Two worlds apart: Indigenous community perspectives and Non-Indigenous teacher perspectives on Australian schools

Our evaluation studies of Indigenous school reform begin from a different starting point: listening to, hearing and engaging with the commentaries, voices, narratives and analyses of Indigenous community as they discuss and recount their experiences and current encounters with Australian state schools. Here we undertake a contrastive documentation of the views of Indigenous community members, Elders, parents, education workers, and young people and, indeed, of the views of their non-Indigenous teachers and school principals. This is a dramatic picture of two distinctive cultural lifeworlds, communities and worldviews in contact, of two very different ‘constructions’ by participants of a shared, mutual experience: everyday interaction in the social field of the Australian school. Taken together, our Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants repeatedly confirmed and corroborated a key theme: that Indigenous peoples continue to be viewed and ‘treated’ through the lens and language of cultural, intellectual and moral ‘deficit’.

A manual of previously recorded non-indigenous invasive and native transplanted animal species of the Laurentian Great Lakes and coastal United States

This manual presents geographic information by state of occurrence, and descriptions of the socio-economic impact created by the invasion of non-indigenous and native transplanted animal species in the Laurentian Great Lakes and the coastal waters of the United States. It is not a comprehensive literature review, but rather is intended as a primer for those unfamiliar with the socio-economic impacts of invasive aquatic and marine animals. Readers should also note that the information contained in this manual is current as of its publication date. New information and new species are routinely being added to the wider literature base. Most of the information was gathered from a number of web sites maintained by government agencies, commissions, academic institutions and museums. Additional information was taken from the primary and secondary literature. This manual focuses on socio-economic consequences of invasive species. Thus, ecological impacts, when noted in the literature, are not discussed unless a connection to socio-economic factors can be made. For a majority of the species listed, either the impact of their invasion is not understood, or it is not published in sources surveyed. In the species summaries, sources of information are cited except for information from the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database http://nas.er.usgs.gov. This website formed the base information used in creating tables on geographic distribution, and in many of the species summaries provided. Thus, whenever information is given without specific author/source and date citation, it has come from this comprehensive source. (PDF contains 90 pages)

Case history and persistence of the non-indigenous diatom Coscinodiscus wailesii in the north-east Atlantic

The introduction of non-indigenous marine plankton species can have a considerable ecological and economic effect on regional systems. Their presence, however, can go unnoticed until they reach nuisance status and as a consequence few case histories exist containing information on their initial appearance and their spatio-temporal patterns. Here we report on the occurrence of the non-indigenous diatom Coscinodiscus wailesii in 1977 in the English Channel, its subsequent geographical spread into European shelf seas, and its persistence as a significant member of the diatom community in the north-east Atlantic from 1977-1995.

Widespread occurrence of the non-indigenous ascidian Corella eumyota Traustedt, 1882 on the shores of Plymouth Sound and Estuaries Special Area of Conservation, UK

The ascidian Corella eumyota, originally from the Southern Hemisphere, was first reported in the Northern Hemisphere in Brittany, France, in 2002. Since then, it has been recorded in Spain, Ireland, the south coast of England and South Wales. Most European records to date have been from artificial habitats such as marinas. In Plymouth, England, C. eumyota was first found in two marinas in 2005 but individuals were soon also detected in small numbers on nearby shores. Shore surveys in March and August of 2008 indicated that C. eumyota has established reproductive populations on natural and semi-natural shores of Plymouth Sound and the adjacent coastline, largely restricted to relatively sheltered sites in the lower reaches of estuaries. At these sites it is generally the most abundant non-colonial ascidian. The species clearly has the capacity to become a significant component of the biota of sheltered shores in the Northern Hemisphere.

Costs and benefits to European shipping of ballast-water and hull-fouling treatment: Impacts of native and non-indigenous species

Maritime transport and shipping are impacted negatively by biofouling, which can result in increased fuel consumption. Thus, costs for fouling reduction can be considered an investment to reduce fuel consumption. Anti-fouling measures also reduce the rate of introduction of non-indigenous species (NIS). Further mitigation measures to reduce the transport of NIS within ballast water and sediments impose additional costs. The estimated operational cost of NIS mitigation measures may represent between 1.6% and 4% of the annual operational cost for a ship operating on European seas, with the higher proportional costs in small ships. However, fouling by NIS may affect fuel consumption more than fouling by native species due to differences in species’ life-history traits and their resistance to antifouling coatings and pollution. Therefore, it is possible that the cost of NIS mitigation measures could be smaller than the cost from higher fuel consumption arising from fouling by NIS.

Non-indigenous marine macroalgae in native communities: a case study in the British Isles

It has traditionally been considered that areas with high natural species richness are likely to be more resistant to non-indigenous species than those with lower numbers of species. However, this theory has been the subject of a debate over the last decade, since some studies have shown the opposite trend. In the present study, a macroalgal survey was carried out at 24 localities in Northern Ireland and southern England, using a quadrat approach in the lower littoral. The two opposing hypotheses were tested (negative versus positive relationship between native and non-indigenous species richness) in this marine environment. The effect of the presence of 'impacts', potential sources of disturbance and species introduction (e.g. marina, harbour or aquaculture), was also tested. A positive relationship was found between the number of non-indigenous species and the native species richness at the three different scales tested (quadrats, sites and localities). At no scale did a richer native assemblage appear to restrict the establishment of introduced species. The analyses revealed greater species richness and different community composition, as well as more non-indigenous species, in southern England relative to Northern Ireland. The presence of the considered impacts had an effect on the community composition and species richness in southern England but not in Northern Ireland. Such impacts had no effect on the non-indigenous species richness in either area.

