Motivation : staying in the achievement zone with personal integrity

This paper was presented at orientation, to a select group of Business Faculty First Year students accepted into the "Corporate Partners in Excellence Programme" (CPIE). It discusses some of the strategies for continuing as high performing students in University studies whilst at the same time maturing into successful, ethical professionals with a social and environmental conscience.

Conflicts over protection of marine living resources : the ‘Volga Case’ revisited

Non-traditional maritime security concerns have become more importantthan ever in the post-Cold War era. Naval forces of most developedcountries are more concerned about these threats than conventional war.One of the main maritime security issues for many countries in the world isillegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in the marine area. Withthese burgeoning issues comes the potential for a large number of disputesinvolving international law. In early 2002, a long-line fishing vessel under aRussian flag –the Volga, was detained by Australian authorities a few hundred meters outside the Exclusive Economic Zone of Australia’s Heard and McDonald Islands in the Southern Ocean. The vessel was reportedly engaged in illegal fishing. This incident gave birth to litigation in international and Australian courts. Apart from these cases, Russia also announced separate litigation against Australia for violation of Articles 111and 87 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (NCLOS).Considering the outcome of these cases, this article critically examines thecharacteristics of litigation as a strategy for pacific settlement of disputesover marine living resources. Using the Volga Case as an example, thisarticle explores some issues related to the judicial settlement of disputes over marine living resources. This article demonstrates that the legal certainty of winning a case may not be the only factor influencing the strategy for settlement of an international dispute.

Climate variability over the last 35,000 years recorded in marine and terrestrial archives in the Australian region : an OZ-INTIMATE compilation

The Australian region spans some 60° of latitude and 50° of longitude and displays considerable regional climate variability both today and during the Late Quaternary. A synthesis of marine and terrestrial climate records, combining findings from the Southern Ocean, temperate, tropical and arid zones, identifies a complex response of climate proxies to a background of changing boundary conditions over the last 35,000 years. Climate drivers include the seasonal timing of insolation, greenhouse gas content of the atmosphere, sea level rise and ocean and atmospheric circulation changes. Our compilation finds few climatic events that could be used to construct a climate event stratigraphy for the entire region, limiting the usefulness of this approach. Instead we have taken a spatial approach, looking to discern the patterns of change across the continent. The data identify the clearest and most synchronous climatic response at the time of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) (21 ± 3 ka), with unambiguous cooling recorded in the ocean, and evidence of glaciation in the highlands of tropical New Guinea, southeast Australia and Tasmania. Many terrestrial records suggest drier conditions, but with the timing of inferred snowmelt, and changes to the rainfall/runoff relationships, driving higher river discharge at the LGM. In contrast, the deglaciation is a time of considerable south-east to north-west variation across the region. Warming was underway in all regions by 17 ka. Post-glacial sea level rise and its associated regional impacts have played an important role in determining the magnitude and timing of climate response in the north-west of the continent in contrast to the southern latitudes. No evidence for cooling during the Younger Dryas chronozone is evident in the region, but the Antarctic cold reversal clearly occurs south of Australia. The Holocene period is a time of considerable climate variability associated with an intense monsoon in the tropics early in the Holocene, giving way to a weakened monsoon and an increasingly El Niño-dominated ENSO to the present. The influence of ENSO is evident throughout the southeast of Australia, but not the southwest. This climate history provides a template from which to assess the regionality of climate events across Australia and make comparisons beyond our region. The data identify the clearest and most synchronous climatic response at the time of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) (21 ± 3 ka), with unambiguous cooling recorded in the ocean, and evidence of glaciation in the highlands of tropical New Guinea, southeast Australia and Tasmania. Many terrestrial records suggest drier conditions, but with the timing of inferred snowmelt, and changes to the rainfall/runoff relationships, driving higher river discharge at the LGM. In contrast, the deglaciation is a time of considerable south-east to north-west variation across the region. Warming was underway in all regions by 17 ka. Post-glacial sea level rise and its associated regional impacts have played an important role in determining the magnitude and timing of climate response in the north-west of the continent in contrast to the southern latitudes. No evidence for cooling during the Younger Dryas chronozone is evident in the region, but the Antarctic cold reversal clearly occurs south of Australia. The Holocene period is a time of considerable climate variability associated with an intense monsoon in the tropics early in the Holocene, giving way to a weakened monsoon and an increasingly El Niño-dominated ENSO to the present. The influence of ENSO is evident throughout the southeast of Australia, but not the southwest. This climate history provides a template from which to assess the regionality of climate events across Australia and make comparisons beyond our region.

Australian eco-pastoral poetry

Les Murray and Judith Wright are two Australian poets who are widely read as landscape poets. While this framing offers valuable insights into their work it often fails to bring the importance into a contemporary context or to recognise the long tradition Australia has had with , to use Leo Marx’ term, “the complex pastoral”. As Ruth Blair reminds us in her chapter “Hugging the Shore: The Green Mountains of South-East Queensland” in The Littoral Zone: Australian Contexts and their Writers it is accepted that North America has a tradition of the complex pastoral mode but it should be remembered that Australia also has a long history of this form. Both Judith Wright’s and Les Murray’s poetry encourages active campaigning for the environment .These Australian poets are eco-pastoral poets whose poetry encourages active reading rather than passive reflections. Their poetry speaks to the strong connection between the lived everyday landscape and the imagination of past, present and future. Their work is imbued with a strong sense of ecocritical awareness while at the same time drawing on pastoral conventions. These two Australian poets do not offer idealistic pastoral notions but rather reveal the complexities of lived human/nonhuman relationships. This paper will discuss these complexities and how poetry can be experienced as literature in action—ways for readers to connect with and negotiate with the land they inhabit. The research for this paper was, in part, drawn from the responses that local community library groups offered after reading the works of these poets. What became evident from this research was the way the poetry made the readers think not only of landscape as a place of refuge from the urban technological world but also as a contemporary place with connection to agency that motivates readers into active change.

Making informed decisions on selecting promising Work Zone Safety Treatments

Lack of detailed and accurate safety records on incidents in Australian work zones prevents a thorough understanding of the relevant risks and hazards. Consequently it is difficult to select appropriate treatments for improving the safety of roadworkers and motorists alike. This paper presents a method for making informed decisions about safety treatments by 1) identifying safety issues and hazards in work zones, 2) understanding the attitudes and perceptions of both roadworkers and motorists, 3) reviewing the effectiveness of work zone safety treatments according to existing research, and 4) incorporating local expert opinion on the feasibility and usefulness of the safety treatments. Using data collected through semi-structured interviews with roadwork personnel and online surveys of Queensland drivers, critical safety issues were identified. The effectiveness of treatments for addressing the issues was understood through rigorous literature review and consultations with local road authorities. Promising work zone safety treatments include enforcement, portable rumble strips, perceptual measures to imply reduced lane width, automated or remotely-operated traffic lights, end of queue measures, and more visible and meaningful signage.

Towards making informed decisions on selecting promising work zone safety treatments

Lack of detailed and accurate safety records on incidents in Australian work zones prevents a thorough understanding of the relevant risks and hazards. Consequently it is difficult to select appropriate treatments for improving the safety of roadworkers and motorists alike. This paper outlines development of a conceptual framework for making informed decisions about safety treatments by: 1) identifying safety issues and hazards in work zones; 2) understanding the attitudes and perceptions of both roadworkers and motorists; 3) reviewing the effectiveness of work zone safety treatments according to existing research, and; 4) incorporating local expert opinion on the feasibility and usefulness of the safety treatments. Using data collected through semi-structured interviews with roadwork personnel and online surveys of Queensland drivers, critical safety issues were identified. The effectiveness of treatments for addressing the issues was understood through rigorous literature review and consultations with local road authorities. Promising work zone safety treatments include enforcement, portable rumble strips, perceptual measures to imply reduced lane width, automated or remotely-operated traffic lights, end of queue measures, and more visible and meaningful signage.

Kissing fish: Rex Hunt, popular culture, sustainability and fishing practices

Natural resource managers and scientists focus on the behaviour of individual recreational fishers to understand environmental problems associated with this leisure activity. They do this in an effort to identify ways to change attitudes in order to facilitate environmentally friendly choices. This applied use of ABC psychology (attitude, behaviour, choice) has not delivered the expected results. This article offers a different approach by investigating an emergent practice in diverse fishing communities, rather than looking to the responsibility of the individual recreational fisher. Using practice theory, I trace the change from take-all to catch-and-release fishing in Australia by analysing the texts of celebrity fisher Rex Hunt, who is an advocate for releasing fish. I combine this with oral history testimony from a sample of recreational fishers from the broader Australian community to show how change happened. The practice of catch-and-release fishing emerged through the combination of sociotechnical and historically specific elements present in popular culture, including the media. Paying attention to the way different elements catalyse provides a rich account of the changing modes of sustainability in recreational fishing communities.

