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Kangaroo Island (kangaroo + island)
Selected AbstractsVocal Discrimination in Mate Guarding Male Australian Sea Lions: Familiarity Breeds ContemptETHOLOGY, Issue 8 2010Marie R. G. Attard The vocal characteristics of a species can be immensely diverse, and can significantly impact animal social interactions. The social structure of a species may vary with geographical variation in call characteristics. The ability of pinnipeds (true seals, fur seals, sea lions and walrus) to distinguish between conspecifics may assist male reproductive strategies, particularly mate acquisition. We assessed the ability of mate guarding Australian sea lion (Neophoca cinerea) males to discriminate local from foreign males' barks recorded from a geographically distant breeding colony. Bark characteristics were significantly different between colonies, with barks produced by males from the Lewis Island breeding colony higher pitched and longer in both duration and interval duration than barks produced by males on Kangaroo Island. Mate guarding males displayed inter-colony discrimination of barks, with a significantly stronger response to barks from local males than to those of males from a colony approx. 180 km away. Local males' barks were apparently considered a greater threat than barks from unfamiliar males. We propose that discrimination of acoustic characteristics may facilitate reproductive isolation in this species that may lead to an ethological,acoustic barrier between breeding colonies, and subsequent genetic isolation. [source] GENETIC ANALYSIS OF A CHROMOSOMAL HYBRID ZONE IN THE AUSTRALIAN MORABINE GRASSHOPPERS (VANDIEMENELLA, VIATICA SPECIES GROUP)EVOLUTION, Issue 1 2009Takeshi Kawakami Whether chromosomal rearrangements promote speciation by providing barriers to gene exchange between populations is one of the long-standing debates in evolutionary biology. This question can be addressed by studying patterns of gene flow and selection in hybrid zones between chromosomally diverse taxa. Here we present results of the first study of the genetic structure of a hybrid zone between chromosomal races of morabine grasshoppers Vandiemenella viatica, P24(XY) and viatica17, on Kangaroo Island, Australia. Chromosomal and 11 nuclear markers revealed a narrow hybrid zone with strong linkage disequilibrium and heterozygote deficits, most likely maintained by a balance between dispersal and selection. Widths and positions of clines for these markers are concordant and coincident, suggesting that selection is unlikely to be concentrated on a few chromosomes. In contrast, a mitochondrial marker showed a significantly wider cline with centre offset toward the P24(XY) side. We argue that the discordance between the mitochondrial and nuclear/chromosomal clines and overall asymmetry of the clines suggest a secondary origin of the contact zone and potential movement of the zone after contact. Genome-wide scans using many genetic markers and chromosomal mapping of these markers are needed to investigate whether chromosomal differences directly reduce gene flow after secondary contact. [source] Mapping landscape values and development preferences: a method for tourism and residential development planningINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TOURISM RESEARCH, Issue 2 2006Gregory Brown Abstract This paper presents a method for measuring and analysing tourism and residential development options using survey research techniques that spatially locate public-perceived landscape values and development preferences. Using survey data from Kangaroo Island, South Australia, landscape values and preferences for tourism development are analysed to determine the relative strength of landscape values as predictors of place-specific development preferences. Results indicate that tourism development preferences are most closely associated with recreation, economic and scenic landscape values whereas residential development preferences are most closely associated with recreation, economic and learning values. Preferences for ,no development' are most closely associated with wilderness, therapeutic and intrinsic landscape values. A simple development index is generated from the spatial data that ranges from positive (acceptable development) to negative (no development) values. The potential benefits of the method for land-use planning processes are discussed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley &Sons, Ltd. [source] Phylogeography of cave pseudoscorpions in