Academic literature on the topic 'Bundaberg region (Queensland)'

Summary Ficophagus from collecting trips in eastern Australia, made over 15 years, are summarised and show that species of the genus occurred widely in sycones of Ficus, subgenus Urostigma, section Malvanthera. Two new species (based on morphological differences and molecular sequencing) are described: Ficophagus elizabethae sp. n. from Ficus macrophylla, F. rubiginosa and F. obliqua, and Ficophagus richardi sp. n. from Ficus obliqua; and a morphospecies, Ficophagus Morphospecies malandicus from Ficus obliqua. Ficophagus elizabethae sp. n. is characterised by having the excretory pore (EP) opening from the level of the junction of the conus and shaft of the stylet to that of the knobs, a relatively long procorpus (1.0-2.5 times length of stylet), female tail with an obliquely truncate tail with a hyaline area and a finely to broadly rounded tip which may be mucronate; post-vulval uterine sac (PUS) ca one vulval body diam. (VBD) in length; rose-thorn-shaped spicule with distinct rostrum and prominent condylus; and genital papillae arranged as largest pair adcloacal, second pair posterior to mid-tail length, and third small pair near tail tip; and was collected from Sydney in New South Wales, to Bundaberg in Queensland (QLD). Ficophagus richardi sp. n. is characterised by having the EP opening at the level of the junction of the stylet shaft and conus, a labial cap which is raised around the opening for the stylet; procorpus 0.8-1.7 times length of the stylet, PUS <1 VBD in length, long uterus, and female tail with a V-shaped hyaline area at the bluntly rounded tip; rose-thorn-shaped spicule with a small rostrum and prominent condylus, three pairs genital papillae, first and largest on anterior cloacal lip, second at 70% of tail length measured from cloacal aperture, and third near tip, and was collected from Ban Ban Springs in the south to the Bundaberg region in the mid-north of QLD. In addition, in the absence of pertinent molecular sequences, a morphospecies is described. Ficophagus Morphospecies malandicus is characterised by having the EP opening anterior to the junction of the stylet conus and shaft, procorpus 0.9-2 times length of stylet, a short PUS usually <1 VBD long, short uterus, rose-thorn-shaped spicule with a raised condylus and prominent rostrum, and three pairs of subventral papillae on the tail (one adcloacal, one posterior to mid-tail and one near tail tip); and was collected from the Atherton Tableland, QLD. A table comparing morphological characteristics is provided to help with identification of Ficophagus nematodes from figs of the section Malvanthera in eastern Australia.

Experiments involving breaks to the sugarcane monoculture, soil fumigation and the application of biocides were conducted in Bundaberg, the Burdekin Valley and at Tully, three sugarcane-growing regions in Queensland, Australia. The aim was to elucidate the cause(s) of previously observed positive yield responses to breaks in the monoculture and assess persistence into a subsequent cane cycle. In all three experiments there was a positive response in the plant cane crop to fumigation of land that was under sugarcane monoculture, the response being 32, 39 and 21% for the Burdekin, Tully and Bundaberg experiments, respectively. Further, at Tully, the response was maintained into the ratoons. Fumigation after breaks also enhanced yields but the results were variable and were generally less than the response following sugarcane monoculture. At Tully, fumigating after bare fallow, grain crop and pasture breaks enhanced cane yields by 23, 26 and 29%, respectively, while in the Burdekin, responses to fumigation were much smaller at 9% (bare fallow), 4% (grain crop) and 8% (pasture). In Bundaberg, responses ranged from nil following a long-term (70 months) grass pasture up to 35% following a short-term (12 months) grass pasture, with a general trend for the response to fumigation being larger following short-term than long-term breaks. In the Tully experiment, biocides had variable effects on sugarcane growth and yield. Fungicide application produced as good a yield as fumigation whereas nematicides had little direct influence. However, when combined with fungicides, nematicides provided a synergistic effect in terms of shoot development. The results suggested that at the Tully site, fungi were the major detrimental biota associated with poor yields in long-term sugarcane monoculture, but nematodes had some influence once fungi were controlled. In two additional experiments at Bundaberg and Burdekin, it was shown that if the cane stool was removed after the plant crop (Bundaberg) and second ratoon (Burdekin) and sugarcane re-planted, there were no residual effects of breaks and fumigation. Thus it appears that the positive effects of breaks and fumigation measured in the ratoons were more associated with the development of a healthy stool in the plant crop than any residual effect on soil biota. In general the similarly positive response to fumigation and breaks indicated that a considerable part of the overall response to breaks was due to reducing the adverse effect of detrimental soil biota (largely fungi although there was an effect on nematodes). The type and duration of break was also important with long-term pasture being the most effective. However, the duration of the fumigation and break effects on soil biota only lasted for the plant crop.