Assessment of the non-indigenous species in Ria Formosa

Dissertação mest., Gestão da Água e da Costa, Universidade do Algarve, 2008

Relative abundance and population biology of the non-indigenous crab Charybdis hellerii (Crustacea: Brachyura: Portunidae) in a southwestern Atlantic estuary-bay complex

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Relative abundance and population biology of the non-indigenous crab Charybdis hellerii (Crustacea: Brachyura: Portunidae) in a southwestern Atlantic estuary-bay complex

Invasive species are potential threats to biodiversity, especially if they become established and outnumber native species. In this study, a population of the non-indigenous crab Charybdis hellerii was analyzed in an estuary-bay complex on the southeastern Brazilian coast, with respect to its abundance relative to sympatric native brachyuran species, as well as the size structure, sexual maturity, sex ratio, frequency of mutilation, reproductive period, and development of the reproductive system. Crabs were sampled monthly both in the intertidal zone of rocky shores and on sublittoral soft-bottom. Nine species were recorded on the rocky shores, where C. hellerii was the second most abundant species; only three individuals of C. hellerii were collected in the sublittoral samples. This population of C. hellerii showed a unimodal size structure composed mainly of mature individuals; males were larger than females, and the sex ratio was skewed toward males (3.1:1). About 46.9% of the individuals (75 of 160 crabs) had mutilated or regenerating appendages, more frequent in males (56.8%) than in females (28.2%), which may reflect both inter- and intraspecific agonistic interactions. A continuous reproductive pattern is suggested for this population, although ovigerous females occurred unevenly during the year, with 58.82% of them being collected in winter. There was evidence of multiple spawning, since the ovigerous females with an initial egg mass showed mature ovaries as well as seminal receptacles filled with sperm. C. hellerii is well established in the estuary-bay complex, but is concentrated in intertidal and shallow subtidal rocky shores, where it may compete with and replace other species such as the portunid Cronius ruber. This study also highlights the importance of systematic monitoring studies to evaluate the effects of the introduction of non-indigenous species on ecologically similar natives.

Resurrection of the genus Licornia for Scrupocellaria jolloisii (Bryozoa) and related species, with documentation of L. jolloisii as a non-indigenous species in the western Atlantic

Recent studies of the large cheilostome bryozoan genus Scrupocellaria have shown a greater degree of taxonomically informative morphological variation in zooids, opesia, and polymorphic structures than previously recognized. Only one subgenus has been named within the genus, Retiscrupocellaria d'Hondt, 1988, erected for Scrupocellaria jolloisii. In this work we further analyse S. jolloisii and its related species, resurrecting an earlier genus name, Licornia van Beneden, 1850 for Licornia jolloisii, and nine relatives, L. annectens, L. cervicornis, L. cyclostoma, L. diadema, L. ferox, L. gaspari, L. longispinosa, L. macropora, and L. prolata. Licornia jolloisii was originally described from the Red Sea, and most species of the genus occur in the Indo-Pacific region. The species, however, has now been found in the Western Atlantic, in the Florida Keys, US, and in Bahia de Todos Santos, Brazil.

Impacts of newly established non-indigenous green crab (Carcinus maenas) on native fauna in Placentia Bay, Newfoundland

The recent invasion of the European green crab (Carcinus maenas) populations in Placentia Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) raises great concern about potential impacts on local fisheries and native biodiversity. Green crab are highly adaptable and in both native and invaded areas, green crab are well established predators that can outcompete other similarly sized decapods. The main objectives of this thesis were to: 1) identify the native species that green crab compete with for resources; 2) determine the depths and substrate types in which these interactions likely occur; 3) assess the indirect effects of green crab on native crustaceans and their changes in behavior; 4) assess the impacts of green crab on benthic community structure; 5) compare the NL population with other Atlantic Canadian populations in terms of competitive abilities; and 6) compare morphological features of the NL population with other Atlantic Canadian populations. I found that green crab overlap in space and diet with both rock crab (Cancer irroratus) and American lobster (Homarus americanus), potentially leading to a shift in habitat. Laboratory studies on naïve juvenile lobster also suggested shifts in behavior related to green crab, in that lobster decreased foraging activity and increased shelter use in the presence of green crab. Benthic community analyses showed fewer species in mud, sand, and eelgrass sites heavily populated by green crab compared to sites without green crab, although results depended on the taxa involved and I could not eliminate environmental differences through a short term caging study. Foraging ability of green crab varied in intraspecific competition experiments, with populations from NL and Prince Edward Island dominating longer-established populations from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Additional studies excluded claw size as a factor driving these results and behavioral differences likely reflected differences in invasion time and population genetics. Overall, green crab in Placentia Bay appear to be altering community structure of benthic invertebrates through predation and they also appear to indirectly impact native crustaceans through competition.

Non-indigenous species in the North and Baltic Seas and the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River region

List of non-indigenous species (NIS) established in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River region and the North and Baltic Seas region, their geographic origin, and taxonomic assignment. Asterisks mark the NIS that occur in both the North and Baltic Seas and the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River regions. GL, SL, NW, NE, SW and SE denote the Great Lakes, St. Lawrence River, north-west, north-east, south-west, and south-east, respectively. Eurasia represents inland freshwaters except Yangtze River, Indo-Pacific represents Indian Ocean and the archipelago of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Pilipinas, North America (N America) represents inland freshwaters except the Laurentian Great Lakes, St. Lawrence and Mississippi Rivers, while Australia, New Zealand, Africa and South America (S America) cover all inland freshwaters in these areas.