The fickle activity of a fly and a moth: variation in activity of two biocontrol agents of Chrysanthemoides monilifera

Biocontrol agents released to control exotic pests may not have the same spatial distribution as the pest species and may therefore vary in efficacy across the exotic range. These changes in distribution are unlikely to be known until species have had time to fill all preferred niches in the invasive habitat. However, studies of post-release activity of biocontrol agents rarely assess longer-term patterns of establishment in the landscape. Comostolopsis germana and Mesoclanis polana were released to control Chrysanthemoides monilifera spp. rotundata (bitou bush) between 29 and 32 years ago. We assessed their activity in foredune and hinddune habitats of coastal beaches across the major distribution of bitou bush and experimentally assessed the effectiveness of C. germana at preventing flowering and seed set. Both biocontrol agents were found to be distributed along the 870 km of coastline, representing the core area of infestation. Tip damage by C. germana was highly variable but was consistently more effective in the foredune. Comostolopsis germana was found to reduce flower production from 15 to 59% with tip damage increasing with latitude. Mesoclanis polana did not show differences in activity with latitude and only showed a marginal increase in activity in hinddunes. Comostolopsis germana and M. polana are reducing the reproductive output of bitou bush but are unlikely to be effective as a sole management strategy particularly in warmer latitudes where more seeds are released

Stress in native grasses under ecologically relevant heat waves

Future increases in the intensity of heat waves (high heat and low water availability) are predicted to be one of the most significant impacts on organisms. Using six native grasses from Eastern Australia, we assessed their capacity to tolerate heat waves with low water availability. We were interested in understanding differential response between native grasses of differing photosynthetic pathways in terms of physiological and some molecular parameters to ecologically relevant summer heat waves that are associated with low rainfall. We used a simulation heatwave event in controlled temperature cabinets and investigated effects of the different treatments on four stress indicators: leaf senescence, leaf water content, photosynthetic efficiency and the relative expression of two heat shock proteins, Hsp70 and smHsp17.6. Leaf senescence was significantly greater under the combined stress treatment, while declines in leaf water content and photosynthetic efficiency were much larger for C3 than C4 plants, particularly under the combined stress treatment. Species showed an increase in expression of Hsp70 associated with heat treatment, rather than drought stress. In contrast Hsp17.6 was only detected in two species, responding to heat rather than drought, although species\u27 responses were variable. Overall, the C3 species were less tolerant than C4 species. Variation in individual plants within species was evident, especially under multiple stresses, and indicates that losses of individual plants may occur during a heat wave associated with this variability in tolerance. Heat waves will impose significant stress on plant communities that would not otherwise occur when heat and drought stress are experienced singly. Using ecologically relevant heat stress is likely to yield better predictability of how native plants will cope under a hotter, drier future

Timber harvest and frequent prescribed burning interact to affect the demography of Eucalypt species

Ecosystem management can negatively affect the demography of plant communities through the introduction of novel disturbance regimes. Prescribed burning and timber harvesting are two common and widely applied management strategies across forest ecosystems. Despite this, little is known about the long-term effects that these interacting disturbances have on forest demography. This study examined the effect of timber harvesting and frequent prescribed burning on the mortality, growth and regeneration of trees in a temperate eucalypt forest of south-eastern Australia. The study took place at a long-term experimental site, where experimental coupes were subjected to a one-off selective harvesting treatment (harvested, not harvested), followed by regimes of experimental burning (no fire, ~4 year burn intervals or ~2 year burn intervals) over a 22 year period. Tree communities were surveyed at permanent monitoring sites prior to the application of experimental treatments (1985 – 1989), and resurveyed post treatment (2016) to assess mortality, growth rates and ingrowth of trees \u3e10 cm diameter at breast height. Harvesting directly removed ~40% of trees and indirectly increased the mortality of retained trees through damage (e.g. crown and bole breakage) caused during the harvesting operation. The likelihood of harvesting damage was greater for small trees and increased with harvesting intensity (i.e. the amount of timber removed). Frequent burning increased the likelihood of tree mortality on harvested sites, with large, old trees being particularly vulnerable. Growth rate and ingrowth of trees was elevated at harvested sites, increasing almost linearly with harvesting intensity, which suggests that competitive release had occurred. Fire frequency had no effect on growth rates or ingrowth of trees. This study highlights that frequent prescribed burning and selective timber harvesting can have additive effects on the loss of large trees, reducing the availability of these keystone habitat structures in intensively managed forest ecosystems. Although the elevated rates of growth and ingrowth may hasten the replacement of lost large trees, recovery will require long time frames

Facilitation, competition and parasitic facilitation amongst invasive and native liana seedlings and a native tree seedling

Lianas are prevalent in gaps and edges of forests where they compete intensely with trees, reducing growth and recruitment. Invasive lianas have the potential to be particularly harmful as the competitive advantage of the liana life history may be coupled with the more competitive qualities of invasiveness. However, in early stages of growth of lianas and native tree seedlings, facilitatory interactions or competitive interactions associated with soil nutrients may be more prevalent. We investigated interactions at the early stages of growth between native and invasive lianas with a common rainforest tree of temperate Australian rainforests under different light conditions. Invasive lianas, as a group, were not more competitive than native lianas in reducing growth of a native rainforest seedling. At this stage in the life cycle most lianas were as competitive as a conspecific seedling. However, one invasive liana, Anredera cordifolia, was particularly competitive and reduced biomass of tree seedlings. Light had little effect on growth of lianas nor on the impact of competition, however, specific leaf area differed between low and medium light conditions. Moderate light did improve growth in the rainforest tree seedling. When lianas were grown with a rainforest tree, three liana species overyielded, while one species was unaffected by growing with the tree seedling. Overyielding suggests a strong positive interaction with the neighbouring plant, mediated through belowground processes. We discuss the potential for these interactions to be facilitative, parasitic or competitive. We therefore show that interactions early in the life of rainforest species can be complex mixtures of interactions which are likely to influence the ability of lianas to dominate rainforests

