Female reproductive success in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.): life history, habitat, provisioning, and group-size effects.

Behavioral Ecology 11 (2): 210–219. https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/11.2.210

Abstract:

This study examines factors influencing female reproductive success in wild Indian Ocean bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.) in Shark Bay, Australia. Eighty-three females and their 142 calves were surveyed between 1988 and 1998 (3457 surveys); 42 calves were also observed during focal follows for 1330 h. Calf mortality is 44% by age 3 (n = 110). Reproduction is moderately seasonal (September-January), peaking from October to December. Calf loss between August and December is followed by rapid conception (1-2 months), whereas conception is delayed (2-9 months) if calf loss occurs between January and July. Weaning ages ranged from 2.7 to 8.0 years, but 66.7% (42 calves) were weaned by their fourth birthday. Females tended to wean mid-pregnancy. Accordingly, median interbirth interval was 4.1 years. Female reproductive success was classified as 0, 1, 2, or 3 according to the number of calves who survived to age 3 over a 10-year period (n = 38 females with complete histories). We examined whether factors affecting predation or food availability, water depth, and group size, were related to female reproductive success. Group size was unrelated to water depth or female reproductive success, but reproductive success was predicted by water depth (p <.002). Shallow water may allow mothers and calves to detect and avoid predatory sharks. Alternatively, or additionally, prey density may be higher in shallow water compared to deep water.

mann-biblio

The social behaviour and captive management of Bennett's wallabies, Macropus rufogriseus rufogriseus.  

MSc Thesis, University of Tasmania

278 Seiten mit Fotos, Grafiken und Tabellen.

Abstract:

The Bennett's wallaby, Macropus rufogriseus rufogriseus, is frequently exhibited in wildlife parks and zoos in Australia and overseas. The social behaviour of the Bennett's wallaby was investigated and its role in developing captive management strategies was considered. A questionnaire was mailed to 31 wildlife parks and zoos within Australia and New Zealand to collect information on current husbandry practices and to provide a basis for experimental manipulations of a captive group. A comprehensive behavioural inventory was compiled using observations of captive Bennett's wallabies at Bonorong Wildlife Park and the University of Tasmania, as well as wild wallabies at Coal Mines Nature Reserve on the Tasman Peninsula and Mt Field National Park in south-eastern Tasmania. Wallabies at the university enclosure devoted the greatest portion of both the day and night time browsing or attending feeding stations, although more time was devoted to browsing during the day and feeding at night.. Alert postures were sustained for longer periods during the day than at night. These activities were alternated with long and frequent periods of resting. Social interactions of any kind were rarely observed, particularly during the daytime.

The collection of Bennett's wallabies established at the University of Tasmania were utilised in experimental manipulations examining the effects of varying the number and position of feeding stations available, stocking rates and the age and gender of group members on the frequencies of performing elements of behaviour and occupying sectors of the enclosure. When four feeders were spaced throughout the 1000 m² of the enclosure wallabies occupied more sectors, were more active and interacted significantly more often than when feeders were positioned near to each other or their numbers reduced. When stocked at rates of three, six or nine animals per 1000 m², wallabies were more visible and active and interacted amicably more frequently at the medium stocking rate than at other times. When more adults were included in the captive group than members of other age classes, the proportion of time that wallabies were hidden from view in refuges within enclosure vegetation slightly increased but was offset by increased activity at other times, when wallabies alternated browsing and feeding with the adoption of alert postures, increased locomotory activity, more grooming and a greater number of social interactions.

These findings were used as a basis from which were developed principles of best practice in the captive management of Bennett's wallabies and other macropodoids.

Volltext:

https://eprints.utas.edu.au/19154/1/whole_ChapmanMichelleElizabeth2003_thesis.pdf

STOW, A. J. & SUNNUCKS, P. (2004a)

High mate and site fidelity in Cunningham's skinks (Egernia cunninghami) in natural and fragmented habitat.

