Mooloomba House, Point Lookout, North Stradbroke Island

North elevation, deck below and belvedere above, as seen from path to beach.

Mooloomba House, Point Lookout, North Stradbroke Island

North elevation, deck below and belvedere above, as seen from path to beach.

Mooloomba House, Point Lookout, North Stradbroke Island

North elevation, deck below and belvedere above, as seen from path to beach.

Paralepidapedon ostorhinchi (Korotaeva, 1974) n comb (Digenea: Lepocreadiidae) in Oplegnathus woodwardi (Waite) (Teleostei: Perciformes: Oplegnathidae) from off Rottnest Island, Western Australia

The digenean originally designated Lepidapedon (Lepidapedon) ostorhinchi is redescribed from its type-host, Oplegnathus woodwardi [= Ostorhinchus conwaii], from the waters off Western Australia. The discovery of a uroproct indicates that the generic designation is wrong and the worm should be Paralepidapedon ostorhinchi (Korotaeva, 1974) n. comb. It is distinct from its nearest relative, P. hoplognathi (Yamaguti, 1938), in having: a prominent post-oral ring; a distinct oesophagus; short anterior diverticula on the caeca; a long external seminal vesicle, ensheathed in a membrane bound gland-cell mass; and less anteriorly extensive vitellarium.

Can long-distance dispersal be inferred from the New Zealand plant fossil record?

New Zealand is generally thought to have been physically isolated from the rest of the world for over 60 million years. But physical isolation may not mean biotic isolation, at least on the time scale of millions of years. Are New Zealand's present complement of plants the direct descendants of what originally rafted from Gondwana? Or has there been total extinction of this initial flora with replacement through long-distance dispersal (a complete biotic turnover)? These are two possible extremes which have come under recent discussion. Can the fossil record be used to decide the relative importance of the two endpoints, or is it simply too incomplete and too dependent on factors of chance? This paper suggests two approaches to the problem-the use of statistics to apply levels of confidence to first appearances in the fossil record and the analysis of trends based on the entire palynorecord. Statistics can suggest that the first appearance of a taxon was after New Zealand broke away from Gondwana-as long as the first appearance in the record was not due to an increase in biomass from an initially rare state. Two observations can be drawn from the overall palynorecord that are independent of changes in biomass: (1) The first appearance of palynotaxa common to both Australia and New Zealand is decidedly non-random. Most taxa occur first in Australia. This suggests a bias in air or water transport from west to east. (2) The percentage of endemic palynospecies in New Zealand shows no simple correlation with the time New Zealand drifted into isolation. The conifer macrorecord also hints at complete turnover since the Cretaceous.

Genetic consequences of sequential founder events by an island-colonizing bird

The importance of founder events in promoting evolutionary changes on islands has been a subject of long-running controversy. Resolution of this debate has been hindered by a lack of empirical evidence from naturally founded island populations. Here we undertake a genetic analysis of a series of historically documented, natural colonization events by the silvereye species-complex (Zosterops lateralis), a group used to illustrate the process of island colonization in the original founder effect model. Our results indicate that single founder events do not affect levels of heterozygosity or allelic diversity, nor do they result in immediate genetic differentiation between populations. Instead, four to five successive founder events are required before indices of diversity and divergence approach that seen in evolutionarily old forms. A Bayesian analysis based on computer simulation allows inferences to be made on the number of effective founders and indicates that founder effects are weak because island populations are established from relatively large flocks. Indeed, statistical support for a founder event model was not significantly higher than for a gradual-drift model for all recently colonized islands. Taken together, these results suggest that single colonization events in this species complex are rarely accompanied by severe founder effects, and multiple founder events and/or long-term genetic drift have been of greater consequence for neutral genetic diversity.

Evidence of long-term changes in the distribution of key intertidal species

World Congress of Malacology, Ponta Delgada, July 22-28, 2013.

Cobble beaches in oceanic islands : how they react to hydrodynamics and location in the island?

1st Mares Conference on Marine Ecosystems Health and Conservation. Olhão, Portugal 17-21 November 2014.

