A fundamental problem in the identification of recovered Australian remains is that the current approach relies on forensic DNA methods developed for modern criminal casework, which are not suitable for degraded DNA. At the Griffith University’s Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution Ancient DNA Facility, we have been conducting pilot research involving DNA from the remains of a WWI Australian soldier recovered from Belgium. We have shown that advancements in extraction, next-generation sequencing and bioinformatics of ancient DNA provide a more informative approach for identifying fallen soldiers than traditional forensic methods alone. We successfully retrieved whole-genome data, revealed the maternal (mtDNA) and parental (Ych) haplotypes, and some phenotypic characteristics that can be used to target identification efforts. This pilot study highlights methodological advancements and the impor-tance of genealogical searches of living relatives and their DNA to identify recovered remains and bring closure to their loved ones. Our methods have implications for future ancient DNA recovery efforts in facilities at the Queensland University of Technology and across Queensland.
{"title":"What Can Ancient DNA Bring to the Identification of Fallen Australian War Casualties? Pioneering Methodologies at Queensland-based Ancient DNA Facilities","authors":"S. Wasef, I. Bar, N. Mitchell, K. Wright","doi":"10.53060/prsq.2022-07","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53060/prsq.2022-07","url":null,"abstract":"A fundamental problem in the identification of recovered Australian remains is that the current approach relies on forensic DNA methods developed for modern criminal casework, which are not suitable for degraded DNA. At the Griffith University’s Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution Ancient DNA Facility, we have been conducting pilot research involving DNA from the remains of a WWI Australian soldier recovered from Belgium. We have shown that advancements in extraction, next-generation sequencing and bioinformatics of ancient DNA provide a more informative approach for identifying fallen soldiers than traditional forensic methods alone. We successfully retrieved whole-genome data, revealed the maternal (mtDNA) and parental (Ych) haplotypes, and some phenotypic characteristics that can be used to target identification efforts. This pilot study highlights methodological advancements and the impor-tance of genealogical searches of living relatives and their DNA to identify recovered remains and bring closure to their loved ones. Our methods have implications for future ancient DNA recovery efforts in facilities at the Queensland University of Technology and across Queensland.","PeriodicalId":40055,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70765541","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Habitat suitability for most tree species restricted to the wet tropical mountaintops of Australia is predicted to decline with climate change. This is especially concerning because no a vailable alternative habitat exists for species to migrate, and their growth responses to warming are understudied. We present a study investigating the effects of warming on an ecologically important taxon, Flindersia spp., distributed across an elevation gradient in the Australian Wet Tropics. We test: (a) whether tropical mountaintop tree species are constrained in their distributions by physiological limitations to their thermal environment; and (b) whether species display an ability to adapt and/or acclimate to future warming. We first explored trends in species’ in situ adaptation by studying leaf traits among congeners paired with environmental variables, and then evaluated plant physiological and growth responses under experimental soil nutrients and growth temperatures. We found that field trends in fundamental leaf traits with elevation were strongly driven by climate – decreasing temperatures, increasing soil moisture content and decreasing soil nutrient availability – and under experimental growth conditions showed increasing growth under warmer conditions, but then either declined or did not significantly change for upland and mountaintop species under resource-rich conditions. These modifications were associated with limitations in their photosynthetic biochemistry and selection of pathways favouring either growth or defence under resource-poor conditions. Our research findings have implications for conservation of these species in these fragile ecosystems under future warming.
