Digital Commons Network^™

Breeding Phalaris For Tolerance To A Range Of Acid Soils, R N. Oram, A M. Ridley, J Hunter, H E. Schroeder, J Taylor

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

Phalaris (Phalaris aquatica L.) is a persistent, drought-hardy grass adapted lo mediterranean climates, but it is sensitive to free aluminum in acid soils. P. arundinacea L is more tolerant of soil acidity, and therefore it has been crossed to P. aquatica, followed by 1 or 2 backcrosses to P. aquatica. Open-pollinated progenies generated by I or 2 generations of random mating without selection were tested at 3 acid soil sites in Victoria and ACT. The mean herbage yields in winter were lower than the phalaris controls, but heritability and expected selection responses were high. There are good prospects …

Changing Stocking Rates And Burning Management To Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Southern Queensland Grasslands, S M. Howden, G M. Mckeon, J C. Scanlan, J O. Carter, D H. White

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

GRASSMAN, an agricultural decision-support model, has been modified to include sources, sinks and storages of greenhouse gases. The modified model was used to investigate the effects of changes in stocking rate and burning management on greenhouse gas emissions of southern Queensland grasslands. These grasslands are significant net emitters of greenhouse gases in their natural state, resulting in large differences between net and anthropogenic (man-made) emissions and hence, to different conclusions regarding emission reduction strategies. At moderate stocking rates, anthropogenic emissions could be reduced by about 20% with little loss of productivity. However, similar reductions in net emissions require larger management …

Ponded Pasture Systems For Beef Production In Seasonally Dry Zones Of Northern Australia, J H. Wildin

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

In northern Australia's monsoonal zone the dry season nutritional stress is a major constraint to beef production. Between May and November the quality of dry native pastures is extremely low, particularly in digestibility, nitrogen and mineral content, and cattle lose weight. To overcome this serious constraint many innovative technologies in cattle husbandry, supplementary feeding and improved pastures have been developed, Growing water-loving grasses for green forage in the dry season using wet season water in artificial ponds is a permanent forage system being adopted commercially in central Queensland and other regions of northern Australia. Para grass (Bracltiaria mutica) …

Assessing The Productivity Of Pastures In The Central Highlands Region Of Queensland, Australia, J Willcocks, P Filet

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

A sustainable grazing industry requires careful management of pastures. This study measured the growth potential and productivity of different pasture types in the Central Highlands region of Queensland to develop recommendations on stocking rates which are sustainable in the long term. The most productive pasture measured, buffet grass (Cenchrus clliaris) is generally used for fattening prior to sale to the meatworks. The least productive, a mixed native pasture under a eucalypt forest, is generally used for maintaining breeding stock. Forest Mitchell grass (Bothrioclrloa ewartiana) has intermediate levels of productivity and is used for both breeding and …

Extension Through The Landcare Movement In Australia's Pastoral Zone, B R. Roberts

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

The Landcare movement, presently based on over 1300 landholder committees nationwide, is potentially Australia's most significant popular movement ever. Its success largely depends on producers identifying with the movement and "owning" its objectives and programmes, Central to attainment of Landcare's goals is the support given by technical advisors, These advisors require a special understanding of group extension techniques, group dynamics and the subtleties of invisible leadership when appropriate. In the vast pastoral zone of Australia, where highly independent graziers operate very individualistically, the required group extension is a special challenge to committed advisory officers.

Adopting New Technologies For Grazing Lands: The Role Of Decision Systems, John A. Ludwig, Steve Marsden

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

The management of Australia's arid and semi-arid grazing lands involves the consideration of many complex and interconnected issues related to both ecological and economic factors. Climates are highly variable across these lands and markets fluctuate widely; decision making is . difficult at the best of times, As new grazing and land management technologies become available through research organisations, such as CSIRO, the adoption of these technologies is a prime concern, Traditionally, State extension services provide this information to grazing land managers, which has proven effeclive for transferring information about current short-term problems (e,g,, locust plagues) and easy to apply products …

Book Review: Australian Caves And Karst Systems, John Webb, Susan White, Garry K. Smith, Jo De Waele

International Journal of Speleology

No abstract provided.

The Victorian Volcanic Plains Grassland: Past, Present And Future, Steve G. Clark, J. Crosthwaite, J. Dorrough, J. R. Hirth, Y. Ingeme, J. Mavromihalis, V. Turner

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

The Grasslands of the Victorian Volcanic Plains have been replaced with introduced pastures and crops since European settlement with the loss of many plant and animal species. What remains, on public and private land, has high conservation value and needs urgent protection.

