http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/services/Feed ${session.getAttribute("locale")} 5 http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:4160 For every Aboriginal child taken away by the state governments in Australia, there was at least one white family intimately involved in their life. One Bright Spot is about one of these families--about "Ming", a Sydney wife and mother who hired Aboriginal domestic servants in the 20s and 30s, and became an activist against the Stolen Generations policy--the removal of Aboriginal children by the Australian government. Her story, reconstructed by her great-granddaughter, tells of a remarkable, yet forgotten, shared history. 2012-06-18T01:40:02.163Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:10220 Background: To determine patterns of childhood lead exposure in a community living near a lead and zinc smelter in North Lake Macquarie, Australia between 1991 and 2002. Methods: An analysis of serial blood lead levels (BLL) of children less than 13 years of age in North Lake Macquarie participating in voluntary blood lead screening. Distance to the smelter and soil lead concentration of the child's place of residence was calculated. Categorical analysis of BLL by residential distance from smelter, residential soil lead concentration, age and year of sample was calculated. Linear regression models were fit for blood lead levels against residential distance from smelter, the log of residential soil lead concentration, age and year of BLL sample. Results: Geometric mean BLLs were statistically significantly higher for distances less than 1.5 kilometres from the smelter and for residential soil lead concentrations greater than 300 ppm. Yearly BLLs since 1995 were statistically significantly lower than for preceding years, with an average decrease of 0.575 μg/dL per year since 1991. BLLs are statistically significantly higher for children whose age is 1 to 3 years old. Linear regression modelling of BLL predicted a statistically significant decrease in BLL of 3.0831 μg/dL per kilometre from the smelter and a statistically significant increase in BLL of 0.25 μg/dL per log of lead in residential soil. The model explained 28.2% of the variation in BLL. Conclusion: Residential distance to the smelter, log of residential soil lead concentration, child's age and year of BLL sample are statistically significant factors for predicting elevated BLLs in children living near a North Lake Macquarie lead smelter. 2012-03-14T22:40:07.245Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:1576 The influence that catchment development has on the growth and survival of the Sydney rock oyster, through its effect on the quality and quantity of seston was investigated in Brisbane Water and Lake Macquarie. Developed locations recorded elevated levels of dissolved nitrogen (NH3 and NOx) and chlorophyll a compared to undeveloped locations. Total particulate matter (TPM), particulate inorganic matter (PIM), particulate organic matter (POM), particulate carbon (PC) and particulate nitrogen (PN) were all significantly higher at developed locations in both estuaries. The PC/Chl a ratios were high, indicating that the seston was comprised of detrital matter as opposed to living phytoplankton, yet the C/N ratios were low compared to those expected of estuarine conditions. Sydney rock oysters cultured at the developed locations attained a greater mean shell length and live weight than those cultured at undeveloped locations however higher mortality rates were observed at developed locations. In Brisbane Water, seston quantity measures (TPM, PIM, POM, PC, PN) were positively related to live weight growth rate (GR) while shell length GR was negatively related to salinity. In Lake Macquarie, POM had a positive relationship with oyster live weight GR while shell length GR also had an inverse relationship with salinity. Thus, elevated seston loads associated with low salinities contributed to increased oyster growth at the developed locations where run-off is high. The concentration of the seston was therefore the controlling factor in the growth of oysters cultured in Brisbane Water and Lake Macquarie. The seston quality ratios indicated that the detrital, particulate component of the seston was high-quality food for bivalves, possibly due to associated microbial biomass. In New South Wales (NSW), a high proportion of oyster leases are located in estuaries sourced by developed catchments and the results of this study will be of interest to resource managers and oyster farmers. 2010-04-27T06:26:20.596Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:205 Opencast mining alters surface and subsurface hydrology of a landscape both during and post-mining. At mine closure, following opencast mining in mines with low overburden to coal ratios, a void is left in the final landform. This final void is the location of the active mine pit at closure. Voids are generally not infilled within the mines' lifetime, because of the prohibitive cost of earthwork operations, and they become post-mining water bodies or pit lakes. Water quality is a significant issue for pit lakes. Groundwater within coal seams and associated rocks can be saline, depending on the nature of the strata and groundwater circulation patterns. This groundwater may be preferentially drawn to and collected in the final void. Surface runoff to the void will not only collect salts from rainfall and atmospheric fallout, but also from the ground surface and the weathering of fresh rock. As the void water level rises, its evaporative surface area increases, concentrating salts that are held in solution. This paper presents a study of the long term, water quality trends in a post-mining final void in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Australia. This process is complex and occurs long tern, and modelling offers the only method of evaluating water quality. Using available geochemical, climate and hydrogeological data as inputs into a mass-balance model, water quality in the final void was found to increase rapidly in salinity through time (2452 to 8909 mg l(-1) over 500 years) as evaporation concentrates the salt in the void and regional groundwater containing high loads of salt continues to flow into the void. Copyright (C) 2004 John Wiley Sons, Ltd. 2010-04-27T05:59:31.613Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:3511 Sixteen subsaline (0.5 – 3 gL⁻¹) and saline lakes (> 3 gL⁻¹) of the Paroo have been studied for periods of up to 18 years. Many were formed by drainage routes being blocked by dunes, some lie in dune swales, some lie at the edge of the Paroo floodplain where alluvial sediments are thinner, and Lake Wyara lies in a depression on a fault line. All developed further by deflation and owe their form to wind-induced currents and wave action shaping shorelines. Most saline lakes have lunette dunes on the eastern shore, and many larger ones have migrated westwards. Lakes of low salinity have sandy beaches and no, or poorly developed, lunettes. Lakes with N-S axes have the southeastern corner cut off by spits generated by currents induced by northwesterley winds. A few lakes are filling with sediment derived from the overgrazing of catchments associated with European settlement. Larger lakes with inflowing streams fill in El Niño years, then dry over the next few years. Smaller lakes without surface inflows may fill a few times in wet years but dry quickly. Most lakes remain dry in La Nina years. Salinity regimes fluctuate widely and, while instantaneous faunal lists may be depauperate, cumulative species lists can be long. However, lakes which normally are fresh, but become saline in their final stage of drying, develop only a limited saline lake fauna. 2010-04-27T05:09:41.799Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:4727 Fluctuating asymmetry (random differences between symmetric structures, FA) is one of the stress indices used recently to assess a subtle effect of environmental degradation on organisms and is expected to increase under stress conditions. In this study, we developed an original technique of measuring FA in seagrass, Halophila ovalis. We analysed five metric and meristic characters on leaves of the seagrass from a polluted and several control locations in a lagoon in Eastern Australia. The seagrass was sampled from three sites at each location. The analyses revealed significant spatial heterogeneity of samples in fluctuating asymmetry with the highest variability was observed among sites. There was no increase in FA of H. ovalis from polluted location. Possible explanations suggest that whether existing concentrations of heavy metals do not cause developmental stress in seagrass or their effect is compensated or even surpassed by effect of uncontrolled factors. 2010-04-27T05:02:49.188Z ]]>