Recovering Functional Integrity in Pastures Dominated by an Invasive Grass Species

Exotic grasses have been introduced in countries worldwide for pasture improvement, soil stabilisation and ornamental purposes. Some of these introductions have proven successful, but many have not (Cook & Dias 2006). In Australia, the Commonwealth Plant Introduction Scheme was initiated in 1929, and over-time introduced more than 5000 species of grasses, legumes and other forage and browse plants (Cook & Dias 2006). Lonsdale (1994) suggested that, in tropical Australia, 13% of introductions have become a problem, with only 5% being considered useful for agriculture. Low (1997) suggested that 5 out of 18 of Australia's worst tropical environmental weeds were intentionally introduced as pasture grasses. The spread and dominance of invasive grass species that degrade the quality of pastures for production can impact significantly on the livelihoods of small proprietors. Although Livestock grazing contributes only a small percentage to the world's GDP (1.5%), maintaining the long-term stability of this industry is crucial because of the high social and environmental consequence of a collapse. One billion of the world's poor are dependent on livestock grazing for food and income with this industry occupying more than 25% of the world's land base (Steinfeld et al. 2006). The ling-term sustainability of livestock grazing is also crucial for the environment. A recent FAO report attributed livestock production as a major cause of five of the most serious environmental problems: global warming, land degredation, air and water pollution, and the loss of biodiversity (Steinfeld et al. 2006). For these reasons, finding more effective approaches that guide the sustainable management of pastures is urgently needed. In Australia more than 55% of land use is for livestock grazing by sheelp and/or cattle. This land use dominate in the semi-arid and arid regions where rainfall and soil conditions are marginal for production (Commonwealth of Australia 2004). Although the level of agriculture production by conglomerates is increasing, the majority of livestock grazing within Australia remains family owned and operated (Commonwealth of Australia 2004). The sustainability of production from a grazed pasture is dependent on its botanical composition (Kemp & Dowling 1991, Kemp et al. 1996). In a grazed pasture, the dominance of an invasive grass species can impact on the functional integrity of the ecosystem, including production and nutrient cycling; wwhich will in turn, affect the income of proprietors and the ability of the system to recover from disturbance and environmental change. In Australia, $0.3 billion is spent on weed control in livestock production, but despite this substantial investment $1.9 billion is still lost in yield as a result of weeds (Sinden et al. 2004). In this paper, we adaprt a framework proposed for the restoration of degraded rainforest communities (Lamb & Gilmour 2003, Lamb et al. 2005) to compare and contrast options for recovering function integrity (i.e. a diverse set of desirable plant species that maintain key ecological processes necessary for sustainable production and nutrient cycling) within pasture communities dominated by an invasive grass species. To do this, we uase a case-study of the invasion of Eragrostis curvula (Africal lovegrss; hereafter, Lovegrass), a serious concern in Australian agricultural communities (Parsons and Cuthbertson 1992). The spread and dominance of Lovegrass is a problem because its low palatability, low nutritional content and competitiveness affect the livelihood of graziers by reducing the diversity of other plant species. We conclude by suggesting modifications to this framework for pasture ecosystems to help increase the effiency of strategies to protect functional integrity and balance social/economic and biodiversity values.

Valuing the influence of underlying attitudes and the demand for organic milk in Japan

Subjective perceptions about a product affect consumer choice. Accordingly, acquiring the underlying demand characteristics that consumers find desirable is vital for firms planning future marketing strategies. However, the extent to which product-specific perceptions affect consumer choice is poorly understood. New agricultural standards for organic livestock were introduced in Japan in November 2005 and are expected to influence the market significantly. Choice modeling (CM) is used to explore how consumers evaluate the latent demands and conventional attributes (or tangible values) of organic milk. The results suggest that latent demands, along with socioeconomic characteristics and conventional attributes, provide strong incentives for consumers to move from the purchase of conventional milk to organic milk. The analysis indicates that latent demands reflecting the safeness of organic milk, the better taste of organic milk, the image of environmental friendliness in the production process, and the image of the health and comfort of the cows are important factors that influence consumers' purchasing decisions. However, each specific factor has a corresponding conventional tangible attribute that needs to be targeted in marketing strategy.