Constrains on the structure of Maio Island (Cape Verde) by a three-dimensional gravity model: Imaging partially exhumed magma chambers

We propose a 3-D gravity model for the volcanic structure of the island of Maio (Cape Verde archipelago) with the objective of solving some open questions concerning the geometry and depth of the intrusive Central Igneous Complex. A gravity survey was made covering almost the entire surface of the island. The gravity data was inverted through a non-linear 3-D approach which provided a model constructed in a random growth process. The residual Bouguer gravity field shows a single positive anomaly presenting an elliptic shape with a NWSE trending long axis. This Bouguer gravity anomaly is slightly off-centred with the island but its outline is concordant with the surface exposure of the Central Igneous Complex. The gravimetric modelling shows a high-density volume whose centre of mass is about 4500 m deep. With increasing depth, and despite the restricted gravimetric resolution, the horizontal sections of the model suggest the presence of two distinct bodies, whose relative position accounts for the elongated shape of the high positive Bouguer gravity anomaly. These bodies are interpreted as magma chambers whose coeval volcanic counterparts are no longer preserved. The orientation defined by the two bodies is similar to that of other structures known in the southern group of the Cape Verde islands, thus suggesting a possible structural control constraining the location of the plutonic intrusions.

Forest biomass and wood consumption In the lower course of the Amazon: a case study of rhe Urubueua Island

Várzea and terra-firme forests in the lower course of the Amazon were compared in terms of forest structure, wood volume increments and forest biomass. The wood volume of várzea forests was smaller than that of terra-firme forests, particularly when severe human intervention such as the cultivation of açaí palm occurred. The difference was even greater in the forest weight comparison because of the lower wood density of várzea trees. These trees are not directly influenced by water stress during the dry season, while late wood with a high density is formed in the terra-firme trees. The annual forest disappearance area due to firewood for tile factories was estimated to be about 276 ha on the island investigated, which had an area of 36,200 ha. Assuming that the forests are rotatively cultivated every 25 to 30 years, the total deforestation area is 6,870-6,948 ha in 25 years and 8,244~8,337 ha in 30 years. This result means that the balance between forest biomass and utilization is not in crisis, however, this balance might be lost as long as substitutive energy such as electricity is not supplied.

Vegetational changes during the last millennium inferred from a palynological record from the Bananal Island, Tocantins, Brazil

The Bananal Island is regarded the largest fluvial island in the world, bounded by Araguaia and Javaés rivers, being located in southwest of Tocantins. The objectives of this work were to provide information about the vegetational changes that occurred at the Bananal Island, in order to contribute to the understanding the dynamics of past and current savanna and areas of ecotones with forests. Thus, a sedimentary core collected from a small lake at the Bananal Island plain was submitted to pollen and radiocarbon dating analyses. The results showed that the last millennium was dominated by forest reflecting a wet climate. At the beginning of the record (920-770 yr cal BP) the wet climate and high rainfall produced flooding during long rainy seasons that maintained the Javaés River connected to the studied lake, and hence, this environment was marked by the presence of a homogenous forest rich in Moraceae/Urticaceae, due to flooded soils occurrence. During the following period (770-304 yr cal BP) the reduced rainfall and shortening of the rainy seasons isolated the lake from the Javaés River for long periods, which caused a diversification of the forest and gave rise to the appearance of the components of floodplain forest and marsh vegetation adapted to waterlogged soils. Since 304 years cal BP to the present day this environment remained dominated by this diverse forest and the lacustrine conditions were also similar to previous phase, with a slight increase of moisture in the last 84 years that caused the increase of Piranhea.

Methylation at the CpG island shore region upregulates Nr3c1 promoter activity after early-life stress

Early-life stress (ELS) induces long-lasting changes in gene expression conferring an increased risk for the development of stress-related mental disorders. Glucocorticoid receptors (GR) mediate the negative feedback actions of glucocorticoids (GC) in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus and anterior pituitary and therefore play a key role in the regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the endocrine response to stress. We here show that ELS programs the expression of the GR gene (Nr3c1) by site-specific hypermethylation at the CpG island (CGI) shore in hypothalamic neurons that produce corticotropin-releasing hormone (Crh), thus preventing Crh upregulation under conditions of chronic stress. CpGs mapping to the Nr3c1 CGI shore region are dynamically regulated by ELS and underpin methylation-sensitive control of this region's insulation-like function via Ying Yang 1 (YY1) binding. Our results provide new insight into how a genomic element integrates experience-dependent epigenetic programming of the composite proximal Nr3c1 promoter, and assigns an insulating role to the CGI shore.

