On the ecology, insect seed-predation, and conservation of a rare and endemic plant species: Ebenus armitagei (Leguminosae)

Selected Abstracts gastropod Turbo undulatus in both habitats were reduced. The Bare Rock habitat was not affected significantly by trampling. -from Authors

Species conservation 92Z/00018 Plant conservation problems at species level in malice lands R . F . Parsons, in: The mallee lands. Prec. national malice conference, Adelaide, 1989, ed J.C. Noble & others, (CSIRO), 1990, pp 25-28. The ecology and distribution of, and nature of threats to, some threatened Victorian mallee plants are described. Also, recent work on the role o f stock and rabbit grazing in preventing regeneration of some tree and shrub species of mallee lands is reviewed. These subjects are used to highlight present-day conservation problems and to refute the view that most species on threatened plant lists for the area are naturally restricted in distribution and their status is neither caused nor threatened by current land use. -from Author

92Z/00019

Rare and threatened plant species of the

mailee a n d their m a n a g e m e n t P . J . Lang & D. N. Kraehenbuehl, in: The mallee lands. Proc. national malice conference, Adelaide, 1989, ed J.C. Noble & others, (CSIRO), 1990, pp 179-185. The National Vegetation Management Act of 1985 includes the requirement that native vegetation should not be cleared if it~as rare or endangered plant species; this is a clear injunction, provided that species status is known. This paper describes how the status of mallee plant species in South Australia has been ascertained over the last five years, and discusses the management plans established to protect rare species of river valley and fringe habitats as well as those of the malice proper. Examples are given of management problems associated with Prostanthera eurybioides, Phlebium equestre, Swainsona laxa ear. laxa and Eremophila behriana. -P.J.Jarvis 92Z/00020 On the ecology, insect seed-predation, and conservation of a r a r e a n d endemic plant species: Ebenns armitagei (Leguminosae) A . K . Hegazy & N. M. Eesa, Conservation Biology, 5(3), 1991, pp 317-324. Ebenus armitagei is a perennial woody species endemic to the W Mediterranean coast of Egypt and Libya. The species is very rare and restricted to a narrow range of distribution. Growth, phenology, seed output, and predation by Callosobruchus maculatus (Brnchidae, Coleoptera) of a naturally growing population were monitored. Growth and phenology are highly seasonal and correlated with ~precipitation and temperature. Up to 48.4% of the populatton is in the junvenile stages, which experience high mortality. An average of 94.4% of seeds in different stages of maturity are consumed or damaged by C. maculatus. Habitat change and biotic factors within populations including seed predation axe threatening the specxes' existence. Possible measures for conservation include: 1) small-scale habitat conservation; 2) establishment of new populations by artificial means; 3) establishment of a gene (seed) bank; 4) encouraging botanicalgardens to conserve the species; and 5) field application o f selective insecticides to control the seed predators. -from Authors 92Z/00021 Animal migrations: endangered phenomena L. P. Brewer & S. B. Malcolm, American Zoologist, 31(I), 1991, pp 265-276. Uses the monarch butterfly's (Danaus plexippus) migration and overwintering biology as a paradigm of a new conservation theme: endangered phenomenon. An endangered phenomenon is a spectacular aspect of the life history of an animat or plant species involving a large number of individuals that is threatened with lmgoverishment or demise; the species per se need not be in peril, rather, the phenomenon it exhibits is at stake. -from Authors

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92Z/00022 Results to the ecology of e n d a n g e r e d species of fish and cyclostomes from three streams of n o r t h e r n and central G e r m a n y H.-J. Spiess & A. Watterstraat, Internationale Revue der Gesamten Hydrobiologie, 75(5), 1990, pp 619-638. Ecological research was carried out in three streams in the trout and grayling region; environmelltal conditions were recorded, and the populations characterised. -from Authors 92Z/00023 The survival status of the Geocrinia rosea (Anura: M y o b a t r a c h i d a e ) complex in r i p a r i a n corridors: biogeographical implications G. Wardell-Jolmson & J. D. Roberts, in: Nature conservation 2: the role of corridors, ed D.A. Sannders & R J . Hobbs, (Surrey Beatty), 1991, pp 167-175. The Geocrinia rosea complex includes four allopatric species of frogs exhibiting direct development of the eggs and restricted to permanenfly damp sites in SW Western Australia. Two of these species have been described recently and are rare and endangered, occurring only in restricted habitat east o f the Leeuwin Naturalist Ridge. The distribution, density, tenure of the habitat and the historical decline of each of the species in the complex are described and a prognosis provided for their survival. G. vitellina is known from small areas of suitable habitat in four creek systems. Its total area of suitable habitat is c20 ha. G. alba occurs in restricted habitat over a range of 101 km 2. The authors urge maintenance of protected riparian strips of native vegetation in the agricultural landscape. Survival of both G. rosea and G. lutea is secure. -from Authors 92Z/00024 Notes on the captive maintenance a n d breeding of the s u p e r b d r a g o n D!poriphora superba (Agamidae) J. Weigel, Herpetofauna, 20(2), 1990, pp 1-4. First described in 1974, the superb dragon in nature is confined to rocky areas within the Kimberley district of Anstralia's tropical northwest. -from Author 92Z/00025 Captive breeding of the inland taipan Oxyuranus microlepidoms P. Mirtschin, Herpetofauna, 20(2), 1990, pp 7-10. Information is presented on two successful breedings of this species, considered to have the most toxic venom of the world's snakes. -from Author 92Z/00026 Developing h u s b a n d r y techniques to breed pythons in captivity R. Field, Herpetofauna, 20(2), 1990, pp 18-22. Pythons are seasonal breeders, tending to gather in small groups (mating aggregations). Males indulge in ritual and occasionally real combat. Courtship occurs in the form of a crawling, following motion, performed by both sexes. Males use their spurs in a raking motion to stimulate the female prior to copulation. Cold weather influences or heightens sexual activity. Eggs are laid 12-14 wk after copulation. The female incubates her eggs and can control the temperature to an extent by a process called shivering thermogenesis. 30"C may be the optimum incubating temperature. High humidity is essential in egg incubation. Incubation ranges from 7-14 wk and is temperature and species variable. Pythons exit their eggs by slitting the shell with a specially formed tooth. -from Author 92Z/00027 The relevance of population studies to the conservation of threatened birds R. E. Green & G. J. M. Hirons, in: Bird population studies, ed C~M. Perrins & others, (Oxford University Press; Ornithology Series, 1), 1991, pp 594-633. Reviews current knowledge of demographic parameters of threatened birds and examines the contribution that studies of population processes could make to their conservation, focussing on assessment of the risk of extinction as a basis for assigning priorities for scarce conservation resources, and the identification of the causes o f changes in demoo~rPhiC parameters and the consequences of such changes population size and trend. -from Authors