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Prescribed Fire Regimes: The Immediate And Short-Term Impacts Upon Susceptible Invertebrates, Liam Falls

Science, Medicine & Health - Honours Theses

Prescribed fire is the predominant land management tool used across Australia’s temperate forests. However, little is known about the use of periodic, low-intensity prescribed fires over long-time frames and their effect on invertebrate communities. Most invertebrate species provide essential ecosystem services and are an essential component of global food chains. Despite their profound importance to ecosystems globally, invertebrates are often ignored entirely in fire research and generally lack incorporation into fire management and recovery plans. Prescribed fire usage is poised to increase in usage to mitigate the effects of damaging wildfires under a changing climate and so its impact on …

Shorebird Populations On The Wollongong Open Coastline: An Evaluation Of Occurrence Records, Species Richness And Key Threats, Emily Baonza

Science, Medicine & Health - Honours Theses

Shorebirds consistently serve as indicator species for measuring the extent of environmental change. As a consequence of the rapid shift in global climatic conditions and anthropogenic interference, long-term trends in shorebird populations demonstrate an alarming decline. Focusing in on the open coastline of Wollongong, NSW, there is a lack of up-to-date, comprehensive ecological information of shorebirds for use in the Wollongong City Council’s (WCC) upcoming Coastal Management Plan (CMP). This thesis aims to source the available occurrence records from citizen science databases eBird and Birdlife Australia, as well as the BioNet Atlas database to produce an inventory of shorebirds within …

Intentional And Unintentional Task-Unrelated Thought: Separable Associations And Outcomes In The Lab And Daily Life, Maryann Barrington

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

Mind wandering is a ubiquitous experience, which encompasses many different types of thought. Task-unrelated thought (TUT) is a commonly studied type of mind wandering and refers to thoughts which occur during the completion of an ongoing task, but which are unrelated to that ongoing task. Importantly, these TUTs can be engaged either intentionally or unintentionally and there is a growing body of evidence which documents and supports these types of TUTs as being meaningfully different in terms of their underpinning mechanisms, their phenomenological experience, and their outcomes. It is necessary to continue to study and document their differences, as this …

Post-Fire Vegetation Recovery At Monga National Park: Vegetative Composition, Fire Response Traits And Eucalypt Response To Fire, Madeline Surya Newbery

Science, Medicine & Health - Honours Theses

Wildfires are prevalent across Australian landscapes and their effects on plants are highly variable. Climate change has already caused an extensive fire season in 2019-20 in eastern Australia and frequency and intensity of fires is predicted to further increase into the future. These dynamic changes in the fire regime places plant species, even those with fire-adapted traits, at risk of population decline or extinction. A fundamental aspect of fire-plant relationships is understanding the plant-responses and processes that cause change when related to fire. This hinges on the species, size and age specifics of individual plants. Plants can be broadly categorised …

Summary Update 2021 For Policymakers: Unep Environmental Effects Assessment Panel, P W. Barnes, J F. Bornman, K K. Pandey, G H. Bernhard, R E. Neale, Sharon A. Robinson, P J. Neale, R G. Zepp, S Madronich, C C. White, M P S Andersen, A L. Andrady, P J. Aucamp, A F. Bais, A T. Banaszak, M Berwick, L S. Bruckman, S N. Byrne, B Foereid, D-P Häder, A M. Heikkilä, L M. Hollestein, W-C Hou, S Hylander, M A K Jansen, A R. Klekociuk, J B. Liley, J Longstreth, R M. Lucas, J Martinez-Abaigar, R L. Mckenzie, K Mcneill, C M. Olsen, R Ossola, N D. Paul, L E. Rhodes, T M. Robson, K C. Rose, T Schikowski, K R. Solomon, B Sulzberger, J E. Ukpebor, Q-W Wang, S-Å Wängberg, C E. Williamson, S. R. Wilson, S Yazar, A R. Young, L Zhu, M Zhu

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: Part B

No abstract provided.

