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During the twentieth century, inadequate management of mine waste at the Mount Lyell Copper Mine affected the ecology of the Queen–King Rivers and Macquarie Harbour, western Tasmania, Australia. Over the past two decades, the water quality of the river system has been measured semi-annually to investigate the long-term hydrochemical and environmental impacts caused by these historical mine practices and the waste associated with the Mount Lyell mine to the Queen–King Rivers. At sample sites below the confluence of Haulage Creek, the water pH was below pH 3.5, remaining below pH 5 across all sites to Macquarie Harbour. Local baseline rivers ranged from pH 4.0 to 8.4. Elemental concentrations of dissolved metals in water samples downstream of Haulage Creek were above the Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council (ANZECC) water quality guidelines. Copper, Fe, and Zn were not attenuated along the length of the river, with concentrations remaining elevated to the King River Delta. Mineralogical analyses demonstrated secondary minerals in sediments at Haulage Creek and pyrite concentrated at the King River Delta. Static tests on mining-affected sediments indicated risk of AMD and metal(loid) leaching in the river system. Since 2016, after flooding of the Prince Lyell mine, dissolved metal levels in the Queen–King Rivers have decreased; however, concentrations remain above guidelines. Almost three decades after legacy mine waste disposal ended, it still poses a long-term risk to the downstream environment, implying that without effective management of these historical mine wastes, the Queen–King Rivers will continue to be severely impacted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Adiposity has a complex relationship with bone health. In 4865 Australian baby boomers (2642 females) aged 45–70 years, we found that higher visceral adipose tissue mass is associated with reduced bone density adjusting for body mass and lifestyle factors, suggesting that excess visceral fat may be deleterious to bone. Introduction: Increased body mass is associated with higher bone mineral density (BMD), but higher visceral adipose tissue (VAT) may have a negative impact on bone health. In the Busselton Healthy Ageing Study, we examined associations between VAT mass and BMD in 4865 participants (2642 females) aged 45–70 years. Methods: VAT mass and BMD of whole body, total hip, femoral neck and lumbar spine were measured using DXA. VAT mass was examined as a continuous variable and in quartiles using sex-specific cut-offs. Results: The mean age was 58.0 ± 5.8 years. Males had significantly higher BMI (28.3 ± 3.7 vs 27.5 ± 4.9 kg/m2) and VAT mass (1675 ± 878 vs 882 ± 600 g) than females (both P < 0.001). In males, after adjustment for age, body mass, height and lifestyle factors, VAT mass negatively associated with total body, total hip and femoral neck BMD (β = − 0.153 to − 0.293, all P < 0.001). Males in the highest quartile of VAT mass (> 2200 g) had significantly lower BMD at all three sites than those in lower quartiles, with estimated BMD differences of 2.3–5.7% (all P < 0.05). In females, VAT mass negatively associated with total body, femoral neck and lumbar spine BMD (β = − 0.067 to − 0.178, all P < 0.05) and those in the highest quartile (> 1250 g) had significantly lower total body BMD than other quartiles (by 1.7–3.7%, all P < 0.05). Conclusion: In middle-aged Australians, after covariate adjustment, higher DXA-derived VAT mass is associated with reduced bone density, suggesting that excess visceral fat may be deleterious to bone, especially in males. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Early childhood education and care (ECEC) services have the potential to influence or disrupt sleep patterns given that ECEC attendance coincides with the normative transition towards napping cessation. Objective: In light of the evidence that sleep patterns in early childhood are foundational to lifelong health, this study investigated parent–educator communication about children's 24-h sleep cycles. Communication is critical in ensuring regularity and responsiveness to children's sleep behaviours, yet knowledge about if and how this happens is limited. We sought to address this gap. Method: This study draws upon survey data, both numeric and text, from 116 parents and 39 educators across 25 ECEC services in Brisbane, Australia. The type and regularity of communication strategies between ECEC educators and parents were analysed to establish frequency and demographic patterning. Qualitative analyses investigated the content of sleep-related communication between educators and parents. Results: Most educators and parents reported discussing children's sleep through in-person communication at pick-up and drop-off times. Qualitative analysis of the content of parent–educator communication identified three key themes: sleep quantity, quality and practices. Communication focused primarily on the quantity of children's sleep while attending ECEC settings, and communication about sleep quality and home practices were less frequent. Educators communicated more sleep-related information with parents than parents did with educators. Conclusions: This study highlights the need for frequent, bi-directional parent–educator communication. Providing practices which support regularity of sleep across home and ECEC settings and responding to the developmental transition toward napping cessation promotes children's sleep health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Devonian Sn-mineralized Heemskirk and barren Pieman Heads granites of western Tasmania (southeast Australia) contain abundant tourmaline-rich features, including orbicules, patches, cavities, and veins within their roof zones. The δ11B and δ18O compositions of tourmaline