{"title":"Are Tropical Mountaintop Trees Constrained in Their Distributions by Physiological Limitations? Thermal Adaptation and Acclimation to Climate Change","authors":"A. Ramesh, A. Cheesman, D. Crayn, L. Cernusak","doi":"10.53060/prsq.2022-08","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53060/prsq.2022-08","url":null,"abstract":"Habitat suitability for most tree species restricted to the wet tropical mountaintops of Australia is predicted to decline with climate change. This is especially concerning because no a vailable alternative habitat exists for species to migrate, and their growth responses to warming are understudied. We present a study investigating the effects of warming on an ecologically important taxon, Flindersia spp., distributed across an elevation gradient in the Australian Wet Tropics. We test: (a) whether tropical mountaintop tree species are constrained in their distributions by physiological limitations to their thermal environment; and (b) whether species display an ability to adapt and/or acclimate to future warming. We first explored trends in species’ in situ adaptation by studying leaf traits among congeners paired with environmental variables, and then evaluated plant physiological and growth responses under experimental soil nutrients and growth temperatures. We found that field trends in fundamental leaf traits with elevation were strongly driven by climate – decreasing temperatures, increasing soil moisture content and decreasing soil nutrient availability – and under experimental growth conditions showed increasing growth under warmer conditions, but then either declined or did not significantly change for upland and mountaintop species under resource-rich conditions. These modifications were associated with limitations in their photosynthetic biochemistry and selection of pathways favouring either growth or defence under resource-poor conditions. Our research findings have implications for conservation of these species in these fragile ecosystems under future warming.","PeriodicalId":40055,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70765558","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Strawberries are susceptible to many diseases that cause damage to leaves and fruit, such as powdery mildew. Many chemical sprays are used to control disease, but there is an industry, environmental and societal push to move away from fungicides. Breeding for disease-resistant varieties offers an alternative approach, and DNA information can be used in this strategy. We identified multiple genetic markers linked with resistance to powdery mildew in leaves and fruit using a statistical modelling method called ‘genome-wide association studies’. We also used DNA information across the entire genome to predict the susceptibility of different strawberry varieties. These results will help Queensland strawberry breeders to identify candidate varieties that are resistant to powdery mildew without expensive and time-consuming disease screening trials. These statistical methods can also be applied to other diseases, as well as yield and fruit quality traits.
{"title":"Using DNA Information to Breed for Disease-resistant Strawberries","authors":"K. O’Connor, J. Neal, A. Gomez, J. De Faveri","doi":"10.53060/prsq.2022-16","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53060/prsq.2022-16","url":null,"abstract":"Strawberries are susceptible to many diseases that cause damage to leaves and fruit, such as powdery mildew. Many chemical sprays are used to control disease, but there is an industry, environmental and societal push to move away from fungicides. Breeding for disease-resistant varieties offers an alternative approach, and DNA information can be used in this strategy. We identified multiple genetic markers linked with resistance to powdery mildew in leaves and fruit using a statistical modelling method called ‘genome-wide association studies’. We also used DNA information across the entire genome to predict the susceptibility of different strawberry varieties. These results will help Queensland strawberry breeders to identify candidate varieties that are resistant to powdery mildew without expensive and time-consuming disease screening trials. These statistical methods can also be applied to other diseases, as well as yield and fruit quality traits.","PeriodicalId":40055,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70765577","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Daintree Canopy Crane: Conception, Installation and Operation","authors":"N. Stork","doi":"10.53060/prsq.2021.6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53060/prsq.2021.6","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":40055,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70765063","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Obituary Raymond Louis Specht, 1924–2021","authors":"A. Specht","doi":"10.53060/prsq.2021.o1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53060/prsq.2021.o1","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":40055,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70765428","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Planetariums are a worldwide public educational, teaching and research phenomenon. In this paper, we very briefly examine their history in Australia, before focusing on the twentiethcentury development of amateur astronomy in Brisbane, the founding of the Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium in 1978, and the involvement of the South East Queensland astronomical community in this event. We also review the backgrounds and interests of the Planetarium’s first two Curators, Jeff Ryder (1977–2002) and Mark Rigby (2002–2021), rank them as amateur astronomers when they joined the Planetarium, and present them as atypical examples of the amateur-turned-professional (ATP) syndrome in Australian astronomy.
{"title":"The Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium and Amateur Astronomy in Queensland","authors":"Peter E. Anderson, W. Orchiston","doi":"10.53060/prsq.2021.3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53060/prsq.2021.3","url":null,"abstract":"Planetariums are a worldwide public educational, teaching and research phenomenon. In this paper, we very briefly examine their history in Australia, before focusing on the twentiethcentury development of amateur astronomy in Brisbane, the founding of the Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium in 1978, and the involvement of the South East Queensland astronomical community in this event. We also review the backgrounds and interests of the Planetarium’s first two Curators, Jeff Ryder (1977–2002) and Mark Rigby (2002–2021), rank them as amateur astronomers when they joined the Planetarium, and present them as atypical examples of the amateur-turned-professional (ATP) syndrome in Australian astronomy.","PeriodicalId":40055,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70764963","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Riedel studied the microstructures in geckos. Riedel found that hydrophobic, self-cleaning spinules (small stalks) have co-evolved with terrestrial microhabitat use as an adaptation to high exposure to dirt. Furthermore, Riedel established that the Binoe's Gecko is a model organism to study the evolution of adhesive toepads.
