Coastal Management Bill passes
National Parks and Wildlife Amendment (Adjustment of Areas) Bill 2016
The National Parks and Wildlife Amendment (Adjustment of Areas) Bill 2016 was passed on May 31st, 2016. There is provision within this to facilitate the upgrade of Mona vale Road, Stage 3 by taking an area of about 0.768 hectare, from the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park Part of the speeches during the Reading of this Bill focused on the necessity to make provision for a fauna bridge.
Compensatory land will be offered by Roads and Maritime Services, in almost two hectares of land being added to the adjoining Garigal National Park. This will include land surrounding Whale Rock, a significant Aboriginal rock engraving, which will greatly benefit from increased protection under the reserve system.'
Overview of Bill
The object of this Bill is to amend the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974:
(a) to change the reservation of Ben Halls Gap National Park (which consists of about 3,018 hectares) to a nature reserve to be known as Ben Halls Gap Nature Reserve, and
(b) to change the reservation of about 2,020 hectares of Khappinghat Nature Reserve to a national park to be known as Khappinghat National Park, and
(c) to revoke the reservation of about 88.42 hectares of Gwydir Wetlands State Conservation Area, and
(d) to revoke the reservation of the following land and to vest the land in the Minister for the purposes of Part 11 of that Act, which enables the Minister to sell, grant leases of, dispose of or otherwise deal with the land:
(i) about 0.1 hectare of Jervis Bay National Park,
(ii) about 140.94 hectares of Kosciuszko National Park,
(iii) about 2.018 hectares of Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park,
(iv) about 0.04 hectare beneath the surface of Lane Cove National Park,
(v) about 0.34 hectare of Middle Brother National Park,
(vi) about 18.5 hectares of Morton National Park,
(vii) Penrith Lakes Regional Park (which consists of about 6,656 square metres),
(viii) about 13.4 hectares of Royal National Park,
(ix) about 1.6 hectares of Wollemi National Park,
(x) about 0.11 hectare of Yaegl Nature Reserve, and
(e) to provide that the Minister must not transfer the parts of that land currently forming part of Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park and Middle Brother National Park, unless satisfied that appropriate compensation has been provided, and
(f) to revoke the reservation of about 86.31 hectares of land in Macquarie Pass State Conservation Area that has been transferred to the Illawarra Local Aboriginal Land Council, following a claim under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983.
The National Parks and Wildlife Amendment (Adjustment of Areas) Bill 2016 Bill (and Explanatory note) are available here
More in: Bill To Facilitate Mona Vale Road Upgrades Passes: Vital Fauna Bridge Discussed
Whale of a spectacle on the way
29 May 2016
Whale watchers can expect a bumper number of sightings during the 2016 NSW whale season which kicks off this week, NSW Environment Minister Mark Speakman said today.
A big year of calving in 2015 means the number of humpbacks, southern right whales and minke whales along the NSW coastline is likely to increase – and so will the likelihood of spotting them.
“The population of humpback whales passing the NSW coast is estimated to be more than 20,000 and is increasing more than 10 per cent each year,” Mr Speakman said.
“The number of people visiting NSW coastal national parks during whale season is soaring – up 39 per cent between July and October in the past five years, which we believe in large part is due to the popularity of whale watching.”
Mr Speakman said that during last year’s National Parks and Wildlife Service Wild About Whales campaign, more than $2 million in accommodation bookings was made in NSW coastal national park properties.
“National parks make up almost 50 per cent of the NSW coastline. These bookings also help support the local economy through tourism to those areas along the coastline and make NSW Australia’s best whale watching state.”
Mr Speakman reminded whale watchers who ventured into the water to keep a safe, respectful distance.
“It’s a busy time offshore for shipping and marine mammals and anyone on the water should be vigilant to avoid collision,” he said.
“All vessels including kayaks, surf skis and surfboards must remain at least 100 metres from a whale and 300 metres if there is a calf present, which are both for the safety of whale watchers and the wellbeing of the whales themselves.”
First Great Whites Caught As Part of Shark Technology Trials
Thursday June 2, 2016: NSW Dept. of Primary Industries
The first great white sharks have been successfully caught, tagged and released into deeper waters using smart drumline technology being trialled as part of the NSW Government’s $16 million shark strategy.
