Changes to fire regimes threaten biodiversity worldwide and emphasize the need to understand the ecological consequences of fire management. For fire management to effectively protect biodiversity, it is essential to have ecologicallyrelevant metrics to plan and evaluate management interventions. Here, we describe a suite of metrics to guide fire management for enhanced biodiversity outcomes. We define five metrics that collectively provide comprehensive and complementary insights into the effect of fire regimes on ecosystem resilience and components of biodiversity. These include (1) Species Habitat Availability, a measure of the amount of suitable habitat for individual species; (2) Fire Indicator Species Index, population trends for species with clear fire responses; (3) Vegetation Resilience, a measure of plant maturity and the capability of vegetation communities to regenerate after fire; (4) Desirable Mix of Growth Stages, an indicator of the composition of post-fire age-classes across the landscape; and (5) Extent of High Severity Fire, a measure of the effect of severe fire on post-fire recovery of treed vegetation communities. Each metric can be quantified at multiple spatial and temporal scales relevant to evaluating fire management outcomes. We present a case study from Victoria, Australia, in which two metrics are applied across spatially-nested management areas. Results highlight four characteristics of metrics that enhance their value for management: (1) they quantify both status and trends through time; (2) they are scalable and can be applied consistently across management levels (from individual reserves to the whole state); (3) most can be mapped, essential for identifying where and when to implement fire management; and (4) their complementarity provides unique insights to guide fire management for ecological outcomes. These metrics reflect common relationships between fire and biodiversity and are relevant to management in fire-prone ecosystems worldwide. They facilitate consistent translation of management responsibilities (planning, evaluation, reporting) across administrative levels and enable managers to strategically plan on-ground actions and transparently evaluate outcomes against strategic goals. A key next step for fire managers globally is to define “desirable” states for ecological metrics, to enable target-setting and the evaluation of management outcomes.

In prey species, it is often the case that individuals give alarms when they are threatened. In birds, such signals are frequently vocal signals that alert conspecifics to the presence of a threat. The responses to these calls by receivers may include fleeing to cover or approaching to mob the predator. Although most birds do give alarm calls when threatened, not all species do. We used Australian arid-zone bird species (n = 171) to test the hypothesis that alarm calling behaviour is determined by ecological, behavioural, and morphological characteristics. Eighty-nine percent of birds analysed possessed an alarm call, highlighting the prevalence of this behaviour. Our study found three variables – number of food types eaten, mobility, and breeding system – that were associated with predicting alarm calling behaviour in these species. The correspondence of alarm calling with these key life history attributes provides insight into benefits of having alarm calls and the evolutionary processes that have given rise to this behaviour.

Aim Climatic extremes and fire affect ecosystems across the globe, yet our understanding of how species are influenced by the interaction of these broadscale ecological drivers is poorly understood. Using a ten-year dataset, we tested how extreme drought and rainfall interacted with time since fire (TSF) to shape bird species' distributions. Location Semi-arid mallee woodlands of south-eastern Australia. Methods We quantified the effects of climatic extremes on bird species' occurrence, species richness and incidence at 180 sites across three climatic periods-an El Nino-associated drought (the "Big Dry"), immediately after La Nina drought-breaking rainfall ("Big Wet") and three years following the La Nina event ("Post-Big Wet"). We then compared species' responses with TSF across the three climatic periods using a chronosequence of sites from 1 to 117 years post-fire. Results La Nina rainfall had sustained impacts on species' occurrence. Over half of species increased significantly during the Big Wet. Despite three intervening years of below-average rainfall, three quarters of these species remained comparably high, Post-Big Wet. By contrast, less than half of threatened and declining species benefited from high rainfall. Responses of species to TSF were found to differ contingent on climatic conditions: almost twice as many species responded to TSF during the Big Wet and almost three times as many Post-Big Wet, compared with the Big Dry. Across climatic periods, a majority of species showed preference for mid to older post-fire vegetation. Main conclusions Variation in responses to TSF is likely due to the effect of climatic variation on resources. We suggest that, at sites of different post-fire age, interactions between TSF and climate may differentially influence both the availability and longevity of resources. Given climatic extremes are predicted to become increasingly severe with climate change, accounting for their influence on fauna-fire dynamics will require careful management of fire.