southern AustraliaJOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY, Issue 6 2007T. A. Moulds Abstract Aim, To investigate molecular phylogenetic divergence and historical biogeography of the cave-dwelling pseudoscorpion genus Protochelifer. Location, Caves and nearby epigean habitats in southern Australia were sampled from western Victoria, Naracoorte Caves, Flinders Ranges, Kangaroo Island, Nullarbor Plain and south-west Western Australia. Methods, Allozyme electrophoresis (57 individuals) and a 569-base-pair section of the mtDNA COI gene (22 individuals) were used to reconstruct phylogenetic relationships among four cave species and three epigean species from 13 locations. Results, Phylogenetic reconstruction using the allozyme and mtDNA sequence data revealed a similar topology, showing recent speciation of several Protochelifer populations in caves from Naracoorte to the Nullarbor Plain. Naracoorte Caves contained a single species, Protochelifer naracoortensis, found in four separate caves, while all other cave species appear to be restricted to single caves. Main conclusions, At a local scale, as indicated by the four Naracoorte caves, dispersal is thought to occur via micro- and mesocaverns, and possibly by phoresy using insect or bat vectors. With current data we are unable to determine if cavernicolous species of Protochelifer have arisen from a single cave colonization event followed by phoretic dispersal on bats to other caves, or multiple cave-invasion events from independent epigean ancestors. Genetic heterogeneity among Protochelifer populations from Nullarbor caves suggest that P. cavernarum, the only species presently recorded from this region, is likely to constitute a species complex requiring further study to fully resolve its relationships. [source] Polymorphic microsatellite markers for chromosomal races of Australian morabine grasshoppers (Vandiemenella, viatica species group)MOLECULAR ECOLOGY RESOURCES, Issue 6 2007T. KAWAKAMI Abstract Chromosomally diverse Australian morabine grasshoppers (genus Vandiemenella, viatica species group) have parapatric distributions and occasionally hybridize at contact zones. To investigate population genetic structure and the extent of gene flow between chromosomal races/species of Vandiemenella, we isolated and characterized nine polymorphic microsatellite loci and one insertion/deletion polymorphic locus. The numbers of alleles per locus ranged from two to 34 across three chromosomal races on Kangaroo Island, South Australia, and expected heterozygosity within races ranged from 0.00 to 0.94. Inter-taxon amplification was generally successful within Vandiemenella, but not for other morabine genera. [source] The bivalved arthropods Isoxys and Tuzoia with soft-part preservation from the Lower Cambrian Emu Bay Shale Lagerstätte (Kangaroo Island, Australia)PALAEONTOLOGY, Issue 6 2009DIEGO C. GARCÍA-BELLIDO Abstract:, Abundant material from a new quarry excavated in the lower Cambrian Emu Bay Shale (Kangaroo Island, South Australia) and, particularly, the preservation of soft-bodied features previously unknown from this Burgess Shale-type locality, permit the revision of two bivalved arthropod taxa described in the late 1970s, Isoxys communis and Tuzoia australis. The collections have also produced fossils belonging to two new species: Isoxys glaessneri and Tuzoia sp. Among the soft parts preserved in these taxa are stalked eyes, digestive structures and cephalic and trunk appendages, rivalling in quality and quantity those described from better-known Lagerstätten, notably the lower Cambrian Chengjiang fauna of China and the middle Cambrian Burgess Shale of Canada. [source] Genetic structure in ixodid ticks from Kangaroo Island and the South Australia mainlandAUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF ENTOMOLOGY, Issue 1 2009Thomas W Chapman Abstract We describe here a molecular genetic study designed to elucidate the ability of an ixodid tick to move within their range as well as between species or hosts. A direct match from the contiguous regions of the small rRNA subunit, control region #1, tRNA-Ile, tRNA-Gln and tRNA-Met of the population studied here with previously published sequence suggests that the species is likely Ixodes hirsti. Phylogenetic analysis of tick haplotypes showed no evidence for bird-host specialisation, and a nested clade analysis indicated a high degree of migration between our three collection sites (two sites on Kangaroo Island, and one site on mainland South Australia). [source] | ||||||||||