Suchergebnisse

Regular brood surveys on a population of maned ducks, Chenonetta jubata, in south-eastern Australia
provided information on the timing of breeding, brood sizes, duckling survival and production for this
species. Over three years (1981-83), most breeding was during the spring, ducklings hatching between
late August and late November. Some autumn (March-May) breeding also occurred. Timing of breeding
appeared to be more closely related to the abundance of food than to rainfall alone. There were clear
differences in reproductive success between the drought year of 1982 and the two years of similar
weather, 1981 and 1983. Breeding began later in 1982, with a mean hatch date of 18 � 5.1 November,
compared with 7 � 3.6 October in 1981 and 21 � 5.1 September in 1983. Broods hatched over 43 days
in 1982 compared with 69 days in 1981 and 101 days in 1983. Also, duckling survival was lowest in
1982, with about a 20% probability of survival to fledging compared with 89% in 1981 and 82% in
1983. Only six broods were found in 1982 compared with 33 in 1981 and 30 in 1983. An estimated
158 and 176 ducklings survived to fledging compared with seven in 1982. Brood sizes at hatching did
not show the same clear annual differences. In 1981 and 1983 there were seasonal differences in brood
size at hatching. Broods were smaller late in the season (4.1) compared with early (7.2) and mid-season
(7.2). Broods were also larger in 1983 (7.2) than in 1981 (5.4). Brood size at hatching in 1982 was 6.0.

The length of the oestrous cycle of the bandicoot Isoodon macrourus was determined. Pouch young were
removed from lactating bandicoots at day 30 of lactation and the mothers were subsequently housed in
enclosures without males (for oestrous cycle) and with males (for pregnancy). Births were observed 32-48 d
after removal of young. The period of removal of young until ovulation was shown to be 6 d, the gestation
length was known to be 12.5 d and the length of an oestrous cycle was calculated to be 22.1 � 1.6 d
(mean � s.e., N=10), with a range of 14-30 d.

British colonial thinking was already well developed before the Stamp Act crisis of 1765-6 and this work traces the evolution of such thought from a period of relative neglect through a period of virtual renaissance in the 1750s to the formation of the North Ministry. Based upon both private and public opinion, the analysis concludes that the vision of Empire developed by 1770 was, in essence, the mercantile conceptualism which first encouraged the birth of Empire itself. Thus the work illustrates the strong degree of continuity in British colonial thinking, while at the same time, it provides a basis from which to interpret later British responses to the final crisis of Empire. Colonial theory did not exist in a political vacuum divorced from action, expediency or interest. The successive agencies which aided an awareness of colonial problems - the Board of Trade, the colonial expert, the Seven Years War, the Canada-Guadeloupe debate and the Stamp Act crisis are investigated in a series of interlinked chapters. The advocates of all interests constantly justified their relative positions through an appeal to history, precedent and preconception. This prevented any real progress in British attitudes towards Empire. Paradoxically, as British opinion became more concerned with the Empire its vision had little to do with colonial actualities. In short, even colonial expert opinion was illusory.

Hairy-nosed wombats (Lasiorhinus latrifrons) were observed intermittently for 3 years in South Australia. They were nocturnal grazers. Of 25 females caught in 1971, 7 had pouch young, newborn between October and December; in 1970 of 28 females 1 had pouch young and that was in February. Two adults had pouch young in December and again in April; the April young were fully haired, had open eyes and bodyweight 450 g. Juveniles were seen from July and though still sucking, 4 captured juveniles had worn teeth, suggesting that they had begun to graze. Their average bodyweight was 2 kg. Bodyweight of females with pouch young was on average 23.71 kg, minimum 18.75 kg. Pouch life was about 6 or 7 months and weaning at 8 or 9 months old.

Published 2017. This article is a US Government work and is in the public domain in the United States of America. We present a method to attribute cloud radiative feedbacks to convective processes, using subcloud layer buoyancy as a diagnostic of stable and deep convective regimes. Applying this approach to tropical remote sensing measurements over years 2000–2016 shows that an inferred negative short-term cloud feedback from deep convection was nearly offset by a positive cloud feedback from stable regimes. The net cloud feedback was within statistical uncertainty of the National Center for Atmospheric Research Community Atmosphere Model (CAM5) with historical forcings, with discrepancies in the partitioning of the cloud feedback into convective regimes. Compensation between high-cloud responses to tropics-wide warming in stable and unstable regimes resulted in smaller net changes in high-cloud fraction with warming. In addition, deep convection and associated high clouds set in at warmer temperatures in response to warming, as a consequence of nearly invariant subcloud buoyancy. This invariance further constrained the magnitude of cloud radiative feedbacks and is consistent with climate model projections.

The urban development and management challenges of the developing world are well documented in the literature. However, the global built environment landscape is undergoing rapid changes. These changes are steeped in three fundamental imperatives, which have serious implications for the developing world. These imperatives are population growth and rising urbanisation; environmental challenges, particularly climate change and the quest to embrace sustainability as a panacea; and advances in technological development. This paper discusses these three imperatives with the view to teasing out their implications for urban development and management in the developing world. Consistent with the literature, the paper establishes that most of the population growth and rising urbanisation are occurring in the developing world, particularly Africa and Asia, and although these phenomena have the tendency to increase economic density and promote both private and public investment in urban development, especially construction/housing and related infrastructure activities, there are and will be several problems with them. These include land tenure insecurity, lack of access to decent affordable housing and the threat of destruction to heritage sites. Furthermore, environmental challenges such as poor waste management, and climate change are and will remain pressing issues requiring the adoption of sustainability credentials because of legislative requirements, moral suasion, and value addition. Despite the potential disruptive nature of technology with respect to some aspects of the built environment, it is recognised that advances in technology are essential to the achievement of optimal urban development and management outcomes in the developing world. The paper, therefore, recommends better understanding of the socio-economic, cultural, and political forces underlying urban growth in the developing world, factoring in technology and sustainability in urban development and management, and collaboration among relevant actors, particularly government and the private sector, for optimal outcomes.

AbstractFor all its history, Australia has been dependent upon a major power for security. Before federation, the colonies looked to Britain. That attitude continued until World War II. Britain was then unable to defend us, and Australia was vulnerable. Strategic dependence upon a major power was in the Australian psyche. A necessity forced us to transfer that sense of dependence to the United States. This was a justifiable policy until the fall of the Soviet Union. Now, changes in the United States itself, the absence of a global threat, and changes within the Pacific theatre all point to the need for Australia to abandon its traditional policies, to stand more independently, and to carve out a future for itself.