Surviving drought: a framework for understanding animal responses to small rain events in the arid zone

Large rain events drive dramatic resource pulses and the complex pulse‐reserve dynamics of arid ecosystems change between high‐rain years and drought. However, arid‐zone animal responses to short‐term changes in climate are unknown, particularly smaller rain events that briefly interrupt longer‐term drought. Using arthropods as model animals, we determined the effects of a small rain event on arthropod abundance in western New South Wales, Australia during a longer‐term shift toward drought. Arthropod abundance decreased over 2 yr, but captures of 10 out of 15 ordinal taxa increased dramatically after the small rain event (\u3c40 \u3emm). The magnitude of increases ranged from 10.4 million% (collembolans) to 81% (spiders). After 3 months, most taxa returned to prerain abundance. However, small soil‐dwelling beetles, mites, spiders, and collembolans retained high abundances despite the onset of winter temperatures and lack of subsequent rain. As predicted by pulse‐reserve models, most arid‐zone arthropod populations declined during drought. However, small rain events may play a role in buffering some taxa from declines during longer‐term drought or other xenobiotic influences. We outline the framework for a new model of animal responses to environmental conditions in the arid zone, as some species clearly benefit from rain inputs that do not dramatically influence primary productivity

Reviewing research priorities in weed ecology, evolution and management: A horizon scan

Weedy plants pose a major threat to food security, biodiversity, ecosystem services and consequently to human health and wellbeing. However, many currently used weed management approaches are increasingly unsustainable. To address this knowledge and practice gap, in June 2014, 35 weed and invasion ecologists, weed scientists, evolutionary biologists and social scientists convened a workshop to explore current and future perspectives and approaches in weed ecology and management. A horizon scanning exercise ranked a list of 124 pre-submitted questions to identify a priority list of 30 questions. These questions are discussed under seven themed headings that represent areas for renewed and emerging focus for the disciplines of weed research and practice. The themed areas considered the need for transdisciplinarity, increased adoption of integrated weed management and agroecological approaches, better understanding of weed evolution, climate change, weed invasiveness and finally, disciplinary challenges for weed science. Almost all the challenges identified rested on the need for continued efforts to diversify and integrate agroecological, socio-economic and technological approaches in weed management. These challenges are not newly conceived, though their continued prominence as research priorities highlights an ongoing intransigence that must be addressed through a more system-oriented and transdisciplinary research agenda that seeks an embedded integration of public and private research approaches. This horizon scanning exercise thus set out the building blocks needed for future weed management research and practice; however, the challenge ahead is to identify effective ways in which sufficient research and implementation efforts can be directed towards these needs

Photometry of Particles Ejected From Active Asteroid (101955) Bennu

AbstractNear‐Earth asteroid (101955) Bennu is an active asteroid experiencing mass loss in the form of ejection events emitting up to hundreds of millimeter‐ to centimeter‐scale particles. The close proximity of the Origins, Spectral Interpretations, Resource Identification, and Security–Regolith Explorer spacecraft enabled monitoring of particles for a 10‐month period encompassing Bennu's perihelion and aphelion. We found 18 multiparticle ejection events, with masses ranging from near zero to hundreds of grams (or thousands with uncertainties) and translational kinetic energies ranging from near zero to tens of millijoules (or hundreds with uncertainties). We estimate that Bennu ejects ~104 g per orbit. The largest event took place on 6 January 2019 and consisted of ~200 particles. The observed mass and translational kinetic energy of the event were between 459 and 528 g and 62 and 77 mJ, respectively. Hundreds of particles not associated with the multiparticle ejections were also observed. Photometry of the best‐observed particles, measured at phase angles between ~70° and 120°, was used to derive a linear phase coefficient of 0.013 ± 0.005 magnitudes per degree of phase angle. Ground‐based data back to 1999 show no evidence of past activity for Bennu; however, the currently observed activity is orders of magnitude lower than observed at other active asteroids and too low be observed remotely. There appears to be a gentle decrease in activity with distance from the Sun, suggestive of ejection processes such as meteoroid impacts and thermal fracturing, although observational bias may be a factor

Cross-cutting principles for planetary health education

Since the 2015 launch of the Rockefeller Foundation Lancet Commission on planetary health,1 an enormous groundswell of interest in planetary health education has emerged across many disciplines, institutions, and geographical regions. Advancing these global efforts in planetary health education will equip the next generation of scholars to address crucial questions in this emerging field and support the development of a community of practice. To provide a foundation for the growing interest and efforts in this field, the Planetary Health Alliance has facilitated the first attempt to create a set of principles for planetary health education that intersect education at all levels, across all scales, and in all regions of the world—ie, a set of cross-cutting principles

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead