Stability of nest range, home range and movement of the northern bettong (Bettongia tropica) following moderate-intensity fire in a tropical woodland, north-eastern Queensland

Nest use, home-range characteristics and nightly movements by the northern bettong (Bettongia tropica) were examined before and after a low- to moderate-intensity fire in sclerophyll woodland in north-eastern Australia using radio-telemetry. In all, 23 animals were radio-tracked at three-month intervals between February 1995 and May 1996. During November 1995 a low- intensity experimental fire burned the entire home range of most animals. The northern bettong appeared fairly catholic in choice of nest site, with a variety of nest locations and nesting materials used. Prior to the fire, nests were generally located in areas of dense cover, such as the skirts of grass trees (46%) or grass close to a log (29%). After fire removed most ground cover in the nesting areas of most animals, bettongs used remaining shelter such as boulder piles (45%), recently fallen trees (8%) and patches of unburnt vegetation (21%). Nest areas (10.1 ha) of males were significantly larger than those of females (5.4 ha). Home ranges of both sexes were large (59 ha) and most ranges lacked distinct core areas, suggesting that bettongs used all parts of their home ranges equally. High mean rates of nightly movement by the northern bettong indicated that large distances were moved within home ranges during nightly foraging. No significant fire-related changes were detected in home-range size, home-range location, nest-area location or mean rates of nightly movement, suggesting that the northern bettong is well adapted to the low- and medium-intensity fires that characterise its habitat.

Antibody levels to the class I and II epitopes of the M protein and myosin are related to group A streptococcal exposure in endemic populations

Rheumatic fever (RF)/rheumatic heart disease (RHD) and post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis are thought to be autoimmune diseases, and follow group A streptococcal (GAS) infection. Different GAS M types have been associated with rheumatogenicity or nephritogenicity and categorized into either of two distinct classes (I or II) based on amino acid sequences present within the repeat region ('C' repeats) of the M protein. Sera from ARF patients have previously been shown to contain elevated levels of antibodies to the class I-specific epitope and myosin with the class I-specific antibodies also being cross-reactive to myosin, suggesting a disease association. This study shows that immunoreactivity of the class I-specific peptide and myosin does not differ between controls and acute RF (ARF)/RHD in populations that are highly endemic for GAS, raising the possibility that the association is related to GAS exposure, not the presence of ARF/RHD. Peptide inhibition studies suggest that the class I epitope may be conformational and residue 10 of the peptide is critical for antibody binding. We demonstrate that correlation of antibody levels between the class I and II epitope is due to class II-specific antibodies recognizing a common epitope with class I which is contained within the sequence RDL-ASRE. Our results suggest that antibody prevalence to class I and II epitopes and myosin is associated with GAS exposure, and that antibodies to these epitopes are not an indicator of disease nor a pathogenic factor in endemic populations.

Reinfection with Schistosoma haematobium following school-based chemotherapy with praziquantel in four highly endemic villages in Côte d'Ivoire

We present the comparative evaluation of school-based chemotherapy with praziquantel on Schistosoma haematobium reinfection patterns, 6, 12, 18 and 24 months after systematic treatment of schoolchildren in four villages of south-central Côte d'Ivoire. At baseline, very high S. haematobium infection prevalences of 88–94% were found in Taabo Village, located adjacent to a large man-made lake, and in Batera and Bodo, where small dams were constructed. In Assinzé, a village with no man-made environmental alterations, the baseline infection prevalence was significantly lower (67%). The parasitological cure rate, assessed 4 weeks after praziquantel administration in the village with the highest prevalence and intensity of infection, was high (82%), and showed a clear association with infection intensity prior to treatment. Six months after chemotherapy, significant reductions in the prevalence and intensity of infection were observed in all villages. However, infection prevalence was again high in Taabo Village (63%) and in Batera (49%). Different patterns of reinfection occurred in the four villages: rapid reinfection in Taabo Village to reach almost baseline infection prevalence 12 months post-treatment; slow but gradual increase in the prevalence and intensity of infection in Bodo; marked increase in prevalence and intensity of infection during the second year of the follow-up in Assinzé; and prevalence and intensity of infection that remained almost constant between 6 and 24 months post-treatment in Batera. Our study confirms that S. haematobium reinfection patterns largely depend on the local epidemiological setting, which is of central importance to tailoring treatment strategies that are well adapted to these different settings.

