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"Scott, Mitchell. L."
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Putting indigenous conservation policy into practice delivers biodiversity and cultural benefits
In the midst of global species loss, Indigenous languages and culture are experiencing similar declines. Current international policies and programs advocate the involvement of local and Indigenous people in sustaining biodiversity and culture, but the anticipated benefits are not always realized or assessed. This paper draws on three objectives of current international and Australian policy to explore the biological and cultural benefits of a collaborative cross-cultural biodiversity project of Indigenous rangers and university ecologists in remote northern Australia. Policies promoting blends of biological and cultural conservation from International to national scale share the following objectives: (1) involve Indigenous Peoples in biodiversity conservation; (2) maintain and develop Indigenous knowledge and culture; and (3) recognize and promote Indigenous natural and cultural resource management and traditional knowledge. This paper reflects on the project benefits in the context of these objectives, with the aim of informing future policy and program development. Biodiversity benefits of the cross-cultural project included new public records for a relatively poorly known but species rich area that are being used to inform local Indigenous land management, as well as specimens and tissue samples with which to explore the genetic diversity and evolutionary history of the region. Cultural benefits included compiling a local field guide that contains ten different languages and engaging young people to facilitate intergenerational transfer of threatened traditional knowledge. Promotion of the work at local to national fora addressed the third objective and enhanced Indigenous involvement. We demonstrate that top-down policy directives can be implemented to deliver on-ground mutual benefits for science and Indigenous communities.
Journal Article
Selective cognitive dysfunction in acetylcholine M1 muscarinic receptor mutant mice
Blockade of cholinergic neurotransmission by muscarinic receptor antagonists produces profound deficits in attention and memory. However, the antagonists used in previous studies bind to more than one of the five muscarinic receptor subtypes. Here we examined memory in mice with a null mutation of the gene coding the M
1
receptor, the most densely distributed muscarinic receptor in the hippocampus and forebrain. In contrast with previous studies using nonselective pharmacological antagonists, the M
1
receptor deletion produced a selective phenotype that included both enhancements and deficits in memory. Long-term potentiation (LTP) in response to theta burst stimulation in the hippocampus was also reduced in mutant mice. M
1
null mutant mice showed normal or enhanced memory for tasks that involved matching-to-sample problems, but they were severely impaired in non-matching-to-sample working memory as well as consolidation. Our results suggest that the M
1
receptor is specifically involved in memory processes for which the cortex and hippocampus interact.
Journal Article
Quantifying uncertainty in the identification of endangered ecological communities
Ecological community and ecosystem “red lists” have been developed in several jurisdictions to improve ecosystem‐level biodiversity protection. However, a challenge for the conservation and management of listed ecosystems is consistent identification in the field or from plot records. Ecosystem descriptions must have enough detail for positive identification but be broad enough that most instances are included. In many jurisdictions, descriptions are not supported by dichotomous keys or thresholds of ecosystem collapse and identification relies on the interpretation of trained individuals, with potential for opposing opinions. Using a structured process, we assessed the ability of experts to identify a critically endangered ecological community from vegetation plot samples. We compared the allocations made by experts with a numeric classification that underpinned the legal definition of the community. Overall, experts correctly identified the presence or absence of the community in 81% of samples although individual classification rates ranged from 63% to 94%. False positive rates varied among experts (7–50%) and experienced botanists did not necessarily perform better. Disturbance increased uncertainty and experts differed in their opinion about when the community had collapsed and was no longer recoverable. Inconsistent interpretation, in the absence of diagnostic keys and consensus models of collapse, will have implications for recovery and conservation of listed communities and ecosystems, and could impact the effectiveness of laws and policies designed to protect them. A challenge for the conservation and management of listed ecosystems is consistent identification. Although experts were consistent in their identification of a Critically Endangered Ecological Community when it was relatively intact, they were less consistent when it had been disturbed. Inconsistent diagnosis will potentially weaken efforts to conserve and restore threatened ecosystems.
Journal Article
Methamphetamine and core temperature in the rat: Ambient temperature, dose, and the effect of a D2 receptor blocker
Rationale
Methamphetamine (METH) induces hyperthermia in warm and hypothermia in cool environments. Our first goal was to further study the role of ambient temperature in METH’s effect on core temperature in rats. Previously, these effects were primarily demonstrated in high doses; we extended this investigation to the low-dose range (1 mg/kg METH). Our second goal was to identify the role of the D2 receptor in METH’s effects in cool ambient temperatures.
Method
Rats received METH (saline, 1, 5, and 10 mg/kg), raclopride (saline, 0.3, 0.6, and 1.2 mg/kg), or a combination (all doses of raclopride combined with 10 mg/kg METH). Treatments occurred in ambient temperatures of 18, 24, or 30 °C.
Results and conclusions
Consistent with prior research, 5 and 10 mg/kg METH caused hyperthermia or hypothermia in a dose- and ambient temperature-dependent manner (60 min after METH). In contrast, 1 mg/kg produced similar levels of hyperthermia at all ambient temperatures. These findings suggest that a threshold METH dose exists; below this dose, METH still changes core temperature, but CNS control over temperature regulation is left intact. In our experiments regarding D2 blockade, raclopride decreased METH-induced core temperature at 30 and 24 °C (60 min after METH), consistent with previous findings. We extended these findings by demonstrating that in a cool ambient temperature (18 °C), raclopride pretreatment also lowered the core temperature response to METH. Although the D2 receptor is known to mediate hypothermia, the combination of METH and D2 blockade suggests a complex mediation of the core temperature response, perhaps involving neurotransmitter interactions.
