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Nightly activity of wolf spiders from cameras and spotlighting in the Simpson Desert
No full text<p><b>Data Creation</b><br/>Camera traps:
Twenty-four Reconyx PC800 HyperfireTM cameras were deployed in burned and unburned areas, as well as on dune crests and dune bases. Cameras were attached to metal posts ~50 cm above the ground along four north-south facing 100 m transects, with six cameras per transect each spaced 20 m apart. Additionally, based on results from pilot trials, half the cameras were positioned vertically (facing down) and half angled at ~45° to the ground. Cameras angled at 45° had a greater field of view while those facing down were believed to have a better chance at capturing and allowing identification of lycosids. Settings were as follows: time-lapse – single image every 5 minutes between 19:00 h and 07:00 h (i.e., from just before dusk to just after dawn), and motion-trigger – single image with no delay between triggers (i.e., rapid-fire) and sensitivity set to high. Photos were tagged with location, position, angle, camera ID and species present.<br/>Spotlighting:
Spotlight surveys were conducted in October 2016 and consisted of walking a 100 m transect for 10 minutes every hour between dusk (19:30 h) and dawn (05:30 h), using a hand-held spotlight (Fenix TK35, 960 lumens) to detect lycosid eye shine. The numbers of spiders observed in each 10-minute survey were tallied. Spotlight surveys were repeated over three nights, yielding a total of 33 transect surveys. For consistency, each survey was conducted along the same 100 m transect, which was marked by a row of six remote cameras.<br/><b>Credit</b><br/>We at TERN acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians throughout Australia, New Zealand and all nations. We honour their profound connections to land, water, biodiversity and culture and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.<br/>This work was funded by the Australian Research Council and the Australian Government’s Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (www.tern.gov.au), an Australian research infrastructure facility established under the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy and Education Infrastructure Fund—Super Science Initiative through the Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education. This research also received support from the Australian Government’s National Environmental Science Program through the Threatened Species Recovery Hub. C.R.D. was also supported by an Australian Research Council Fellowship.<b>Purpose</b><br/>This data set was used to determine whether: 1) camera traps provide a viable method for detecting wolf spiders (Family Lycosidae), 2) diel activity patterns of the spiders can be ascertained, and 3) patterns in spider activity vary with environmental conditions, specifically between burned and unburned habitats and the crests and bases of sand dunes.Progress Code: completedMaintenance and Update Frequency: asNeededInvertebrates dominate the animal world in terms of abundance, diversity and biomass and play critical roles in maintaining ecosystem function. Despite their obvious importance, disproportionate research attention remains focused on vertebrates, with knowledge and understanding of invertebrate ecology still lacking. Due to their inherent advantages, usage of camera traps in ecology has risen dramatically over the last three decades, especially for research on mammals. However, few studies have used cameras to reliably detect fauna such as invertebrates or used cameras to examine specific aspects of invertebrate ecology. Twenty-four Reconyx PC800 HyperfireTM cameras were deployed on 7th July 2016 at Main Camp and left until 12th October 2016 (98 days, or 2352 h of deployment) in the Simpson Desert, south-western Queensland, capturing 372 time-lapse images of Wolf spiders (Family Lycosidae). Images were tagged with camera location, position, angle, camera ID and presence of lycosids. Additionally, spotlight surveys were conducted in October 2016 every hour between dusk (19:30 h) and dawn (05:30 h) over three nights with a total of 352 lycosids observed. This data set was used to determine whether: 1) camera traps provide a viable method for detecting wolf spiders, 2) diel activity patterns of the spiders can be ascertained, and 3) patterns in spider activity vary with environmental conditions, specifically between burned and unburned habitats and the crests and bases of sand dunes. This data presents a useful example of the utility of cameras as a tool for determining the diel activity patterns and habitat use of larger arthropods such as wolf spiders.