Minister for Primary Industries Niall Blair today confirmed two females, measuring 2.35 metres and 2.8 metres and two males, measuring 2.65 metres and 2.45 metres, were caught off Evans Head Beach on the state’s Far North Coast during trials being carried out this week.
The trials are being carried out as part of the NSW Government’s $16 million strategy, which aims to better protect beachgoers from the risk of shark attack.
“This is a great example of how different technologies can be successfully used together to detect sharks off the NSW coast,” Mr Blair said.
“Since we started trialling smart drumlines Department of Primary Industries (DPI) scientists have been able to successfully tag and release bull sharks. Catching these first great whites is further proof the technology works, particularly in conjunction with other technologies.”
Aerial surveillance near Evans Head detected sharks in the region, whichtriggered DPI’s shark scientists to dispatch smart drumlines in the area.
The sharks were successfully caught, tagged with both satellite and acoustic tags before being driven out into deeper waters and released unharmed.
They have since been detected by satellite and have remained offshore in deeper waters.
Each shark tagged by NSW DPI shark scientists is monitored to gain a better understanding of its movements and behaviours.
The NSW Government’s shark scientists will continue to conduct trials of the smart drumlines along the entire stretch of the NSW coastline over the winter months.
Tiny Sloane's Froglet becomes super-sized mosaic with the help of 400 students
Media release: 2 June 2016
Around 400 NSW students created a giant mosaic on Wednesday 1 June during the lead-up to World Environment Day (5 June) at Albury, jointly organised by AlburyCity and the Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH).
Students aged from 8 - 15 years formed the super-sized artwork of a Sloane's Froglet, a threatened species and local resident. Created by Thurgoona artist Vicki Luke, the mosaic was so large a helicopter was used to capture aerial photographs.
The frog was made using a series of colourful boards carefully painted by volunteers from the Albury Volunteer Resources Bureau. Children from three local schools (Thurgoona Public School, Border Christian College and Trinity Anglican College) formed the surrounding habitat of the Froglet mosaic.
OEH Senior Threatened Species Officer Dr Dave Hunter said the Sloane's Froglet is a small frog that breeds in shallow winter flooding wetlands.
"The Albury suburb of Thurgoona is home to the largest population of Sloane's Froglets in NSW which makes this area extremely important for the species overall survival in the wild," said Dr Hunter.
"The mosaic was the centrepiece of the day but the children also participated in a number of fun activities exploring local threatened species such as the squirrel glider, corroboree frog, spider orchid and woodland birds."
Sloane's Froglet - Photo: Stuart Cohen
The Sloane's Froglet is one of almost a thousand animals and plants threatened with extinction in NSW which the NSW Government Saving our Species (SoS) program aims to secure in the wild.
The SoS program works in partnership with schools, volunteers and Councils, such as AlburyCity, to save species that are at risk of extinction.
Office of Environment and Heritage NSW - Photo: Stuart Cohen. Sloane's Froglet
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Sloane's Froglet Crinia sloanei is a small ground-dwelling frog belonging to the family Myobatrichidae. In appearance this species superficially resembles other frogs of the genus Crinia, but it can be readily identified by its call and specific physical characteristics. It is named after Patsy Littlejohn’s uncle, Ian Sloane, of Savernake, NSW, in appreciation of his support of the Littlejohn’s field studies (Murray Littlejohn, pers. Com)
Littlejohn found this species after distinguishing its call from that of two sympatric species, Crinia signifera and Crinia parinisignifera, in the Riverina region of NSW.
New Era In Land Management and Conservation
Tuesday, 3 May 2016: NSW OEH Media Release
The NSW Government has released its consultation package to overhaul ineffective, complicated environmental laws and create a new system that improves both environmental outcomes and farmers’ productivity.
Under the new system, routine farm work would be exempt from regulation, farmers would be able to plan for the future to improve their productivity, and the government would provide farmers with incentives to conserve native plants and trees on their land.
The reforms would also protect and enhance the environment with an historic investment of $240 million over five years in private land conservation, $70 million in each following year and $100 million dedicated over five years to the “Saving Our Species” program.
Deputy Premier Troy Grant said the NSW Government was delivering on its commitment to repeal the Native Vegetation Act and create laws that both protect the environment and give farmers a fair go.
“For too long the burden of these laws has rested on the shoulders of farmers – and I am
proud we are one step closer to repealing this legislation and delivering on the independent panel’s recommendations to reform land management in this state,” Mr Grant said.
