Many species of reef fishes form large spawning aggregations that are highly predictable in space and time. Prior research has suggested that aggregating fish derive fitness benefits not just from mating at high density but, also, from oceanographic features of the spatial locations where aggregations occur. Using a probabilistic biophysical model of larval dispersal coupled to a fine resolutio...

Genetic trade-offs such as between generalist-specialist strategies can be masked by changes in compensatory processes involving energy allocation and acquisition which regulation depends on the state of the individual and its ecological surroundings. Failure to account for such state dependence may thus lead to misconceptions about the trade-off structure and nature of constraints governing re...

Assessments were made of the influence of several microclimatic variables on the availability of third-stage larvae of Ostertagia ostertagi, on pasture herbage. Variables most closely related to recovery of larvae from the lower herbage samples were: maximum air, mat and dung temperatures. Recovery of larvae from the upper portion of the herbage was closely correlated with dung temperature, sam...

The application of high-resolution genetic data has revealed that oceanographic connectivity in marine species with planktonic larvae can be surprisingly limited, even in the absence of major barriers to dispersal. Australia's southern coast represents a particularly interesting system for studying planktonic larval dispersal, as the hydrodynamic regime of the wide continental shelf has potenti...

Predicting the oceanic dispersal of planktonic larvae that connect scattered marine animal populations is difficult, yet crucial for management of species whose movements transcend international boundaries. Using multi-scale biophysical modeling techniques coupled with empirical estimates of larval behavior and gamete production, we predict and empirically verify spatio-temporal patterns of lar...

Large body size confers a reproductive advantage to adults of the wood-boring beetle Phoracantha semipunctata (F.) (Cerambycidae: Cerambycinae: Phoracanthini). Larvae of this species feed subcortically in stressed and dying eucalypt trees and logs. We evaluated the influence of the larval environment on larval performance and adult body size by manipulating the post-felling age of host logs (fr...

The influence of microclimate on numbers of third-state larvae of haemonchus contortus and Haemonchus placei in four strata of irrigated Kikuyu pasture was assessed. On 36 different, interspersed days three replicates of pasture samples were collected on three occasions per day from 1990-1992 for larval recovery and the log10 mean counts of the larvae recovered were analysed by use of ANOVA mod...

Black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) are widely used in recycling and upcycling of nutrients agri-food by-products, but low inconsistent BSFL rearing performance (i.e. larval growth, bioconversion rate, substrate reduction) has been identified as a key challenge. The aims this research were two-fold: (1) validate an existing closed system design; (2) assess whether microbial inoculum derived from th...