical narratives to contribute to contemporary fisheries management.