Environment Minister Mark Speakman said the new laws would take a strategic approach to conservation and would complement the Commonwealth’s biodiversity protections.
“We are delivering a simple and effective way to use and protect land that is backed by record government investment to build a network of conserved lands on private property.
“We have tough measures to protect endangered ecological communities supported by Commonwealth protections that will conserve our biodiversity for future generations.”
Minister for Primary Industries Niall Blair said the reforms would give farmers an opportunity to make informed choices on what works best for their land.
“Our farmers are our frontline environmental custodians and it makes sense to give them the flexibility to manage and protect the land that is the lifeblood of our regional communities.”
The reform package will:
• Ensure land clearing is assessed under a single set of rules, simplifying the task of farmers in managing their land
• Conserve biodiversity at a bioregional level
• Give landholders incentives to conserve biodiversity on private land
• Reverse the historical decline of biodiversity in NSW
Drafts of the new Biodiversity Conservation Act and amended Local Land Services Act are on public exhibition and open for submissions for the next eight weeks. Details: www.landmanagement.nsw.gov.au
Members of the public are invited to submit their feedback on the proposed biodiversity conservation reform package.
• Draft Biodiversity Conservation Bill (PDF, 755KB)
• Draft Local Land Services Amendment Bill (PDF, 394KB)
The submission guides provide detailed information for members of the public to provide constructive feedback. The guides contain specific consultation questions that can help to inform the development of the reforms.
• Simplifying Land Management submission guide
• Native Vegetation Regulatory Map submission guide
• Ecologically Sustainable Development submission guide
• Protecting Native Plants and Animals submission guide
• Private Land Conservation submission guide
Written submissions can be submitted online using the form on this page or posted to:
Biodiversity Reforms - Have Your Say, Office of Environment and Heritage, PO Box A290, Sydney South. NSW 1232
The public consultation period ends on 28 June 2016 at 5pm.
Barrington Tops winter trail closures
1 June 2016
With the arrival of winter, the Barrington trail (south) and Polblue trail in Barrington Tops National Park will be closed from 1 June until 1 October 2016, for public safety.
National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) Regional Manager Anthony Signor said the trails are closed annually during winter to protect them from damage and also as a safety precaution given the possible extreme weather conditions on the Tops during winter.
"In addition, a number of other 4WD trails will be closed this winter as outlined in the Plan of Management for Barrington Tops", Mr Signor said.
"These trails will also be closed on 1 June and re-open 1 October 2016 - as per the traditional winter trail closures", he said.
"These trails include Butchers Swamp trail, Paddys Ridge trail, Barrington trail north, Bullock Brush trail, Tugalow trail and Thunderbolts trail - between Pheasants Creek Road and Barrington Tops Forest Road.
"These additional seasonally closed trails are only closed to vehicles and motorbikes, they may still be accessed on foot, mountain bike or horseback (on approved trails). Access to Gummi Falls campground during this period is only permitted by foot or mountain bike.
"These 4WD trails can become extremely wet during winter months and with the cold, short days, they do not dry out. Such conditions increase the chance of damage from vehicles and sudden changes in weather could mean visitors being caught out and possibly stranded", Mr Signor said.
"The main road from Gloucester to Scone remains open but motorists are advised to drive to conditions and travel with care", he said.
For further information about Barrington Tops National Park, please contact NPWS Barrington Tops area office at Gloucester on (02) 6538 5300 or NPWS Upper Hunter area office at Scone on (02) 6540 2300.
New review investigates health benefit of contact with natural environment
June 2, 2016
A team of Cochrane authors based in the UK and led by an academic from Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry, has carried out a review investigating the health benefit of contact with the natural environment.
The team found that, while the majority of quantitative studies reported no effect on health and well-being, there was limited evidence to suggest positive effects on self-reported health, quality of life and physical activity levels. Small numbers of participants reported increased mental fatigue and greater feelings of anxiety.
The review comes at a time when there is growing research and policy interest in the potential for using the natural environment to enhance human health and well-being. It is thought that contact with the natural environment has a positive impact on health and well-being.
Outdoor environmental enhancement and conservation activities include unpaid litter picking, tree planting or path maintenance. It is thought that these offer opportunities for physical activity alongside greater connection with local environments, enhanced social connections within communities, and improved self-esteem, which may, in turn, further improve well-being for the individual.