from these texturally different features range from − 21.7 to + 4.1‰ (average − 4.7 ± 4.0‰, n = 127), and from + 6.5 to + 14.9‰ (average + 10.7 ± 1.8‰, n = 38), respectively. These data suggest that the tourmaline-rich assemblages precipitated mostly from magmatic-hydrothermal fluids derived from their host plutons, mixed with minor external components sourced from metasedimentary, meta-ultramafic rocks, and/or meteoric water. The B-isotopic values increase sequentially from tourmaline patches to orbicules and/or cavities in both granites, probably caused by progressive volatile exsolution and systematic fluxing of aqueous boron-rich fluids from the S-type magmas during emplacement into the shallow crust. High degrees of fractional crystallization of the melt may have caused the exsolution of boron-rich hypersaline fluids from which the tourmaline orbicules and cavities formed. Bimodal δ11B populations (− 21.7 to − 12.7‰ and − 3.9 to + 4.0‰) imply that the granitic melts were mostly sourced from 10B-rich metapelitic rocks. The granites underwent fluid exsolution during the late magmatic stage that contributed to the widespread development of tourmaline-rich features and also to the formation of tin deposits associated with the Heemskirk Granite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pigs carry receptors for both avian- and human-adapted influenza viruses and have previously been proposed as a mixing and amplification vessel for influenza. Until now, there has been no investigation of influenza A viruses within feral pigs in Australia. We collected samples from feral pigs in Ramsar listed wetlands of South Australia and demonstrated positive antibodies to influenza A viruses. We propose feral pigs, and their control programs, as an available resource for future surveillance for influenza A viruses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract  The alkalic porphyry gold–copper deposits of the Cadia district occur in the eastern Lachlan Fold Belt of New South Wales, Australia. The district comprises four porphyry deposits (Ridgeway, Cadia Quarry, Cadia Hill, and Cadia East) and two iron–copper–gold skarn deposits (Big Cadia and Little Cadia). Almost 1,000 tonnes of contained gold and more than four million tonnes of copper have been discovered in these systems, making Cadia the world’s largest known alkalic porphyry district, in terms of contained gold. Porphyry gold–copper ore at Cadia is associated with quartz monzonite intrusive complexes, and is hosted by central stockwork and sheeted quartz–sulfide–(carbonate) vein systems. The Cadia porphyry deposits are characterized by cores of potassic and/or calc–potassic alteration assemblages, and peripheral halos of propylitic alteration, with late-stage phyllic alteration mostly restricted to fault zones. Hematite dusting is an important component of the propylitic alteration assemblage, and has produced a distinctive reddening of feldspar minerals in the volcanic wall rocks around the mineralized centers. Sulfide mineralization is strongly zoned at Ridgeway and Cadia East, with bornite-rich cores surrounded by chalcopyrite-rich halos and peripheral zones of pyrite mineralization. The Cadia Hill and Cadia Quarry deposits have chalcopyrite-rich cores and pyrite-rich halos, and Cadia Hill contains a high-level bornite-rich zone. Distinctive sulfur isotopic zonation patterns have been identified at Ridgeway, Cadia Hill, and Cadia East. The deposit cores are characterized by low δ34Ssulfide values (−10 to −4‰), consistent with sulfide precipitation from an oxidized (sulfate-predominant) magmatic fluid at 450 to 400C. Pyrite grains that occur in the propylitic alteration halos typically have δ34Ssulfide values near 0‰. There is a gradual increase in δ34Ssulfide values outwards from the deposit cores through the propylitic halos. Water–rock interaction during propylitic alteration caused magmatic sulfate reduction and concomitant oxidation of ferrous iron-bearing minerals, resulting in enrichment of 34S in pyrite and also producing the distinctive reddened, hematite-rich alteration halos to the Cadia deposits. These results show that sulfur isotope analyses have potential applications in the exploration of alkalic porphyry-style deposits, with zones of depleted δ34Ssulfide values most prospective for high-grade mineralization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Funds to combat biodiversity loss are insufficient, requiring conservation managers to make trade-offs between costs for actions to avoid further loss and costs for research and monitoring to guide effective actions. Using species' management plans for 2328 listed species from three countries we show that 50% of species' proposed recovery plan budgets are allocated to research and monitoring. The proportion of budgets allocated to research and monitoring vary among jurisdictions and taxa, but overall, species with higher proportions of budgets allocated to research and monitoring have poorer recovery outcomes. The proportion allocated to research and monitoring is lower for more recent recovery plans, but for some species, plans have allocated the majority of funds to information gathering for decades. We provide recommendations for careful examination of the value of collecting new information in recovery planning to ensure that conservation programs emphasize action or research and monitoring that directly informs action. How to best allocate limited resources for conserving imperilled species is a difficult challenge. Here the authors analyse data on over 2000 threatened species from USA, Australia, and New Zealand, finding that on average half of the budget is allocated to research and monitoring. Species with higher budget allocation to research and monitoring tend to have poorer recovery outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]