Leygrain: A Participatory Action-Learning Model For Ley Pastures In Cropping Systems, D. L. Lloyd, B. Johnson, S. M. O'Brien

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

Since the 1930s, crop/pasture rotation systems have been used in the wheat-sheep belt of temperate southern Australia to maintain the productivity and environmental sustainability of farming systems (Puckridge & French, 1983). Yet, in the northern grain belt of Australia, there is limited adoption of ley pastures, owing to inherently fertile and well-structured vertisol soils. However, soil fertility decline now costs the grain industry about $450 m per year. Legume-based leys are an option for improving soil OM and N and providing other benefits to cropping and livestock production systems (Lloyd et al., 1991). Despite strong one-on-one extension processes since …

Ucg Engineering Demonstrations In Australia: History And Its Implications, Zhou Ze, Wang Lingxia, Qin Yong, Jin Jun, Yang Lei, Yi Tongsheng

Coal Geology & Exploration

Underground coal gasification (UCG), which is a revolutionary coal mining technology, is an important direction for achieving a low-carbon and efficient coal energy structure in China and is also a potential explorable way to ensure the smooth realization of the peak carbon dioxide emissions and carbon neutrality in China. Based on a literature survey, this study sorts out the exploration process of UCG technologies in Australia and analyzes the gains and losses using field test cases. The experience in UCG technologies in Australia can provide a reference for the development of the technologies in China. The results show that the …

Overlapping Scales Of Place Based Indigenous Knowledge And Hydroclimate In Australia, Rachel L. Coleman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Indigenous Peoples have been monitoring and adapting to uncertainty and change in their local regions for millennia, resulting in a holistic view of the interlinkages within the occupied complex socio-environmental systems. This research consists of investigating the overlapping scales of knowledge within Indigenous Australian seasonal calendars and colonial methods of hydroclimate assessment for improving adaptability to climate change impacts.

The analyses began with a sample of 25 Indigenous seasonal calendars providing a glimpse into interlinkages among biota, environment, and meteorology of the localised regions. Across the calendars, five themes of information and multiple categories within these themes became apparent and …

Reconstructing Deglacial And Holocene Climatic And Environmental Change In The Snowy Mountains Of Southeast Australia, Aidan Warner Burdick

WWU Graduate School Collection

Multi-proxy, long-term records of deglacial and Holocene climatic and environmental change in southeast Australia are rare, leaving the region a gap in local and large-scale synoptic climate reconstructions. The Snowy Mountains include the highest and coldest regions of mainland Australia and were the only part of the mainland that was glaciated during the late Pleistocene. Lakes formed by the glaciers have provided continuous sediment traps since glacial retreat following the Last Glacial Maximum. In this report, I reconstruct the maximum ice extents of glaciers during the last glacial period and estimate their equilibrium line altitudes, revising the work of Barrows …

Vegetation Changes In Southeast Australian Temperate Grasslands, D. L. Garden, T. P. Bolger

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

In temperate areas of southeast Australia, the combined effects of tree clearing, grazing, application of fertilizer and the introduction of exotic species have modified the original grasslands. This paper describes these changes and attempts to explain them in terms of ecological principles derived from North American grasslands. Stability of the original grasslands appears to have been due to the lack of disturbance and the slow rates of nitrogen (N) cycling within them. Increased N cycling after disturbance has allowed invasion of species better adapted to higher N status, particularly exotic annual grasses and weeds. The present composition of grasslands, in …

The Response Of Selected Temperate Forages To Increasing Summer Drought Conditions And High Summer Temperatures In Northern Victoria, Australia, M. E. Rogers, A. R. Lawson, K. B. Kelly, W. J. Wales, J. L. Jacobs

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

In the dairy region of northern Victoria, Australia, the performance of temperate perennial dairy pastures is often poor over summer due to a combination of high temperatures and limited water availability that can restrict dry matter production and plant survival. A series of field experiments examined the effects of heat and restricted irrigation (as a consequence of drought) on the growth and nutritive characteristics of selected forage species, and whether survival under experimental conditions was influenced by plant genotype, irrigation and grazing management strategies, as well as endophyte presence. The major focus was on perennial ryegrass.

Detailed sampling of perennial …

Phosphorus Fertilizer And Stocking Rate Effects On Soil Microbial Biomass Of A Long-Term Dairy Farmlet Experiment, S. R. Aarons, C. R. O’Connor, C. J. P. Gourley

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

The effects of a range of P fertilizer rates and dairy cow stocking rates on microbial biomass carbon and phosphorus were compared in a long-term farmlet trial in southeastern Australia. Pastures were stocked at 2, 3, or 4 cows/ha and received fertilizer at rates of 0, 35, 70 or 140 kgP/ha. There was no effect of either P fertilizer rate or stocking rate on microbial biomass C from 1995 to 1998. Increasing P application rate significantly increased the chloroform-released microbial P flush measured, but stocking rate had no effect on microbial P. There were significant temporal changes, with the seasonal …

Classroom To Paddock: Delivery Of Grazing Land Management Education In The Northern Territory, Australia, Ellena Hannah

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

No abstract provided.