Flathead (Origin of the Specious)

A three channel video work that was produced under the psuedonym Eve Roleston that explored the arbitrary nature of signification as it played across a range of images, texts and sounds. The work aimed to provide a considered engagement with the contingent, polymorphous and unstable qualities of the material on each of the three screens. This work forms part of my practice-led research undertaken for my PhD. It deals with reconsidering the relationship between politics and aesthetics by employing strategies of humour, play theory and the fictocritical

Transmedia Storytelling: From Interviewing to Multi-Platform

There is nothing new under the sun – so the saying goes, and in a digital age of recording oral histories, this holds true. Despite advances and innovations across the board in information and communication technology in the field of oral history it is essentially only the devices we record on that have changed. However, what has emerged is a plethora of ways that oral history interviews can be used to produce multimedia, or transmedia storytelling outputs- for exhibitions in public institutions, schools and by communities to engage interested groups, and in families and by individuals wanting to play with new ways of telling their family stories and histories. In 2010, QUT’s Creative Industries introduced a postgraduate unit called Transmedia Storytelling: From Interviewing to Multi-Platform, which was the first postgraduate course of its kind in Australia. Based in a Creative Writing discipline, but open to all coursework Masters, PhD, Research Masters and Doctorate of Creative Industries students, this unit introduces students to the theory and practice of semi-structured interviewing techniques, oral history conventions and applications, and the art of storytelling across various platforms.

Totes Over It

A collaborative series of limited edition canvas tote bags, each bearing a different feminist slogan, produced by the feminist collective LEVEL for exhibition and distribution as part of the Queensland Government-funded Q[ARI] Project at Sydney Contemporary Art Fair at Carriageworks in 2013.

We need to talk (denim workshop)

A collaborative, participatory denim craft station installed by the LEVEL feminist collective in the Q[ARI] Project - Artist-Run Initiatives exhibition, at the Griffith University Art Gallery in 2013. The exhibition was funded by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland, and featured seven artist-run-initiatives from Brisbane.

Family tree

Artist's Statement: These suspended shipping floats symbolise the artist's grandfather's home on Keriri (Hammond Island), where the trees are decorated with floats of all colours that have washed up on the beach. Across the entire Torres Strait, these floats, often from Asia, wash ashore and become decorative objects, strung from trees and hung from island shacks. Their vivid colours, and sometimes reflective glass surfaces, play against the lush tropical setting, while their re-use reflects the innovative character of island life. This arrangement of the floats represents the artist's family tree, which he has traced back six generations to Mer (Murray Island) and Keriri. The strings of orange floats represent his immediate family and direct lineage, each member of which is named on a float, with the totem of the family painted on the base. The remaining floats trace additional ancestry and spread further back through time and space, spanning the Torres Strait from west to east.

We need to talk : feminism and food (GOMA Harvest Picnic)

This collaborative, participatory work by feminist collective LEVEL took place at the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) as part of the official program of activities surrounding the exhibition 'Harvest', 2014. It took the form of a public picnic, where women and their friends were invited to share cooking recipes while also discussing the possible recipe for a gender revolution. Groups discussed their ideas, before a public reading of potential 'ingredients' and 'methods' outside the museum on the Maiwar Green.

Metropolis: Part I–III

Video installation, Metrolpolis: Part I-III, using 1-channel HD video with surround sound. At the end of the first decade of the twenty–first century, contemporary culture appears increasingly seduced and absorbed by apocalyptic reveries. Scientists are racing to cryo-preserve genetic material from animals and plant matter in underground bunkers, while filmmakers use the spectacle of computer-generated imagery (CGI) to speculate on the outcomes from dramatic climate change, that we are not yet ready to confront in reality... Premier's new media art prize 2010: http://www.qagoma.qld.gov.au/exhibitions/past/2010/premier_of_queenslands_national_new_media_art_award_2010/chris_howlett

Effacing power

A solo exhibiton of painting, photography, collage and fabric sculpture works that continues Wyman's interest in exploring feminist strategies for negotiating individual and collective identities,equallity and social activism. She explores the idea that the clothed body is often the first point of protest and demonstrates how masks and disguises provide collective power and protection in conflict zones.