The team worked with Cochrane Public Health to assess the health and well-being impacts on adults following participation in environmental enhancement and conservation activities. Participants were adult volunteers or were referred by a healthcare professional.
The nineteen studies reviewed included numerical data (quantitative) and text from interviews (qualitative), together with data from 3,603 participants who came from the UK, US, Canada and Australia.
The qualitative studies illustrate the experiences of people taking part, and their perceptions of the benefits. People reported feeling better. They liked the opportunity for increased social contact, especially if they had been socially isolated through, for example, mental ill-health. They also valued a sense of achievement, being in nature and provision of a daily structure.
"Research into this area is not very robust and quality of the design and reporting is low, therefore we cannot draw any definite conclusions about any positive or negative effects. However, participants perceived that there was a benefit," said Dr Kerryn Husk, research fellow from Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry and the lead author of theCochrane Review.
He added: "We were able to develop a conceptual framework that illustrates the range of interlinked mechanism through which people believe they potentially achieved health and well-bring benefits. We hope this will help future research on this this topic."
Kerryn Husk, Rebecca Lovell, Chris Cooper, Will Stahl-Timmins, Ruth Garside. Participation in environmental enhancement and conservation activities for health and well-being in adults: a review of quantitative and qualitative evidence. The Cochrane Library, May 2016 DOI:10.1002/14651858.CD010351.pub2
Dairy Avoidance Reaches Dangerous Levels, Especially for Australian Women
June 1st, 2016: CSIRO
A study has found for the first time that one in six adult Australians are choosing to avoid milk and dairy foods, the majority without a medical diagnosis, leading to public health concerns for women in particular.
The survey, undertaken by CSIRO and the University of Adelaide, found that the vast majority of avoiders (74%) are making this choice to relieve adverse gastrointestinal symptoms such as cramps, bloating or wind.
Far fewer participants cited not liking the taste or because they thought it’s fattening for not including diary in their diets.
The study also revealed that the decision to avoid some or all dairy foods is influenced by a range of sources from outside medical practice such as the internet, media, friends or alternative practitioners.
CSIRO’s Bella Yantcheva, behavioural scientist on the research team, explains the significance of the findings.
“The scale of people restricting their diet without a medical reason is very concerning in terms of the public health implications, especially for women.
“It means there is potential for nutritional deficiencies or imbalances, or the risk that an underlying health condition could be going untreated,” she said.
Dairy foods are important for all of us, but especially for women owing to the calcium content, and foods from the dairy and alternatives group are important throughout life to reduce the risk of osteoporosis.
However, the study revealed that more women are avoiding milk and dairy foods than men.
These results follow the team’s similar findings on wheat avoidance, which showed around ten times as many Australians than diagnosed with coeliac disease are avoiding wheat-based foods.
The study reveals that even more people are avoiding dairy products and, in fact, that around one third of the respondents avoiding dairy foods are also avoiding wheat-based foods.
“The numbers show that cutting out significant, basic food groups isn’t a fad but something far more serious,” said Ms Yantcheva.
According to the Australian Dietary Guidelines, dairy and grain-based foods are important for a balanced diet.
They contribute significantly to our intake of fibre, protein and a wide range of essential vitamins and nutrients, on top of calcium in dairy’s case.
“It’s not just about missing out on the food type being avoided and risking your health, but also possibly overconsuming other foods to compensate as well,” Ms Yantcheva said.
The paper is published in this month's issue of Public Health Nutrition.
Fast facts
A study by CSIRO and the University of Adelaide reveals that one in six adult Australians are choosing to avoid milk and dairy foods, the majority without a medical diagnosis.
Three quarters (74%) of avoiders are avoiding milk and dairy foods to relieve adverse gastrointestinal symptoms such as cramps, bloating or wind.
The study showed that more women are avoiding milk and dairy foods than men although dairy foods are especially important for women owing to the calcium content.
Milk, cheese and yoghurt have various health benefits and are a good source of many nutrients, including calcium, protein, iodine, vitamin A, riboflavin, vitamin B12 and zinc (Source: Australian Dietary Guidelines).
