Development of novel microsatellite markers for the invasive Northern Pacific seastar, Asterias amurensis

The Northern Pacific seastar, Asterias amurensis, is a benthic marine predator, which has recently established several invasive populations in Australian waters. To investigate population structure, diversity and patterns of connectivity, we isolated and characterised 27 microsatellite loci and tested their polymorphism based on 46 individuals from two invasive populations. The mean allelic richness was 4.33; observed heterozygosity was 0.42, while the percentage of polymorphic loci was 92.6%. The polymorphic markers will prove useful in the assessment of population genetic parameters, in both invasive and native A. amurensis populations.

The invasive Northern Pacific seastar, Asterias amurensis, transcriptome

Here we provide the supplementary data collection for the upcoming publication of the larval transcriptomic resource for the Northern Pacific Seastar, Asterias amurensis, an invasive marine predator in Australia. A. amurensis is ranked among the most potentially damaging invasive species in Australia and has recently expanded its range along the eastern mainland coast of Australia. As a first step to study the genetic basis of adaptive change and other important evolutionary processes during a contemporary invasive range expansion we de novo assembled and characterised the transcriptome.

Evolutionary biology of the invasive Northern Pacific seastar, Asterias amurensis

 Mark investigated the genetic basis of environmental adaptation in invasive and native A. amurensis larvae. He showed rapid changes in genetic architecture and gene expression underlie different physiological responses to elevated temperatures in invasive larvae. These findings are the first step in understanding the potential for range expansion within Australia.

De novo assembly and characterization of the invasive Northern Pacific Seastar transcriptome

Invasive species are a major threat to global biodiversity but can also serve as valuable model systems to examine important evolutionary processes. While the ecological aspects of invasions have been well documented, the genetic basis of adaptive change during the invasion process has been hampered by a lack of genomic resources for the majority of invasive species. Here we report the first larval transcriptomic resource for the Northern Pacific Seastar, Asterias amurensis, an invasive marine predator in Australia. Approximately 117.5 million 100 base-pair (bp) paired-end reads were sequenced from a single RNA-Seq library from a pooled set of full-sibling A. amurensis bipinnaria larvae. We evaluated the efficacy of a pre-assembly error correction pipeline on subsequent de novo assembly. Error correction resulted in small but important improvements to the final assembly in terms of mapping statistics and core eukaryotic genes representation. The error-corrected de novo assembly resulted in 115,654 contigs after redundancy clustering. 41,667 assembled contigs were homologous to sequences from NCBI's non-redundant protein and UniProt databases. We assigned Gene Ontology, KEGG Orthology, Pfam protein domain terms and predicted protein-coding sequences to > 36,000 contigs. The final transcriptome dataset generated here provides functional information for 18,319 unique proteins, comprising at least 11,355 expressed genes. Furthermore, we identified 9,739 orthologs to P. miniata proteins, evaluated our annotation pipeline and generated a list of 150 candidate genes for responses to several environmental stressors that may be important for adaptation of A. amurensis in the invasive range. Our study has produced a large set of A. amurensis RNA contigs with functional annotations that can serve as a resource for future comparisons to other echinoderm transcriptomes and gene expression studies. Our data can be used to study the genetic basis of adaptive change and other important evolutionary processes during a successful invasion.

Multiple dispersal vectors drive range expansion in an invasive marine species

The establishment and subsequent spread of invasive species is widely recognised as one of the most threatening processes contributing to global biodiversity loss. This is especially true for marine and estuarine ecosystems, which have experienced significant increases in the number of invasive species with the increase in global maritime trade. Understanding the rate and mechanisms of range expansion is therefore of significant interest to ecologists and conservation managers alike. Using a combination of population genetic surveys, eDNA plankton sampling and hydrodynamic modelling we examined the patterns of introduction of the predatory Northern Pacific seastar (Asterias amurensis) and pathways of secondary spread within southeast Australia. Genetic surveys across the invasive range reveal some genetic divergence between the two main invasive regions and no evidence of ongoing gene flow; a pattern that is consistent with the establishment of the second invasive region via a human-mediated translocation event. In contrast hydrodynamic modelling combined with eDNA plankton sampling demonstrated that the establishment of range expansion populations within a region is consistent with natural larval dispersal and recruitment. Our results suggest that both anthropogenic and natural dispersal vectors have played an important role in the range expansion of this species in Australia. The multiple modes of spread combined with high levels of fecundity and a long larval duration in A. amurensis suggests it is likely to continue its range expansion and significantly impact Australian marine ecosystems.