Journal Article
Contrasting scales of local persistence between monsoonal and arid biomes in closely related, low-dispersal vertebrates
Aim Focussing on pairs of sister species across three genera of scincid lizards, we use genomic evidence to test for larger‐scale, late‐Pleistocene changes in distributions of lizards in the Australian arid zone (AZ) than in the adjacent monsoonal tropics (MT). Location Northern and central Australia. Taxon Scincidae: Squamata. Methods We sequenced ~2000 nuclear exons and one mitochondrial gene across the distributions of species with primarily MT or AZ distributions from three genera of lizards. Using phylogenetic analysis and population structure analyses we identified major phylogeographic lineages and then compared the spatial scale of structuring and tested for recent demographic expansions. Results Two genera in particular, Proablepharus and Morethia, showed deeper and more geographically localized phylogeographic diversity in the MT than the AZ. In the MT, localized diversity was prevalent in the relatively mesic regions. By contrast, the AZ was characterized by widespread and often genetically uniform lineages and a higher proportion of these had signals of recent population expansion. Main conclusions Consistent with other recent, but mostly less genetically extensive studies, our results point to deeper and more localized diversity in MT compared to AZ. In turn, this suggests higher local persistence in more mesic and topographically diverse biome through the late Quaternary climate fluctuations. For the AZ, geographically extensive range expansions have likely contributed to the low spatial turnover of this exceptionally rich lizard fauna.
Journal Article
Decentralizing corporate governance? A praxeological inquiry
The theory and practice of corporate governance has been in something of an arms race with corporate malefactors—as corporate governance mechanisms have incrementally advance, so too have the strategies of malefactors who skirt those governance practices to engage in costly misconduct. Modern centralized governance approaches appear inapt to filling the gaps caused by agency and knowledge problems. Here, we start afresh using the atypical ‘praxeological’ method to reconstruct governance theory anew from basic foundations. The resultant theory is distinctive from prevailing corporate governance theorizing in several key ways. One of the more important conclusions from our reconstructed theory is that governance may benefit from a more ‘market’ or decentralized approach. In short, the governance holes derived from agency and knowledge problems are, or may be, much smaller when governance is decentralized, where employees police each other. While the implementation of such a radical rethinking of governance practice is left ambiguous in our treatment, the theoretical basis for such an approach is compelling.
Journal Article
Territoriality in a snake
Territorial behaviour, whereby dominant animals gain priority access to critical resources, is widespread in some animal lineages, but rare in others. Theory suggests that territoriality will evolve only when animals can economically defend sites that contain critical resources (typically mates, sometimes food). In striking contrast to their close relatives the lizards, male defence of territories for access to mates has not been reported in snakes. In south-eastern Australia, receptive female small-eyed snakes thermoregulate under “hot rocks”, concentrating mating opportunities and thus, potentially allowing males to enhance their fitness by defending these rocks from rivals. We videotaped staged contests between resident and intruder males and analysed data on cohabitation patterns from a long-term (21 years) mark-recapture study. In staged contests, males actively defended hot rocks from intruder males; and thus, larger males actively displaced their smaller rivals. In the wild, larger males were found under rocks with more or larger females. These results suggest that the thermally driven concentration of female small-eyed snakes has rendered hot rocks economically defensible, and thus favoured the evolution of territoriality in a snake.
Journal Article
Chemoreception and mating behaviour of a tropical Australian skink
In many reptile groups, molecular systematics is currently revealing high levels of cryptic diversity (i.e. genetically distinct lineages that are difficult to distinguish morphologically). One obvious mode for mate discrimination in these cryptic species is chemoreception. We hypothesise that diversity in these groups is not cryptic for pheromones, and mate recognition via chemoreception may be the primary reproductive isolating mechanism. Here, we present a preliminary study of chemoreception in
Lampropholis coggeri
, a rainforest skink of north-eastern Australia. We first describe the mating behaviour of captive pairs, showing that tongue-flicking is an important component for both males and females, and find that
L. coggeri
mate more readily when paired with a conspecific from their own population vs. from a nearby population. Based on the assumption that tongue-flicking represents the lizard’s interest, we then experimentally tested scent discrimination using lizard-swabbed cotton buds presented to captive individuals. We found both sexes tongue-flicked more to conspecific scent than to unscented controls. Males tongue-flicked more to female scent than to male scent but did not discriminate between mated and unmated females. While females showed greater interest in conspecific scent, they showed no greater interest in scent from males than females. This lack of discrimination was true for both mated and unmated females. Unexpectedly, however, mated females tongue-flicked substantially more than unmated females. Finally, males tended to tongue flick more often to female scents from their own population than to a nearby population that is moderately genetically divergent. Our results suggest that chemoreception plays a role in mate recognition in this species. Further work should extend to establishing mate recognition between the highly divergent cryptic lineages within this species and the pheromones underlying mate recognition.
Journal Article
