Food preferences of juvenile corallivorous crown-of-thorns (Acanthaster planci) sea stars

Population outbreaks of adult Acanthaster planci cause significant reductions in coral cover and reduce the resilience of coral reefs, but little is known about the behaviour and food preference of juvenile A. planci. In 2014, food preferences and feeding rates of recently settled (<1 year) juvenile A. planci were tested and determined at the National Sea Simulator facilities of the Australian Institute of Marine Science. Juveniles were offered eight species of coral (Acropora formosa, A. millepora, A. tenuis, Pavona cactus, Echinopora lamellosa, Pocillopora damicornis, Stylophora pistillata and Porites lutea), known to be either consumed or avoided by adult sea stars, in a multiple-choice and a no-choice experiment. In the multiple-choice experiment, a preference for A. tenuis was detected, while S. pistillata, E. lamellosa and P. lutea were avoided. The no-choice experiment showed that the avoidance of these species was not influenced by the presence of other coral species, the exception being E. lamellosa, which was only consumed when no other choice was offered. Interestingly, all juveniles consuming E. lamellosa died post-predation. The study suggests that as A. planci matures it feeds on a wider range of species, even those which would have been lethal to them if consumed as a juvenile.

The international legal status of the Vatican/Holy See complex

This article offers a re-examination of the international legal status of what is here termed the Vatican/Holy See complex (VHS), focusing on claims to statehood. The problematic ‘effect’ of Vatican City, of the Holy See, of the papacy and of associated entities is interrogated at the level of international law, entering as little as possible into administrative or theological distinctions. The various grounds cited as supporting status amounting to statehood are argued to be inadequate. The continuing exchange of representatives with states by the VHS is missionary and hierarchical in character and is reflective neither of the reciprocity of peers nor of customary obligation going to law. Agreements entered into by the papacy with the Kingdom of Italy (the Lateran Pacts) in 1929, relating to the status of the geographical territory known as Vatican City, cannot be determinative of international status. Nor can membership of international agreements and organizations confer a status amounting to statehood. Events and practices since 1929 have not substantially altered international status as of 1870. The Roman Catholic Church is but one of many faith-based international movements, and since the eclipse of the papal state nearly one-and-a-half centuries ago, the status in international law of its temporal headquarters in Rome should not be privileged.

The role of ultraviolet-A reflectance and ultraviolet-A induced fluorescence in the appearance of budgerigar plumage: insights from spectrofluorometry and reflectance spectrophotometry

Fluorescence has so far been found in 52 parrot species when illuminated with ultraviolet-A (UVA) 'black' lamps, and two attempts have been made to determine whether such fluorescence plays any role in sexual signalling. However, the contribution of the reflectance versus fluorescence to the total radiance from feathers, even in the most studied species to date (budgerigars), is unclear. Nor has the plumage of this study species been systematically assessed to determine the distribution of fluorescent patches. We therefore used spectrofluorometry to determine which areas of budgerigars fluoresce and the excitation and emission spectra involved; this is the first time that such a technique has been applied to avian plumage. We found that both the yellow crown and (normally hidden) white downy chest feathers exhibit strong UVA-induced fluorescence, with peak emissions at 527 nm and 436 nm, respectively. Conversely, the bright-green chest and dark-blue tail feathers do not fluoresce. When comparing reflectance spectra (400700 nm) from the yellow crown using illuminants with a proportion of UVA comparable to daylight, and illuminants with all UVA removed, no measurable difference resulting from fluorescence was found. This suggests that under normal daylight the contribution of fluorescence to radiance is probably trivial. Furthermore, these spectra revealed that males had fluorescent crowns with substantially higher reflectance than those of females, in both the UV waveband and at longer wavelengths. Reflectance spectrophotometry was also performed on a number of live wild-type male budgerigars to investigate the chromatic contrast between the different plumage areas. This showed that many plumage regions are highly UV-reflective. Overall our results suggest that rapid surveys using UVA black lamps may overestimate the contribution of fluorescence to plumage coloration, and that any signalling role of fluorescence emissions, at least from the yellow crown of budgerigars, may not be as important as previously thought.

Climate change as an unexpected co-factor promoting coral eating seastar (Acanthaster planci) outbreaks

Coral reefs face a crisis due to local and global anthropogenic stressors. A large proportion of the ~50% coral loss on the Great Barrier Reef has been attributed to outbreaks of the crown-of-thorns-seastar (COTS). A widely assumed cause of primary COTS outbreaks is increased larval survivorship due to higher food availability, linked with anthropogenic runoff . Our experiment using a range of algal food concentrations at three temperatures representing present day average and predicted future increases, demonstrated a strong influence of food concentration on development is modulated by temperature. A 2°C increase in temperature led to a 4.2–4.9 times (at Day 10) or 1.2–1.8 times (Day 17) increase in late development larvae. A model indicated that food was the main driver, but that temperature was an important modulator of development. For instance, at 5000 cells ml−1 food, a 2°C increase may shorten developmental time by 30% and may increase the probability of survival by 240%. The main contribution of temperature is to ‘push’ well-fed larvae faster to settlement. We conclude that warmer sea temperature is an important co-factor promoting COTS outbreaks.

Iron country : unlocking the Pilbara

Australia’s largest export earner, the iron ore industry has moved to the centre of our national economic life. In Iron country: Unlocking the Pilbara, historian David Lee charts Australia’s modern iron age from the lifting of the iron ore export embargo in the early 1960s to the China boom of the early twenty-first century.As this timely and carefully-researched study demonstrates, there was nothing inevitable about the rise of the Pilbara to become the jewel in the crown of Australia’s mining industry. A daunting series of political, commercial, financial, engineering and infrastructure challenges all had to be overcome. Later on, the foundation Pilbara projects endured long years of low iron ore prices. Those who fall back on the providential nature of Australia’s resource endowment or mere ‘luck’ to understand the modern success of this vital industry obscure much more than they explain.

