Summary1. The widespread provision of livestock drinking water in previously dry Australian rangelands has supported concomitant increases in cumulative grazing pressure. While the associated impacts on plants of pastoral importance have been well documented, far less is known about the rest of the flora. 2. To address this deficiency, we measured the frequency of occurrence of all plant species at sites along water-centred grazing gradients in commercial paddocks located in the rangelands of central and southern Australia. Four gradients were in chenopod shrubland vegetation, and four in acacia woodlands. Each gradient extended to a reference site remote from all waters, where grazing by stock was minimal. Five further sites were sampled along each gradient, at locations progressively closer to the gradient's watering point. 3. Ground-layer species far outnumbered those in upper layers (466 and 134, respectively). Most were geographically localized (72% found at one gradient only) and locally uncommon (46% per gradient occurred with a frequency < 5% per site). 4. Species showing trends of decreasing frequency with proximity to water significantly outnumbered those showing increasing trends. Significantly more species that were recorded only once occurred at the sites furthest from water, where long-term grazing pressure was least. Some gradients also showed an overall decline in species richness with increasing proximity to water. 5. Most species were native, and among these there were no clearly identifiable 'global winners' (i.e. no widespread species advantaged by grazing and associated disturbances). In contrast, the majority of the few exotic species, including two of the three most widespread species found, showed increasing abundance with proximity to watering points. 6. Synthesis and applications. The results from this study indicate consistent and substantial changes in plant composition that are probably related to the accumulated long-term impacts of water-centred grazing. The consequences are potentially severe, because artificial watering points are now extremely widespread in the Australian rangelands. Identification and protection of representative, water-remote refugia for the most grazing-sensitive species should therefore be a high priority for regional conservation.

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Infrastructural problems force South African households to supplement their drinking water consumption from water resources of inadequate microbial quality. Microbial water quality monitoring is currently based on the Colilert®18 system which leads to rapidly available results. Using Escherichia coli as the indicator microorganism limits the influence of environmental sources on the reported results. The current system allows for understanding of long-term trends of microbial surface water quality and the related public health risks. However, rates of false positive for the Colilert®18-derived concentrations have been reported to range from 7.4% to 36.4%. At the same time, rates of false negative results vary from 3.5% to 12.5%; and the Colilert medium has been reported to provide for cultivation of only 56.8% of relevant strains. Identification of unknown sources of faecal contamination is not currently feasible. Based on literature review, calibration of the antibiotic-resistance spectra of Escherichia coli or the bifidobacterial tracking ratio should be investigated locally for potential implementation into the existing monitoring system. The current system could be too costly to implement in certain areas of South Africa where the modified H2S strip test might be used as a surrogate for the Colilert®18.

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Ephemeroptera is an important group of insects used in the bioassessment and monitoring of freshwater bodies worldwide because of their relative abundance in a wide variety of substrates and their increasing chances of detecting pollution impacts. In this study, their faunistic composition and spatiotemporal variations in density and diversity in River Orogodo (Southern Nigeria) was investigated at five ecologically distinct stations over a 12-month period. The mayfly nymph community responses to environmental variables were evaluated by means of biological measures and multivariate analysis (redundancy analysis [RDA]). Thirteen morphologically distinct taxa belonging to six families were identified. The dominant taxa were Afrobaetodes pusillus (23.1%), Baetis sp. (13.7%), and Caenis cibaria (11.4%). The density of Ephemeroptera differed significantly (p < 0.05) both in space and time. Diversity was influenced by substrate heterogeneity which in turn was influenced by catchment processes such as flooding and anthropogenic activities especially abattoir effluent. Based on the RDA ordination and relative abundance data, Baetis sp. dominated at impacted stations while a more equitable distribution of species were observed in less disturbed sites. Water velocity, canopy cover, nature of bottom sediments, and the amount of dissolved oxygen also accounted for the variations in Ephemeroptera densities at the different stations. Shannon diversity, taxa richness, and evenness were lowest in station 3 (the abattoir discharge site).

Levels of genotypic (O'G 2 ) and environmentally induced (O'E2) variation for 15 quantitative characters were estimated in seven populations of the four naturalized races of X. strumarium in Australia. Estimates of O'G 2 indicated that populations of X. strumarium were often genetically variable for quantitative traits. However, for the majority of the characters studied, O'E2 was a larger component of the total phenotypic variation than was O'G 2 , indicating that phenotypic plasticity is the major mode of adaptation of this species to variable and varying environments. Few significant differences were found among the races, or among populations within a race, in either O'G 2 or O'E2. This suggests that marked differences in colonizing ability of the four races of X. strumarium are probably not .due to differences in phenotypic plasticity (individual buffering) or genotypic variation (populational buffering) but to differences in such factors as their reproductive strategies and photoperiodic requirements for flowering..

The phosphorus fertilizer requirement of subterranean clover (Trifolium subterraneum) was determined on a number of soils in field and glasshouse experiments. The solution phosphorus concentration in a 0.01 M CaCl2 extract (SPC0) determined from a phosphorus sorption curve was found to be closely related (R2 = 0.80 to 0.84) to relative yield. The critical SPC required to achieve 90% of relative yield (SPCc) was 0-128 �g P mL-1 in the field and 0.106 �g P mL-1 in the glasshouse experiments. Phosphorus sorbed at an SPC of 0.10 �g P mL- l (Ps0.1 at SPC0.1) was highly correlated with the phosphorus requirement of subterranean clover in both the field and glasshouse, accounting for 89% and 73% respectively of the variation in phosphorus requirement. A modified two-point sorption curve was found to give a good estimate of phosphorus sorbed at both SPC0.1 (Ps0.1) and SPC0.3(Ps0.3), and greatly increased the number of soil samples that can be processed, compared with a five-point sorption curve. The two-point test involved the addition of solutions containing 0 and 8 �g P mL-1 at a soil: solution ratio of 1:10. The sorption curve constructed using this method was suitable for assessing soils with Ps0.1 levels up to 90 �g P g-1. The soil phosphate buffering capacity at SPC0.1 (PBC0.1) was also accurately estimated using calculations from the two data points, but PBC0.3 values were poorly estimated. It was concluded that the two-point sorption curve is a sensitive and efficient method of predicting the present phosphorus status of clover pastures, their phosphorus fertilizer requirements, and of calculating PBC0.1, a useful soil characteristic.