A cluster of melioidosis cases from an endemic region is clonal and is linked to the water supply using molecular typing of Burkholderia pseudomallei isolates

Nine cases of melioidosis with four deaths occurred over a 28-month period in members of a small remote Aboriginal community in the top end of the Northern Territory of Australia. Typing by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis showed isolates of Burkholderia pseudomallei from six of the cases to be clonal and also identical to an isolate from the community water supply, but not to soil isolates. The clonality of the isolates found in this cluster contrasts with the marked genetic diversity of human and environmental isolates found in this region which is hyperendemic for B. pseudomallei. It is possible that the clonal bacteria persisted and were propagated in biofilm in the water supply system. While the exact mode of transmission to humans and the reasons for cessation of the outbreak remain uncertain, contamination of the unchlorinated community water supply is a likely explanation.

Phylogenetic revision of the flightless Australian genus Apterotheca Gebien (Coleoptera : Tenebrionidae : Coelometopinae)

Members of the flightless genus Apterotheca Gebien (Coleoptera : Tenebrionidae) are mostly restricted to the high elevation rainforests of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area of north-eastern Australia. This region has been recognised as an 'epicentre of evolution for low vagility animals'. The genus Apterotheca is the most diverse low vagility insect taxon known in this region. Forty-four species are included here in a revision of the genus. Three of these species were previously included in Apterotheca (A. antaroides (Pascoe), A. besti (Blackburn) and A. punctipennis Carter), four were previously included in other genera (A. australis (Kulzer), comb. nov. and A. punctifrons (Gebien), comb. nov. in Apterophenus Gebien, A. costata (Buck), comb. nov. in Caxtonana Buck and A. pustulosa (Carter), comb. nov. in Austropeus Carter) and 37 are new. The monotypic genera Austropeus Carter, syn. nov. and Caxtonana Buck, syn. nov. are proposed as new synonyms of Apterotheca. A lectotype for A. punctipennis and A. besti are designated. A key to the species of Apterotheca and a phylogenetic analysis based on the morphological features of adults, as well as a discussion of character evolution, are also included. Data presented here represent the framework for future studies on the determinants of the patterns of diversity found in the Wet Tropics.

An analysis of occupational outcomes for Indigenous and Asian employees in Australia

This paper examines occupational performance in Australia across three racial groups in Australia: Indigenous Australians; Asian people, defined as all those whose language spoken at home was either Chinese, Vietnamese or other forms of a South-east or East Asian language; and white people, defined as the residual category. The paper has as its starting point, observed differences in occupational attainment among the three groups in Australia and sets out to account for these observed differences on the basis of both race and non-racial attributes such as, age, education and area of residence.

Asian elephants as agricultural pests: Economics of control and compensation in Sri Lanka

Despite growing attention to crop and property damage caused by the Asian elephant, uncertainty exists about the magnitude of this problem. This article explores the nature and, Magnitude of this problem in Sri Lanka. An economic analysis of individual farmers'. decisions to control elephants is provided. Government policies to assist farmers in coping with the elephant pest problem are assessed. Appropriate compensation schemes for farmers are seen as potentially more effective for conserving elephants in Sri Lanka than legal prohibitions on the killing of elephants. The issues raised here have wider relevance than merely to Sri Lanka or Asian elephants.

