Reproductive Biology, Morphological Taxonomy, Biogeography and Molecular Phylogeny of Aglaia Lour. (Meliaceae)

The molecular revolution has given us new opportunities to explore species relationships, evolution and historical biogeography. It is at its most powerful when combined with studies of the living plants in the field and information gleaned from the many thousands of herbarium specimens that go into preparing comprehensive taxonomic revisions.For the genus Aglaia, a genus of more than 100 species, morphological, distributional and biological information has been combined with the history of plate tectonics in the Indo-Malayan Australasian Archipelago, molecular phylogenies and historical biogeographical analyses. Hypotheses for the origin, expansion and species radiation since its origin c. 24 million years ago have been proposed. The tribe Aglaieae was the first monophyletic plant group for which a fully resolved, fossil-dated phylogenetic tree was published. Subsequent studies of some other groups of plants and animals have revealed similar patterns of dispersal, establishment and radiation in the region. The comprehensive nature of the research carried out on this medium-sized genus of tropical rain forest trees has contributed and continues to contribute to an understanding of the Sunda-Sahul floristic interchange and the species radiation that follows dispersal between these continental shelves.The genus is found mainly in lowland tropical rain forests from the Western Ghats of India to Samoa and from southern China to tropical Australia, with its greatest diversity in Malesia. In SE Asia section Aglaia is dispersed by mammals, especially greater and lesser apes (orang-utan, siamang and gibbons). This section of the genus has diversified in New Guinea without its primate dispersers and with no obvious alternative disperser. No marsupial is known to be an efficient seed-disperser. The other two sections of the genus, section Amoora and section Neoaglaia, are bird-dispersed. The coastal and estuarine species, Aglaia cucullata, almost certainly sometimes survives a sea journey. This may partly explain its morphological uniformity over a wide geographical area, from Bangladesh to New Guinea

Inbreeding depression is high in a self-incompatible perennial herb population but absent in a self-compatible population showing mixed mating.

High inbreeding depression is thought to be one of the major factors preventing evolutionary transitions in hermaphroditic plants from self-incompatibility (SI) and outcrossing toward self-compatibility (SC) and selfing. However, when selfing does evolve, inbreeding depression can be quickly purged, allowing the evolution of complete self-fertilization. In contrast, populations that show intermediate selfing rates (a mixed-mating system) typically show levels of inbreeding depression similar to those in outcrossing species, suggesting that selection against inbreeding might be responsible for preventing the transition toward complete self-fertilization. By implication, crosses among populations should reveal patterns of heterosis for mixed-mating populations that are similar to those expected for outcrossing populations. Using hand-pollination crosses, we compared levels of inbreeding depression and heterosis between populations of Linaria cavanillesii (Plantaginaceae), a perennial herb showing contrasting mating systems. The SI population showed high inbreeding depression, whereas the SC population displaying mixed mating showed no inbreeding depression. In contrast, we found that heterosis based on between-population crosses was similar for SI and SC populations. Our results are consistent with the rapid purging of inbreeding depression in the derived SC population, despite the persistence of mixed mating. However, the maintenance of outcrossing after a transition to SC is inconsistent with the prediction that populations that have purged their inbreeding depression should evolve toward complete selfing, suggesting that the transition to SC in L. cavanillesii has been recent. SC in L. cavanillesii thus exemplifies a situation in which the mating system is likely not at an equilibrium with inbreeding depression

Wanted Dead or Alive? The Relative Value of Reef Sharks as a Fishery and an Ecotourism Asset in Palau