Late Quaternary Environmental Reconstruction Of The Lacepede Shelf, Southern Australia, Núria Lahuerta Piñeiro

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

The study of relative sea-level changes and ultimately glacio-eustatic sea-level for the Late Quaternary, is commonly addressed by analysing the ocean-land interface from continental shelves, which represent submerged former coastal plains established during periods of low sea-level. In Late Quaternary time, only during the last interglacial MIS 5e highstand (128 – 116 ka) and during the present, Holocene interglacial, has sea level been near or above present sea-level. The Lacepede Shelf is a large (30,000 km²), wide (180 km) and shallow (up to 120 m) embayment, which has been partly or entirely subaerially exposed during the Late Quaternary. …

A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis Of Associations Between Green And Blue Spaces And Birth Outcomes, Selin Akaraci, Xiaoqi Feng, Thomas F. Suesse, Bin Jalaludin, Thomas E. Astell-Burt

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Previous studies suggest that green and blue spaces may promote several health outcomes including birth outcomes. However, no synthesis of previous work has specifically asked policy-relevant questions of how much and what type is needed in every neighborhood to elicit these benefits at the population level. A systematic review and meta-analyses were conducted to synthesize thirty-seven studies on the association between residential green and blue spaces and pregnancy outcomes. Meta-analyses were performed for birth weight (BW), small for gestational age (SGA), low birth weight (LBW) and preterm birth (PTB). Increase in residential …

Diatom Communities Differ Among Antarctic Moss And Lichen Vegetation Types, Jordan M. Bishop, Jane Wasley, Melinda J. Waterman, Tyler J. Kohler, Bart Van De Vijver, Sharon A. Robinson, Kateřina Kopalová

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: Part B

Continental Antarctica is a polar desert containing sparse pockets of vegetation within ice-free areas. Despite the recognized association between lichens, mosses and epiphytic diatoms, the environmental factors controlling diatom community structure are poorly understood. We investigated the association between diatom communities and host vegetation characteristics by experimentally adding nutrients and/or water to two bryophyte (healthy and moribund) and two lichen (crustose and Usnea) vegetation types in the Windmill Islands. Diatom communities were morphologically characterized, diversity indices calculated and differences between treatments, vegetation type and vegetation characteristics tested. We identified 49 diatom taxa, 8 of which occurred with > 1% relative abundance. …

Incidence And Factors Associated With Geographical Relocation In Patients Receiving Renal Replacement Therapy, Hicham Ibrahim Cheikh Hassan, Jenny H. Chen, Karumathil Murali

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: Part B

BACKGROUND: Renal replacement therapy (RRT) places a burden on patients, and geographical relocation for easier access to healthcare facilities is a necessity for some. Incidence and factors associated with relocation has not been comprehensively examined at a national level. We aimed to determine proportion, incidence, characteristics of RRT patients who relocate and relocation rate by remoteness of residence and dialysis modality. METHODS: Retrospective cohort analysis using Australian and New Zealand Dialysis and Transplant Registry to examine RRT patients in Australia from January 2005 to December 2015. Relocation incidence was calculated for remoteness of residence and RRT modality as rate per …

Think Globally, Act Locally: Current Understanding And Future Directions For Nature-Based Tourism Research In Sri Lanka, Daminda Sumanapala, Isabelle D. Wolf

Faculty of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities - Papers

© 2020 CAUTHE - COUNCIL FOR AUSTRALASIAN TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY EDUCATION For nearly a century, researchers have observed the ecological impacts arising from increased numbers of visitors using natural areas for tourism and recreational activities. This study reviews the recreational ecology literature as it is relevant to Sri Lanka providing a rare linkage between global research and local applications of this research. The likely ecological impacts of recreational activities undertaken in natural areas in Sri Lanka are identified with a particular focus on walking/hiking, camping, wildlife watching and motorized activities. We conclude by establishing a research agenda that is relevant …

Comorbidity Of Serious Mental Illness And Type 2 Diabetes: Do Neighbourhoods Matter?, Ramya Walsan

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

Background: Serious mental illness (SMI) refers to mental disorders that are severe in degree, persistent and produce considerable functional impairment, and include conditions such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or major depression. Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is 2 - 4 times more prevalent in people with SMI and contributes significantly to the increased morbidity and mortality experienced by this group. Even though antipsychotic medication is recognised as a major risk factor for T2D in individuals with SMI, there are likely additional biopsychosocial mechanisms involved that may independently contribute to SMI-T2D comorbidity. One possible correlate that has not been adequately investigated in …

Children's Exposure To Television Food Advertising Contributes To Strong Brand Attachments, Bridget Kelly, Emma J. Boyland, Lesley King, Adrian E. Bauman, Kathy Chapman, Clare Hughes

