On some Western Australian Birds collected between the North- West Cape and Albany (950 miles apart).

Petroleum exploration activity in Western Australia over the past decade has been on the increase, boosted by the positive results of many new discoveries, mainly on the North West Shelf but also in frontier areas. Significant discoveries in 1999–2000 resulted from new exploration concepts including deep plays in the Barrow/Dampier Sub-basins, heavy oil plays in the Carnarvon Basin, a deep-water gas play west of Gorgon, large gas/condensate plays in the Browse Basin, and a new gas play in the southern Bonaparte Basin. Discovery itself is a great incentive to the industry to further exploration; however, concerns over oil price, the Australian dollar, markets, policies and perceived prospectivity impact on exploration spending. The short-term outlook for WA is good as a result of existing work commitments including an average of 50 exploration wells to be drilled each year for the next three years. Onshore, where exploration has been subdued, there are signs of increased activity. The Western Australian government is playing a key role in promoting the State through gazettals, promotional activities— conferences and publications, acquiring precompetitive data and making petroleum data more accessible. The government funded Petroleum Exploration Initiatives program is continuing and efforts are being made to facilitate exploration. Sustained high oil prices, improvements in technology and efforts to expedite access to land are just some of the factors which will assist companies in their endeavours. In the longer term, continued growth in Western Australia’s petroleum industry is projected.

Download Full-text

Mortality and Dispersal of Juvenile Galahs, Cacatua roseicapilla, in the Western Australian Wheatbelt

Wildlife Research ◽

10.1071/wr9830329 ◽

1983 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 329 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

I Rowley

Keyword(s):

Breeding Birds ◽

Motor Vehicles ◽

Mortality Factors ◽

North West ◽

Juvenile Dispersal ◽

Late Autumn ◽

The North ◽

Breeding Pool ◽

Autumn And Winter ◽

Western Australian

'From 265 tag or band returns (11% of the birds marked) shooting accounts for most galah deaths in the Western Australian wheatbelt, with cats, raptors and motor vehicles as other major mortality factors; a quarter of the young birds that leave the nest may die before they are deserted by their parents after 6 weeks. Newly independent galahs tend to disperse down-wind to the north-west from then on during the dry summer and autumn (January-April). In late autumn and winter dispersal becomes roughly random and the distance travelled increases. Of galahs marked as juveniles and later found dead, 80% had travelled less than 20 km, whilst one third had remained within 5 km of where they were hatched or netted. Juvenile dispersal appears to end in the second autumn of life, when individuals tend to join flocks of non-breeding birds that are only locally nomadic. It is from these local flocks that replacements to the resident breeding pool of adult birds come.

Download Full-text

The North West Cape, Western Australia: A Potential Hotspot for Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphins Sousa chinensis?

Pacific Conservation Biology ◽

10.1071/pc120240 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 18 (4) ◽

pp. 240 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Alex Brown ◽

Lars Bejder ◽

Daniele Cagnazzi ◽

Guido J Parra ◽

Simon J Allen

Keyword(s):

Western Australia ◽

Coastal Development ◽

Anthropogenic Activity ◽

Limited Information ◽

North West ◽

The North ◽

Australian State ◽

Sousa Chinensis ◽

Exmouth Gulf ◽

Western Australian

Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphins Sousa chinensis (Humpback Dolphins hereafter) are listed as ‘near threatened’ on an international level and ‘migratory’ in Australian waters. There is limited information on Humpback Dolphins in Western Australian State waters, where the species remains unlisted. This lack of knowledge hinders the management and conservation of the species in a region of rapidly increasing coastal development. We conducted opportunistic boat-based surveys in April 2010 and present data on the location, size and composition of Humpback Dolphin groups encountered in the near-shore waters around the North West Cape, Western Australia. A total of 42 groups were encountered in a variety of habitats during 145 h on the water over ca. 80 km coastline. Group size ranged from 1 to 15, with a mean (± SE) of 5.3 (± 0.48) individuals. A total of 54 Humpback Dolphins were identified from photographs of the unique markings on their dorsal fins. The lack of a plateau in the cumulative discovery curve of identified individuals over the duration of the study suggests that only a subset of dolphins in the area was identified. This region is close to the south-western limit of the species’ Australian distribution and appears to represent an important location for Western Australian Humpback Dolphins. In light of increasing anthropogenic activity around the North West Cape and Exmouth Gulf, these preliminary findings from a limited survey effort indicate that further research into this population is required.

Download Full-text

Siphonoecetini Just, 1983 (Crustacea, Amphipoda, Ischyroceridae) 13: Western Australian species of Bubocorophiina in Rhinoecetes, Cephaloecetes, Sinoecetes, Borneoecetes and Pararhinoecetes gen. nov.

Zootaxa ◽

10.11646/zootaxa.4554.1.3 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 4554 (1) ◽

pp. 101

Author(s):

JEAN JUST

Keyword(s):

New Species ◽

Western Australia ◽

New Genus ◽

First Record ◽

The South ◽

North West ◽

Australian Species ◽

The North ◽

Southeast Coast ◽

Western Australian

The Western Australia fauna of Bubocorophiina (Siphonoecetini) from the Albany area in the south to Port Hedland in the north-west, a coastal stretch of about 2000 km, is reported. One new genus and 11 new species are described: Rhinoecetes sinuduopopulus sp. nov., R. rockinghamia sp. nov., R. makritrichoma sp. nov., R. lowryi sp. nov., R. caetus sp. nov., R. karkharius sp. nov., R. wamus sp. nov., R. setosus sp. nov., Borneoecetes minimus sp. nov. (first record of Borneoecetes Barnard & Thomas, 1984 from Australia); Sinoecetes reni sp. nov. (first record of Sinoecetes Ren, 2012 from Australia), and Pararhinoecetes bicornis gen. et sp. nov. In addition, Cephaloecetes enigmaticus, previously described from the southeast coast of Australia, is recorded in the Albany area. A key to Western Australian Bubocorophiina is presented, and the distribution around Australian of the genera in the subtribe is commented upon.

Download Full-text

SEM and TEM observations of sperm development in the testis of the freshwater fish Oreochromis mossambicus

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100157838 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 48 (3) ◽

pp. 58-59

Author(s):

Daryl A. Cornish ◽

George L. Smit

Keyword(s):

Morphological Characteristics ◽

Oreochromis Mossambicus ◽

Breeding Cycle ◽

Limited Information ◽

North West ◽

The North ◽

Sem And Tem ◽

Sperm Development ◽

Ultrastructural Characteristics ◽

The University

Oreochromis mossambicus is currently receiving much attention as a candidater species for aquaculture programs within Southern Africa. This has stimulated interest in its breeding cycle as well as the morphological characteristics of the gonads. Limited information is available on SEM and TEM observations of the male gonads. It is known that the testis of O. mossambicus is a paired, intra-abdominal structure of the lobular type, although further details of its characteristics are not known. Current investigations have shown that spermatids reach full maturity some two months after the female becomes gravid. Throughout the year, the testes contain spermatids at various stages of development although spermiogenesis appears to be maximal during November when spawning occurs. This paper describes the morphological and ultrastructural characteristics of the testes and spermatids.Specimens of this fish were collected at Syferkuil Dam, 8 km north- west of the University of the North over a twelve month period, sacrificed and the testes excised.

Download Full-text