The evolution of water control in modern farming systems: a case study of D & S Turner, Brookton, WA

Darrell and Suzanne Turner’s WISALTS journey began after Darrell’s father David became a firm believer of the WISALTS method. Their family’s first introduction to Harry Whittington’s work was in early 1970’s when Harry established a bank from one of their waterholes to the Aldersyde-Kweda road. They witnessed the bank running water and to this day it still does. It was in the mid 1980’s that the first test of major renovations began, Tom Mills (WISALTS Quairading) came and surveyed an 8 kilometre bank. This bank was constructed as a double push dozer bank which had a good result initially, this confirmed to Darrell and his father that they were on the right track. However, over time the clay broke down and the bank began to leak in the sandy areas, which created other problems. To counter this problem, WISALTS decided to test whether lining the sand seams with a plastic barrier would stop the leak. The majority of work began in the mid 1990’s with the installation of banks and plastic in the deeper sand areas. This method proved more effective than the traditional double push method, however, there were still some issues with water moving around the edges of plastic. By the late 1990’s after a WISALTS discussion with Harry and Laurie Adamson (WISALTS Quairading) it was decided that plastic should be used in all the banks as it gave a more effective and durable seal. At this time Darrell began working with Noel Powell, purchasing a shared excavator to make this labour-intensive job more efficient. From 1998 to 2005 Darrell and Noel worked together to install many kilometres of plastic lined banks on their farms and properties throughout the district. Recently Darrell has begun filling in the banks and leaving the plastic lining. This has allowed machinery to operate over the plastic barriers and the paddocks could be worked as normal without the obstacle of the banks. The results from installing Interceptor Barriers (plastic lined trench with-out a surface bank) gave a significant reduction in waterlogged areas and a more even distribution of water over the landscape. It stopped the water accumulating in seepage areas (sand plain seeps) and retained the water higher in the landscape for the crop to use. The recent filling in of banks has also eliminated weed problems caused by the banks. The plastic lined method has also helped to stem water flow from neighbour’s properties (see case study 1). This has allowed areas to remain productive and prevent or slow the spread of salinity. Darrell’s rational for installing Interceptor Barriers are driven by increases in productivity with environmental benefits as a bonus. The vision for the future is a continuation of installing plastic barriers starting at the top of the hill and a program to fill in the old banks to take advantage of GPS technologies and weed control. With knife points, stubble retention and 100% cropping there is no longer a need to manage surface water flow. This publication is part of the WISALTS (Whittington Interceptor Sustainable Agriculture Land Treatment Society Incorporated) Collection

Film support and the challenge of ‘sustainability’: on wing design, wax and feathers, and bolts from the blue

In recognition of the importance of film in generating both economic and cultural value, the UK Labour government set up a new agency – the United Kingdom Film Council (UKFC) – in 2000 with a remit to build a sustainable film industry. But, reflecting a plethora of differing expectations in relation to the purposes behind public support for film, the UKFC's agenda shifted and broadened over the organisation's lifetime (2000–11). Apparently unconvinced by the UKFC's achievements, the Coalition government which came to power in May 2010 announced the Council's abolition and reassigned its responsibilities as part of a general cost-cutting strategy. Based on original empirical research, this article examines how the UKFC's sense of strategic direction was determined, how and why the balance of objectives it pursued changed over time and what these shifts tell us about the nature of film policy and the challenges facing bodies that are charged with enacting it in the twenty-first century

Global warming and mass extinctions associated with large igneous province volcanism

The coincidence of large igneous province (LIP) eruptions with at least three, if not all of the “Big Five” biotic crises of the Phanerozoic implies that volcanism is a key driver of mass extinctions. Many LIP-induced extinction scenarios invoke global warming, caused primarily (but not exclusively) by greenhouse gases emitted at the site of LIP emplacement and by contact metamorphism of carbon-rich host rocks. Here we explore a) the climate-changing products of volcanism including sulfur dioxide (SO2), carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) from eruptions, contact metamorphism, and melting (dissociation) of gas hydrates; b) their deadly effects, including marine anoxia and thermal stress; c) increasingly sophisticated paleotemperature proxies (e.g. δ18O of shell material) through case studies of the best-known LIP-warming-extinction nexi; and d) global warming through the lens of the putative “Anthropocene” extinction

Promoting Value Practice in Museums Creates Impact

This article examines how museological value discussion can offer a tool for museum professionals to engage themselves in the current discourse regarding building sustainable futures. The focus of the article is on collection care and collection development. It describes the latest interview and workshop results regarding museum values in the field of collection development among Finnish museum professionals and students. In addition, it emphasizes the integration of theoretical knowledge and its practical application. Promoting and creating opportunities for value discussion among museum professionals increases the ability of these professionals to further engage in such value-related discourse with various stakeholders. Eventually, the benefits of this kind of value-based discussions are to be seen in the more coherent and focused ones regarding museological values between and among various parties, be they museum professionals, politicians, students or museum visitors. The initial idea for the interviews, and subsequently the workshops as well, emerged from a collection development survey conducted in 2012 among Finnish art museums, which was published in 2016 by the author. Based on the material analyzed at that time, it became clear that the issue of active values in Finnish museums would need further study.Peer reviewe

The cost of promiscuity: sexual transmission of Nosema microsporidian parasites in polyandrous honey bees

Multiple mating (and insemination) by females with different males, polyandry, is widespread across animals, due to material and/or genetic benefits for females. It reaches particularly high levels in some social insects, in which queens can produce significantly fitter colonies by being polyandrous. It is therefore a paradox that two thirds of eusocial hymenopteran insects appear to be exclusively monandrous, in spite of the fitness benefits that polyandry could provide. One possible cost of polyandry could be sexually transmitted parasites, but evidence for these in social insects is extremely limited. Here we show that two different species of Nosema microsporidian parasites can transmit sexually in the honey bee Apis mellifera. Honey bee males that are infected by the parasite have Nosema spores in their semen, and queens artificially inseminated with either Nosema spores or the semen of Nosema-infected males became infected by the parasite. The emergent and more virulent N. ceranae achieved much higher rates of infection following insemination than did N. apis. The results provide the first quantitative evidence of a sexually transmitted disease (STD) in social insects, indicating that STDs may represent a potential cost of polyandry in social insects

The Evolution of Bat Vestibular Systems in the Face of Potential Antagonistic Selection Pressures for Flight and Echolocation

PMCID: PMC3634842This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited