James Cook University

About: James Cook University is a education organization based out in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Coral reef. The organization has 9101 authors who have published 27750 publications receiving 1032608 citations. The organization is also known as: JCU.

Consumer diversity interacts with prey defenses to drive ecosystem function.

Abstract: Prey traits linking consumer diversity to ecosystem function remain poorly understood. On tropical coral reefs, herbivores promote coral dominance by suppressing competing macroalgae, but the roles of herbivore identity and diversity, macroalgal defenses, and their interactions in affecting reef resilience and function are unclear. We studied adjacent pairs of no-take marine reserves and fished areas on reefs in Fiji and found that protected reefs supported 7–17× greater biomass, 2–3× higher species richness of herbivorous fishes, and 3–11× more live coral cover than did fished reefs. In contrast, macroalgae were 27–61× more abundant and 3–4× more species-rich on fished reefs. When we transplanted seven common macroalgae from fished reefs into reserves they were rapidly consumed, suggesting that rates of herbivory (ecosystem functioning) differed inside vs. outside reserves. We then video-recorded feeding activity on the same seven macroalgae when transplanted into reserves, and assessed the functional redundancy vs. complementarity of herbivorous fishes consuming these macroalgae. Of 29 species of larger herbivorous fishes on these reefs, only four species accounted for 97% of macroalgal consumption. Two unicornfish consumed a range of brown macroalgae, a parrotfish consumed multiple red algae, and a rabbitfish consumed a green alga, with almost no diet overlap among these groups. The two most chemically rich, allelopathic algae were each consumed by a single, but different, fish species. This striking complementarity resulted from herbivore species differing in their tolerances to macroalgal chemical and structural defenses. A model of assemblage diet breadth based on our feeding observations predicted that high browser diversity would be required for effective control of macroalgae on Fijian reefs. In support of this model, we observed strong negative relationships between herbivore diversity and macroalgal abundance and diversity across the six study reefs. Our findings indicate that the total diet breadth of the herbivore community and the probability of all macroalgae being removed from reefs by herbivores increases with increasing herbivore diversity, but that a few critical species drive this relationship. Therefore, interactions between algal defenses and herbivore tolerances create an essential role for consumer diversity in the functioning and resilience of coral reefs.

A comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of the Scleractinia (Cnidaria, Anthozoa) based on mitochondrial CO1 sequence data.

Abstract: Background: Classical morphological taxonomy places the approximately 1400 recognized species of Scleractinia (hard corals) into 27 families, but many aspects of coral evolution remain unclear despite the application of molecular phylogenetic methods. In part, this may be a consequence of such studies focusing on the reef-building (shallow water and zooxanthellate) Scleractinia, and largely ignoring the large number of deep-sea species. To better understand broad patterns of coral evolution, we generated molecular data for a broad and representative range of deep sea scleractinians collected off New Caledonia and Australia during the last decade, and conducted the most comprehensive molecular phylogenetic analysis to date of the order Scleractinia. Methodology: Partial (595 bp) sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (CO1) gene were determined for 65 deep-sea (azooxanthellate) scleractinians and 11 shallow-water species. These new data were aligned with 158 published sequences, generating a 234 taxon dataset representing 25 of the 27 currently recognized scleractinian families. Principal Findings/Conclusions: There was a striking discrepancy between the taxonomic validity of coral families consisting predominantly of deep-sea or shallow-water species. Most families composed predominantly of deep-sea azooxanthellate species were monophyletic in both maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses but, by contrast (and consistent with previous studies), most families composed predominantly of shallow-water zooxanthellate taxa were polyphyletic, although Acroporidae, Poritidae, Pocilloporidae, and Fungiidae were exceptions to this general pattern. One factor contributing to this inconsistency may be the greater environmental stability of deep-sea environments, effectively removing taxonomic “noise” contributed by phenotypic plasticity. Our phylogenetic analyses imply that the most basal extant scleractinians are azooxanthellate solitary corals from deep-water, their divergence predating that of the robust and complex corals. Deep-sea corals are likely to be critical to understanding anthozoan evolution and the origins of the Scleractinia.

Hyperdominance in Amazonian forest carbon cycling

Abstract: While Amazonian forests are extraordinarily diverse, the abundance of trees is skewed strongly towards relatively few 'hyperdominant' species. In addition to their diversity, Amazonian trees are a key component of the global carbon cycle, assimilating and storing more carbon than any other ecosystem on Earth. Here we ask, using a unique data set of 530 forest plots, if the functions of storing and producing woody carbon are concentrated in a small number of tree species, whether the most abundant species also dominate carbon cycling, and whether dominant species are characterized by specific functional traits. We find that dominance of forest function is even more concentrated in a few species than is dominance of tree abundance, with only ≈1% of Amazon tree species responsible for 50% of carbon storage and productivity. Although those species that contribute most to biomass and productivity are often abundant, species maximum size is also influential, while the identity and ranking of dominant species varies by function and by region.

Designed Synthesis of Mononuclear Tris(heteroleptic) Ruthenium Complexes Containing Bidentate Polypyridyl Ligands

Abstract: A general synthetic methodology is reported for tris(bidentate)ruthenium(II) complexes containing three different polypyridyl ligands, based on the sequential addition of the ligands to the oligomer [Ru(CO)₂Cl₂](subscript n). The tris(heteroleptic) complexes were characterized by FAB mass spectrometry and NMR spectroscopy. An X-ray crystal structure determination was made for the complex, [Ru(Me₂bpy)(phen)(bpa)](PF₆)₂. C₆H₁₄·[C₄ₒH₄₃F₁₂N₇P₂Ru, M = 1062.8; Me(2)bpy = 4,4'-dimethyl-2,2'-bipyridine, phen = 1,10-phenanthroline, bpa = bis(2-pyridyl)amine]: triclinic, space group

Pit membrane porosity and water stress-induced cavitation in four co-existing dry rainforest tree species.

Abstract: Aspects of xylem anatomy and vulnerability to water stress-induced embolism were examined in stems of two drought-deciduous species, Brachychiton australis (Schott and Endl.) A. Terracc. and Cochlospermum gillivraei Benth., and two evergreen species, Alphitonia excelsa (Fenzal) Benth. and Austromyrtus bidwillii (Benth.) Burret., growing in a seasonally dry rainforest. The deciduous species were more vulnerable to water stress-induced xylem embolism. B. australis and C. gillivraei reached a 50% loss of hydraulic conductivity at −3.17 MPa and −1.44 MPa, respectively; a 50% loss of hydraulic conductivity occurred at −5.56 MPa in A. excelsa and −5.12 MPa in A. bidwillii . To determine whether pit membrane porosity was responsible for greater vulnerability to embolism (air seeding hypothesis), pit membrane structure was examined. Expected pore sizes were calculated from vulnerability curves; however, the predicted inter-specific variation in pore sizes was not detected using scanning electron microscopy (pores were not visible to a resolution of 20 nm). Suspensions of colloidal gold particles were then perfused through branch sections. These experiments indicated that pit membrane pores were between 5 and 20 nm in diameter in all four species. The results may be explained by three possibilities: (a) the pores of the expected size range were not present, (b) larger pores, within the size range to cause air seeding, were present but were rare enough to avoid detection, or (c) pore sizes in the expected range only develop while the membrane is under mechanical stress (during air seeding) due to stretching/flexing.