Review Of Seeking An Aurora By Elizabeth Pulford, Katie E. Gosman

Library Intern Book Reviews

No abstract provided.

The Role Modelling And Farming Systems Research Can Play In Redesigning Grazing Systems For Improved Productivity And Environmental Sustainability, Angela Avery, Kate Sargeant, Michael A. Friend, Ralph Behrendt, Paul Sanford, Craig Beverly, Cameron Allen, David L. Michalk

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

Achieving production and natural resource outcomes from farming systems is critical with growing demand for livestock products, increasing pressure on land and water resources and the desire of farmers to improve profit and standard of living. In many countries this brings to the fore a number of policy dilemmas and conflicts in terms of pastoral household livelihood, regional economic growth and development, as well as natural resource management. By using two case studies; (1) Temperate Grasslands in Southern Australia (EverGraze project); and (2) Western Grasslands in North West China (ACIAR project), this paper considers how farming systems can be redesigned …

Foragemax® Herbicide–A New Product For Weed Management In Forage Brassicas In Australia, Gregory S. Wells, Peter J. Nott

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

ForageMax Herbicide (50 g/L Aminopyralid + 100 g/L ARYLEX^TM, active ingredient Halauxifen-methyl) is a new herbicide product for selective weed control in rape or turnips in Australia. ARYLEX (development code XDE-729 methyl) is a novel arylpicolinate synthetic auxin herbicide being developed by Dow AgroSciences for post-emergence broadleaf weed in cereals and several other crops. This paper describes the research conducted by Dow AgroSciences that support the application to register the product in Australia.

Receiver Function Imaging Of The 410 And 660 Km Discontinuities Beneath The Australian Continent, Kailun Ba, Stephen S. Gao, Kelly H. Liu, Fansheng Kong, Jianguo Song

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

To provide constraints on a number of significant controversial issues related to the structure and dynamics of the Australian continent, we utilize P-to-S receiver functions (RFs) recorded by 182 stations to map the 410 and 660 km discontinuities (d410 and d660, respectively) bordering the mantle transition zone (MTZ). The RFs are stacked in successive circular bins with a radius of 1° under a non-plane wave front assumption. The d410 and d660 depths obtained using the 1-D IASP91 earth model show a systematic apparent uplifting of about 15 km for both discontinuities in central and western Australia relative to eastern Australia, …

A Strategic Approach To Developing The Role Of Perennial Forages For Crop-Livestock Farmers, Rick Llewellyn, Michael Robertson, Richard C. Hayes, David Ferris, Clinton K. Revell, Katrien Descheemaeker

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

A substantial proportion of Australian animal production from grazing comes from regions and farms where cropping is the major enterprise. Developing new and improved grazing systems for mixed farms where crop production is the major driver of farm management decisions presents a unique research and development challenge. In this paper we describe a multi-disciplinary farming-systems research approach (‘EverCrop’) aimed at improving farm profitability, risk management and environmental impacts through the development and integration of new grazing options. It has been used to analyse and target new opportunities for farmers to benefit from perennial species across dry Mediterranean-type and temperate regions …

End-Permian (252 Mya) Deforestation, Wildfires And Flooding—An Ancient Biotic Crisis With Lessons For The Present, Vivi Vajda, Stephen Mcloughlin, Chris Mays, Tracy D. Frank, Christopher R. Fielding, Allen Tevyaw, Veiko Lehsten, Malcolm Bocking, Robert S. Nicoll

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Current large-scale deforestation poses a threat to ecosystems globally, and imposes substantial and prolonged changes on the hydrological and carbon cycles. The tropical forests of the Amazon and Indonesia are currently undergoing deforestation with catastrophic ecological consequences but widespread deforestation events have occurred several times in Earth’s history and these provide lessons for the future. The end-Permian mass-extinction event (EPE; ∼252 Ma) provides a global, deep-time analogue for modern deforestation and diversity loss. We undertook centimeter-resolution palynological, sedimentological, carbon stable-isotope and paleobotanical investigations of strata spanning the end- Permian event at the Frazer Beach and Snapper Point localities, in the …

Developing And Implementing Animal Welfare Assessments On Extensive And Intensive Grassland Systems: An Overview, Nguyen Xuan Trach, Bob Kilgour

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

While several definitions of animal welfare exist, in this paper we use the concept of the Five Freedoms. The Five Freedoms are freedom from hunger, thirst and malnutrition; freedom from discomfort; freedom from pain, injury and disease; freedom from fear and distress; freedom to perform normal behavior. While the idea of the Five Freedoms has limitations, it is still a widely-used conceptualization of animal welfare and we use it here to discuss the welfare of cattle in intensive and extensive management systems in Vietnam and Australia. Compared to extensive pasture systems, intensive management systems do result in heightened animal welfare …