Controlled traffic (matching wheel and row spacing) is being promoted as a means to manage soil compaction in the Australian sugar industry. However, machinery limitations dictate that wider row spacings than the standard 1.5-m single row will need to be adopted to incorporate controlled traffic and many growers are reluctant to widen row spacing for fear of yield penalties. To address these concerns, contrasting row configuration and planting density combinations were investigated for their effect on cane and sugar yield in large-scale experiments in the Gordonvale, Tully, Ingham, Mackay, and Bingera (near Bundaberg) sugarcane-growing regions of Queensland, Australia. The results showed that sugarcane possesses a capacity to compensate for different row configurations and planting densities through variation in stalk number and individual stalk weight. Row configurations ranging from 1.5-m single rows (the current industry standard) to 1.8-m dual rows (50 cm between duals), 2.1-m dual (80 cm between duals) and triple (65 cm between triples) rows, and 2.3-m triple rows (65 cm between triples) produced similar yields. Four rows (50 cm apart) on a 2.1-m configuration (quad rows) produced lower yields largely due to crop lodging, while a 1.8-m single row configuration produced lower yields in the plant crop, probably due to inadequate resource availability (water stress/limited radiation interception). The results suggest that controlled traffic can be adopted in the Australian sugar industry by changing from a 1.5-m single row to 1.8-m dual row configuration without yield penalty. Further, the similar yields obtained with wider row configurations (2 m or greater with multiple rows) in these experiments emphasise the physiological and environmental plasticity that exists in sugarcane. Controlled traffic can be implemented with these wider row configurations (>2 m), although it will be necessary to carry out expensive modifications to the current harvester and haul-out equipment. There were indications from this research that not all cultivars were suited to configurations involving multiple rows. The results suggest that consideration be given to assessing clones with different growth habits under a range of row configurations to find the most suitable plant types for controlled traffic cropping systems.

Directed by Rachel Perkins in 1998, Radiance is a film that deserves a sequel. The fates of Mae, Cressy and Nona after they head off up the road in Mae's old car is a cinematic mystery that intrigues me more the longer I live in North Queensland, the place in which both Radiance the film and its antecedent, Radiance the play (Nowra 1993), are set. This essay does not attempt to investigate, much less solve this mystery, but instead deepens it by considering aspects of location, setting and narration in the film, which was co-scripted by Perkins and Nowra, as well as the process of transposition from play to film (Nowra 2003). Setting, used to realise the gothic aspects of the drama, marks the transposition between these otherwise similar versions of Radiance. Even local audiences fall for the film's mesmerising re-creation of the sub-region of North Queensland selected as a setting and in spite of minimal allusions even to Queensland in the dialogue. The house, the canefields, the beach and the island are 'regional sign systems' (Whitlock 1994) that present a convincing depiction of the place in which we dwell; some even say these features look familiar. Perkins (2003) tells how she set the film in Queensland to honour the setting of the original play, and she speaks of travelling to Queensland to gain the "atmosphere" of the place, and to choose locations. In fact, the locations chosen were far from North Queensland: Agnes Water, Rosedale, Childers, Bundaberg and Hervey Bay, as well as Max Film Studies in Sydney, while Nora Island "is a fabrication although some people swear they recognize it," says Nowra (2000, xiii). Radiance therefore comes to stand for the remarkable power of film to suggest a reality, and for the importance of location in telling a story on film.

During the course of the Twentieth Century the Australian sugar industry became increasingly regulated to such an extent that by the 1980s it was the most highly regulated industry in Australia. Since the 1980s pressures, both internal and external to the industry, have resulted in significant deregulation and subsequent restructuring.

Internal pressures have resulted from the Australian government's adoption of economic rationalist polices in order to meet what it perceived to be the challenges of globalisation, as well as more localized factors such as prolonged periods of drought. Externally, declining terms of trade and increasing levels of competition are problematic.

This thesis seeks to determine whether or not the Australian sugar industry's restructuring exercises are sufficient to meet the challenges presented by an increasingly globalised economy and fiercer international competition. In so doing it considers the role of the state and transnational capital. It also reflects upon the sustainability of the industry.

In order to understand what is happening within the Australian sugar industry, the thesis engages the explanatory power of agricultural restructuring and globalization theory. Theoretically the thesis is informed but not determined by the globalization perspective developed by Le Heron (1993). It also incorporates insights derived from McMichael, Wiseman, and Lawrence. The thesis employs methodology derived from the combination of two different but complementary procedures, namely, commodity systems analysis as proposed and refined by Friedland (1984, 2001), and the commodity chain approach as described by Hopkins and Wallerstein (1986).

The thesis concludes that while the Australian industry appears to be deregulating and restructuring according to global logic, if fully enacted according to the trajectory implied by the deregulatory process, some portions of the Australian industry may be rendered unsustainable.