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Children's exposure to unhealthy food marketing is one factor contributing to childhood obesity. The impact of marketing on children's weight likely occurs via a cascade pathway, through influences on children's food brand awareness, emotional responses, purchasing and consumption. Thus, building emotional attachments to brands is a major marketing imperative. This study explored Australian children's emotional attachments to food and drink brands and compared the strength of these attachments to their food marketing exposure, using television viewing as a proxy indicator. A cross-sectional face-to-face survey was conducted with 282 Australian children (8-12 years). Children were asked to indicate their agreement/disagreement with …

Recreational Ecology: A Review Of Research And Gap Analysis, Daminda Sumanapala, Isabelle D. Wolf

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Recreational ecology is an internationally evolving research field addressing the high demand for nature-based tourism and recreation, and its environmental impacts. This review aimed to analyze the research effort of recreational ecology studies published in four renowned journals in the field, the Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Tourism Management, the Journal of Environmental Management, and Environmental Management. Between 1976 and 2017, this review identified 145 papers focused on recreational ecology. The majority of research investigated the direct impacts of terrestrial activities in protected areas, in particular the impacts of walking and hiking on vegetation and trail conditions, and the impacts of …

Area-Level Walkability And The Geographic Distribution Of High Body Mass In Sydney, Australia: A Spatial Analysis Using The 45 And Up Study, Darren J. Mayne, Geoffrey Morgan, Bin Jalaludin, Adrian E. Bauman

Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute

Improving the walkability of built environments to promote healthy lifestyles and reduce high body mass is increasingly considered in regional development plans. Walkability indexes have the potential to inform, benchmark and monitor these plans if they are associated with variation in body mass outcomes at spatial scales used for health and urban planning. We assessed relationships between area-level walkability and prevalence and geographic variation in overweight and obesity using an Australian population-based cohort comprising 92,157 Sydney respondents to the 45 and Up Study baseline survey between January 2006 and April 2009. Individual-level data on overweight and obesity were aggregated to …

Clean Bill Of Health? Towards An Understanding Of Health Risks Posed By Urban Ibis, Kimberly L. Maute, Cameron Webb, David Phalen, John Martin, Jody Hobson-Peters, Richard E. Major, Kris French

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: Part B

Urban waterbirds are considered both serious pests and inspiring wildlife. Ibis and gulls are often vilified due to their dirty appearance and disruption of outdoor activities, while ducks are affectionately fed in parks. However, all waterbirds are potential reservoirs of zoonotic pathogens. In Sydney (Australia), we documented the relative prevalence of arbovirus exposure and Salmonella shedding in 72 Australian White Ibis (Threskiornis moluccus) at 2 urban sites in 2003 during a management cull and in 2015 as a response to increased public interest. We sampled during a period of peak human arbovirus and Salmonella infection risk in late summer and …

How Accurately Do Behavioural Observations Predict Reproductive Success In Free-Ranging Lizards?, Mats M. Olsson, Tonia S. Schwartz, Erik Wapstra, Richard Shine

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: Part B

Behavioural ecologists often use data on patterns of male - female association to infer reproductive success of free-ranging animals. For example, a male seen with several females during the mating season is predicted to father more offspring than a male not seen with any females. We explored the putative correlation between this behaviour and actual paternity (as revealed by microsatellite data) from a long-term study on sand lizards (Lacerta agilis), including behavioural observations of 574 adult males and 289 adult females, and paternity assignment of more than 2500 offspring during 1998 - 2007. The number of males that contributed paternity …

Mangroves And Coral Reefs: David Stoddart And The Cambridge Physiographic Tradition, Colin D. Woodroffe

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: Part B

Mangroves are particularly extensive on sheltered, macrotidal, muddy tropical coastlines, but also occur in association with coral reefs. Reefs attenuate wave energy, in some locations enabling the accretion of fine calcareous sediments which in turn favour establishment of seagrasses and mangroves. Knowledge of the distribution and ecology of both reefs and mangroves increased in the first half of the 20th century. J Alfred Steers participated in the Great Barrier Reef Expedition in 1928, and developed an interest in the geomorphological processes by which islands had formed in this setting. It became clear that many mangrove forests showed a zonation of …

A Comparative Study Of Raster And Vector Based Approaches In Vegetation Mapping On Five Islands Off The Coast Of Port Kembla., P B. Barlow

