Corey Bradshaw, one of the authors involved in the paper

The paper titled, ‘Accuracy of species identification by fisheries observers in a north Australian shark fishery’ provides the first estimates of the ability of scientific observers to identify five species of morphologically-similar carcharhinid sharks in a fishery in northern Australia.  Results provide the first benchmark of identification accuracy of observers for carcharhinid sharks in northern Australia and show that estimates of error in species identifications need to be incorporated into management strategies to ensure successful recovery of the many recently over-fished shark populations.

Read the paper online to find out more about this research.

Phil Cassey, one of the authors on this paper

The paper titled, ‘Why are birds’ eggs colourful? Eggshell pigments co-vary with life-history and nesting ecology among British breeding non-passerine birds’  investigates how the concentrations of avian eggshell pigments vary among related species, and whether this variability is associated with either eggshell appearance and/or species life-history traits. Suprisingly, this element remains poorly understood as biologists have tended to focus on the structure and biochemistry of the avian eggshell instead.

Download the paper to find out more about this research.

The paper titled, ‘Genetic structure of introduced swamp buffalo subpopulations in tropical Australia’ describes the genetic population structure of one of Australia’s more destructive introduced mammals – the Asian swamp buffalo (Bubalus bubalis).

Download the paper to discover the findings of this research.

Big leaf mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) is the most prized mahogany timber around the world. It is at risk of extinction in its native habitats because of the timber trade, particularly in Central and South America.

Martin Breed, one of the key researchers involved in this paper

The important role played by the trees’ pollen in the health and re-growth of mahogany forests has been studied in order to better understand how such a threatened species can be brought back from the brink of extinction.

The researchers found that the extensive exploitation of mahogany forests has had a major impact on the diversity and availability of the trees’ pollen. This in turn limits the ability of individual trees to grow and provide cross-fertilization for other mahogany trees.

According to Professor Andy Lowe, this discovery has the potential to impact the way we think about restoring forests and shows us why it is vital to protect areas of high conservation value

The project was largely funded from the European Union through the project SEEDSOURCE, with a portion of the funding coming from a grant awarded by the Australian Research Council. Dr Carlos Navarro, who was employed by CATIE (the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center) in Costa Rica at the time, was primarily responsible for directing the fieldwork and the collection of leaf and seed material used in the analysis and was the researcher who did the growth assessments.

Read the full media release to find out more about the results of this research and what Martin and Andy have to say about their findings.

The paper is titled ‘Shifts in reproductive assurance strategies and inbreeding costs associated with habitat fragmentation in Central American mahogany’ and  involves Environment Institute members Martin Breed, Michael Gardner (also from Flinders University), Kym Ottewell (also from Tutane University, New Orleans), Andrew Lowe (also from DENR) and Carlos Navarro from Universidad Nacional, Costa Rica.

Read the full paper published in Ecology Letters

Professor Corey Bradshaw, co-author from the Environment Institute

The paper, titled ‘iREDD hedges against avoided deforestation’s unholy trinity of leakage, permanence and additionality’ looks at using a proven insurance-based hedging principle to stop deforestation and reduce omissions by indirectly addressing specific technical and administrative challenges.

Bayden Russell & Sean Connell, two of the authors of the paper

The paper, titled ‘Context-Dependency in the Effects of Nutrient Loading and Consumers on the Availability of Space in Marine Rocky Environments’ experimentally assessed the importance of grazing pressure and nutrient availability on the development of macroalgal assemblages and the maintenance of unoccupied space in habitats differing in physical conditions, across regions of contrasting productivity.

Read the paper to find out what their results showed.

Professor Barry Brook, one of the co-authors on the paper.

The paper titled ‘The Aftermath of Megafaunal Extinction: Ecosystem Transformation in Pleistocene Australia’, used a high-resolution 130,000-year environmental record to help resolve the cause and reconstruct the ecological consequences of extinction of Australia’s megafauna.

Read the paper to find out more about their fascinating results.

The paper is titled ‘Phylogenetics and genetic diversity of the Cotesia flavipes complex of parasitoid wasps (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), biological control agents of lepidopteran stemborers’ and analyzes the genetic variation and relationships among populations of the Cotesia flavipes complex of parasitoid wasps.

Read the paper to find out more and read about the findings.

Dr Ivan Nagelkerken

The paper, titled ‘A test of the senses: Fish select novel habitats by responding to multiple cues’, tested how oceanic larvae and recent settlers of a coral reef fish may use multiple sensory modalities (hearing, vision, and olfaction) in a sequential order to locate distant coastal habitats, such as mangroves and seagrass beds, that are required to complete their life cycle. The research shows that these fish respond differently to the same cues from different habitats; for example, early-juvenile fish only responded to sound from coral reefs and to chemical cues from mangroves/seagrass beds, while visual cues of conspecifics overruled olfactory cues from mangrove/seagrass water. These adaptations may enable fish to find optimal habitat during a critical stage of their life cycle.

Read and download the paper to find out more and read about the findings.

Ivan Nagelkerken is a new member of the Environment Institute and Marine Biology Program, and has moved from the Netherlands to the University of Adelaide this year to take up his new position. His research has focussed on the role of ecosystem connectivity in sustaining the productivity and functioning of coral reefs. In his new role he will continue to work on connectivity, as well as focussing on the effects of ocean acidification and sea surface temperature rise on larval fish, in collaboration with various members of the Environment Institute.

Laura Falkenberg

The paper, titled ‘Stability of Strong Species Interactions Resist the Synergistic Effects of Local and Global Pollution in Kelp Forests’ tested whether a foundation species (kelp) would continue to inhibit a key competitor (turf-forming algae) under moderately increased local (nutrient) and near-future forecasted global pollution (CO2).

Read and dowload the paper to find out more and read about the findings.