{"title":"Evolution and Ecological Adaptations of Microornamentation in Australian Geckos (Gekkota, Squamata)","authors":"Nils Riedel","doi":"10.25903/3W26-VV52","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25903/3W26-VV52","url":null,"abstract":"Riedel studied the microstructures in geckos. Riedel found that hydrophobic, self-cleaning spinules (small stalks) have co-evolved with terrestrial microhabitat use as an adaptation to high exposure to dirt. Furthermore, Riedel established that the Binoe's Gecko is a model organism to study the evolution of adhesive toepads.","PeriodicalId":40055,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"69253985","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Bryce Campbell, G. Price, Julien Louys, J. Miszkiewicz
Chinchilla in the Western Downs Region of Queensland is home to the Chinchilla Rifle Range, a palaeontological site that has produced a significant well-preserved Pliocene vertebrate a ssemblage. Here, we describe and discuss the histology of a crocodile tooth recovered from the ca 3.5-million-year-old Chinchilla Sand deposit in the Rifle Range. The tooth is from the posterior jaw and likely belongs to a species of Paludirex. We discuss the tooth micromorphology in relation to what is known about tooth histology in extant and extinct crocodylians with brevirostine and platyrostral skull morphology. We hypothesised that there should be several similarities in the tooth micro-structures between related extinct and extant taxa. We found that the Chinchilla Sand fossil tooth is characterised by thin enamel that is likely prismless but shows incremental striations (also seen in dentine), similar to other crocodylians. This short study highlights the importance of microscopic techniques applied to fossil material. With further fossil evidence emerging from Chinchilla, and application of three-dimensional microscopy techniques to understand the nature of Paludirex enamel prisms, a better understanding of reptile palaeobiology can be developed for Queensland and Australia.
{"title":"Crocodile Tooth Histology from a Pliocene Deposit in Chinchilla, Queensland","authors":"Bryce Campbell, G. Price, Julien Louys, J. Miszkiewicz","doi":"10.53060/prsq.2021.2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53060/prsq.2021.2","url":null,"abstract":"Chinchilla in the Western Downs Region of Queensland is home to the Chinchilla Rifle Range, a palaeontological site that has produced a significant well-preserved Pliocene vertebrate a ssemblage. Here, we describe and discuss the histology of a crocodile tooth recovered from the ca 3.5-million-year-old Chinchilla Sand deposit in the Rifle Range. The tooth is from the posterior jaw and likely belongs to a species of Paludirex. We discuss the tooth micromorphology in relation to what is known about tooth histology in extant and extinct crocodylians with brevirostine and platyrostral skull morphology. We hypothesised that there should be several similarities in the tooth micro-structures between related extinct and extant taxa. We found that the Chinchilla Sand fossil tooth is characterised by thin enamel that is likely prismless but shows incremental striations (also seen in dentine), similar to other crocodylians. This short study highlights the importance of microscopic techniques applied to fossil material. With further fossil evidence emerging from Chinchilla, and application of three-dimensional microscopy techniques to understand the nature of Paludirex enamel prisms, a better understanding of reptile palaeobiology can be developed for Queensland and Australia.","PeriodicalId":40055,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70764945","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A new species of late middle Cambrian (Guzhangian: Miaolingian) ptychoparioid trilobite is described from the Devoncourt Limestone just west of the Burke River crossing on the Duchess to Cloncurry Road. This is an addition to the extensive study of the fossil fauna of that district in the Burke River Structural Belt and provides another link to the Georgina Basin fauna, albeit younger by one zone, about 200 km west on Mungerebar Station. Generic assignment of the new species is discussed in relation to a worldwide complex of similar solenopleurid genera with small eyes situated well forward on the cephalon. Some comments are made in relation to family placement of the species, but the question of family concepts relies heavily on revision of an extensive northern hemisphere literature on these standard trilobites; so, although placement in the Solenopleuridae is favoured, no formal family assignment is made until family groups in this large complex of genera are better defined.
