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| | Welcome
Recruiting new staff (for both short and long-term periods) helps to increase our expertise, capabilities, diversity and the capacity to do great science. We have recently had an influx of six fantastic staff from universities and institutes around the country. Geoff Heard (herpetologist), Lyndsey Vivian (riparian ecologist) (both pictured left with me), Gabriel Cornell (wetland ecologist), Annique Harris (fish survey technician), Cindy Hauser (ecological modeller) and James Shelley (fish ecologist) are settling in nicely and are putting their diverse range of skills to excellent use!
Our projects featured in this issue include a guide to ageing and sexing game birds using their feathers, satellite tagging of eels to better understand migration routes, and the results of a long-term study on the impact of ecological thinning on Box-Ironbark forest. We hope you find these interesting.
Regards
Dr Kim Lowe
Research Director
Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research
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| | Using feathers to age and sex ducks and quail
ARI has completed a comprehensive report and field guide on how to age and sex Victorian game bird species from their wing and tail plumage. This work will help management staff collect data that will inform decisions around hunting season rules including its duration and bag limits.
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| | Following eels to identify migration routes
Satellite tags will be attached to adult eels to help identify their oceanic migratory routes and spawning areas. ARI will be working with the Gunditjmara Traditional Owners, the Glenelg Hopkins CMA and a world eel expert, Professor Kim Aarestrup from Denmark.
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| | Thinning to restore Box-Ironbark forest
In a decade-long Box-Ironbark forest study, ARI researchers and partners (including Parks Victoria) have found that restoration thinning could potentially benefit wildlife by accelerating tree growth and more quickly restoring old growth habitat characteristics.
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| | PhD Research – James O'Dwyer (La Trobe University) ARI supervisor: Katherine Harrisson and Zeb Tonkin
Flows for native fish: environmental water, connectivity, recruitment and genetic diversity
Environmental water is delivered to rivers to restore natural flow conditions and promote fish health. James (pictured left) is using genomic tools to better understand the relationship between flows and the processes that shape genetic diversity in native fish. High genetic diversity is critical as it underpins the health of individuals and the capacity of populations to adapt to environmental change. James is exploring how spatial and temporal variation in flows influence fish dispersal and recruitment, and what the resultant impact is on genetic diversity. Hundreds of genetic samples from larval, juvenile and adult life-stages of Common Galaxias, Tupong and Murray Cod are being analysed to establish how connected populations are, and whether genetic diversity is being passed on to successive generations effectively. These aspects tell us about how healthy populations are. As well as providing new insights into fish ecology, this research will increase knowledge on how watering events can improve the genetic health of populations. This will help inform the design of environmental water releases to maximise the benefits to native fish.
James’s research is being supervised by Nick Murphy (La Trobe University), Katherine Harrisson (ARI, La Trobe University) and Zeb Tonkin (ARI).
18088076@students.latrobe.edu.au katherine.harrisson@delwp.vic.gov.au
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| | ARI quarterly research updates New editions of our Aquatic and Terrestrial Quarterly updates are now available. These provide summaries of recent project activities including how our science influences change, knowledge transfer presentations and key publications.
The aquatic edition features news of significant records of two threatened species, and details of the various presentations and contributions by staff at conferences, forums and workshops.
Terrestrial news includes awards that staff have received due to their development of a spatial mapping tool and contributions to two books on threatened species management.
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| | Recent videos (link to YouTube) and fact sheets (link to PDF)
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Recent journal articles (link to abstract) and reports (link to PDF) include:
Bird, T., Lyon, J., Wotherspoon, S., Todd, C., Tonkin, Z. and McCarthy, M. (2019) Combining capture-recapture data and known ages allows estimation of age-dependent survival rates. Ecology and Evolution 9(1): 90-99 Cunningham, C.X., Johnson, C.N., Barmuta, L.A., Hollings, T., Woehler, E.J. and Jones, M.E. (2018) Top carnivore decline has cascading effects on scavengers and carrion persistence. Proceedings of The Royal Society B 285(1892) Liang, H., Liu, C., Li, Y., Wang, Y., Kong, Y., Quan, J. and Yang, X. (2018) Low population genetic differentiation in two Tamarix species (Tamarix austromongolica and Tamarix chinensis) along the Yellow River. Genetica (online early) Lyon, J.P., Hale, R., Kitchingman, A., O’Connor, J., Sharley, J. and Tonkin, Z. (2019) Effects of tag type, morphological location and tagger experience on tag retention rates in freshwater fishes. Marine and Freshwater Research (online early)
Nelson, J.L., Scroggie, M.P., Durkin, L.K., Cripps, J.K., Ramsey, D.S.L. and Lumsden, L.F. (2018) Estimating the density of the Greater Glider in the Strathbogie Ranges, North East Victoria, with an assessment of coupes scheduled for timber harvesting in 2018. Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research Technical Report Series No. 293. Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Heidelberg, Victoria
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ARI Seminar Series
Our 2019 Seminar Series is underway, with presentations so far on predator control on Macquarie and Bruny Islands, Moira Grass plains in Barmah (pictured left), how stream barriers can benefit galaxiids, e-water in wetlands, and Growling Grass Frogs. We continue to develop our seminar schedule. If you can’t make it to Heidelberg, register for the webinar to listen and view slides online.
To receive ARI seminar series email alerts, including webinar (live online viewing) details and follow-up summaries, email us at research.ari@delwp.vic.gov.au
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| © The State of Victoria Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning 2019
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