Science, Medicine & Health - Honours Theses

Remote sensing has facilitated extraordinary advances in the modelling, mapping and understanding of vegetation in remote Island ecosystems. With the unforgiving responses of Island ecosystems to anthropogenic influences, it is paramount that managerial strategies are put into place and vegetation conditions are quantified. The Five Islands group has an extensive history of anthropogenic alteration, resulting in widespread change in vegetation dynamics. In recent years introduced vegetation has overpopulated Big Island – The largest of the Island Nature Reserve – and made it inhabitable for protected burrowing and nesting seabird populations. As a result NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) …

Environmental Risk Factors For Developing Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Systematic Review, Tashi Dendup, Xiaoqi Feng, Stephanie Clingan, Thomas E. Astell-Burt

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Different elements of the environment have been posited to influence type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). This systematic review summarizes evidence on the environmental determinants of T2DM identified in four databases. It proposes a theoretical framework illustrating the link between environment and T2DM, and briefly discusses some methodological challenges and potential solutions, and opportunities for future research. Walkability, air pollution, food and physical activity environment and roadways proximity were the most common environmental characteristics studied. Of the more than 200 reported and extracted relationships assessed in 60 studies, 82 showed significant association in the expected direction. In general, higher levels of …

Residential Green Space Quantity And Quality And Symptoms Of Psychological Distress: A 15-Year Longitudinal Study Of 3897 Women In Postpartum, Xiaoqi Feng, Thomas E. Astell-Burt

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background: Experiments and large-scale epidemiological studies indicate the importance of green space for mental health. However, little research has been conducted to elucidate whether these mental health benefits are more dependent upon the quantity or quality of the green space. Methods: Symptoms of psychological distress were measured in 3897 women who did not change neighbourhood up to 15 years postpartum using the Kessler 6 psychological distress scale from 2004 onwards. The percentage land-use of the neighbourhood was used to ascertain a measure of green space quantity. A Likert scale was used to measure green space quality in response to the …

Mobile Phone Use And Incidence Of Brain Tumour Histological Types, Grading Or Anatomical Location: A Populationbased Ecological Study, Ken Karipidis, Mark Elwood, Geza P. Benke, Masoumeh Sanagou, Lydiawati Tjong, Rodney J. Croft

Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute

Objective Some studies have reported increasing trends in certain brain tumours and a possible link with mobile phone use has been suggested. We examined the incidence time trends of brain tumour in Australia for three distinct time periods to ascertain the influence of improved diagnostic technologies and increase in mobile phone use on the incidence of brain tumours.

Design In a population-based ecological study, we examined trends of brain tumour over the periods 1982- 1992, 1993-2002 and 2003-2013. We further compared the observed incidence during the period of substantial mobile phone use (2003-2013) with predicted (modelled) incidence for the same …

Animal Host-Microbe Interactions, Bethany J. Hoye, Andy Fenton

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

The ecology of infectious diseases, as we currently recognise it, has been a major field of scientific research for over a century. Since the early work of John Snow, describing the epidemiology of cholera in 1850s London, and Ronald Ross, describing the transmission dynamics of malaria at the end of the 19th century, through the mathematical models of Kermack & McKendrick in the 1920s, and Anderson & May's revolutionary modelling of infectious disease dynamics in the late 1970s, the field of disease ecology has always sought to combine cutting‐edge analytical and theoretical tools with observational and experimental data to understand …

Why Is It Important To Use Flagship Species In Community Education? The Koala As A Case Study, Rolf Schlagloth, Flavia Santamaria, Barry Golding, Hedley Thomson

Animal Studies Journal

Our paper investigates the conservation and planning implications of the use of an individual flagship species. The koala was chosen, as an example, in a community education intervention in a regional Australian city. Educating the community to accept changes in planning laws aimed at the protection of a single species such as the koala has never been an easy task. We examine the approach used to educate the Ballarat community in doing just that. We outline the power of this iconic Australian mammal, the koala, in promoting conservation and changes in planning regulations. We highlight the flow-on conservation and educational …

Some Implications Of High Biodiversity For Management Of Tropical Marine Ecosystems-An Australian Perspective, Richard Kenchington, Pat Hutchings

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

While high biodiversity has been widely reported from the tropics, we suggest that in reality there is a considerable underestimate of the total biodiversity. We have concentrated on the tropical regions of Australia and the Coral Triangle. The best known groups are the corals, fish, and commercially important invertebrates. In considering whether this is true, we have concentrated on the diversity of benthic communities and water column communities which are poorly known. Yet at the bottom of the food chain these communities are highly dynamic and susceptible to the anthropogenic changes that are occurring with the rapid development in this …