Fire shapes ecosystems globally, including semi-arid ecosystems. In Australia, semi-arid 'mallee' ecosystems occur primarily across the southern part of the continent, forming an interface between the arid interior and temperate south. Mallee vegetation is characterized by short, multi-stemmed eucalypts that grow from a basal lignotuber. Fire shapes the structure and functioning of mallee ecosystems. Using the Murray Mallee region in south-eastern Australia as a case study, we examine the characteristics and role of fire, the consequences for biota, and the interaction of fire with other drivers. Wildfires in mallee ecosystems typically are large (1000s ha), burn with high severity, commonly cause top-kill of eucalypts, and create coarse-grained mosaics at a regional scale. Wildfires can occur in late spring and summer in both dry and wet years. Recovery of plant and animal communities is predictable and slow, with regeneration of eucalypts and many habitat components extending over decades. Time since the last fire strongly influences the distribution and abundance of many species and the structure of plant and animal communities. Animal species display a discrete set of generalized responses to time since fire. Systematic field studies and modeling are beginning to reveal how spatial variation in fire regimes ('pyrodiversity') at different scales shapes biodiversity. Pyrodiversity includes variation in the extent of post-fire habitats, the diversity of post-fire age-classes and their configuration. At regional scales, a desirable mix of fire histories for biodiversity conservation includes a combination of early, mid and late post-fire age-classes, weighted toward later seral stages that provide critical habitat for threatened species. Biodiversity is also influenced by interactions between fire and other drivers, including land clearing, rainfall, herbivory and predation. Extensive clearing for agriculture has altered the nature and impact of fire, and facilitated invasion by pest species that modify fuels, fire regimes and post-fire recovery. Given the natural and anthropogenic drivers of fire and the consequences of their interactions, we highlight opportunities for conserving mallee ecosystems. These include learning from and fostering Indigenous knowledge of fire, implementing actions that consider synergies between fire and other processes, and strategic monitoring of fire, biodiversity and other drivers to guide place-based, adaptive management under climate change.

Foundation species are species that play important roles in structuring ecological communities. Therefore, conservation managers often aim to promote foundation species. However, it can be unclear which features of foundation species ought to be the focus of management. We studied hummock-forming grasses in the genus Triodia. Triodia grasses are considered foundation species because they create complex structures used by many fauna species. Although conservation managers often aim to promote extent cover of Triodia, this is only likely to be optimal for species most strongly associated with extent cover or other structural features strongly correlated with extent cover. We tested (i) whether 'extent cover' is the most appropriate way to characterise Triodia as habitat and (ii) whether fauna are associated with any non-Triodia structures. We studied the Triodia structure associations of one mammal, two birds and five reptiles associated with Triodia scariosa at 524 sites in the Murray-Mallee, Australia (Ningaui yvonneae, Amytornis striatus, Stipiturus mallee, Ctenophorus fordi, Ctenotus atlas, Ctenotus inornatus, Delma australis and Delma butleri). We used site-level presence-absence data and vegetation structure data to compare parsimony of models built using four Triodia structural features: extent cover, mean height, mean width and mean volume. We also included non-Triodia vegetation structures in the model selection: extent cover of leaf litter, shrubs and trees. We divided structural features related to extent cover into categories according to their heights. One species was most closely associated with mean Triodia height; one species with mean Triodia width and six species with extent cover of Triodia, although here, Triodia height categories differed between species. Five species were also associated with shrubs or trees. Extent cover of Triodia was generally an appropriate measure of Triodia structure. Nevertheless, we found variation between species. When characterising the structure of foundation species, we recommend testing faunal associations with multiple structural features.