{"title":"A New Species of Modocia (Trilobita: Ptychoparioidea) in the Late Middle Cambrian (Guzhangian: Miaolingian) Devoncourt Limestone, Northwestern Queensland","authors":"P. Jell","doi":"10.53060/prsq.2021.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53060/prsq.2021.1","url":null,"abstract":"A new species of late middle Cambrian (Guzhangian: Miaolingian) ptychoparioid trilobite is described from the Devoncourt Limestone just west of the Burke River crossing on the Duchess to Cloncurry Road. This is an addition to the extensive study of the fossil fauna of that district in the Burke River Structural Belt and provides another link to the Georgina Basin fauna, albeit younger by one zone, about 200 km west on Mungerebar Station. Generic assignment of the new species is discussed in relation to a worldwide complex of similar solenopleurid genera with small eyes situated well forward on the cephalon. Some comments are made in relation to family placement of the species, but the question of family concepts relies heavily on revision of an extensive northern hemisphere literature on these standard trilobites; so, although placement in the Solenopleuridae is favoured, no formal family assignment is made until family groups in this large complex of genera are better defined.","PeriodicalId":40055,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70765108","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Fossils, comprising sponge spicules, brachiopods, trilobites and assorted echinoderm plates, from a fault-bounded sliver along the Yarrol Fault 30 km south–south-east from the town of Calliope in central eastern Queensland, are described and illustrated for the first time. Due to their poor preservation, none of the fossils are identifiable to species level, but the trilobites, Arthrorhachis sp. and two pliomerid pygidia, belong to taxa not known outside the Ordovician, and Illaenus sp. compares closest with Middle Ordovician members of the genus. The brachiopods – including orthoids (?Phaceloorthis among others), plectambonitoids (Sericoidea), the protorthide Skenidioides and a siphonotretide – resemble forms previously described from the Late Ordovician (Katian) of central New South Wales and indicate an open marine deep-water habitat (120–200 m depth). This assemblage is significant in representing the first Ordovician fauna (and the oldest fossils) documented from the New England Orogen in Queensland. The tectonic implications of this confirmed Ordovician sedimentary succession within the New England Orogen in central Queensland are yet to be fully appreciated, but it does complement similarly aged successions occurring along the Peel Fault in the southern New England Orogen. Together these tiny fault blocks suggest that the island arc or arcs which developed during the early Palaeozoic were incorporated into the New England Orogen during the middle Palaeozoic, both in its northern part as well as in the south.
{"title":"Ordovician Fauna in a Small Fault Block on the Yarrol Fault, South of Calliope, Central Queensland","authors":"P. Jell, I. Percival, A. Cook","doi":"10.53060/prsq.2021.4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53060/prsq.2021.4","url":null,"abstract":"Fossils, comprising sponge spicules, brachiopods, trilobites and assorted echinoderm plates, from a fault-bounded sliver along the Yarrol Fault 30 km south–south-east from the town of Calliope in central eastern Queensland, are described and illustrated for the first time. Due to their poor preservation, none of the fossils are identifiable to species level, but the trilobites, Arthrorhachis sp. and two pliomerid pygidia, belong to taxa not known outside the Ordovician, and Illaenus sp. compares closest with Middle Ordovician members of the genus. The brachiopods – including orthoids (?Phaceloorthis among others), plectambonitoids (Sericoidea), the protorthide Skenidioides and a siphonotretide – resemble forms previously described from the Late Ordovician (Katian) of central New South Wales and indicate an open marine deep-water habitat (120–200 m depth). This assemblage is significant in representing the first Ordovician fauna (and the oldest fossils) documented from the New England Orogen in Queensland. The tectonic implications of this confirmed Ordovician sedimentary succession within the New England Orogen in central Queensland are yet to be fully appreciated, but it does complement similarly aged successions occurring along the Peel Fault in the southern New England Orogen. Together these tiny fault blocks suggest that the island arc or arcs which developed during the early Palaeozoic were incorporated into the New England Orogen during the middle Palaeozoic, both in its northern part as well as in the south.","PeriodicalId":40055,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70764979","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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