Episodic Coral Growth In China's Subtropical Coral Communities Linked To Broad-Scale Climatic Change, Tara R. Clark, Xuefei Chen, Nicole Leonard, Faye Liu, Yangrui Guo, Ti Zeng, Gangjian Wei, J -X Zhao

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: Part B

Evidence from the fossil coral record has shown that coral assemblages were able to extend their geographical range to higher latitudes during past global warming events. In the face of future global warming scenarios, we investigate the potential for China's subtropical coral communities to act as a refuge for corals as ocean temperatures continue to warm. Using uranium-thorium dating to chronologically constrain the age of dead corals, we reveal two distinct periods of coral growth between 6.85 and 5.51 ka B.P. and 0.11 to −0.05 ka B.P. (relative to A.D. 1950). The former coincides with the mid-Holocene Warm Period when …

Mangrove Response To Sea Level Rise: Palaeoecological Insights From Macrotidal Systems In Northern Australia, Colin D. Woodroffe

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: Part B

Accelerated sea-level rise threatens coastal wetlands; it is unclear whether sediment accretion beneath mangroves will be sufficient to keep pace. A conceptual framework, used to describe the response of reefs, can also be applied to mangroves, discriminating drowning or back-stepping with rapid rise from keep-up or catch-up under moderate rates. In macrotidal estuaries of northern Australia, different mangrove species grow across particular elevation ranges and accretion rates decrease with tidal elevation. Palaeoecological reconstructions, from drilling, dating and pollen analysis, record mangrove distribution over past millennia. Estuarine plains are underlain by a vertically continuous stratigraphy of muds, implying continuity of widespread …

Which Is More Biased: Standardized Weather Stations Or Microclimatic Sensors?, Michael B. Ashcroft

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: Part B

A recent article in Ecology and Evolution by Terando, Youngsteadt, Meineke, and Prado (2017) compared observations from standardized weather stations (shielded at a height of ~2 m) with those from cheaper microclimatic sensors with custom‐built radiation shields. They found there could be biases of up to 3–5°C under full sun conditions on hot days. They concluded that it is critical to standardize the collection of microclimate data, to reduce biases, and to ensure observations from different studies are comparable. Their results are a valuable contribution to the literature, and ecologists should be paying more attention to limitations of the climate …

Living On The Edge: Early Life History Phases As Determinants Of Distribution In Pyura Praeputialis (Heller, 1878), A Rocky Shore Ecosystem Engineer, Andrew R. Davis, Mikel Becerro, Xavier Turon

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: Part B

The distribution of intertidal organisms can depend on processes operating early in their life history. The ascidian Pyura praeputialis, a mid- to low-intertidal habitat-forming ecosystem engineer, was strongly associated with specific types of habitat (biogenic vs. bare rock). We examined field patterns and performed laboratory and field experiments to assess the nature of this association. Recruits were frequently found on the tunics of conspecifics and clumps of turfing coralline algae. Larvae preferred these same habitats in a series of laboratory settlement assays. Laboratory-reared juveniles (20- & 50-days-old) survived poorly on bare rock in the laboratory, while those on rugose surfaces …

Not Always In That Beautiful Place: The Meaning Of Nature To People Living With A Mental Illness, Caroline Picton, Lorna Moxham, Christopher F. Patterson

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: Part B

Whilst evidence on the potential physical health and social benefits of exposure to nature settings have increased there remains a need to further the understanding of the restorative benefits on mental health. The purpose of this paper is to examine the meanings of nature for people living with a mental illness whilst participating in an outdoor adventure camp. This study used an exploratory qualitative approach to analyze the narrative data collected from individual semi-structured interviews. Data saturation were reached after five participant interviews (n=5). Using van Kaam's Psychophemenological Method a number of structural elements and themes were identified from the …

Amenity Migration And The Changing Nature Of Invasive Plant Management: A Case Study Of Bega Valley, New South Wales, Australia, Shaun Mckiernan

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+

Invasive plants pose serious challenges to the conservation of biodiversity and natural resources. In many rural communities in Australia, invasive plants are causing significant economic impacts on agriculture, grazing and forestry. However, despite the need to control invasive plants, management is far from straightforward. As rural landscapes undergo increasing lifestyleorientated rural land ownership and the retreat of agriculture, invasive plant management is becoming increasingly complicated. The social heterogeneity of these ‘rural-amenity landscapes’ is changing how weed impacts are prioritised—from production to conservation—as well as the motivations and abilities of landholders to respond. Further, invasive plants can at times exceed human …