Anthropogenic disturbance has resulted in a global reduction in the abundance of mature, hollow‐bearing trees. Nest boxes have long been used to provide supplementary shelter sites in revegetated and regenerating landscapes, but limitations in their effectiveness when offsetting the loss of mature trees has led to increased interest in novel designs of artificial hollows. For example, mechanically excavating cavities into the trunk or branches of trees. However, the effectiveness of artificial hollows in attracting wildlife to visit small‐ or medium‐sized, growing trees in human‐disturbed landscapes has received little attention. In this study, we installed chainsaw hollows that were designed for small, hollow‐dependent mammals and birds into the trunks of live medium‐sized trees. We conducted a before‐after control‐impact experiment using passive camera traps to monitor changes in visitations by wildlife to (1) mature hollow‐bearing trees, (2) developing trees without hollows (i.e. control trees), and (3) developing trees with newly installed chainsaw hollows. We found that, compared to large hollow‐bearing trees and control trees, the developing trees that were selected for chainsaw hollow construction showed the greatest visitation rates by hollow‐dependent wildlife (i.e. number of visits) during the “post‐impact” surveys. Our results suggest that chainsaw hollows designed to replicate the external physical characteristics of natural tree hollows could be effective in attracting target hollow‐dependent fauna to developing trees in regenerating and revegetated landscapes. Further studies are required to compare the effectiveness of natural hollows, chainsaw hollows, and nest boxes when deployed in a range of human‐disturbed landscapes.

In an era characterized by recurrent large wildfires in many parts of the globe, there is a critical need to understand how animal species respond to fires, the rates at which populations can recover, and the functional changes fires may cause. Using quantified changes in habitat parameters over a ~400-yr post-fire chronosequence in an obligate-seeding Australian eucalypt woodland, we build and test predictions of how birds, as individual species and aggregated into functional groups according to their use of specific habitat resources, respond to time since fire. Individual bird species exhibited four generalized response types to time since fire: incline, decline, delayed, and bell. All significant relationships between bird functional group richness or abundance and time since fire were consistent with predictions based on known time-since-fire-associated changes in habitat features putatively important for these bird groups. Consequently, we argue that the bird community is responding to post-fire successional changes in habitat as per the habitat accommodation model, rather than to time since fire per se, and that our functional framework will be of value in predicting bird responses to future disturbances in this and other obligate-seeder forest and woodland ecosystems. Most bird species and functional groups that were affected by time since fire were associated with long-unburned woodlands. In the context of recent large, stand-replacement wildfires that have affected a substantial proportion of obligate-seeder eucalypt woodlands, and the multi-century timescales over which post-fire succession occurs, it would appear preferable from a bird conservation perspective if fires initiating loss of currently long-unburned woodlands were minimized. Once long-unburned woodlands are transformed by fire into recently burned woodlands, there is limited scope for alternative management interventions to accelerate the rate of habitat development after fire, or supplement the resources formerly provided to birds by long-unburned woodlands, with the limited exception of augmenting hollow availability for key hollow-nesting species.

Multiple-species (floristically diverse) plantings of trees and shrubs in former agricultural landscapes to offset (sequester) emissions of carbon dioxide are a recent component of Australian landscapes. Although their potential to mitigate biodiversity loss is recognised, this ecological function has not been investigated, in particular with respect to insect diversity. Over two summers, we used light trapping to sample Lepidoptera (moths) and Coleoptera (beetles) in multiple-species plantings in two distinct locations in Victoria (plantings of four ages per location) as well as in nearby remnant forest and in pasture. At both locations, we found that plantings had a greater abundance of Lepidoptera than remnants but that the abundance in plantings was comparable to the abundance in pasture. The species richness of Lepidoptera in plantings did not differ significantly from that in remnants but was significantly greater than that in pasture. The abundance and species richness of Coleoptera in plantings was lower than in remnant forests but higher than in pasture. The community composition of Lepidoptera and Coleoptera in plantings was intermediate between that of remnant forest and pasture, i.e. possibly transitional between the two vegetation types. Dissimilarity between all vegetation types was nevertheless high, reflecting that the abundance of individual taxa reflects the influence of temporally and spatially dependent factors, e.g. host plant size and suitability. Greater abundances of grass-feeding Lepidoptera in plantings explained much of the dissimilarity between plantings and remnant forests. Proximity to remnant forest was an important determinant of the community composition of Lepidoptera but not of Coleoptera. Moth forewing length (relevant to vagility which is an indicator of dispersal capacity) appeared less important to proximity relationships than larval host plant specificity, i.e. whether grass or dicot-feeding. The location of sequestration plantings relative to remnant forest as well as their composition (including the persistence of pasture grasses) will determine the attractiveness of the resources provided to insect herbivores and hence the rate at which they are colonised. Plantings near remnant native forest benefit insect diversity but adoption of novel silvicultural practices could hasten the rate at which they become functional mimics of native forests and support more comparable communities of insect. Potential trade-offs between increased establishment costs and more complex carbon accounting might need to be investigated to cost biodiversity credits associated with dual accreditation schemes.