The rise and rise of Crown appeals in Victoria

Increasing numbers of Crown appeals against sentences in Victoria - majority of appeals have been successful - what has occurred in relation to Crown appeals against sentence in the Victorian Court of Criminal Appeal between February 2002 and February 2004 - whether increase in Crown appeals is a continuing phenomenon - comparison with the jurisdictions of New South Wales and the UK - principles that govern Crown appeals may need to be reconsidered.

Crown appeals against sentence in Victoria : results and implications of an empirical study

Empirical study between 2002 and 2004 on decisions of the Victorian Court of Criminal Appeal relating to sentencing appeals - increase in number of Crown appeals - possible reasons - increasing success of Crown appeals - implications for criminal justice system - higher success on the basis of manifest inadequacy for the Crown than for sentenced persons on the same ground of manifest excess - reconsideration of principles concerning Crown appeals.

Sveta Bogorodica (The Church of the Holy Mother), Zavoj, Macedonia : writing about an insignificant vernacular building

Sveta Bogorodica (Church of the Holy Mother), Zavoj, is a small church built in 1934 in a village in the Republic of Macedonia. It presented a quintessential architectural division between a richly ornamented interior and a pure white formal exterior. The paper will examine the question of tradition in relation to architecture. What of the formal Byzantine architectural tradition is inherited in this folk vernacular church building? Secondly, tradition as an inherited liturgical ritual and ceremony. How are these two forms of tradition autonomous or intertwined, and how the question about transcendence in architecture pursued in the 2005 paper on Hagia Sofia might be understood within the parameters offered by this church building, will be explored in the paper .

In search of the tendon holy grail : predictable clinical outcomes

What is your first reaction when you find out your next patient has a long-term tendinopathy? I suspect you want to hide or get an urgent phone call that drags you away from the practice. You know that the person will have tried multiple interventions, probably had several injections, read all the literature about treatments for tendinopathy on the internet and want an immediate and lifelong cure. You also know that your assessment will take well into your next patient’s time allotment and even then it will remain difficult to prioritise treatments and to explain the rationale behind your plan to the patient. Even as a tendon researcher and part-time clinician whose practice consists solely of tendinopathy patients, my reactions to chronic tendinopathy patients are similar.

Regulatory failure? The case of Crown casino

This is a story of regulatory failure, failed implementation of responsible gambling, failed performance against international best practice benchmarks, targeting of vulnerable groups like senior citizens and patrons served drinks to the point of intoxication and then expelled onto the streets of Southbank.

Sacred time after emigration : a study of the Holy Mother Festival in Zavoj

In Zavoj, a mountainous village in the Republic of Macedonia, the Day of the Holy Mother is the most significant day in the village's ritual calendar. The Day of the Holy Mother, like other holy days associated with saints, is a religious festival in the Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar; and Zavoj, like other villages, identifies with a particular holy day, in this case that of the Holy Mother. Festival is historically and etymologically linked to feast, a celebration in honour of gods, and the Day of the Holy Mother, like the two principal feasts in the Christian calendar, the Feast of Nativity of our Lord (Christmas) and the Feast of Resurrection (Easter), is a religious celebration that includes a feast in honour of the saint, traditionally as a breaking of a fast. Importantly, many Zavoj emigrants return to the village for the festival on the Day of the Holy Mother. Over recent years both village and the festival have been transformed, due to large and continuing emigration and the demise of the resident peasant generation. This chapter will examine the changes in the festival, comparing that of 1988, when the village was inhabited, with that of 2007, when there were only a few people resident and by which time many of the peasant generation had passed on. As a result of emigration the village is emptied of its inhabitants, yet it remains the site of, and destination for, the continuity of the annual festival.

Invertebrate food sources for waterbirds provided by the reconstructed wetland of Nyirkai-Hany, northwestern Hungary

The Nyirkai-Hany wetland reconstruction area in northwestern Hungary is now designated as a Ramsar and a Natura 2000 site. It was created in 2001–2002 by the Fertő-Hanság National Park Directorate to restore a part of the formerly drained large wetland called Hanság and to offer waterbirds a suitable habitat for feeding and breeding. We focused on this aim of the restoration project and studied the temporal and spatial variation in abundance of birds and their invertebrate prey in this newly created wetland. From April 2007 until May 2008, we sampled plankton, nekton and benthos of different habitats monthly and monitored waterbirds weekly on the three different areas of the Nyirkai-Hany. During our investigations, 135 invertebrate and 53 waterbird species were recorded. Benthos and macrophyte decomposition accelerating guilds were the most abundant waterbird guilds—besides the dominant grazing importer material transporter guild, represented primarily by geese—in the Nyirkai-Hany. Zooplankton assemblages primarily consisted of small species not easily used as a food by planktivorous waterbirds. The low density of zoobenthic biomass and the small extent of shallow water mudflats probably accounted for the scarcity of the bioturbing guild group of birds. Nektonic biomass varied greatly among locations having different vegetation types, was greatest in the shallow water areas dominated by Typha, Carex and Phragmites species and lowest at offshore vegetation-free sites. Chironomids, mayflies and odonates were especially abundant and their biomass significantly correlated with several waterbird species, mainly belonging to the macrophyte decomposition accelerating guild (e.g. Anas platyrynchos, Fulica atra). This guild itself, which has increased in abundance in recent years, showed an exceptionally strong correlation with odonate abundance. These results indicate the growing importance of the Nyirkai-Hany wetland area as a foraging site for waterbirds.