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In 2010-11 70mm soil cores were collected from locations at Macquarie Island rich in the invasive plant Poa annua. The cores were collected at 22 sites, with 10 samples per site. Processing and identification of species was completed in 2016. This file contains three spreadsheets: site descriptions, complete sample descriptions and abundance of springtail species at the sites. The work was carried as part of Australian Antarctic Science (AAS) Project 4024 and is currently being written up into several papers. The 'Quad veg' column gives the percentage vegetation cover in the one metre square quadrat. The 'sample veg' column gives the percentage vegetation cover in the 70mm soil core. The numbers in these columns are percentages and the letters are abbreviations for vegetation types: pa = Poa annua, cal = Callitriche sp., ttg = tall tussock grassland (Poa foliosa), sg = short grassland (range of species), colo = Colobanthus spp. In the 'rabbit presence' column 1 means there was evidence of rabbit presence in the quadrat and 0 means otherwise.
In 2010-11 a whole island survey or Macquarie Island was undertaken by Justine Shaw and Aleks Terauds. Quadrats (1m * 1m and 10m *10m) formed the basis of these surveys. At a minimum, quadrats were surveyed at the centroid of each 1 km * 1 km grid square. Other quadrats were surveyed along the survey track depending on the presence of non-native plants. Native plant coverage was also recorded in most quadrats. The download file contains an Excel spreadsheet. The spreadsheet contains three worksheets, two of which contain keys to the third worksheet (the data worksheet). Information from the two keys is summarised below: Key to Field Headings Island was divided into 1 km x 1 km cells (see associated shapefile). A ‘track’ of minimum length 750 m (and usually between 1-2 km) was walked through each cell from 1 km centroid to 1 km centroid (again with 1 m2 and 10 m2 quadrats). At a minimum, the centroid of each cell was surveyed for alien plants using a 1 m2 and 10 m 2 quadrat. Other quadrat based surveys were carried out along the track (again with 1 m2 and 10 m2 quadrats) when alien plants were detected. In most cases native plant coverage was also noted in each quadrat. Percentage cover was calculated for Poa annua, Cerastium fontanum, and Stellaria media. Number of plants was also documented for Cerastium fontanum and Stellaria media, not Poa annua as individual plants can’t be easily identified. The presence or absence of alien species was recorded along each track. For analytical purposes, each track was divided into 10 m segments, and the presence or absence of alien plants in these was then used to calculate the ‘proportion’ of each plant in each 1 km cell. For example, a 1km track through a cell has 100 ten metre segments, if 40 of these had Poa annua present, then the cell was allocated a proportional value of 40% for Poa annua (see shapefiles for actual data and visual representation). ID Cell ID LongitudeI Centroid of 1km cell longitude LatitudeI Centroid of 1km cell latitude C_poa 1x1 m quadrat percentage cover of Poa annua - note no number of plants for Poa annua because separate plants can't be identified C_cfA 1x1 m quadrat percentage cover of Ceastium fontanum C_cfN 1x1 m number of Cerastium fontanum plants in quadrat C_smA 1x1 m quadrat percentage cover of Stellaria media C_smN 1x1 m number of Stellaria media plants Q_poa 10 x10 m quadrat percentage cover n of Poa annua -- note no number of plants for Poa annua because separate plants can't be identified Q_cfA 10 x10 m quadrat percentage cover of Ceastium fontanum Q_cfN 10 x10 m number of Cerastium fontanum plants in quadrat Q_smA 10 x10 m quadrat percentage cover of Stellaria media Q_smN 10 x10 m number of Stellaria media plants Q_veg native veg composition - see attached worksheet for key Q_rab rabbit grazing present? (centroid only) Q_die Azorell dieback present? (centroid only) Vegetation key, numbers are percentage cover, will generally add up to 100 az Azorella macquariensis fm feldmark bare no veg hb herbfield - Megaherbs - mainly Pleurophyllum sc complex of short grass, typically Agrostis, Luzula, Festuca, co Colobanthus spp. (also sometimes colo) by bryophytres mr mire pa poa annua sg short grassland sh short herbs, Acaena spp, Cardamine sp., Montia sp. sgh short grass herb complex ttg tall tussock grass, typical Poa foliosa DR damaged by rabbits