Prescribed (or "planned") burning is used by land managers to reduce fuel-loads in order to mitigate the spread of wildfire, thereby protecting life and property, and to promote environmental heterogeneity to enhance biodiversity. Globally, many fire management agencies focus on increasing extent and frequency of prescribed burning. There is a need to assess how high levels of prescribed burning may affect the long-term, landscape level persistence of ecological communities. We forward projected management scenarios over 21 years to explore how the operationally realistic implementation of four different prescribed burn targets, covering 5, 3, 1.5 and 0% of a large reserve per annum (p.a.) might affect provision and removal of fire-mediated habitat of 11 rare and threatened bird species. Sustained implementation of high targets (5 and 3% p.a.) homogenised the landscape toward young vegetation, substantially reducing highly suitable habitat for species requiring intermediate (20-60 years post-fire) and older (60 + years) age classes. In contrast, no prescribed burning generated insufficient habitat for species with early (< 20 years) and intermediate seral requirements. Strategies reliant upon persistently high levels of prescribed burning are likely to have negative effects on a number of threatened species already considered vulnerable due to their low populations and restricted ranges. In contrast, management processes that allow for periodic evaluation and flexibility in how strategies are implemented would better enable practitioners to tailor fire management to individual ecosystems. Carefully targeting key areas for wildfire prevention, and promoting some successional changes through application of fire in other areas, will help to maintain and improve suitable habitat for species of conservation concern.

Many ideas have been put forward for the adaptive value of the cassowary casque; and yet, its purpose remains speculative. Homeothermic animals elevate body temperature through metabolic heat production. Heat gain must be offset by heat loss to maintain internal temperatures within a range for optimal performance. Living in a tropical climate, cassowaries, being large bodied, dark feathered birds, are under thermal pressure to offload heat. We tested the original hypothesis that the casque acts as a thermal window. With infrared thermographic analyses of living cassowaries over an expansive range of ambient temperatures, we provide evidence that the casque acts as a thermal radiator, offloading heat at high temperatures and restricting heat loss at low temperatures. Interestingly, at intermediate temperatures, the casque appears thermally heterogeneous, with the posterior of the casque heating up before the front half. These findings might have implications for the function of similar structures in avian and non-avian dinosaurs.

Conservation managers regularly burn vegetation to regenerate habitat for fire-dependent species. When determining the time since fire at which to burn, managers model change in a species' occurrence over time, post-fire (fire-response curve) and identify the time since fire associated with decline in occurrence. However, where species exhibit variability in their fire response across space, using a single fire-response curve to determine the timing of burns may lead to burning habitat at an inappropriate time since fire. We tested if elevation, local topography, soil properties, vegetation type or evapotranspiration affect the fire response of the endangered Mallee Emu-wren Stipiturus mallee and its hummock-grass habitat Triodia scariosa in southeastern Australia (n = 217). Previous work on the Mallee Emu-wren found a unimodal fire response with decline in occurrence at ~30-50 yr since fire and a time window of occurrence of ~30 yr. We found that time since fire and elevation interact to affect the Mallee Emu-wren fire response. At high elevations (55-98 m), Mallee Emu-wrens declined in occurrence at ~50 yr since fire, with a time window of occurrence of 20-40 yr. However, at low elevations (28-55 m), Mallee Emu-wrens showed no decline in occurrence with increasing time since fire with a time window of occurrence of up to 107 yr. Extent cover of Tall T. scariosa showed similar patterns to the Mallee Emu-wren, indicating that vegetation structure is a likely driver of variability in the Mallee Emu-wren fire response. We speculate that the effect of low elevation is mediated by increased soil nutrient and water availability for key plants. We used our findings to map the appropriate time since fire at which to burn to regenerate habitat for the Mallee Emu-wren across the study region. We recommend no burning for regeneration across one-third of potential habitat, because the Mallee Emu-wren showed no decline in occurrence in these areas. We recommend managers model variability in species' fire responses across space to improve the timing of burns for regeneration.

