A record of Spencer's Skink Pseudemoia spenceri from the Victorian Volcanic Plain

During a survey of vertebrate fauna at a site in Yan Yean, north of Melbourne on the Victorian Volcanic Plain, a small population of Spencer's Skink 'Pseudemoia spenceri' was found inhabiting a heritage dry stone fence. Spencer's Skink is normally found in wet schlerophyll forest and cool temperate environments, and the species is not considered a grassland inhabitant. There are no other records of Spencer's Skink occurring in any part of the Victorian Volcanic Plain

Survival of vertebrate fauna in remnant vegetation patches and colonisation of revegetation areas in the La Trobe Valley, Victoria

Expansion of open-cut coal mines in the La Trobe Valley, Victoria, will lead to the loss of native vegetation and vertebrate habitat. Corporations operating these mines have entered into agreements to manage offset areas for conservation values. Surveys of vertebrate fauna in seven offset areas and revegetation sites were carried out between February 2005 and May 2008. One hundred and twenty-eight species were recorded, comprising 21 mammals, 11 reptiles, eight amphibians and 88 birds. Several threatened species were recorded including Swamp Skink Egernia coventryi, Powerful Owl Ninox strenua, Australasian Shoveler Anas rhynchotis, Blue-billed Duck Oxyura australis, Eastern Great Egret Ardea modesta, Royal Spoonbill Platalea regia, and White-bellied Sea-Eagle Haliaeetus leucogaster. Several species had colonised revegetation areas and others were detected in degraded sites and isolated remnant patches. The ability of these species to survive in fragmented and disturbed habitats is discussed. The results of these surveys have implications for land managers planning conservation works or habitat enhancement programs especially in degraded sites

Survival and recolonisation following wildfire at Moyston West, Western Victoria. 1. Mammals.

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The use of artificial habitat during surveys of small, terrestrial vertebrates at three sites in Victoria

Artificial refuges can be used to determine the presence of terrestrial fauna and to replace or enhance lost or degraded natural habitat. Concrete pavers, roof tiles, sheets of galvanised iron and old fence posts were used at three sites in southern and western Victoria to determine the presence of small terrestrial vertebrates and to provide artificial habitat. Twenty species were recorded comprising two mammals, 12 reptiles and six amphibians. Fat-tailed Dunnart Sminthopsis crassicaudata was recorded on eight occasions using roof tiles in a lightly grazed, grassland site on the Victorian Volcanic Plain. Growling Grass Frog Litoria raniformis was found under old fence posts beside a restored wetland. Little Whip Snake Parasuta flagellum was recorded under artificial refuges from areas with thick grass or tussock cover. Spotted Marsh Frog Limnodynastes tasmaniensis was found in large numbers under all forms of artificial habitat. Concrete pavers and old fence posts returned the highest diversity of species and the greatest number of individuals. The usefulness of artificial terrestrial habitat as a survey method is compared with other survey methods. The value of artificial habitat as a management tool and associated problems are discussed

A record of Dusky Antechinus Antechinus swainsonii from Cape Liptrap Coastal Park, South Gippsland, Victoria

During early May 2009, a survey of mammal fauna was conducted in a section of Cape Liptrap Coastal Park in South Gippsland, Victoria. Several species were recorded including two specimens of the dasyurid marsupial Dusky Antechinus <i>Antechinus swainsonii</i>. Numerous surveys of mammals have been conducted in the Cape Liptrap area over several decades; however, no previous records are available for the presence of this species in this reserve or along this section of the Gippsland coast

Aerodynamic challenges of ALT

The approach and landing test (ALT) of the Space Shuttle Orbiter presented a number of unique challenges in the area of aerodynamics. The purpose of the ALT program was both to confirm the use of the Boeing 747 as a transport vehicle for ferrying the Orbiter across the country and to demonstrate the flight characteristics of the Orbiter in its approach and landing phase. Concerns for structural fatigue and performance dictated a tailcone be attached to the Orbiter for ferry and for the initial landing tests. The Orbiter with a tailcone attached presented additional challenges to the normal aft sting concept of wind tunnel testing. The landing tests required that the Orbiter be separated from the 747 at approximately 20,000 feet using aerodynamic forces to fly the vehicles apart. The concept required a complex test program to determine the relative effects of the two vehicles on each other. Also of concern, and tested, was the vortex wake created by the 747 and the means for the Orbiter to avoid it following separation

Tuning the Diversity of Open-Ended Responses from the Crowd

Crowdsourcing can solve problems that current fully automated systems cannot. Its effectiveness depends on the reliability, accuracy, and speed of the crowd workers that drive it. These objectives are frequently at odds with one another. For instance, how much time should workers be given to discover and propose new solutions versus deliberate over those currently proposed? How do we determine if discovering a new answer is appropriate at all? And how do we manage workers who lack the expertise or attention needed to provide useful input to a given task? We present a mechanism that uses distinct payoffs for three possible worker actions---propose,vote, or abstain---to provide workers with the necessary incentives to guarantee an effective (or even optimal) balance between searching for new answers, assessing those currently available, and, when they have insufficient expertise or insight for the task at hand, abstaining. We provide a novel game theoretic analysis for this mechanism and test it experimentally on an image---labeling problem and show that it allows a system to reliably control the balance betweendiscovering new answers and converging to existing ones

High-frequency Quasi-Periodic Oscillations from GRS 1915+105 in its C state

We report the results of a systematic timing analysis of RXTE observations of GRS 1915+105 when the source was in its variability class theta, characterized by alternating soft and hard states on a time scale of a few hundred seconds. The aim was to examine the high-frequency part of the power spectrum in order to confirm the hecto-Hertz Quasi-Periodic Oscillations (QPO) previously reported from observations from mixed variability behaviours. During the hard intervals (corresponding to state C in the classification of Belloni et al., 2000, A&A, 35, 271), we find a significant QPO at a frequency of ~170 Hz, although much broader (Q~2) than previously reported. No other significant peak is observed at frequencies >30 Hz. A time-resolved spectral analysis of selected observations shows that the hard intervals from class theta show a stronger and steeper (Gamma=2.8-3.0) power-law component than hard intervals from other classes. We discuss these results in the framework of hecto-Hertz QPOs reported from GRS 1915+105 and other black-hole binaries.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication on MNRA

Further notes on the welfare of small mammals captured during pitfall trapping

Researchers conducting trapping surveys of vertebrate fauna are required to use a range of measures to ensure the wellbeing of captured animals. These include procedures to protect small mammals captured during pitfall trapping. Various materials can be placed in pitfall traps to provide shelter for small mammals, especially those captured overnight. During long-term studies at three sites in southern and western Victoria, two species of small marsupials used polystyrene cups that were placed in pitfall traps for shelter

A record of four regrowing tails in a Large Striped Skink 'Ctenotus robustus' from Yan Yean, Victoria

A record of an adult Large Striped Skink Ctenotus robustus, from the northern outskirts of metropolitan Melbourne, with four regenerating tails is described. The rarity of this record is confirmed with reference to other field surveys and published studies