The diet of Pacific gulls (Larus pacificus) breeding at Seal Island in northern Bass Strait

The endemic Pacific gull (Larus pacificus) is Australia's largest larid, and though little is currently known of its foraging ecology, its size and wide distribution suggest that it may play an important role within the marine environment. In the present study, regurgitate pellets collected from Seal Island in northern Bass Strait were used to compare intra- and interannual trends in diet composition. The main taxa identified in pellets were the common diving-petrel (Pelecanoides urinatrix), leatherjacket species (Family Monacanthidae), short-tailed shearwater (Puffinus tenuirostris) and mirror bush (Coprosma repens). Analysis of similarity (ANOSIM) identified no significant differences in numerical abundance of the dominant prey species between years, suggesting that the prey base in this region is temporally consistent or that the gulls consume low enough numbers to be unaffected by fluctuation in prey populations. Diving-petrels were consumed in consistently high numbers, suggesting the gulls may be an important predator of this species, or that the gulls are particularly skilled at foraging for them. © CSIRO 2014.

Ostracoda from Lee Point on Shoal Bay, Northern Australia: part 3, podocopina (cytheracea)

The littoral environments present in Shoal Bay, Northern Territory (Australia) show a high diversity of ostracods cytheráceos (51 genera and 97 species). Probably this diversity is due to three factors: (1) marine environments warm and well oxygenated leading to a high level of biological productivity, (2) shallow marine environments favorable for the accumulation of material conchífero post mortem, and (3) a location central in the way of dispersal on the continental shelf between the regions of the Pacific and Southeast Asia. A particular feature of this fauna Cytherscea is that some genres, such as Alocopocythere, can be traced back to the Cretaceous when it first appeared in the shallow waters of the Tethys. In this overlay component of the ancient ostracods are the dominant fauna in partnerships of the modern Indo / Pacific, such as gender Keiji. While the Cytheracea ostracods are the dominant groups, especially the Cypridacea marine Bairdiacea and Plstycopina, are well represented and are quite different (fide Whatley et al., 1995, 1996). We describe here a new genre, Paraxestoleberis, and 15 new species: Dentibyíhere multituberosa, Dampiercythere papillolineata, Neocyíheromorpha papilloporosa, Loxoconcha catasíeros, Semicyrherura gamma, Callistocyíhere cookei, Loxocorniculum koolpionyahensis, Keúia interim, K. profundosculpia, K. parademissa, Quasibradleya leepoiníensis, Actinocyíhereis gippsi, Henryhowella sinespinosa, Poníicocyíhereis spatulospinosa and Paraxestoleberis posteroacuminata. Due to the limited material obtained, 16 species are kept in open nomenclature: Bythoceratina sp. Corallicyíhere sp. Venericythere sp. Tanella sp. Loxocorniculum sp. 1 L. sp. 2, Gambiella sp. Javanella sp. Paradoxostoma sp. Neomonoceratina sp., Bradley (sl) sp. Echinocytbereis (sl) sp. Plaíycyíhereis? sp. Alocopocyíhere sp. Xestoleberis sp. and Paraxestoleberis sp. The remaining 66 species have been described previously in other areas.

Guest editorial

An examination of Australian media reports over the last twelve months on the subject of Indigenous arts suggests a number of significant contradictions. Indigenous affairs Minister Amanda Vanstone called Aboriginal arts ‘Australia’s greatest cultural gift to the world’ (Australian, 24 January 2006), while the always-controversial expatriate Germaine Greer argued that much Indigenous art was in fact poor quality and ‘a big con’ (West Australian, 13 December 2005). Curators at France’s Musee du Quai Branly dedicated a wing of the new gallery to Aboriginal art. Yet many Indigenous leaders – including David Ross from the Central Land Council and Hetti Perkins, curator of Indigenous Arts at the Art Gallery of NSW – continue to publicise the widespread exploitation of Aboriginal artists in Central Australia by unscrupulous art dealers (Northern Territory News, 22 December 2005). Former head of the Northern Land Council and former Australian of the Year, Galarrwuy Yunupingu, who twenty years ago presented Bob Hawke with the painting Barunga Statement in celebration of the government’s commitment to a treaty, recently threatened to take the painting back from Parliament House in protest against ‘successive governments’’ neglect of Indigenous policy (Sydney Morning Herald, 21 January 2006). And in the performing arts, Richard Walley drew attention to the lack of professional recognition of Indigenous performing artists (Australian, 24 January 2006).