The creation of supplementary habitats that effectively mimic the physical and thermal characteristics of natural tree hollows should be a key priority for landscape restoration and biodiversity offset programs. Here, we compare the thermal profiles of natural tree hollows with three types of artificial hollows designed for small marsupial gliders and tree-roosting insectivorous bats: (1) ‘chainsaw hollows’ carved directly into the trunks and branches of live trees, (2) ‘log hollows’, and (3) plywood nest boxes. Chainsaw hollows had thermal profiles that were similar to natural tree hollows: they were consistently warmer than ambient conditions at night, while remaining cooler than ambient during the day. In contrast, glider and bat boxes had the opposite pattern of heating and cooling, being slightly cooler than ambient at night and substantially hotter during the day. Glider log hollows had greater variation in internal temperatures compared to natural hollows and chainsaw hollows, but fluctuated less than glider boxes. Our results provide the first empirical evidence that artificial hollows carved directly into live trees can produce thermally stable supplementary habitats that could potentially buffer hollow-dependent fauna from weather extremes; whereas, poorly insulated plywood nest boxes produce lower-quality thermal environments. Together these findings provide positive impetus for stakeholders involved in conservation management and biodiversity offset programs to consider trialing chainsaw hollows in situations where target fauna require well-insulated supplementary habitats.

Habitat modification by fire and habitat loss via anthropogenic vegetation clearance and fragmentation both impact animal populations. Yet, there has been limited investigation as to whether animals that decline under one of these types of habitat change also decline under the other, and how their cumulative impacts affect the status of species and communities. Using a ~400-year chronosequence in the world's largest extant temperate woodland in south-western Australia, we examine how time since fire affects bird community richness, reporting rates and composition, and whether taxa grouped on the basis of responses to vegetation clearance and fragmentation in an adjoining agricultural landscape are associated with either recently-burnt or long-unburnt woodlands. Consistent with substantial changes in vegetation composition and structure after fire in obligate-seeder eucalypt woodlands, woodland bird communities were strongly affected by fire. Species richness and total reporting rates increased with time since fire, and community composition changed across the entire multi-century span of the chronosequence. Woodland birds most negatively impacted by vegetation clearance and fragmentation were strongly associated with long-unburnt woodlands. In a regional south-western Australian context, where extensive vegetation clearance has substantially reduced the range and populations of many woodland bird species, the ability of remaining unfragmented woodlands to support populations of these species will be strongly contingent on appropriate fire management. Specifically, as stand-replacement fires have affected 25–30% of extant woodland over recent decades, management to limit the extent of fire in remaining long-unburnt woodlands would appear a priority for conservation of woodland bird diversity.

Many psyllids are manipulative herbivores that alter their hosts to provide shelter and ameliorate nutritional quality. Among eucalypt-feeding psyllids, Cardiaspina have specialised to manipulate natural processes of foliar senescence and thereby host nutritional quality but not foliar morphology. Using a natural outbreak, we assessed the effects of feeding by nymphs of Cardiaspina densitexta Taylor, ultraviolet exposure and temperature on changes in nutritional quality and leaf abscission. Over 6 months, we followed the responses of tagged Eucalyptus fasciculosa F.Muell. leaves that, at the beginning of the study, were at one of three different stages of utilisation by psyllids (no psyllids, only eggs present, or leaves with late instar nymphs and red lesions). We measured foliar pigments, free amino acids and polyphenols every second month to characterise foliar nutritional quality. Psyllid feeding was briefly associated with chlorosis but lesions rapidly turned red (anthocyanic) and died after nymphs had matured. Red leaves had shortened longevities and their risk of abscission was positively correlated with the UV-index rating of the preceding fortnight but not with psyllid abundance or area necrotic. Hence, psyllids altered the balance of chlorophylls and anthocyanin-equivalents of green leaves and presumably therefore their ability to fully utilise incoming light energy. Green leaves had distinct free amino acids and polyphenol compositions compared to red leaves. In green leaves, changes in anthocyanin-equivalents were negatively correlated with methionine while in red leaves psyllids were positively correlated with threonine and negatively correlated with leucine. Feeding by Cardiaspina densitexta nymphs is associated with the visible symptoms of photodamage which are associated with pronounced changes in nutritional quality. These changes are not analogous to foliar hypersensitive responses because they are expressed by old leaves, necrotic tissues are not abscised, they occur late in the development of nymphs and do not directly affect their survival. Specialisation of Cardiaspina on old eucalypt leaves may appear maladaptive if these modules are considered to be low in amino nitrogen and high in polyphenols. This perspective needs refining given the influence of photodamage on nutrient availability and because condensed tannins (weak pro-oxidants) are more abundant than hydrolysable tannins in old leaves.