For women aged 19-50 years, the Australian Dietary Guidelines recommend two and half serves of dairy or dairy alternatives per day, increasing to four serves per day after the age of 50. Men between the ages of 19 and 70 years should consume two and half serves a day, and increase to three and half serves after the age of 70 years. A serve of dairy is equal to 250mls of milk, two slices or 40g of cheese, or a 200g tub of yogurt.
See your doctor if you have any concerns about your health.
Photo: CSIRO researcher and one of the authors of the paper, Dr Sinead Golley.
New devices, wearable system aim to predict, prevent asthma attacks
June 1, 2016
This is an early prototype of the wristband used in the Health and Environmental Tracker (HET), an integrated, wearable system that monitors a user's environment, heart rate and other physical attributes with the goal of predicting and preventing asthma attacks. Credit: James Dieffenderfer
Researchers have developed an integrated, wearable system that monitors a user's environment, heart rate and other physical attributes with the goal of predicting and preventing asthma attacks. The researchers plan to begin testing the system on a larger subject population this summer.
The system, called the Health and Environmental Tracker (HET), is composed of a suite of new sensor devices and was developed by researchers from the National Science Foundation's Nanosystems Engineering Research Center for Advanced Self-Powered Systems of Integrated Sensors and Technologies (ASSIST) at North Carolina State University.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, asthma affects more than 24 million people in the United States. Asthma patients currently rely on inhalers to deal with their symptoms, which can include often-debilitating asthma attacks.
"Our goal was to design a wearable system that could track the wellness of the subjects and in particular provide the infrastructure to predict asthma attacks, so that the users could take steps to prevent them by changing their activities or environment," says Alper Bozkurt, the principal investigator of a paper describing the work and an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at NC State.
"Preventing an attack could be as simple as going indoors or taking a break from an exercise routine," says James Dieffenderfer, lead author of the paper and a Ph.D. student in the joint biomedical engineering program at NC State and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The HET system incorporates a host of novel sensing devices, which are incorporated into a wristband and a patch that adheres to the chest.
The patch includes sensors that track a patient's movement, heart rate, respiratory rate, the amount of oxygen in the blood, skin impedance and wheezing in the lungs.
The wristband focuses largely on environmental factors, monitoring volatile organic compounds and ozone in the air, as well as ambient humidity and temperature. The wristband also includes additional sensors to monitor motion, heart rate and the amount of oxygen in the blood.
The system also has one nonwearable component: a spirometer, which patients breathe into several times a day to measure lung function.
"Right now, people with asthma are asked to use a peak flow meter to measure lung function on a day-to-day basis," Dieffenderfer says. "That information is used to inform the dosage of prescription drugs used in their inhalers.
"For HET, we developed a customized self-powered spirometer, which collects more accurate information on lung function and feeds that data into the system," Dieffenderfer adds.
Data from all of these sensors is transmitted wirelessly to a computer, where custom software collects and records the data.
"The uniqueness of this work is not simply the integration of various sensors in wearable form factors," says Veena Misra, co-author of the paper and a professor of electrical and computer engineering at NC State. "The impact here is that we have been able to demonstrate power consumption levels that are in the sub-milliwatt levels by using nano-enabled novel sensor technologies. Comparable, existing devices have power consumption levels in the hundreds of milliwatts.
"This ultra-low power consumption is important because it gives the devices a long battery life, and will make them compatible with the power generated by the body -- which is not a lot," says Misra, who is also the director of the ASSIST Center. "It enables a pathway to realize the ASSIST Center's vision of self-powered wearable sensors in the near future."
"We have tested the system in the benchtop and on a limited number of human subjects for proof of concept demonstration and have confirmed that all of the sensors work, and that the system accurately compiles the data," Misra says. "This summer, we plan to begin testing HET in a controlled environment with subjects suffering from asthma and a control group, in order to identify which environmental and physiological variables are effective at predicting asthma attacks."
"Once we have that data, the center can begin developing software that will track user data automatically and give users advance warning of asthma attacks," says Bozkurt, who as testbed leader of the ASSIST Center is overseeing HET system integration. "And that software will allow users to synch the HET to their smartphones so that they can monitor their health on the go. After these tests are completed, and the prediction software created, we are hoping that a fully functional HET system will be available."
