Brine shrimp Artemia is a genus of aquatic crustaceans inhabiting many hypersaline environments. The American Artemia franciscana especially has been broadly used as live food in the fishery and aquaculture industries so A. franciscana was introduced overseas for culture and use in fishery markets. Our results confirmed the colonisation of Australia with American A. franciscana.
Photo by Hans Hillewaert (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License)

Projected climate change will affect aspects of animal physiology such as oxygen requirements. Oxygen consumption at rest and during activity in three species of freshwater turtles was compared, and differences among the species in average consumption rates and in responses to temperature variation were found. These results predict that the species respond to climate change in different ways.
Photo by Bruce Chessman.

Information on the foraging ecology of a vulnerable bat, Saccolaimus saccolaimus, is gleaned from echolocation sequences. We derive foraging strategy, flight speed and microhabitat data from the sequences, then assess these deductions in terms of its flight morphology and available field observations. The results show that echolocation data can quickly and inexpensively provide ecological insights to inform conservation planning, without disrupting the bat’s normal activities.

In this study, the population genetics of Bufo gargarizans were studied in five localities with the Yangtze River running through the sampling area to draw inference about the genetic differentiation level and natural barriers to species dispersal in small geographic scale with landscape features using novel microsatellite loci. Significant genetic structure and weak but significant positive correlation between genetic and geographical distances were found, which indicates that the Yangtze River and geographic distance may act as an effective barrier for B. gargarizans.

Small founder populations are susceptible to reduced genetic diversity, which can hinder successful population establishment. This study aimed to identify how a small recently founded population of New Zealand sea lions (Phocarctos hookeri) is remaining genetically viable, and revealed mechanisms of female mate choice of unrelated males. We provide important information about how polygynous species are able to minimise loss of genetic variation during founder events, thus allowing successful population establishment.
Photo by Bruce C. Robertson.

During monitoring of a habitat reintroduction in New South Wales, a group of a dozen adult diving beetles attacked and very quickly dismembered a tadpole. An adult diving beetle was also observed burrowing its head inside and consuming a much larger tadpole. These observations may have implications for amphibian conservation since management efforts are not typically concerned with naturally occurring ubiquitous threats such as those from small invertebrate predators, as they have rarely been observed in nature.
Photo by Dr Jose Valdez.

This study demonstrated that sand grain size of sea turtle nests can influence nest microenvironment, but these small differences in microenvironment did not appear to affect hatching success or hatchling morphology. Nests constructed in larger sand grain sizes were cooler and more permeable to oxygen, but the minimum oxygen partial pressure nests experienced was similar across all sand types. Likewise, although sand with larger particle size held less water, the frequent rainfall events during incubation in this study insured embryonic development was not impeded by dehydration.

We carried out the first detailed analysis of juvenile development in Telostylinus angusticollis (Diptera: Neriidae), a fly endemic to coastal New South Wales and southern Queensland that has become a valuable model system in evolutionary research. We found that larval nutrition strongly affected the rate of larval growth but, surprisingly, had no effect on the speed of metamorphosis in this species. Our results also suggest that larval diet has stage-dependent effects on juvenile mortality.
Photo by Russell Bonduriansky.

Southern brown and golden bandicoots are iconic Australian marsupials that have experienced dramatic declines since European settlement, but their conservation management is impeded by major taxonomic uncertainties. We carried out genetic analyses of these bandicoots, which indicate that the subspecies Isoodon obesulus obesulus is restricted to south-eastern mainland Australia, and is evolutionarily distinct from the Tasmanian subspecies I. o. affinis and from bandicoot populations in southern/western regions of Australia. Our analyses have major implications for the conservation status and management of bandicoot populations.
Photo by Casey O’Brien.

Loggerhead turtles are an endangered species found in all tropical seas of the world. Like other sea turtles, the sex of the hatchlings is determined by the incubation temperature during the middle third of embryonic development. At the main nesting site for loggerhead turtles in New Caledonia, La Roche Percée beach, sand temperatures are high, which causes the hatching sex ratio to be highly biased towards females. Encroachment of roots into nests is also problematic and a management strategy needs to be developed to address this issue.
Photo by Tyffen Read.

Energy-conserving torpor is used by many mammals and birds to deal with a variety of adverse conditions, including cold exposure and food shortages. We show for the first time that in captive spiny mice, a desert rodent, torpor can be induced by flooding. Our data suggest yet another function of mammalian torpor, as a response to flood, to cope with reduced foraging opportunities and increased heat loss.
Photo by Noa Katz.