Effect of DNA extraction on ageing success in coral trout (Plectropomus leopardus) otoliths

To maximize the information commonly collected from otoliths, the effect of DNA extraction on the estimation of age with otoliths was evaluated by comparing sagittal otolith samples from common coral trout (Plectropomus leopardus) for clarity and ageing discrepancies in DNA-extracted and untreated control otoliths. The DNA extraction process had no significant effect, indicating that archived otoliths can be used as a source of DNA while retaining their utility for age estimation.

Increased reproductive success in older female red kangaroos and the impact of harvesting

Wildlife harvesting has a long history in Australia, including obvious examples of overexploitation. Not surprisingly, there is scepticism that commercial harvesting can be undertaken sustainably. Kangaroo harvesting has been challenged regularly at Administrative Appeals Tribunals and elsewhere over the past three decades. Initially, the concern from conservation groups was sustainability of the harvest. This has been addressed through regular, direct monitoring that now spans > 30 years and a conservative harvest regime with a low risk of overharvest in the face of uncertainty. Opposition to the harvest now continues from animal rights groups whose concerns have shifted from overall harvest sustainability to side effects such as animal welfare, and changes to community structure, genetic composition and population age structure. Many of these concerns are speculative and difficult to address, requiring expensive data. One concern is that older females are the more successful breeders and teach their daughters optimal habitat and diet selection. The lack of older animals in a harvested population may reduce the fitness of the remaining individuals; implying population viability would also be compromised. This argument can be countered by the persistence of populations under harvesting without any obvious impairment to reproduction. Nevertheless, an interesting question is how age influences reproductive output. In this study, data collected from a number of red kangaroo populations across eastern Australia indicate that the breeding success of older females is up to 7-20% higher than that of younger females. This effect is smaller than that of body condition and the environment, which can increase breeding success by up to 30% and 60% respectively. Average age of mature females in a population may be reduced from 9 to 6 years old, resulting in a potential reduction in breeding success of 3-4%. This appears to be offset in harvested populations by improved condition of females from a reduction in kangaroo density. There is an important recommendation for management. The best insurance policy against overharvest and unwanted side effects is not research, which could be never-ending. Rather, it is a harvest strategy that includes safeguards against uncertainty such as harvest reserves, conservative quotas and regular monitoring. Research is still important in fine tuning that strategy and is most usefully incorporated as adaptive management where it can address the key questions on how populations respond to harvesting.

Optimal management of agricultural systems

To remain competitive, many agricultural systems are now being run along business lines. Systems methodologies are being incorporated, and here evolutionary computation is a valuable tool for identifying more profitable or sustainable solutions. However, agricultural models typically pose some of the more challenging problems for optimisation. This chapter outlines these problems, and then presents a series of three case studies demonstrating how they can be overcome in practice. Firstly, increasingly complex models of Australian livestock enterprises show that evolutionary computation is the only viable optimisation method for these large and difficult problems. On-going research is taking a notably efficient and robust variant, differential evolution, out into real-world systems. Next, models of cropping systems in Australia demonstrate the challenge of dealing with competing objectives, namely maximising farm profit whilst minimising resource degradation. Pareto methods are used to illustrate this trade-off, and these results have proved to be most useful for farm managers in this industry. Finally, land-use planning in the Netherlands demonstrates the size and spatial complexity of real-world problems. Here, GIS-based optimisation techniques are integrated with Pareto methods, producing better solutions which were acceptable to the competing organizations. These three studies all show that evolutionary computation remains the only feasible method for the optimisation of large, complex agricultural problems. An extra benefit is that the resultant population of candidate solutions illustrates trade-offs, and this leads to more informed discussions and better education of the industry decision-makers.

Resistance to insect growth regulator insecticides in populations of sheep lice as assessed by a moulting disruption assay

Low-volume, backline applications with the benzoylphenyl urea insecticides triflumuron and diflubenzuron represent in excess of 70% of treatments for the control of sheep lice, Bovicola ovis (Schrank) (Phthiraptera: Trichodectidae), in Australia. Reports of reduced effectiveness from 2003 and subsequent controlled treatment trials suggested the emergence of resistance to these compounds in B. ovis populations. A laboratory assay based on the measurement of moulting success in nymphs was developed and used to assess susceptibility to diflubenzuron and triflumuron in louse populations collected from sheep where a control failure had occurred. These tests confirmed the development of resistance to triflumuron and diflubenzuron in at least two instances, with estimated resistance ratios of 67-94X at LC50.