James Dieffenderfer, Henry Goodell, Steven Mills, Michael McKnight, Shanshan Yao, Feiyan Lin, Eric Beppler, Brinnae Bent, Bongmook Lee, Veena Misra, Yong Zhu, Omer Oralkan, Jason Strohmaier, john muth, David Peden, Alper Bozkurt. Low Power Wearable Systems for Continuous Monitoring of Environment and Health for Chronic Respiratory Disease. IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics, 2016; 1 DOI:10.1109/JBHI.2016.2573286
Dragonfly considered most primitive in world lives in Tasmania and is not Extinct
May 31, 2016
The dragonfly Hemiphlebia mirabilis lives in Australia and Tasmania.Credit: Adolfo Cordero-Rivera
The dragonfly considered the most primitive in the world lives in Australia and Tasmania, and was believed to be extinct four decades ago. But it is far from being so. A Spanish researcher has observed thousands of these insects in one of the few habitats in which it has been detected and it displays sexual behaviour that is unique, not only directed towards reproduction.
Hemiphlebia mirabilis is a rare species in every sense: it is the most primitive dragonfly known to man, it has unique reproductive behaviours and was believed to be extinct in the 70s. Fascinated by this living fossil, researcher Adolfo Cordero-Rivera travelled to Australia, where it is endemic, to gather information on the mating system of a population that started to be seen again in 2009.
After an intensive month of observations, the researcher in the University of Vigo (Spain) showed that the species is far from being extinct: "I found thousands of individuals, which is very good news since there was much concern for this species." As he explains in the journal 'Insect Conservation and Diversity'.
Although the work aimed to obtain basic information on the reproductive behaviour of this dragonfly and study the development of the sperm competition mechanisms in this very primitive species, the scientist also shows that, contrary to what was believed, the populations are large. "The number of individuals per generation possibly exceeds 1 million," he states in the study.
This population that lives in the Long Swamp wetland in Victoria, in the south of Australia, has a life expectancy of one week for the males and four days for the females. Moreover, the males show little mobility and fly short distances, remaining inactive most of the time, especially in temperatures below 17ºC or above 35ºC.
"This low mobility, together with its enigmatic colouring and the limited accessibility of its habitat could explain how these important populations have remained unnoticed until a very short while ago," Cordero-Rivera said. Despite having experienced certain limitations due to carrying out the research alone, the expert could estimate a density of 100 animals for each 10 m2 in points of high population.
For this reason, Cordero-Rivera suggests that this species of dragonfly should no longer be considered a species in critical danger of extinction. "With the information now available, Hemiphlebia mirabilis no longer satisfies any of the criteria of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and should be re-evaluated," says the researcher.
Unique sexual behaviour
But the aspect which undoubtedly makes them more visible to the human eye is their sexual behaviour. What surprised the researcher most was that both sexes showed frequent abdominal flicking displays and fast rotations over the perching support. "This behaviour is highly elaborate and is absolutely unique," says the scientist from the Galician university who immortalised the movements in video. The copulation behaviour has been analysed in a second article that has just been published in the journal 'PeerJ'.
This work is the first to quantify adult behaviour of the Hemiphlebia mirabilisusing a large sample of both sexes. When studying these insects, the scientist observed that the unique movement is not only produced immediately after landing, but also while they continue to sit.
Although Cordero-Rivera could not confirm whether the females and males use this abdominal flicking to attract the opposite sex, he could confirm that both sexes practice this movement even in the absence of any reproductive interaction.
"This suggests that this behaviour is not an ordinary courtship display," affirmed the scientist. According to the researcher, the males use the abdominal movement in the pre-copulatory courtship, but the females don't. After more than 100 hours of observation, the scientist did not see any of the females lay eggs.
"I observed 79 females for periods of 10 minutes between 9:00am and 7:00pm, and the only clear conclusion is that oviposition will not be in tandem, because in all cases males and females separated immediately after copulation," says the scientist who is continuing with the study of sexual behaviour of this peculiar and unique dragonfly.
What has been demonstrated is that, like the most recent species of the Odonata order, the male H. mirabilis are capable of extracting the semen of rivals from inside the body of the female. "This suggests that this much specialised behaviour is very old in the evolution of the Odonata," he concludes.
Adolfo Cordero-Rivera. Demographics and adult activity ofHemiphlebia mirabilis: a short-lived species with a huge population size (Odonata: Hemiphlebiidae). Insect Conservation and Diversity, 2016; 9 (2): 108 DOI:10.1111/icad.12147