Such contradictions within the management and marketing of Indigenous arts have persisted for several years, and it was in response that this special issue of the Asia Pacific Journal of Arts and Cultural Management was initiated. As guest editors, we sought to present research that examines, more deeply and constructively, the marketing of Indigenous arts in Australia both historically and in the present. What emerges from this collection of five papers is a familiar scholarly theme: a tension between the ‘periphery’ and the ‘centre’, between outback and city, between larger and smaller Australian states and between Australia and other nations.

Jonathan Sweet’s ‘UNESCO and cultural heritage practice in Australia in the 1950s’ looks at the evolving relationship between Australia and the United Nations through an analysis of a significant touring exhibition: Australian Aboriginal Culture. Sweet pinpoints the 1950s as a period in which Australian museology’s approach to Indigenous cultures gradually changed, and in which Australian participation in UNESCO through the exhibition helped shape the ideological position UNESCO advocated. His article provides a useful historical contrast against which the following four articles may be read.

Chapman, Cardamone, Manahan and Rentschler look at local and contemporary issues in Indigenous arts marketing. Katrina Chapman’s ‘Positioning urban Aboriginal art in the Australian Indigenous art market’ investigates perceptions about contemporary urban Aboriginal art, concluding that the estrangement – and indeed stereotyping – of urban and traditional art creates a false set of values that urban artists are challenging. Similarly, Megan Cardamone, Esmai Manahan and Ruth Rentschler contrast perceptions of Aboriginal arts from the northern and south-eastern states, identifying crucial misconceptions that contribute to the value system applied to these arts. As Ruth Rentschler is a joint editor of this issue, the review process for this article has been managed by Katya Johanson as co-editor.

Two case studies of marketing the arts – which look at different artforms and in opposite sides of the country – then follow. Jennifer Radbourne, Janet Campbell and Vera Ding’s ‘Building audiences for Indigenous theatre’ analyses research on audiences and potential audiences for Kooemba Jdarra – Brisbane’s Indigenous performing arts company – to identify the ways in which audience attendance may be encouraged.

Finally, Jacqui Healy’s ‘Balgo 4-04’ provides a close examination of a unique art exhibition: a major commercial exhibition of the kind usually seen in Sydney and Melbourne, held in an arts centre in the middle of the Tanami Desert and retailing directly to collectors.

The editors are grateful to Warlayirti Artists Art Centre for permission to use the photographs that accompany Jacqui Healy’s article. We would also like to thank the contributors, Jo Caust for the opportunity to present this special issue, and Pearl Field for her assistance in putting it all together.

Prevalence of hyponatremia in acute medical admissions in tropical Asia Pacific Australia

To determine prevalence of hyponatremia in acute medical admissions in Northern Australasia.

The Thai-Burma Railway: asymmetrical and transitional memories

The Pacific War is an umbrella term that refers collectively to a disparate set of wars, however, this book presents a strong case for considering this assemblage of conflicts as a collective, singular war.

Farmers groups within extension networks in Northern Uganda : inclusive or exclusive?

Group extension methods are widely recognized as the most effective extension method in agricultural development internationally. Research in this area tends to look at group function, and factors that inhibit or promote successful group activity. Most development projects start with an analysis of whether groups exist or may need to be formed, and then focus on group function. However, very little research to date has considered the farmer group from a whole community context, when assessing knowledge and information dissemination in rural areas. This paper presents and discusses research finding from a case study with three communities in Gulu district of Northern Uganda, where household surveys were used to map networks within andbetween community members and external organizations identified as promoting agricultural development in the region. The potential impact of inclusion or exclusion in such a group within small communities emerged as a significant issue, as well as the strong disconnect between community and external organizational perceptions of group existence, function and impact.