Gossia (Myrtaceae) is a highly restricted tree genus most speciose in New Caledonia and eastern Australia. The latter group accumulates above-normal foliar manganese (Mn) concentrations, with some individuals exhibiting the rare Mn-hyperaccumulative trait. Whether foliar metals contribute to chemical defence has been addressed via numerous feeding experiments and very few field studies. This investigation exploited specifically different insect activities on the foliage of sympatric Gossia grayi (N.Snow & Guymer) and Gossia shepherdii (F.Muell.) N.Snow & Guymer, endemic to north-eastern Australia, to test for direct and indirect effects of foliar Mn enrichment on plant-insect interactions. Leaf organic and inorganic chemistries, specific weight, surface damage, gall infestation and occupancy were quantified. Discovery that both species are Mn hyperaccumulators augments the world listing by 5-7%. Highly elevated gall-Mn concentrations coupled with negligible gall parasitisation suggested chemical fortification and adaptation by the host insect - a Cecidomyiidae fly. Linear mixed modelling (LMM) showed differences in leaf Mn, phenolics, toughness and surface damage across tree species and leaf age. There was no direct relationship between leaf Mn and insect impact. However, LMM did resolve indirect effects, i.e. between insect impact and certain foliar elements, consistent with nutritional dynamics in a physiologically novel plant system where Mn is vastly overaccumulated.

Aim: Managing fire is critical for the conservation of biodiversity in many ecosystems globally. To manage fire effectively, it is necessary to identify the temporal and spatial scales at which it affects a diverse range of species. This information is challenging to obtain for rare and threatened species for which data often are sparse, and in systems with long fire-return intervals (e.g. >100 years). We tested the effects of a century of fires on the distribution of 12 threatened bird species across a 100,000 km(2) region in which "long-unburnt" vegetation has been identified as important for the diversity of common species.Location: Semi-arid mallee woodlands of south-eastern Australia.Methods: We developed spatially explicit models to identify the effects of fire history and climatic factors on the distribution of 12 threatened bird species, including two globally endangered species, the Mallee Emu-wren (Stipiturus mallee) and Black-eared Miner (Manorina melanotis).Results: Fire was a driver of distribution for all species. Four species were common in younger vegetation (<20 years post-fire) and 11 were most common in mid (2060 years post-fire) to older (>60 years post-fire) vegetation. Species' distributions were further restricted to areas associated with particular vegetation types and climatic conditions.Main conclusions: Comprehensive investigation of the response to fire by a range of threatened species highlights the importance of what is now recognized as mid-successional mallee vegetation (20-60 years post-fire), and that species' preferences for previously identified "long-unburnt" vegetation extend to >= 60 years post-fire. Fire management conducted with incomplete knowledge, or which is focussed on introducing prescribed burns or suppressing fires for early/late-successional species alone, is unlikely to maximize biodiversity. Effective fire management for biodiversity requires the promotion of ecological processes that result in key successional stages at particular locations in the landscape.