Over the last 20 years, ecotourism to view and interact with marine megafauna has become increasingly popular (Higham and Lück 2008). Examples of this type of tourism include turtle and whale watching, snorkelling with seals and shark diving (Jacobson and Robles 1992; Anderson and Ahmed 1993; Orams 2002; Kirkwood et al. 2003; Dearden et al. 2008; Dicken and Hosking 2009). The occurrence of many aggregations of megafauna along the coasts of regional areas remote from centres of population means that such tourism also provides significant flow-on effects and diversification to local economies where few alternative sources of income exist (Milne 1990; Garrod and Wilson 2004). Importantly, the development of a well-managed ecotourism industry based on megafauna provides the opportunity for local people to utilise natural resources in a sustainable manner over the long-term (Mau 2008). The economic value of tourism based on marine megafauna is enormous. In 2008, a study of whale watching estimated that this form of tourism was available in 119 countries, involved approximately 13 million participants and generated an income to operators and supporting businesses (hotels, restaurants and souvenirs) of over US$2.1 billion (O'Connor et al. 2009). This industry is estimated to have the potential to generate annual revenues of over US$2.5 billion (Cisneros-Montemayor et al. 2010). The development of whale watching has been paralleled by growth in tourism based on other types of marine megafauna. In particular, tourism to observe sharks and rays has become increasingly common. At the forefront of this relatively new market are industries that focus on whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) with estimates calculated in 2004 suggesting that these generated more than US$47.5 million worldwide, providing important revenues to developing countries such as Ecuador, Thailand and Mozambique (Graham 2004). Diving with other species of sharks has followed a similar trend of growing popularity. In 2005, it was estimated that approximately 500,000 divers were engaged in shark-diving activities worldwide (Topelko and Dearden 2005). An increasing range of opportunities for this type of tourism are available, including cage diving, shark feeding and drift diving with reef and oceanic sharks. Shark-diving tourism can be found in more than 40 countries (Carwardine and Watterson 2002), with new destinations and target species being established rapidly, due to the increasing recognition of the economic potential of this activity (Dicken and Hosking 2009; De la Cruz Modino et al. 2010)

The Socio-Economic Value of the Shark-Diving Industry in Fiji

Based on a survey of divers, dive operators, resort managers, estimates business revenues from shark diving and related expenditures by area; tax revenues; and economic benefit to local communities

Optimising the spatial pattern of landscape revegetation

The spatial pattern of landscape reconstruction makes a substantial difference to environmental outcomes. We develop a spatially explicit bio-economic model that optimises the reconstruction of a heavily cleared landscape through revegetation. The model determines the spatial priorities for revegetation that minimises economic costs subject to achieving particular improvements in habitat for 29 woodland-dependent bird species. The study focuses on the Avoca catchment (330 thousand ha) in North-Central Victoria. Our model incorporates spatial pattern and heterogeneity of existing and reconstructed vegetation types. The revegetation priorities are identified as being: sites in the vicinity of existing remnants, riparian areas, and parts of the landscape with diverse land uses and vegetation types. Optimal reconstruction design is affected by opportunity costs due to the loss of agricultural production and the costs of revegetation. 1 Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy, School of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, 6009 2 Department of Primary Industries, Rutherglen, RMB 1145 Chiltern Valley Rd, Rutherglen, Victoria, 3685 3 North Central Catchment Management Authority, PO Box 18, Huntly, Victoria, 3551landscape reconstruction, biodiversity, optimisation, habitat, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, Q57,

Prioritising investment to enhance biodiversity in an agricultural landscape

The removal, alteration and fragmentation of habitat are key threats to the biodiversity of terrestrial ecosystems. Investment to protect biodiversity assets (e.g. restoration of native vegetation) in dominantly agricultural landscapes usually results in a loss of agricultural production. This can be a significant cost that is often overlooked or poorly addressed in analyses to prioritise such investments. Accounting for this trade-off is important for more successful, realistically feasible and cost-effective biodiversity conservation. We developed a spatially explicit bio-economic optimisation model that simulates the effect of conservation effort on the diversity of woodland-dependent birds in the Avoca catchment (330 thousand ha) in North-Central Victoria. The model minimises opportunity cost of agricultural production and cost of biodiversity conservation effort on a catchment level subject to achieving different levels of biodiversity outcome. We identify the locations and spatial arrangement of conservation efforts that offers the best value for money.Environmental Economics and Policy,

Practical and Theoretical Underpinnings of INFFER (Investment Framework For Environmental Resources)