Stock-recruitment relationships of the tiger prawns (Penaeus esculentus and Penaeus semisulcatus) in the Australian Northern Prawn Fishery

This paper investigates the stock-recruitment and equilibrium yield dynamics for the two species of tiger prawns (Penaeus esculentus and Penaeus semisulcatus) in Australia's most productive prawn fishery: the Northern Prawn Fishery. Commercial trawl logbooks for 1970-93 and research surveys are used to develop population models for these prawns. A population model that incorporates continuous recruitment is developed. Annual spawning stock and recruitment indices are then estimated from the population model. Spawning stock indices represent the abundance of female prawns that are likely to spawn; recruitment indices represent the abundance of all prawns less than a certain size. The relationships between spawning stock and subsequent recruitment (SRR), between recruitment and subsequent spawning stock (RSR), and between recruitment and commercial catch were estimated through maximum-likelihood models that incorporated autoregressive terms. Yield as a function of fishing effort was estimated by constraining to equilibrium the SRR and RSR. The resulting production model was then used to determine maximum sustainable yield (MSY) and its corresponding fishing effort (f(MSY)). Long-term yield estimates for the two tiger prawn species range between 3700 and 5300 t. The fishing effort at present is close to the level that should produce MSY for both species of tiger prawns. However, current landings, recruitment and spawning stock are below the equilibrium values predicted by the models. This may be because of uncertainty in the spawning stock-recruitment relationships, a change in carrying capacity, biased estimates of fishing effort, unreliable catch statistics, or simplistic assumptions about stock structure. Although our predictions of tiger prawn yields are uncertain, management will soon have to consider new measures to counteract the effects of future increases in fishing effort.

A spatially explicit multi-competitor coexistence model of penaeid (shrimp) distribution on the Australian Great Barrier Reef

A spatially explicit multi-competitor coexistence model was developed for meta-populations of prawns (shrimp) occupying habitat patches across the Great Barrier Reef, where dispersal was localised and dispersal rates varied between species. Prawns were modelled as individuals moving to and from patches or cells according to pre-set decision rules. The landscape was simulated as a matrix of cells with each cell having a spatially explicit survival index for each species. Mixed species prawn assemblages moved over this simplified spatially explicit landscape. A low level of chronic random environmental disturbance was assumed (cyclone and tropical storm damage) with additional acute spatially confined disturbance due to commercial trawling, modelled as an increase in mortality affecting inter-specific competition. The general form of the results was for increased disturbance to favour good-colonising "generalist" species at the expense of good-competitor "specialists". Increasing fishing mortality (local patch extinctions) combined with poor colonising ability resulted in low equilibrium abundance for even the best competitor, while in the same circumstances the poorest competitor but best coloniser could have the highest equilibrium abundance. This mimics the switch from high-value prawn species to lower-value prawn species as trawl effort increases, reflected in historic catch and effort logbook data and reported anecdotaly from the north Queensland trawl fleet. To match the observed distribution and behaviour of prawn assemblages, a combination inter-species competition, a spatially explicit landscape, and a defined pattern of disturbance (trawling) was required. Modelling this combination could simulate not only general trends in spatial distribution of each of prawn species but also localised concentrations observed in the survey data

Pheromone-mediated mass trapping and population diversion as strategies for suppressing Carpophilus spp. (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae) in Australian stone fruit orchards

1 Five experiments were conducted during 1995-99 in stone fruit orchards on the Central Coast and in inland New South Wales, Australia, on the use of synthetic aggregation pheromones and a coattractant to suppress populations of the ripening fruit pests Carpophilus spp. (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae). 2 Perimeter-based suppression traps baited with pheromone and coattractant placed at 3m intervals around small fruit blocks, caught large numbers of Carpophilus spp. Very small populations of Carpophilus spp. occurred within blocks, and fruit damage was minimal. 3 Carpophilus spp. populations in stone fruit blocks 15-370m from suppression traps were also small and non-damaging, indicating a large zone of pheromone attractivity. 4 Pheromone/coattractant-baited suppression traps appeared to divert Carpophilus spp. from nearby (130 m) ripening stone fruit. Ten metal drums containing decomposing fruit, baited with pheromone and treated with insecticide, attracted Carpophilus spp. and appeared to reduce populations and damage to ripening fruit at distances of 200-500 m. Populations and damage were significantly greater within 200m of the drums and may have been caused by ineffective poisoning or poor quality/overcrowding of fruit resources in the drums. 5 Suppression of Carpophilus spp. populations using synthetic aggregation pheromones and a coattractant appears to be a realistic management option in stone fruit orchards. Pheromone-mediated diversion of beetle populations from ripening fruit may be more practical than perimeter trapping, but more research is needed on the effective range of Carpophilus pheromones and the relative merits of trapping compared to attraction to insecticide-treated areas.