Seeds of twelve plant species were collected from Macquarie Island during January and February 2013. The seeds were used in a series of laboratory-based tests during 2013, at the University of Wollongong. Tests were conducted to determine species suitably for use in laboratory-based toxicity testing, using germination success and seedling growth (shoot and root length) as end points. Two soil types (containing low and high organic carbon contents) were used, to reflect the variable organic carbon content found in soils at Macquarie Island. Test soils were spiked with Special Antarctic Blend (SAB) diesel fuel and aged for 14 days to generate a concentration series of SAB-contaminated soils. Exposure doses were quantified as the concentration of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH, nC9-nC18) on a soil dry mass basis. Based on germination success in initial trials, four species (Colobanthus muscoides Hook.f., Deschampsia sp., Epilobium pendunculare A.Cunn. and Luzula crinita Hook.f.) were included in definitive toxicity tests. Description of files provided: - FILE: GabriellaMacoustra_Germination.xlsx Excel data file providing results of germination trials. Includes test development data (germination response of test species on test substrates without addition of fuel toxicants). - FILE: GabriellaMacoustra_Growth.xlsx Excel data file providing results of germination trials. Provides measurements from image analysis of roots and shoots of plants used in germination trials. - FILE: GabriellaMacoustra_Soil Characterisation.xlsx Excel data file providing soil characterisation data for the two soil substrates (sandy and peaty) used in the germination trials. Includes spiked fuel concentrations and a range of physicochemical properties. - FILE: Macoustra 2013_Thesis.pdf PDF file of University of Wollongong Honours thesis submitted by Gabriella Macoustra 2013. - FILES (Field and lab notebook scans): Notebook-Field_42420.pdf, Notebook-Field_42422.pdf, Notebook-Field_42398.pdf, Notebook-Lab_101036.pdf. Four scanned PDF files of field notes taken by Corrine de Mestre, related to seed collections on Macquarie Island during 2012/13.
The nitrogen fixing biota of Macquarie Island are dominated by cyanobacteria growing epiphytically or symbiotically with plants or lichens. Highest rates of acetylene reduction (N-fixation) were found in the leafy lichen Peltigera sp. Colonising herbfields and short grasslands, and in the coastal angiosperm Colobanthus muscoides. Significant rates of N-fixation were also associated with the liverwort Jamesoniella colorata commonly occurring in coastal and plateau mires, in a moss-bed of Dicranella cardotii colonising a land-slip face on the grassland slopes at 100m altitude, and within polsters of the mosses Ditrichum strictum and Andreaea sp. found in exposed localities on the plateau at 200-300m altitude. It was concluded that the common feature of plants supporting active N-fixation in dry habitats was the dense packing of stems and leaves, enabling water translocation to the cyanobacterial zone by wick action. Epiphytic cyanobacterial fixation in wet habitats was widespread and not restricted to plant species. This work was published in Polar Biology, 11: 601-606.
This dataset consists of Hyperion satellite imagery, as well as GPS ground truthing of vegetation quadrats. The aims of this project were: 1. to produce a spectral library of the major subantarctic terrestrial plant species and community types from ground spectroradiometery measurements . 2. to use the spectral library to assist in classification of vegetation communities. File: 2392HI2003_04 Vegetation Survey Data.xls Table of vegetation data collected from Heard Island in the summer of 2003-2004 by Johanna Turnbull. Areas surveyed were Paddick Valley, Fairchild Beach, Dovers Moraine and Skua Beach. Ten 1x1 m quadrats were sampled with each 30x30 m site surveyed. Quadrats were selected haphazardly. Numbers are given as percentage cover of each species, averaged out over the ten sampled quadrats, unless otherwise stated. The Codes used for species/ground cover types and vegetation communities/associations can be found in sheet 2 of the excel file, called 'vegetation codes'. They are also listed below: Vegetation - Species/Ground Cover Types Code - Species/ground cover types AM - Acaena magellanica AS - Azorella selago CA - Callitriche CA w/ H2O - Callitriche in water CO - Colobanthus sp. DE - Deschampsia G - Gravel L - Lichen LI - Liverwort M - Moss/Bryophytes MO - Montia fontana PA - Pringlea antiscorbutica PAN - Poa annua PC - Poa cookii PK - Poa kuerguelensis PK/PC - P. kerguelensis / P. cookii Hybrid R - rock S - sand / soil W - Water Vegetation - Communities / Associations Code - Community DCC - Closed Cushionfield DCC w/ Aceana - Closed Cushionfield with Aceana DCC/H - Closed Cushionfield/Herbfield DCC/H/T - Cushionfield/Herbfield/Tussock FF - Fellfield H - Herbfield MF - Mossfield PC/M - Pool Complex/Meadow PCC - Open Cushionfield PCC/MF - Open Cushionfield/Mossfield SM - Mire/Flush/Meadow SM/PCC - Mire/Flush/Open Cushionfield THD - Tussock with Cushionfield/Herbfield