Molecular Ecology 13 (2): 419-430. 10.1046/j.1365-294X.2003.02061.x

Abstract:

While habitat alteration has considerable potential to disrupt important within-population processes, such as mating and kin structure, via changed patterns of dispersal, this has rarely been tested. We are investigating the impact of anthropogenic habitat alteration on the population biology of the rock-dwelling Australian lizard Egernia cunninghami on the Central Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia, by comparing deforested and adjacent naturally vegetated areas. The novel analyses in this paper, and its companion, build on previous work by adding a new replicate site, more loci and more individuals. The additional microsatellite loci yield sufficient power for parentage analysis and the sociobiological inferences that flow from it. Genetic and capture–mark–recapture techniques were used to investigate mate and site fidelity and associated kin structure. Analyses of the mating system and philopatry using 10 microsatellite loci showed high levels of site fidelity by parents and their offspring in natural and deforested habitats. Parentage assignment revealed few individuals with multiple breeding partners within seasons and fidelity of pairs across two or more breeding seasons was typical. Despite reduced dispersal, increased group sizes and significant, dramatic increases in relatedness among individuals within rock outcrops in deforested areas, no significant differences between deforested and natural areas were evident in the degree of multiple mating or philopatry of breeding partners within and across seasons. With the exception that there was a significantly higher proportion of unmated males in the deforested area, the social and mating structure of this species has so far been surprisingly robust to substantial perturbation of dispersal and relatedness structure. Nonetheless, approximately 10-fold elevation of mean pairwise relatedness in the deforested areas has great potential to increase inbred matings, which is investigated in the companion paper.

STOW, A. J. & SUNNUCKS, P. (2004b)

Inbreeding avoidance in Cunningham's skinks (Egernia cunninghami) in natural and fragmented habitat.

Molecular Ecology 13 (2): 443-447. 10.1046/j.1365-294X.2003.02060.x

Abstract:

Habitat fragmentation/alteration has been proposed as a distinct process threatening the viability of populations of many organisms. One expression of its impact may be the disruption of core population processes such as inbreeding avoidance. Using the experimental design outlined in our companion paper, we report on the impact of habitat alteration (deforestation) on inbreeding in the rock-dwelling Australian lizard Egernia cunninghami. Ten microsatellite loci were used to calculate relatedness coefficients of potential and actual breeding pairs, and to examine mate-choice and heterozygosity. Despite significantly less dispersal and higher within-group relatedness between potential mates in deforested than in natural habitats, this did not result in significantly more inbred matings. Average relatedness amongst breeding pairs was low, with no significant difference between natural and fragmented populations in relatedness between breeding pairs, or individual heterozygosity. Active avoidance of close kin as mates was indicated by the substantially and significantly lower relatedness in actual breeding pairs than potential ones. These facts, and heterozygote excesses in all groups of immature lizards from both habitats, show that E. cunninghami maintained outbreeding in the face of increased accumulation of relatives.

Australian Freshwater Crocodile - Crocodylus johnstoni.

In: Crocodiles.Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan: 66-70.
Third Edition, ed. by S.C. Manolis and C. Stevenson. Crocodile Specialist Group: Darwin.

Aus dem Inhalt:

The Australian Freshwater Crocodile was formally described as Crocodylus johnsoni intended to name the species after Mr. Robert Johnstone, but mispelt the name as “Johnson”. Cogger et  al. (1983) reviewed the nomenclature and reinstated the name Crocodylus johnstoni, which is the name most commonly applied in the scientific and general literature, and in Australian State/Territory and Federal legislation. This correction was unnoticed by some (King  and  Burke 1989), so “Crocodylus johnsoni” still appears in some contexts (CITES and IUCN).

Chelodina oblonga Gray 1841 – Northern Snake-Necked Turtle.