A new semi-dwarfing gene identified by molecular mapping of quantitative trait loci in barley.

Semi-dwarfing genes have been widely used in spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) breeding programs in many parts of the world, but the success in developing barley cultivars with semi-dwarfing genes has been limited in North America. Exploiting new semi-dwarfing genes may help in solving this dilemma. A recombinant inbred line population was developed by crossing ZAU 7, a semi-dwarf cultivar from China, to ND16092, a tall breeding line from North Dakota. To identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) controlling plant height, a linkage map comprised of 111 molecular markers was constructed. Simple interval mapping was performed for each of the eight environments. A consistent QTL for plant height was found on chromosome 7HL. This QTL is not associated with maturity and rachis internode length. We suggest the provisional name Qph-7H for this QTL. Qph-7H from ZAU 7 reduced plant height to about 3/4 of normal; thus, Qph-7H is considered a semi-dwarfing gene. Other QTLs for plant height were found, but their expression was variable across the eight environments tested.

Pollination methods, stigma receptivity and pollen tube growth in Eucalyptus argophloia

Eucalyptus argophloia Blakely (Western white gum) has shown potential as a commercial forestry timber species in marginal environments of north-eastern Australia. We measured early pollination success in Eucalyptus argophloia to compare pollination methods, determine the timing of stigma receptivity and compare fresh and stored pollen. Early pollination success was measured by counting pollen tubes in the style of E. argophloia 12 days after pollination. We compared the early pollination success of 1) Artificially Induced Protogyny (AIP), one-stop and three-stop methods of pollination; 2) flowers pollinated at 2 day intervals between 2 days before and 6 days after anthesis and 3) fresh pollen and pollen that had been stored for 9 months. Our results show significantly more pollen tubes from unpollinated AIP and AIP treatments than either the one-stop pollination or three-stop pollination treatments. This indicates that self-pollination occurs in the unpollinated AIP treatment. There was very little pollen tube growth in the one-stop method indicating that the three-stop method is the most suitable for this species. Stigma receptivity in E. argophloia commenced six days after anthesis and no pollen tube growth was observed prior to this. Fresh pollen resulted in pollen tube growth in the style whereas the stored pollen resulted in a total absence of pollen tube growth. We recommend that breeding programs incorporating E. argophloia as a female parent use the three-stop pollination method, and controlled pollination be carried out at least six days after anthesis using fresh pollen.

Assessment of functional forms of crop yield loss models of invasive plant species applied in decision support tools and bioeconomic modelling

AbstractObjectives Decision support tools (DSTs) for invasive species management have had limited success in producing convincing results and meeting users' expectations. The problems could be linked to the functional form of model which represents the dynamic relationship between the invasive species and crop yield loss in the DSTs. The objectives of this study were: a) to compile and review the models tested on field experiments and applied to DSTs; and b) to do an empirical evaluation of some popular models and alternatives. Design and methods This study surveyed the literature and documented strengths and weaknesses of the functional forms of yield loss models. Some widely used models (linear, relative yield and hyperbolic models) and two potentially useful models (the double-scaled and density-scaled models) were evaluated for a wide range of weed densities, maximum potential yield loss and maximum yield loss per weed. Results Popular functional forms include hyperbolic, sigmoid, linear, quadratic and inverse models. Many basic models were modified to account for the effect of important factors (weather, tillage and growth stage of crop at weed emergence) influencing weed–crop interaction and to improve prediction accuracy. This limited their applicability for use in DSTs as they became less generalized in nature and often were applicable to a much narrower range of conditions than would be encountered in the use of DSTs. These factors' effects could be better accounted by using other techniques. Among the model empirically assessed, the linear model is a very simple model which appears to work well at sparse weed densities, but it produces unrealistic behaviour at high densities. The relative-yield model exhibits expected behaviour at high densities and high levels of maximum yield loss per weed but probably underestimates yield loss at low to intermediate densities. The hyperbolic model demonstrated reasonable behaviour at lower weed densities, but produced biologically unreasonable behaviour at low rates of loss per weed and high yield loss at the maximum weed density. The density-scaled model is not sensitive to the yield loss at maximum weed density in terms of the number of weeds that will produce a certain proportion of that maximum yield loss. The double-scaled model appeared to produce more robust estimates of the impact of weeds under a wide range of conditions. Conclusions Previously tested functional forms exhibit problems for use in DSTs for crop yield loss modelling. Of the models evaluated, the double-scaled model exhibits desirable qualitative behaviour under most circumstances.