Something went missing : cessation of traditional owner land management and rapid mammalian population collapses in the semi-arid region of the murray‒darling basin, southeastern Australia

The nineteenth century mass mammal extinctions in the semi-arid zone of the Murray‒Darling basin, southeastern Australia, are examined in the context of prior traditional land management. A model of grassland dynamics reveals a multi-trophic level productive pulse one to five years post-fire, followed by senescence and increasing flammability. Traditional Owner patch burning of grassland optimized human and mammalian food (including tubers, seeds and fungi) and decreased fire risk. Over at least 40 000 years, the persistence and abundance of fauna responded to this energetically closed self-reinforcing management. In 1830, depopulation (disease, massacres and displacement) effectively ended traditional management, an ecologically traumatic event that extinguished these productivity pulses. Associated mammal populations of c. 20 species collapsed, and all eco-engineering and mycophagous species, such as bilbies, bettongs and bandicoots, rapidly disappeared. Traditional land management increased productivity, habitat heterogeneity and reduced wildfire risk, underpinning mammal abundance. This has remained unrecognized by most mammalogists and land managers. Blaming extinctions predominantly on the additions by Europeans (introduction of ungulates, feral grazers and predators etc.), disastrous as they were, fails to acknowledge the initial cause of rarity, i.e. loss of productivity, habitat and niches when traditional management was subtracted from country. As ecosystems continue to degrade, understanding the primary cause is fundamental to improved management. Although too late for extinct species, respect for, and inclusion of, traditional land management knowledge provides a direction for future land management. © 2022 Royal Society of Victoria. All rights reserved

AusTraits, a curated plant trait database for the Australian flora

We introduce the AusTraits database - a compilation of values of plant traits for taxa in the Australian flora (hereafter AusTraits). AusTraits synthesises data on 448 traits across 28,640 taxa from field campaigns, published literature, taxonomic monographs, and individual taxon descriptions. Traits vary in scope from physiological measures of performance (e.g. photosynthetic gas exchange, water-use efficiency) to morphological attributes (e.g. leaf area, seed mass, plant height) which link to aspects of ecological variation. AusTraits contains curated and harmonised individual- and species-level measurements coupled to, where available, contextual information on site properties and experimental conditions. This article provides information on version 3.0.2 of AusTraits which contains data for 997,808 trait-by-taxon combinations. We envision AusTraits as an ongoing collaborative initiative for easily archiving and sharing trait data, which also provides a template for other national or regional initiatives globally to fill persistent gaps in trait knowledge. © 2021, The Author(s). **Please note that there are multiple authors for this article therefore only the name of the first 5 including Federation University Australia affiliate “David Cheal" is provided in this record*

Tenure, gender and household structure

Starting with a review of recent literature on gender and housing, this paper goes on to develop a new theory of household structure, in which concepts of gender and generation play a key role. The utility of this theory is then demonstrated in the analysis of data from a survey of households in the City of Salford

Reviewing the family unit as a stakeholder in talent development: Is it undervalued?

As elite youth sport becomes more organized and professionalized, the role of the family is increasingly acknowledged as significant to the development of young talent. High profile examples across a range of professional sports, both positive and negative, have drawn attention towards this important stakeholder. Accordingly, in this review we first examine the key issues in relation to family involvement in Talent Development, with relation to what is perceived as good and bad practice on behalf of the family. We next consider the key theoretical underpinning, Family Systems Theory, and how it may be integrated within elite youth sport. Finally, we conclude with a summary of where the current literature leaves us, and where we can progress from here. We suggest two possible inputs that could benefit the effectiveness of family involvement, with a focus on the family holistically, and a second on the role different family members can play

Family and the state of theory

xiv, 213 p.; 22 cm

Remerciements

Chaque étape de ce livre a nécessité un effort d’équipe. Le point de départ fut la conception commune de l’équipe du projet Tendances sur le vieillissement et l’évolution de la démographie, menée par Verena Haldermann. L’équipe fut rapidement convaincue que des aspects importants de notre « société vieillissante » sont peu connus et qu’il fallait corriger la situation. Elle fut heureuse de voir ses efforts encouragés par l’intervention de Vasanti Srinivasan et Michael Carley, qui se sont empl..

Vieillissement et évolution démographique au Canada

Les projections démographiques au Canada et dans d’autres pays inspirent de vives inquiétudes concernant l’avenir des « sociétés vieillissantes ». Ces préoccupations font souvent l’objet d’intenses débats, les arguments et contre-arguments se retrouvant dans les disciplines universitaires qui touchent à la démographie, la sociologie, la psychologie… Ce qui prédomine souvent aussi bien dans les médias que dans le public, c’est une vision plutôt alarmiste basée entre autres sur les projections concernant l’accroissement des coûts des régimes de pension et des soins de santé alors que la proportion de la population active et productive diminue. Cet ouvrage remet en question cette perception en présentant plusieurs perspectives différentes qui résultent en une vision plus nuancée de la réalité. Les auteurs démontrent que les implications des projections démographiques doivent être examinées dans un contexte plus large qui comprend des éléments économiques, politiques, sociaux, familiaux, culturels et temporels

Chapitre 1. La mise en contexte des préoccupations démographiques

Introduction : le vieillissement de la population Le vieillissement démographique est un processus de changement qui affecte la population d’un pays et entraîne un accroissement des groupes d’âge plus avancé au sein de celui-ci. On prévoit que ce processus aura une incidence immense sur la population du Canada au cours des quarante prochaines années. En 1968, près de 3,7 millions de Canadiens avaient 65 ans ou plus et ils constituaient 12,3 % de la population. Selon le Conseil consultatif nat..

Chapitre 3. Trouver une niche : la différenciation en fonction de l’âge dans la population active

L’économie de la jeunesse comme problème social contemporain La principale caractéristique de l’évolution de la différenciation fondée sur l’âge dans la population active est la manière dont la production économique et ses retombées en salaires et en avantages a eu tendance à se concentrer parmi les gens d’âge moyen. Nous parlerons de cette tendance à privilégier les travailleurs dans la force de l’âge. Le principal aspect de cette préférence pour les travailleurs dans la force de l’â..