In: Rhodin, A.G.J., Pritchard, P.C.H., van Dijk, P.P., Saumure, R.A., Buhlmann, K.A., Iverson, J.B., and Mittermeier, R.A. (Eds.). Conservation Biology of Freshwater Turtles and Tortoises: A Compilation Project of the IUCN/SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group. Chelonian Research Monographs No. 5, pp. 077.1–13, doi:10.3854/crm.5.077.oblonga.v1.2014, http://www.iucn-tftsg.org/cbftt/.

Summary:

The Northern Snake-necked Turtle, Chelodina (Macrochelodina) oblonga (Family Chelidae), until very recently known as C. (M.) rugosa, is a fairly large freshwater turtle (carapace length to 360 mm) with a broad distribution in tropical northern Australia and southern New Guinea. Its preferred habitats are seasonal wetlands on the coastal floodplains and adjacent hinterlands. These habitats undergo extensive flooding during the tropical wet season, with declining water levels during the following dry season; many waterholes dry completely. The species survives the dry season by migrating to permanent water or by estivating under the mud of dried waterholes. It is a highly prized food item among Aboriginal people, and turtles are collected each year in a harvest that has occurred for many millennia. The species is exclusively carnivorous and feeds on a range of fast-moving aquatic invertebrates, tadpoles, and fish. It is a highly fecund, fast-growing, and early-maturing species in comparison to most other Australian chelids. Its habit of nesting underwater makes it unique among all turtles. Nesting commences in the wet season (February) and is mostly complete by July (mid-dry season), though gravid females can be found as late as September if waterholes remain inundated. Eggs are laid in holes dug in mud under shallow water in the littoral zone of flooded waterholes. Embryonic development remains arrested while the nest remains flooded, but recommences when floodwaters recede and the ground dries. Embryonic development proceeds during the dry season and hatchling emergence coincides with the heavy rainfall or flooding in the following wet season. The species remains common in all the major river systems across northern Australia and southern New Guinea, and is sustainably harvested for traditional consumption in Australia, but is under some threat there from pig predation.

Chelodina  longicollis (Shaw  1784) – eastern  long-necked  turtle, common long-necked turtle, common snake-necked turtle.

In: Rhodin, A.G.J., Pritchard, P.C.H., van Dijk, P.P., Saumure, R.A., Buhlmann, K.A., Iverson, J.B., and Mittermeier, R.A. (Eds.). Conservation Biology of Freshwater Turtles and Tortoises: A Compilation Project of the IUCN/SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group. Chelonian Research Monographs 5: 031.1-031.8, doi:10.3854/crm.5.031.
longicollis.v1.2009, http://www.iucn-tftsg.org/cbftt/.

Summary:

The eastern long-necked turtle, Chelodina longicollis (Family Chelidae), has a wide distribution throughout southeastern Australia. It occupies a broad range of freshwater aquatic habitats but is more abundant in shallow, ephemeral wetlands often remote from permanent rivers. Its propensity for long distance overland migration, coupled with a low rate of desiccation and the capacity to estivate on land, enable it to exploit highly-productive ephemeral habitats in the absence of competition from fish and other turtle species. In wetter periods, such habitats provide optimal conditions for growth and reproduction. In drier periods, however, turtles may need to seek refuge in permanent water where high population densities and low productivity can lead to reduced growth rates and reproductive output. The species is an opportunistic carnivore that feeds on a broad range of plankton, nekton and benthic macro-invertebrates, carrion, as well as terrestrial organisms that fall upon the water. It is relatively slow to mature (7–8 yrs for males and 10–12 yrs for females), lays between 6 and 23 hard-shelled eggs during spring and late summer, and can produce up to 3 clutches per year. Although currently considered common and not under major threat, the most widespread conservation concern for C. longicollis is high nest predation from the introduced fox (Vulpes vulpes), and roads, pest fencing, and habitat changes brought about by prolonged drought and climate change, which present localized and potential future threats for certain populations.

On some new species freshwater tortoises from North America, Ceylon and Australia.

Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (2) 18: 263-268.

