30 research outputs found
The flora of double hill (Dunedin Volcanic Complex, Middle-Late Miocene) Otago, New Zealand
No full textPublished online: 28 Aug 2014Plant fossils from a diatomaceous lake deposit at Double Hill within the Dunedin Volcanic Complex (Middle to Late Miocene) are described. Tentative affinities are assigned on the basis of leaf morphology, cuticle morphology and co-occurrence of micro- and megafossils. From an assemblage of more than 1000 fossil leaves, 35 different morphotypes can be discerned: four are assigned to Podocarpaceae, four to Monocotyledonae and 27 to Eudicotyledonae or Magnoliidae. All the possible plant families recognized from Double Hill as megafossils still occur in New Zealand today, but most could not tolerate the low temperatures or relatively low precipitation rates of the Dunedin area today.T Reichgelt, WA Jones, DT Jones, JG Conran, JM Bannister, EM Kennedy, DC Mildenhall and DE Le
Early Eocene Ripogonum (Liliales: Ripogonaceae) leaf macrofossils from southern Australia
No full textWe present evidence that fossil leaves from an early Eocene estuarine mudstone deposit at Lowana Road in western Tasmania include the oldest records of the extant monocot genus, Ripogonum (Ripogonaceae). These fossils are similar to the extant eastern Australian and Papua New Guinean R. album R.Br. and New Zealand R. scandens J.R. et G.Forst., and are described as a new species, R. tasmanicum Conran, R.J.Carp. & G.J.Jord. The venation, cuticular and other leaf features of this fossil are included in a morphology-based phylogenetic analysis for the genus, and character evolution is discussed in relation to the ecology of the extant species and the palaeoenvironments of known Ripogonaceae fossil sites. The fossil (albeit on leaf characters) was placed close to the base of a black-fruited, Australian endemic Ripogonum clade. This suggests that the family have a long and conservative evolutionary history in association with moist forests, with the fossil locality showing palaeoclimate similar to the environments that most Ripogonum species still occupy today
A paleogene trans-antarctic distribution for Ripogonum (Ripogonaceae: Liliales)?
No full textAn impressive and growing list of biogeographically interesting plant and animal taxa occur in Paleogene sediments of both southern Australia and southern South America, indicating trans-Antarctic distributions during the warm past. Here, we provide the first evidence that the living, woody, Australasian monocot Ripogonum was present during the early Eocene of Patagonia, Argentina. Two fossil leaves are sufficiently well preserved in overall shape, size, and fine venation details to be assigned to the genus, being closely comparable to leaves of the extant species R. album and R. scandens and the recently described early Eocene species R. tasmanicum from Tasmania, Australia. The new species, R. americanum, is described. Overall, this evidence suggests that Ripogonum had a significantly larger past range, including Antarctica, during the early Paleogene, when Antarctica was much more closely connected to both Tasmania and South America and high latitude climates were warm and wet. Ecologically, the South American Ripogonum was probably a scrambling vine in mesic forest and grew in association with a rich understory flora of ferns and angiosperms.Raymond J. Carpenter, Peter Wilf, John G. Conran, and N. Rubén Cúne
Cryptic organisation within an apparently irregular rostrocaudal distribution of interneurons in the embryonic zebrafish spinal cord
No full textThe molecules and mechanisms involved in patterning the dorsoventral axis of the developing vertebrate spinal cord have been investigated extensively and many are well known. Conversely, knowledge of mechanisms patterning cellular distributions along the rostrocaudal axis is relatively more restricted. Much is known about the rostrocaudal distribution of motoneurons and spinal cord cells derived from neural crest but there is little known about the rostrocaudal patterning of most of the other spinal cord neurons. Here we report data from our analyses of the distribution of dorsal longitudinal ascending (DoLA) interneurons in the developing zebrafish spinal cord. We show that, although apparently distributed irregularly, these cells have cryptic organisation. We present a novel cell-labelling technique that reveals that DoLA interneurons migrate rostrally along the dorsal longitudinal fasciculus of the spinal cord during development. This cell-labelling strategy may be useful for in vivo analysis of factors controlling neuron migration in the central nervous system. Additionally, we show that DoLA interneurons persist in the developing spinal cord for longer than previously reported. These findings illustrate the need to investigate factors and mechanisms that determine "irregular" patterns of cell distribution, particularly in the central nervous system but also in other tissues of developing embryos.Simon Wells, John G. Conran, Richard Tamme, Arnaud Gaudin, Jonathan Webb and Michael Lardell
Common dolphins Delphinus delphis in southern Australia: A morphometric study
No full textExamination of 211 Delphinus specimens from the coasts of Western Australia to New South Wales, including Tasmania, was conducted using 62 quantitative and 11 qualitative variables. After refining the dataset, multivariate analyses were performed on 130 cranially mature specimens using 21 cranial variables. MANOVA showed males to be slightly larger than females, but with substantial overlap, allowing analyses to combine genders. UPGMA Cluster Analysis and MDS Ordination showed three largely overlapping groups based on a size gradient. K-means analysis of these groups found no significant differences and confirmed a size gradient. Discriminant analysis of specimens grouped by geography and water depth showed a tendency for large skulls to be from coasts adjacent to deep water and small skulls from shallow water coasts. Cranial measurements were significant, postcranial measurements and features were not. Tooth counts were within the range for D. delphis for all specimens examined. This study confirms genetic evidence for a single continuously variable species (Delphinus delphis Linnaeus, 1758) in southern Australian waters. Compared with either D. delphis or D. capensis from the eastern North Pacific, the skulls of D. delphis in southern Australia were more variable for many characters.http://www.australianmammals.org.au/publications/pubs_ausMamCat/memSec_Vol24_1.htm
Service design : imperatives, processes and communication
No full textThis research was an investigation into the nature of new service design (NSD)
activity. The thesis researched literature on NSD and established limits of its
applicability. Also developed was NSD process and content theory outside such
limits.