Sulfur (34S/32S) Isotope Composition Of Gypsum And Implications For Deep Cave Formation On The Nullarbor Plain, Australia, Matej Lipar, Mateja Ferk, Sonja Lojen, Milo Barham

International Journal of Speleology

Large deep caves with little relation to surface topography are distinctive karst features on the Nullarbor Plain of Australia. The presence of gypsum deposits and chemoautotrophic bacteria within the caves have been suggested as evidence for cave formation and (or) enlargement via sulfuric acid speleogenesis. To test this hypothesis, the stable sulfur isotope compositions (δ³⁴S) of both cave gypsum and surface gypsum were measured. Analyses yielded relatively high, positive δ³⁴S values from both cave gypsum and surface gypsum, arguing against gypsum genesis via microbial chemoautotrophy, and more broadly, sulfuric acid speleogenesis. Instead, the gypsum is interpreted …

Application Of Modern Foraminiferal Assemblages To Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction: Case Studies From Coastal And Shelf Environments, Christian Haller

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The aim of paleoenvironmental studies is to reconstruct characteristics of the past environment from fossil assemblages preserved in sedimentary strata. Thus, studies of modern surface assemblages, quantitatively correlated to the environmental parameters, are required before reliable interpretations can be made. For this dissertation, two different techniques were applied in two case studies: a reconstruction making use of a benthic foraminiferal transfer function from the intertidal marshes in the eastern Mississippi Sound, Alabama/Mississippi, and a qualitative reconstruction of ocean current activity on the Western Australian shelf.

Modern salt-marsh foraminifera were collected from Grand Bay, Pascagoula, Fowl River, and Dauphin Island across …

An Integrated Evaluation Of Potential Petroleum Systems Of The Southern Carnarvon Basin, Western Australia, James E. Hobbs

Earth & Environmental Sciences Theses

The Southern Carnarvon Basin is an elongate basin in Western Australia covering approximately 200,000km2. There are two main regions: a western platform (Gascoyne Platform) with a Cambrian to Lower Carboniferous succession that has mostly flat-lying Cretaceous-Cenozoic cover; and an eastern set of half-grabens (Merlinleigh Sub-basin) forming a single mid-Carboniferous – Permian depocenter, now separated by a gneissic basement of the Carrandibby Inlier, which is considered to be a part of the Merlinleigh Sub-basin. The two regions have little in common except for sharing a Devonian to Lower Carboniferous succession and both have predominantly Paleozoic infill. Tectonics processes recorded in the …

Agenda: Coping With Water Scarcity In River Basins Worldwide: Lessons Learned From Shared Experiences, University Of Colorado Boulder. Getches-Wilkinson Center For Natural Resources, Energy, And The Environment

Coping with Water Scarcity in River Basins Worldwide: Lessons Learned from Shared Experiences (Martz Summer Conference, June 9-10)

Water scarcity is increasingly dominating headlines throughout the world. In the southwestern USA, the looming water shortages on the Colorado River system and the unprecedented drought in California are garnering the greatest attention. Similar stories of scarcity and crisis can be found across the globe, suggesting an opportunity for sharing lessons and innovations. For example, the Colorado River and Australia's Murray-Darling Basin likely can share many lessons, as both systems were over-allocated, feature multiple jurisdictions, face similar climatic risks and drought stresses, and struggle to balance human demands with environmental needs. In this conference we cast our net broadly, exploring …

Slides: The Columbia River Basin, Barbara Cosens

Coping with Water Scarcity in River Basins Worldwide: Lessons Learned from Shared Experiences (Martz Summer Conference, June 9-10)

Presenter: Barbara Cosens, Professor and Associate Dean of Faculty, University of Idaho College of Law, Waters of the West Interdisciplinary Program

16 slides

Slides: The Era Of River Anthropology: Social And Eco-Hydrological Science Connections And Capacity For Environmental Flows: Us Case Studies, Joseph E. Flotemersch, Lisa-Perras Gordon

Coping with Water Scarcity in River Basins Worldwide: Lessons Learned from Shared Experiences (Martz Summer Conference, June 9-10)

Presenter: Joe Flotemersch, US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of Research and Development

21 slides

Framework For Drafting Ecological Objectives For Water Sharing Plans - Submission Of The Nsw Aboriginal Land Council, Geoff Scott, New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council

Indigenous Water Justice Symposium (June 6)

Presenter: Phil Duncan, Gomeroi Nation, New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council

4 pages

Contains 1 footnote

Letter addressed to Nick Cook, A/Team Leader, WSP Science & Evaluation - North, NSW Office of Water, from Geoff Scott, Chief Executive Officer, New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council.