Inhalt:

In dem Artikel werden v erschiedene Gattungen revidiert, so etwa Pseudemys von emys getrennt und verschiedene neue Arten beschrieben, darunter Chelodina colliei und Chelodina sulcata

Taxonomy and nomenclature of the longneck turtle (genus Chelodina) from south-western Australia.

Records of the Western Australian Museum 25: 449–454
DOI 10.18195/issn.0312-3162.25(4).2010.449-454

Abstract:

Gray (1856) recognised Chelodina colliei from south-western Australia as a different species from Chelodina oblonga Gray, 1841 from ‘Western Australia’. In addition, Gray (1873) specifically mentioned specimens of C. oblonga from the Port Essington region of today’s Northern Territory. Boulenger (1889) synonymized C. colliei with C. oblonga, a view followed by later reviewers for over seven decades. Goode (1967) and Burbidge (1967) both reinstated Gray’s original concept that the longneck turtle of south-western Australia represents a distinct species, but erroneously applied and restricted the name C. oblonga to the south-western Australian species. Thomson (2000) detected this nomenclatural error and subsequently applied to the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN case 3351, Thomson 2006) to give precedence to rugosa over oblonga whenever the two were considered to be conspecific and to place on the official lists the names colliei, oblonga and rugosa, thus leaving colliei as the only available name for the south-western Australian Chelodina. Since then, the name Chelodina colliei was again used by several authors for the south-western Australian taxon, including in books and checklists (Bonin et al. 2006; Fritz and Havaš 2007; Iverson 2007). With case 3351 still under consideration by the ICZN, McCord and Joseph-Ouni (2007) further aggravated the nomenclatural confusion regarding the south-western Australian longneck turtle by fixing a ‘neotype’ for C. oblonga and by describing the genus Macrodiremys for C. oblonga (= colliei), both actions in violation of Articles 75.6 and 82.1 of the 1999 ICZN Code.

The Birds of Australia.

7 Bände und ein später erschienener Ergänzungsband
London. Verlegt durch den Verfasser.

The Birds of Australia war die erste Gesamtbetrachtung der australischen Vogelwelt und umfasste Beschreibungen von 681 Arten, darunter 328 Erstbeschreibungen. Jede Art ist mit einer kolorierten Lithographie illustriert, von denen die meisten von Henry Constantine RICHTER nach Vorlagen von GOULD und dessen Ehefrau Elizabeth hergestellt wurden. Das Werk wurd ein einer Auflage von 250 Exemplaren gedruckt, die heute kaum noch bezahlbar sind. Es wurde von der australischen Nationalbibliothek digitalisiert und ist online verfügbar.

Folgende Abbildungen aus dem Werk wurden im Rahmen dieses Internetauftritts verwendet:

• Tribonyx mortierii  
• Erythrura (=Chloebia) gouldiae

gould-biblio

A complete Guide to the Reptiles of Australia.

4. Auflage. 592 Seiten. Zahlreiche Farbfotos, Strichzeichnungen und Verbreitungskarten. Verlag New Holland Publishers. ISBN: 9781921517280.

Publisher's description:

The Complete Guide to the Reptiles of Australia explores the rich diversity of Australia's reptiles. This book represents an accessible identification guide to reptiles, including: Crocodiles, sea turtles, freshwater turtles, geckos, flat-footed lizards, skinks, dragons, goannas, blind snakes, pythons, file snakes, colubrid snakes, terrestrial elapids, sea snakes, and sea kraits. Species are illustrated with lively colour photographs showing them in their natural habitat. Each is accompanied by a distribution map; a description – with distinguishing features highlighted in bold text; notes on the species’ range and preferred habitat; information on subspecies and similar species; and, wherever appropriate, conservation status. Extra photographs show most recognised subspecies, as well as differences within species and between sexes. Photographs of significant reptile habitats are also included.

This field guide features diagnostic illustrations, classification notes, selected reading and a thorough index. The book is designed to be a comprehensive yet compact and portable tool for reptile identification anywhere in Australia.

wilson-biblio