Structural and nutritional plant traits influence the ability of insect herbivores to locate, consume and persist on their hosts yet it is uncommon for ecologists to consider how multiple plant traits influence insect community composition. We sampled herbivorous insects on two understorey shrub species common to eucalypt forests of south-eastern Australia, namely Cassinia arcuata (Asteraceae) and Daviesia ulicifolia (Fabaceae). Regression analyses were used to assess the relative influence of plant structure (canopy volume), nutritional quality (macronutrients and total phenolics) and plant productivity (leaf litter) on insect abundance and species richness. Total N content of D. ulicifolia was significantly higher than C. arcuata, while the concentrations of P, K, Ca and Mg were higher in C. arcuata. Total phenolics and leaf litter were significantly lower in D. ulicifolia compared to C. arcuata. Insect composition was similar between the two shrubs but C. arcuata supported greater abundances. Canopy volume and the macronutrients P and Ca were important predictors of insect abundance on C. arcuata, whereas canopy volume alone, but neither plant productivity nor macronutrients, influenced the abundance of insects on D. ulicifolia. Ca was an important predictor of insect species richness on C. arcuata and P was an important predictor on D. ulicifolia. By quantifying a range of plant traits, we have provided an understanding of factors likely to influence the composition of herbivorous insects inhabiting these two shrubs. Traits including leaf architecture, foliar morphology and volatile terpenoids may yet explain the greater number of insects on C. arcuata since they influence the availability of microhabitats and apparency of host plants.

Context Passive infrared cameras have become a widely utilised method for surveying mammals, providing substantial benefits over conventional trapping methods. Cameras have only recently been tested for their ability to survey terrestrial reptiles, and have not yet been tested against other reptile survey methods for their comparative effectiveness. Aims To investigate the reliability of passive infrared cameras as a reptile survey method, compared with pitfall trapping. In addition, to test a refinement of a current protocol for using cameras to survey reptiles. Methods The study was carried out in the herpetologically diverse, semiarid Mallee region of Victoria, Australia. Paired camera and pitfall lines were set up at 10 sites within Murray Sunset National Park and results from the two methods were compared. A comparison of results from cameras with and without the use of a cork tile substrate was also made. Key results Cameras were just as effective as pitfall traps for detecting some common diurnal species – detecting additional species that pitfalls did not – but were significantly less effective overall. Cameras provided lower estimates of species richness and failed to detect nocturnal species. We also discovered that cork tiles, required in other environments for the cameras to be effective in detecting diurnal reptiles, were not needed here. Conclusions Cameras can be an effective, efficient non-invasive alternative to conventional trapping methods, such as pitfall trapping, for surveying some terrestrial diurnal reptile species. However, further investigation into using cameras for surveying nocturnal reptile species is still required. Implications If the methodological issues identified during this study can be overcome, passive infrared cameras have the potential to be a valuable tool for future herpetological research.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) has demonstrated multi-serotonin receptor dependent pathologies, characterized by increased tone (5-HT1B receptor) and complex lesions (SERT, 5-HT1B, 5-HT2B receptors) of the pulmonary vasculature together with right ventricular hypertrophy, ischemia and fibrosis (5-HT2B receptor). Selective inhibitors of individual signaling elements - SERT, 5-HT2A, 5HT2B, and combined 5-HT2A/B receptors, have all been tested clinically and failed. Thus, inhibition of tryptophan hydroxylase 1 (TPH1), the rate limiting step in 5-HT synthesis, has been suggested as a more broad, and thereby more effective, mode of 5-HT inhibition. However, selectivity over non-pathogenic enzyme family members, TPH2, phenylalanine hydroxylase, and tyrosine hydroxylase has hampered therapeutic development. Here we describe the site/sequence, biochemical, and biophysical characterization of a novel allosteric site on TPH1 through which selectivity over TPH2 and related aromatic amino acid hydroxylases is achieved. We demonstrate the mechanism of action by which novel compounds selectively inhibit TPH1 using surface plasma resonance and enzyme competition assays with both tryptophan ligand and BH4 co-factor. We demonstrate 15-fold greater potency within a human carcinoid cell line versus the most potent known TPH1/2 non-specific inhibitor. Lastly, we detail a novel canine in vivo system utilized to determine effective biologic inhibition of newly synthesized 5-HT. These findings are the first to demonstrate TPH1-selective inhibition and may pave the way to a truly effective means to reduce pathologic 5-HT and thereby treat complex remodeling diseases such as PAH.