The bryophytes of the Mt Wellington Range, Tasmania

A census of the bryophyte flora of the Mt Wellington Range, Tasmania, is reported, the field work having been carried out between 1 May 1977 and 31 October 1980. The survey area was similar in extent to that used by the authors in an earlier survey of the vascular plants. A total of 164 mosses and 130 liverworts was found in the survey area, representing more than 60% of the known Tasmanian bryophyte flora, including several species not previously known to occur in Tasmania. The number of moss species was greatest at middle and lower altitudes whereas the number of liverwort species was greatest at middle and higher altitudes. Reports of liverwort species in this census are accompanied by references to works containing descriptions and drawings, wherever possible, of these species. Only a few species known from past information or collections to have occurred on Mt Wellington were missing in the current survey despite the devastating bushfire of 7 February 1967

Check-list of the Tasmanian liverworts

A check-list of the Tasmanian liverworts is presented in an attempt to include all the species (282) that are presently believed to occur in Tasmania. The Lepidoziaceae is viewed as the family most in need of revision in southern Australia today

The plants of the Trevallyn State Recreation Area, Tasmania

A census of species of all plant groups, excluding free-growing fungi and algae, of the Trevallyn State Recreation Area near Launceston, Tasmania, is presented. The list of 232 species of flowering plants includes 15 species that are either rare or considered to be vulnerable, or are unreserved or poorly represented in state reserves. Although gazetted as a state recreation area, the management policy for the reserve is consistent with the preservation of existing native vegetation

A little-known scientific club in Hobart, Tasmania - its early years

A history of the early years (1935-1939) of the Biological Club in Hobart, Tasmania, is presented, describing briefly the titles and content of some of the talks given in those formative years. The genesis of the Club is put into the broader context of the development of science in Tasmania during that period. The question of why women were not included in the membership in the Club at that time is explored

A preliminary census of the macrofungi of Mount Wellington, Tasmania- the Agaricales

The macro fungi of Tasmania are part of a kingdom of living organisms that is poorly known in Australia; most species are unnamed and undescribed. The present work represents an initial attempt at identifying the rich mycobiota of Mount Wellington, one of Tasmania's best-known and most-studied regions for other plant groups. Attention is confined to the 'gilled' fungi, the order Agaricales. The agarics of Mount Wellington comprise a very large group, and in the 15 families recognised, 130 previously named and described species are differentiated and presented here. The true number of species is at least twice that many, as some large families have been inadequately studied in Australia. For example, in the family Entolomataceae, we believe there are over 50 distinct species in the genus Entoloma and at least four species in the genus Rhodocybe on Mount Wellington

A preliminary census of the macro fungi of Mt Wellington, Tasmania the Ascomycota

This work continues the process of documenting the macrofungi of Mt Wellington. Two earlier publications were concerned with the and non-gilled Basidiomycota, respectively, excluding the sequestrate species. The present work deals with the non-sequestrate Ascomycota of which 42 species were found on Mt Wellington

A preliminary census of the macrofungi of Mt Wellington, Tasmania the non-gilled Basidiomycota

This work is a further contribution towards documenting the macrofungi ofMt Wellington. An earlier publication was confined to 130 named and described of 'agarics', or gilled fungi. The focus of the present paper is on the non-gilled Basidiomycota with the exception of the sequestrate which will be the subject of a separate A total of 65 non-gilled is included here. Further, the acquisition of recent information has added 11 species to the previous list of gilled fungi and enabled two of the names to be revised

Macrolichens of Mount Wellington, Tasmania

A census of the fruticose, foliose and squamulose lichens, also referred to as "macrolichens", was carried out on Mount Wellington, Tasmania, between November 1980 and December 1985. A total of 95 taxa was found, including 32 taxa of Cladia, Cladina and Cladonia. This contrasts with the findings of a recent survey of macrolichens in Tasmanian rainforests, which reported only eight species from those genera. Mount Wellington had fewer species of Collema, Menegazzia, Pseudocyphellaria and Sphaerophorus. Thirty-seven species of macrolichens were common to both survey areas. Ramalea cochleata is reported from Tasmania for the first time. SEE ALSO: Wilson, Francis RM (1892) Tasmanian lichens - Part 1. Papers & Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania . pp. 133-178. http://eprints.utas.edu.au/16016

Wood-inhabiting macrofungal assemblages in 43-year-old regenerating wet Eucalyptus Obliqua L'Her.Forest

This study focuses on the diversity and ecology of wood-inhabiting macrofungal species assemblages in a regenerating tall, wet, native Eucalyptus obliqua forest in southeast Tasmania, 43 years after natural and anthropogenic disturbances. Two plots subjected to "clearfell, burn and sow" silviculture were compared with two other nearby plots that had experienced wildfire. A total of 90 species was identified from 619 macro fungal records during six fortnightly visits between May and July 2010. The plots with abundant live Pomaderris ape tala trees in the understorey (i.e., those at Edwards Rd) had markedly different macrofungal assemblages from those with no or with sparse Pomaderris apetala (i.e., at Hartz Rd). This study provided evidence that a 43-year-old regenerating forest maintains a core of common wood-inhabiting macrofungal species irrespective of type of disturbance. Furthermore, species most frequently observed in older forests in Tasmania can also occur in younger managed forests if biological legacies such as large diameter wood, well-decayed wood, large living trees and a diversity of tree species remain after silvicultural treatment

Modelling the effect of stocking rate on the lactation profiles of grazing Holstein-Friesian dairy cows using cubic splines

The primary purpose of modeling lactation is to predict the dairy cow’s average daily milk yield with minimal error, after adjusting for various environmental factors. While empirical and mechanistic models have been commonly utilised to model the lactation profile of dairy cows, random regression procedures of Legendre polynomials and cubic splines are increasingly being used. The objectives of this study were to compare the lactation profiles and performance of dairy cows on dryland versus irrigated pastures at different stocking rates with or without grain supplementation using cubic splines model. Cubic splines adequately modelled the bi-weekly milk yield data with low residuals and uncorrelated coefficients attributable to the great flexibility of the model. Without supplementation, mean milk yield did not differ, but was slightly higher in cows grazing at 2.5-3.5 cows/ha stocking rate (SR) compared to cows stocked below at 2.0 c/ha and above at 4.0 c/ha (Figure 1). Irrespective of SR, cows on irrigated pasture had higher peaks except those stocked at 4.0 c/ha. Pasture allocation significantly (p<0.05) increased the rise to peak milk yield in cows stocked at lower stocking rates (2.4-2.5 c/ha) compared to those on 2.8-3.5 c/ha but the latter were more persistent and had higher predicted total milk yields. The results demonstrated the accuracy of cubic splines in modeling lactation and that higher stocking rates can improve the efficiency of pasture utilisation when coupled with adequate grain supplementation