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Thls paper provides the first proof that shortfound that, although chicks are fed daily for the first tailed shearwaters Puffinus tenuirostris breeding in Australia

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The chick provisioning behaviour of Short‐tailed Shearwaters Puffinus tenuirostris breeding at the northern edge of their distribution on Montague Island, New South Wales, was examined in February and March 1997. The duration of individual foraging trips of parents, weight changes of adults and chicks, and meal sizes delivered to chicks were determined. It was found that individual parents mixed a long foraging trip to Antarctic waters (14.4±2.0 days) with one to three short foraging trips (1.36±0.7 days, mode=1 day). Adults gained body mass on long trips and lost weight on short trips. The size of meals fed to the chicks was significantly greater after a long trip (161±21 g) than after a short trip (135±28 g), although short trips increased the overall chick feeding frequency. The variable number of short trips made by adult Short‐tailed Shearwaters and the relationship between short trips and adult body condition were consistent with current life‐history theory: adults do not sacrifice their own body condition to increase food delivered to their chicks.
 Modelling revealed that this dual foraging strategy inevitable leads to chicks enduring long intervals between meals. These long intervals may have led to the evolution of an over‐feeding strategy by parents and the nestling obesity reported in this shearwater. The durations of the long trips from Montague Island were significantly greater than those for Short‐tailed Shearwaters breeding at the centre of their distribution in Tasmania, although there was no significant difference in the length of short trips. A commitment to feed regularly in Antarctic waters may explain why the breeding distribution of this species does not extend much further north.

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Records of sites occupied by Southern Bell Frogs Litoria raniformis determined from call recordings in the South Australian River Murray floodplain were compiled for the period September 1995 -April 2006 from a number of published and unpublished sources. These records revealed that while this frog is reported along the length of the river floodplain (n = 80), the majority of these sites occur in the Riverland region (n = 54). Fewer records occurred in the lower reaches of the river. This relationship was found to be statistically significant in a sub-set of the total data. Wetlands that were temporary, managed to have alternating wet and dry phases or had significantly fluctuating water levels constituted 66% (n = 53) of all sites recorded, with permanent wetlands making up the remaining 34% (n = 27) of sites. This relationship was found to be significant in a sub-set of the total data. Wetlands that were surveyed more than once over the course of a year, and at which Southern Bell Frogs were recorded at least once were analysed for seasonal variability in detection rate. This revealed that 92% of surveys conducted in November (n = 26) detected calling frogs compared to 50% of surveys conducted in September (n = 34). While the findings of this paper are preliminary in nature the broad trends observed suggest that managed wetlands and other anthropogenic manipulations of water levels can play a role in the conservation of this frog species and requires further investigation. Additionally, ongoing monitoring would benefit from studies that further refined the optimal detection period for this frog.

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