Of mites and bees: A review of mite-bee associations in Australia and a revision of Raymentia Womersley (Acari : Mesostigmata : Laelapidae), with the description of two new species of mites from Lasioglossum (Parasphecodes) spp. (Hymenoptera : Halictidae)

Social bees have a diverse fauna of symbiotic mesostigmatic mites, including highly pathogenic parasites of the honeybee, but there are few reports of Mesostigmata phoretic on or inhabiting the nests of solitary or communal, ground-nesting bees. In south-eastern Australia, however, native bees in the family Halictidae carry what appears to be a substantial radiation of host-specific mesostigmatans in the family Laelapidae. Herein, we redescribe the obscure genus Raymentia , associated with Lasioglossum (Parasphecodes ) spp. bees (Halictidae) and describe two new species, R. eickwortiana from L. lacthium (Smith) and R. walkeriana from L. atronitens (Cockerell). The type species, R. anomala Womersley, is associated with L. altichum (Smith). In addition, we review the mites known to be associated with Australian bees, provide a key to differentiate them, and describe and illustrate acarinaria of the Halictinae. We also report on the first occurrences in Australia of the genera Trochometridium Cross (Heterostigmata: Trochometridiidae), from L. eremaean Walker (Halictidae), and Cheletophyes Oudemans (Prostigmata: Cheyletidae) from Xylocopa Latreille (Xylocopinae), and on the previously unknown association between a Neocypholaelaps Vitzthum (Mesostigmata: Ameroseiidae) and Lipotriches tomentifera (Friese) (Halictidae).

Drosophilidae (Diptera) of Australia's Northern Territory: Ecology and biogeography

The drosophilid fauna is well documented in eastern Australia but is poorly known in other parts of the continent. This paper summarises what is known of this fauna in the Northern Territory (NT), and includes results from banana trapping in the humid and arid zones. The 42 recorded species include species that breed in fruit, fungi and/or flowers, and a larval predator of scale insects. Drosophilids occur in all three major climate zones (humid, semiarid and arid) but predominate in the humid zone. Banana-attracted species in the humid zone (wet-dry tropics) were common in all sampled habitats: urban, rainforest and open woodland. They included predominantly urban and/or rainforest species. Of the species collected in open woodland, some are likely to be breeding there, whereas others may have been intercepted during movement across the area. The semiarid fauna is a depauperate version of that found in the humid region. Only three species have been recorded in the arid region: an endemic arid specialist, and two cosmopolitan species (D. simulans and D. melanogaster ) in urban Alice Springs. Overall, the NT drosophilid fauna represents a depauperate version of that found in eastern Australia, probably because of climatic factors and natural barriers to range expansion. There is little evidence of regional endemism, with probably only one (and at most three) species endemic to the NT, and no evidence of independent, natural dispersion from nearby Indonesia.

Differential requirements for COPI coats in formation of replication complexes among three genera of Picornaviridae

Picornavirus RNA replication requires the formation of replication complexes (RCs). consisting of virus-induced vesicles associated with viral nonstructural proteins and RNA. Brefeldin A (BFA) has been shown to strongly inhibit RNA replication of poliovirus but not of encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV). Here, we demonstrate that the replication of parechovirus 1 (ParV1) is partly resistant to BFA, whereas echovirus 11 (EV11) replication is strongly inhibited. Since BFA inhibits COPI-dependent steps in endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-Golgi transport, we tested a hypothesis that different picornaviruses may have differential requirements for COPI in the formation of their RCs. Using immunofluorescence and cryo-immunoelectron microscopy we examined the association of a COPI component, beta-COP, with the RCs of EMCV, ParV1, and EV11 EMCV RCs did not contain beta-COP. In contrast, beta-COP appeared to be specifically distributed to the RCs of EV11 In ParV1-infected cells beta-COP was largely dispersed throughout the cytoplasm, with some being present in the RCs. These results suggest that there are differences in the involvement of COPI in the formation of the RCs of various picornaviruses, corresponding to their differential sensitivity to BFA. EMCV RCs are likely to be formed immediately after vesicle budding from the ER, prior to COPI association with membranes. ParV1 RCs are formed from COPI-containing membranes but COPI is unlikely to be directly involved in their formation, whereas formation of EV11 RCs appears to be dependent on COPI association with membranes.