INFFER (Investment Framework for Environmental Resources) was developed to help investors of public funds to improve the delivery of outcomes from environmental programs. It assists environmental managers to design projects, to select delivery mechanisms, and to rank competing projects on the basis of benefits and costs. The design of INFFER and the activities of the INFFER projects are based on extensive experience of working with environmental managers and policy makers. This experience has highlighted a number of important practical lessons, that have strongly influenced the design and implementation of INFFER. These lessons include the need for simplicity, training and support of users, trusting relationships with users, transparency, flexibility, compatibility with the needs and contexts of users, and supportive institutional arrangements. In additions, the developers have paid close attention to the need for processes that are theoretically rigorous, resulting in a tool that deals appropriately and consistently with projects for different assets types, of different scales and durations, consistent with Benefit: Cost Analysis. The paper outlines theoretical considerations underpinning the way that INFFER deals with asset valuation, time lags, uncertainty, and the design of the metric used to rank projects.Environmental Economics and Policy,

Lessons from implementing INFFER with regional catchment management organisations

Investment in natural resource management (NRM) by regional organisations in Australia has been widely criticised for failing to achieve substantial environmental outcomes. The Investment Framework for Environmental Resources (INFFER) is a tool for developing and prioritising projects to address environmental issues such as water quality and biodiversity decline, environmental pest impacts and land degradation. It aims to achieve the most valuable environmental outcomes with the available resources. During 2008 and 2009 INFFER has been implemented with a number of catchment management organisations (CMOs) throughout Australia. In this paper, we report on lessons from and implications of this experience. Data on implementation were collected in formal and informal ways from staff of organisations that were using INFFER and state agencies, including: an on-line survey, benchmarking questions at training workshops, a formal on-going monitoring and evaluation process tracking the use of INFFER by CMOs, and comments made in correspondence and informal feedback to the INFFER team. In this paper we describe issues that arise when implementing INFFER with regions and organisations, and how the INFFER team has attempted to address these. Key issues include a desire to consider the community as an asset and emphasise capacity building, a rejection of the need for targeted investment, and various difficulties associated with specific aspects of the Framework. Existing institutional arrangements, and the legacy of past institutional arrangements, remain serious barriers to the adoption of methods to improve environmental outcomes from NRM investment. A lack of rigour in investment planning has become accepted as the norm, and resistance to processes to improve rigour is common. However, many CMOs want to achieve better environmental outcomes with their limited funds, and we report on our efforts to work with them to achieve this by using INFFER.Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

High rates of evolution preceded shifts to sex-biased gene expression in Leucadendron, the most sexually dimorphic angiosperms.

Differences between males and females are usually more subtle in dioecious plants than animals, but strong sexual dimorphism has evolved convergently in the South African Cape plant genus Leucadendron. Such sexual dimorphism in leaf size is expected largely to be due to differential gene expression between the sexes. We compared patterns of gene expression in leaves among 10 Leucadendron species across the genus. Surprisingly, we found no positive association between sexual dimorphism in morphology and the number or the percentage of sex-biased genes (SBGs). Sex bias in most SBGs evolved recently and was species specific. We compared rates of evolutionary change in expression for genes that were sex biased in one species but unbiased in others and found that SBGs evolved faster in expression than unbiased genes. This greater rate of expression evolution of SBGs, also documented in animals, might suggest the possible role of sexual selection in the evolution of gene expression. However, our comparative analysis clearly indicates that the more rapid rate of expression evolution of SBGs predated the origin of bias, and shifts towards bias were depleted in signatures of adaptation. Our results are thus more consistent with the view that sex bias is simply freer to evolve in genes less subject to constraints in expression level

The divergence history of the perennial plant Linaria cavanillesii confirms a recent loss of self-incompatibility.

Many angiosperms prevent inbreeding through a self-incompatibility (SI) system, but the loss of SI has been frequent in their evolutionary history. The loss of SI may often lead to an increase in the selfing rate, with the purging of inbreeding depression and the ultimate evolution of a selfing syndrome, where plants have smaller flowers with reduced pollen and nectar production. In this study, we used approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) to estimate the timing of divergence between populations of the plant Linaria cavanillesii that differ in SI status and in which SI is associated with low inbreeding depression but not with a transition to full selfing or a selfing syndrome. Our analysis suggests that the mixed-mating self-compatible (SC) population may have begun to diverge from the SI populations around 2810 generation ago, a period perhaps too short for the evolution of a selfing syndrome. We conjecture that the SC population of L. cavanillesii is at an intermediate stage of transition between outcrossing and selfing