Sampling and management of Bemisia tabaci (Genn.) biotype B in Australian cotton

Data on seasonal population abundance of Bemisia tabaci biotype B (silverleaf whitefly (SLW)) in Australian cotton fields collected over four consecutive growing seasons (2002/2003-2005/2006) were used to develop and validate a multiple-threshold-based management and sampling plan. Non-linear growth trajectories estimated from the field sampling data were used as benchmarks to classify adult SLW field populations into six density-based management zones with associated control recommendations in the context of peak flowering and open boll crop growth stages. Control options based on application of insect growth regulators (IGRs) are recommended for high-density populations (>2 adults/leaf) whereas conventional (non-IGR) products are recommended for the control of low to moderate population densities. A computerised re-sampling program was used to develop and test a binomial sampling plan. Binomial models with thresholds of T=1, 2 and 3 adults/leaf were tested using the field abundance data. A binomial plan based on a tally threshold of T=2 adults/leaf and a minimum sample of 20 leaves at nodes 3, 4 or 5 below the terminal is recommended as the most parsimonious and practical sampling protocol for Australian cotton fields. A decision support guide with management zone boundaries expressed as binomial counts and control options appropriate for various SLW density situations is presented. Appropriate use of chemical insecticides and tactics for successful field control of whiteflies are discussed.

Using APSIM-soiltemp to simulate soil temperature in the podding zone of peanut

Measurement or accurate simulation of soil temperature is important for improved understanding and management of peanuts (Arachis hypogaea L.), due to their geocarpic habit. A module of the Agricultural Production Systems Simulator Model (APSIM), APSIM-soiltemp, which uses input of ambient temperature, rainfall and solar radiation in conjunction with other APSIM modules, was evaluated for its ability to simulate surface 5 cm soil temperature in 35 peanut on-farm trials conducted between 2001 and 2005 in the Burnett region (25°36'S to 26°41'S, 151°39'E to 151°53'E). Soil temperature simulated by the APSIM-soiltemp module, from 30 days after sowing until maturity, closely matched the measured values (R2 ≥ 0.80)in the first three seasons (2001-04). However, a slightly poorer relationship (R2 = 0.55) between the observed and the simulated temperatures was observed in 2004-05, when the crop was severely water stressed. Nevertheless, over all the four seasons, which were characterised by a range of ambient temperature, leaf area index, radiation and soil water, each of which was found to have significant effects on soil temperature, a close 1:1 relationship (R2 = 0.85) between measured and simulated soil temperatures was observed. Therefore, the pod zone soil temperature simulated by the module can be generally relied on in place of measured input of soil temperature in APSIM applications, such as quantifying climatic risk of aflatoxin accumulation.

Weed management in wide-row cropping systems: a review of current practices and risks for Australian farming systems.

Growing agricultural crops in wide row spacings has been widely adopted to conserve water, to control pests and diseases, and to minimise problems associated with sowing into stubble. The development of herbicide resistance combined with the advent of precision agriculture has resulted in a further reason for wide row spacings to be adopted: weed control. Increased row spacing enables two different methods of weed control to be implemented with non-selective chemical and physical control methods utilised in the wide inter-row zone, with or without selective chemicals used on the on-row only. However, continual application of herbicides and tillage on the inter-row zone brings risks of herbicide resistance, species shifts and/or changes in species dominance, crop damage, increased costs, yield losses, and more expensive weed management technology.

Potential for using through-boring to improve groundline treatment of Australian wood species: A preliminary study.

An aging electricity distribution system and reduced availability of naturally durable tropical hardwoods in Australia will combine in the next decade to produce a major shortage of poles. One approach to mitigating this shortage is to utilize lower durability species and improve the penetration of preservatives into the refractory heartwood by introducing additional pretreatment processes. A potential method for improving preservative penetration in the critical ground-line zone is through-boring. This process, in which holes are drilled through the pole perpendicular to the grain in the ground-line zone, is widely used in the western United States for treatment of Douglas-fir and may be Suitable for many Australian wood species. The potential for improving heartwood penetration in eucalypts with alkaline-copper-quaternary (ACQ) compound was assessed on heartwood specimens from four species (Eucalyptus cloeziana F.Muell., E. grandis W.Hill ex Maiden, E. obliqua L'Her. and E. pellita F.Muell.) and Lophostemon confertus (R.Br.) Peter G.Wilson & J.T.Wateril). Longitudinal ACQ penetration was extremely shallow in L. confertus and only slightly better in E. cloeziana. Longitudinal penetration was good in both E. obliqua and E. pellita, although there was some variation in treatment results with length of pressure period. The results suggest that through-boring might be a reasonable approach for achieving heartwood penetration in some Eucalyptus species, although further studies are required to assess additional treatment schedules and to determine the effects of the process oil flexural properties of the poles.