Combat drag

A single channel video work that explores the idea that the clothed body is often the first point of protest and demonstrates how masks and disguses provide collective power and protection in conflict zones. With catalogue.

Free pussy riot crazy quilt

Digital photographs sewn onto secondhand tie-dye t-shirts. The work continues Wyman's interest in exploring feminist strategies for negotiating individual and collective identiities, equality and social activism.

Permissionary work

The Los Angeles-based collaborative duo responds to the community-focused mission of the Center for the Arts Eagle Rock by asking themselves what kinds of invitations they want to extend to others publicly and privately. The resulting works depict various attempts at engagement and include examples that are insider, narcissistic, exclusive, inclusive, and imaginary. This new body of work furthers CamLab’s ongoing investigation into intimacy and how the political becomes personal by making its existing networks palpable and by giving its potential networks form.

New Dawn (Parts I & II)

New Dawn is a cross-media visual art project that comprises a multi–channel video work (Boxcopy ARI, Brisbane) and a series of sculptural works (MetroArts, Brisbane) both of which conflate the online spectacle of real events with virtual gaming. The purpose of this project is to question this new phenomenon and what are the political, social and economic repercussions for these new technological developments on our bodies and subjectivities. By doing this my work asks us to reflect on how we function as a society in response to these new spaces of interaction, how we might respond to the political dimensions of these expanded sites of inhabitation, and how they might also represent a more troubling scenario for the possibility of dissent or opposition in our media saturated culture. The work was shown at multiple venues simultaneously. One of the components of the work won the 2013 Sunshine Coast Art Prize for sculpture.

Comparative genomics of koala, cattle and sheep strains of Chlamydia pecorum

Background Chlamydia pecorum is an important pathogen of domesticated livestock including sheep, cattle and pigs. This pathogen is also a key factor in the decline of the koala in Australia. We sequenced the genomes of three koala C. pecorum strains, isolated from the urogenital tracts and conjunctiva of diseased koalas. The genome of the C. pecorum VR629 (IPA) strain, isolated from a sheep with polyarthritis, was also sequenced. Results Comparisons of the draft C. pecorum genomes against the complete genomes of livestock C. pecorum isolates revealed that these strains have a conserved gene content and order, sharing a nucleotide sequence similarity > 98%. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) appear to be key factors in understanding the adaptive process. Two regions of the chromosome were found to be accumulating a large number of SNPs within the koala strains. These regions include the Chlamydia plasticity zone, which contains two cytotoxin genes (toxA and toxB), and a 77 kbp region that codes for putative type III effector proteins. In one koala strain (MC/MarsBar), the toxB gene was truncated by a premature stop codon but is full-length in IPTaLE and DBDeUG. Another five pseudogenes were also identified, two unique to the urogenital strains C. pecorum MC/MarsBar and C. pecorum DBDeUG, respectively, while three were unique to the koala C. pecorum conjunctival isolate IPTaLE. An examination of the distribution of these pseudogenes in C. pecorum strains from a variety of koala populations, alongside a number of sheep and cattle C. pecorum positive samples from Australian livestock, confirmed the presence of four predicted pseudogenes in koala C. pecorum clinical samples. Consistent with our genomics analyses, none of these pseudogenes were observed in the livestock C. pecorum samples examined. Interestingly, three SNPs resulting in pseudogenes identified in the IPTaLE isolate were not found in any other C. pecorum strain analysed, raising questions over the origin of these point mutations. Conclusions The genomic data revealed that variation between C. pecorum strains were mainly due to the accumulation of SNPs, some of which cause gene inactivation. The identification of these genetic differences will provide the basis for further studies to understand the biology and evolution of this important animal pathogen. Keywords: Chlamydia pecorum; Single nucleotide polymorphism; Pseudogene; Cytotoxin