The research was a multiple site case study. At the level of case-sites the study used
the interpretative approach called "explanation-building; " the development of
narratives that explained data using concepts from the literature review. The "crosscase"
analysis tested these theoretical concepts and allowed the emergence of new
empirical categories, and the development of new theoretical categories and
hypotheses.
Imperatives and stimuli for NSD were a mix of environmental pressure and pressure
to deploy resources. Demand-side pressure for variety and the propensity of the
resource-base to continually enhance capability mean that service organisations are
inevitably exposed to resource or market risk.
The organisational response should respect the nature and extent of risk exposure;
internal 'imbalances' between resource capability and market needs must be
redressed in the NSD response.
The applicability of "stage-gate" models of NSD is limited to those contexts where
the service is analogous to a manufactured good. In addition there are six other
contexts with corresponding process ideals.
Unless the outcome of the NSD process is holistic, implementation problems are the
result. Holistic NSDs include a strategic rationale, the proposed market offering,
process implications and structural or infrastructural resource implications.
The initial configuration of NSD communication devices is dependent on the nature
of the NSD process. If NSD is focussed on resource / process development then the
vernacular of NSD tends to be resource / process descriptions. If NSD addresses
exposure to market risk, then NSD constructs tend to be marketing devices. Thus
during the NSD process the NSD need not be holistic, by the end of the process it
should be
Evolution and biogeography of seagrasses
No full text© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018. Seagrasses are an organismal biological group united by their ability to grow in marine environments. As marine flowering plants they have evolved a combined suite of adaptations multiple times enabling the four known lineages containing species of seagrass to survive, and thrive, in the sea. Unlike many other biological groups of plants however, seagrasses are all derived from a single order of flowering plants, the Alismatales. This order, being derived early in the evolution of the monocotyledons, is comprised predominantly of aquatic plants, of all forms- emergent, submerged, freshwater, estuarine and marine. A review of seagrass fossils suggests that new discoveries of seagrass fossils along with confirmation of some earlier finds lead to a clear signal that some seagrass species had a wider distribution in the past compared with today. The discovery of new fossil sites should be encouraged as this will likely produce important valuable information on the evolution of this group. In general the biogeography of seagrasses suggests that these organisms evolved successfully in the Tethys Sea of the Late Cretaceous. However, the modern division into two groups, temperate and tropical tends to suggest that at some point an ecological separation occurred in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. There are a disproportionately large number of temperate seagrass species in southern Australia and there is significant endemism shown in Posidonia, Amphibolis and a unique species of Halophila (H. australis). The use of genetic and genomic techniques has begun to explain these distributions but we can expect a much bigger picture to emerge in the near future
Oppression To Women In Shirley Conran’s Crimson Novel (1992): A Feminist Literary Criticism
No full textThis study aims to explain the aspect of lesbian of the main character that occurred in
Crimson (1992) novel by Shirley Conran using feminism theory. Crimson (1992) novel
analysis refers to two points. First is the analysis based on structural elements, the
second is an analysis of oppression to women that use the theory of feminism. This research
uses descriptive qualitative approach. This study uses two sources of data, the first is
Crimson (1992) novel by Shirley Conran which is the main source of this novel. The second
source of data is the searching from books, journals, author biographies, and research-related
sources. The two types of sources are obtained through libraries and the internet
analyzed using descriptive analysis. Based on these studies, the researcher concluded
some conclusions. The first is the structural element of the novel obtained through
character and characterization, the setting of place and time, plot, point of view, and theme
arranged into one as a story in Crimson (1992) novel. The second is based on the feminist
theory.
Keywords: Opression to Women, Structural Element Novel, Feminist Theor
Lichen succession on leaves of Wilkiea macrophylla in southeast Queensland
No full textPioneer foliicolous lichen species on the leaves of Wilkiea macrophylla are Tricharia albostrigosa and Sporopodium xantholeucum which appear to grow best as isolated thalli. These are gradually replaced by spreading species such as Porina epiphylla, P. impressa, and by discrete but apparently competition-resistant species such as Mazosia melanophthalma. Where leaf damage has occurred, Strigula subtilissima and S. complanata are present around the wound margins. Tricharia albostrigosa and Strigula complanata are new records for Australia. -from Author