Please note: Camera trap images are not provided and only species occurrence records are included. Also, image files were renamed after collection, resulting in a number versus time conflict. However, dates and times of sightings provided are correct
Parkes observations for project P1219 semester 2023OCTS_03
No full textThe magnetic field potentially regulates the process of star formation and the evolution of molecular clouds. It is inherently difficult to measure interstellar magnetic field strengths, with the measurement of Zeeman splitting a unique method to estimate the magnetic field strength along the line of sight directly. Despite the detection of Zeeman splitting in other mediums, there are as yet no Zeeman detections against compact background sources in quiescent molecular clouds or the cold neutral medium. Pulsars with extremely small solid angles and relatively high transverse velocities are ideal background sources to study the magnetic field in molecular clouds, providing a distinct signal to measure splitting against. There are four pulsars with OH absorption detections, namely PSR B1849+00, B1641-45, B1718-35, and B1749-28. We propose to utilize these four pulsars to explore the properties of the magnetic field and its variations within molecular clouds through both the Zeeman splitting of OH absorption and rotation measure estimations, between epochs. If a detection is confirmed, it will open a new window on the hard-to-measure magnetic fields in molecular clouds, independent of interpretation, thus shedding light on the physics of star formation and the interstellar medium
Parkes observations for project P1172 semester 2023OCTS_03
No full textPSR J1713+0747 is a very important millisecond pulsar for global pulsar timing array campaigns, due to its long-term observation history, very stable and narrow profile and strong S/N. In April 2021, the pulsar experienced a significant event related to a change in its magnetosphere, presented as an observable change in the pulsar profile. Since then, the pulsar has been slowly recovering and we wish to observe this recovery with high-cadence observations to allow us to create a detailed time-resolved series of variations in the MSPs profile, polarisation, and other properties. Under this proposal, we wish to probe the profile recovery on weekly timescales (once per week per month), revealing additional short timescale behaviours, indicative of changes in the magnetosphere which are not available to other telescopes in the world, thanks to the Parkes UWL. This will also allow us to determine if the magnetosphere has returned to its original configuration or is settling into a new one. Understanding the recovery of this event is key for demonstrating that such pulsars are still viable clocks for use in gravitational wave studies, and in turn, provide us with new data on how the normally stable magnetosphere of this millisecond pulsar responds to an impulsive change in state
Parkes observations for project P1229 semester 2023OCTS_05
No full textWe propose a pulsar timing campaign of three millisecond pulsars discovered in previous pulsar searches of Fermi gamma-ray sources. Despite an original follow-up effort, it was not possible to produce a pulsar timing solution with which to detect the expected gamma-ray pulsations. The proposed campaign combines a set of dense, initial observations with additional observations at increasing separation, a bootstrap approach which is generally successful at constraining all the fundamental parameters of the pulsar timing solution. Securing the gamma-ray pulsations will enable probes of the radio and gamma-ray emission mechanisms and searches for multi-wavelength counterparts. And perhaps more importantly, it will allow these pulsars to be incorporated into the gamma-ray pulsar timing array, providing additional baselines which will increase its sensitivity to low-frequency gravitational waves
Parkes observations for project P1281 semester 2023OCTS_04
No full textThe physical origins of Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) have been highly debated in the past decade, until a bright radio burst from the Galactic magnetar was detected in 2020. The discovery of Galactic FRB has proved that at least some faint FRBs can originate from normal magnetars. Theoretically, young magnetar can give rise to wind nebula with persistent emission in radio band, while it has not been observed among the Galactic magnetars yet. So far, there are two active FRB repeaters confirmed to be associated with persistent radio sources, which are thought to be magnetar wind nebulae near the FRB progenitors. Recently, a special radio source, VT 1137-0337, was discovered in the VLA Sky Survey. All the observational facts strongly indicate its origin of magnetar wind nebula. We propose to observe this radio source with the Parkes UWL receiver to search for possible fast radio transients. If detection made, the PRS-FRB association would be strengthened deeply, and we would be able to directly uncover the nature of active repeaters
Parkes observations for project P1226 semester 2023OCTS_04
No full textFast Radio Bursts(FRBs) are often proposed as useful cosmological probes, however much work is needed to better understand the foreground environment that it propgates through, such as the Galactic ISM and Milky Way Halo. We propose to observe three satellite dwarf spheroidal galaxies of the Milky Way to search for FRBs and pulsars. We plan to take advantage of the new CryoPAF's wide field of view to survey high stellar density dwarf satellite galaxies with substantial angular sizes: Fornax, Sculptor and Sagittarius II. Detections of FRBs and pulsars will allow us to measure the Circumgalactic Medium contribution to FRB dispersion and also the dark matter halos of these dwarf galaxies
Parkes observations for project P885 semester 2023OCTS_07
No full textWe request a continued modest monitoring cadence of once every 10 days for two radio magnetars, to track their rotation, flux density, and polarisation. 1E 1547.0-5408 has recently suffered a 'hiccup' in radiative properties as well as in its rotation, and the mid-term response to this event remains unclear. Swift J1818.0-1607 remains quite dynamic, and the unique UWL capabilities provide new opportunities to probe still mysterious radio emission mechanisms in magnetars. We will observe XTE J1810-197 and PSR J1622-4950, which ceased emission a year ago, less frequently. The overall request is 18 hours
Parkes observations for project P1226 semester 2023OCTS_15
No full textFast Radio Bursts(FRBs) are often proposed as useful cosmological probes, however much work is needed to better understand the foreground environment that it propgates through, such as the Galactic ISM and Milky Way Halo. We propose to observe three satellite dwarf spheroidal galaxies of the Milky Way to search for FRBs and pulsars. We plan to take advantage of the new CryoPAF's wide field of view to survey high stellar density dwarf satellite galaxies with substantial angular sizes: Fornax, Sculptor and Sagittarius II. Detections of FRBs and pulsars will allow us to measure the Circumgalactic Medium contribution to FRB dispersion and also the dark matter halos of these dwarf galaxies