Quantifying the legacy of the Chinese Neolithic on the maternal genetic heritage of Taiwan and Island Southeast Asia

There has been a long-standing debate concerning the extent to which the spread of Neolithic ceramics and Malay-Polynesian languages in Island Southeast Asia (ISEA) were coupled to an agriculturally driven demic dispersal out of Taiwan 4000 years ago (4 ka). We previously addressed this question using founder analysis of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control-region sequences to identify major lineage clusters most likely to have dispersed from Taiwan into ISEA, proposing that the dispersal had a relatively minor impact on the extant genetic structure of ISEA, and that the role of agriculture in the expansion of the Austronesian languages was therefore likely to have been correspondingly minor. Here we test these conclusions by sequencing whole mtDNAs from across Taiwan and ISEA, using their higher chronological precision to resolve the overall proportion that participated in the "out-of-Taiwan" mid-Holocene dispersal as opposed to earlier, postglacial expansions in the Early Holocene. We show that, in total, about 20 % of mtDNA lineages in the modern ISEA pool result from the "out-of-Taiwan" dispersal, with most of the remainder signifying earlier processes, mainly due to sea-level rises after the Last Glacial Maximum. Notably, we show that every one of these founder clusters previously entered Taiwan from China, 6-7 ka, where rice-farming originated, and remained distinct from the indigenous Taiwanese population until after the subsequent dispersal into ISEA.

Investigating the long term planning framework for the Galway Bay community from climate change.

This research looked at the scientific evidence available on climate change and in particular, projections on sea level rise which ranged from 0.5m to 2m by the end of the century. These projections were then considered in an Irish context. A review of current policy in Ireland revealed that there was no dedicated Government policy on climate change or coastal zone management. In terms of spatial planning policy, it became apparent that there was little or no guidance on climate change either at a national, regional or local level. Therefore, to determine the likely impacts of sea level rise in Ireland based on current spatial planning practice and policy, a scenario-building exercise was carried out for two case study areas in Galway Bay. The two case study areas were: Oranmore, a densely populated town located to the east of Inner Galway Bay; and Tawin Island, a rural dispersed community, located to the south east of Inner Galway Bay. A ‘best’ and ‘worse’ case scenario was envisaged for both areas in terms of sea level rise. In the absence of specific climate change policies it was projected that in the ‘best’ case scenario of 0.5m sea level rise, Tawin Island would suffer serious and adverse impacts while Oranmore was likely to experience slight to moderate impacts. However, in the ‘worse’ case scenario of a 2m sea level rise, it was likely that Tawin Island would be abandoned while many houses, businesses and infrastructure built within the floodplain of Oranmore Bay would be inundated and permanently flooded. In this regard, it was the author’s opinion that a strategic and integrated climate change policy and adaptation plan is vital for the island of Ireland that recognises the importance of integrated land use and spatial planning in terms of mitigation and adaptation to climate change.

Análise do tamanho e da forma do ôvo em galinhas das raças Rhode Island Red e Light Sussex e do híbrido entre essas duas raças

Size and shape in eggs of Rhode Island Red and Light Sussex breeds and in the hibrid Rhode x Sussex were studied. These characters are influenced by quantitative genes. Major and minor diameter were used for estimating size of the eggs and the ratio minor/major diameter for shape indice. It was found, in the material analyzed, that: a) the eggs laid by the sa- me chick are pratically uniform; b) the correlation coeficient between major and minor diameter is weak; c) Rhode Island Red has short eggs than Light Sussex; d) short eggs is dominant on long eggs; e) egg shape is the same in Rhode Island Red and Light Sussex breeds and different in the hibrid, which has rounder eggs than the breeds.