Book review of Mark McGillivray and Gary Smith's (eds.) "Australia and Asia", Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1997. vii + 248 pp

The political capital invested in Australia's engagement with Asia over the past decade has sparked a lively discussion in the Australian academic community. The back cover of the book under review suggests that there are 'few bigger contemporary issues facing Australia than its relationship with Asia'. If the volume of scholarly material being produced on this issue is any indication, they are right. Like a number of similar works covering the shift in Australian foreign, defence, and trade policies towards Asia over the last decade, this book acknowledges a particular debt of gratitude to the Keating government for establishing regional engagement at the forefront of our national consciousness. Unlike some others however, this book seeks to place Australia's more recent 'discovery' of Asia into a broader historical framework.

Life-history consequences of divergent selection on egg size in Drosophila melanogaster

Life histories are generally assumed to evolve via antagonistic pleiotropy (negative genetic correlations) among traits, and trade-offs between life-history traits are typically studied using either phenotypic manipulations or selection experiments. We investigated the trade-off between egg size and fecundity in Drosophila melanogaster by examining both the phenotypic and genetic relationships between these traits after artificial selection for large and small eggs, relative to female body size. Egg size responded strongly to selection in both directions, increasing in the large-egg selected lines and decreasing in the small-egg selected lines. Phenotypic correlations between egg size and fecundity in the large-egg selected lines were negative, but no relationship between these traits occurred in either the control or small-egg selected lines. There was no negative genetic correlation between egg size and fecundity. Total reproductive allocation decreased in the small-egg selected lines but did not increase in the large-egg lines. Our results have three implications. First, our selection procedure may have forced females selected for large eggs into a physiological trade-off not reflected in a negative genetic correlation between these traits. Second, the lack of a negative genetic correlation between egg size and number suggests that the phenotypic trade-off frequently observed between egg size and number in other organisms may not evolve over the short term via a direct genetic trade-off whereby increases in egg size are automatically accompanied by decreased fecundity. Finally, total reproductive allocation may not evolve independently of egg size as commonly assumed.

Pursuing the popular in Australian history

No abstract

Determining forest structural attributes using an inverted geometric-optical model in mixed eucalypt forests, Southeast Queensland, Australia

The Montreal Process indicators are intended to provide a common framework for assessing and reviewing progress toward sustainable forest management. The potential of a combined geometrical-optical/spectral mixture analysis model was assessed for mapping the Montreal Process age class and successional age indicators at a regional scale using Landsat Thematic data. The project location is an area of eucalyptus forest in Emu Creek State Forest, Southeast Queensland, Australia. A quantitative model relating the spectral reflectance of a forest to the illumination geometry, slope, and aspect of the terrain surface and the size, shape, and density, and canopy size. Inversion of this model necessitated the use of spectral mixture analysis to recover subpixel information on the fractional extent of ground scene elements (such as sunlit canopy, shaded canopy, sunlit background, and shaded background). Results obtained fron a sensitivity analysis allowed improved allocation of resources to maximize the predictive accuracy of the model. It was found that modeled estimates of crown cover projection, canopy size, and tree densities had significant agreement with field and air photo-interpreted estimates. However, the accuracy of the successional stage classification was limited. The results obtained highlight the potential for future integration of high and moderate spatial resolution-imaging sensors for monitoring forest structure and condition. (C) Elsevier Science Inc., 2000.