Congratulations Professor Anya Reading!
RST Apology to Tasmanian Aboriginal people 2021.
RST Apology to Tasmanian Aboriginal people 2021.
The Short-tailed Shearwater, Puffinus tenuirostris, is a trans-equatorial migrant, breeding in Tasmania and other parts of southeastern Australia
during the Austral summer and migrating to the northern North Pacific for the Boreal summer. Juveniles, in particular, suffer considerable
mortality during the migration. Body composition of juveniles and adults in terms of body mass, lipid content, pectoral muscle mass and
bone marrow content, before and after migration was investigated. Juveniles varied greatly in body composition pre- and post-migration
and took longer to recover their nutritional status than adults. Adults sustained a better body composition, showing a moderate decrease
in body fat upon arrival in the north and recovering their body mass and lipid supply during their stay. The lipid content of beachcast
bird carcasses (mean, 4 g) was the minimum necessary for cell membranes and was not metabolisable for energy. Pectoral muscle protein
remained high among birds under hyper-nutritional conditions, and decreased gradually at first as lipids decreased, and then rapidly at
late malnutritional stages when most lipids had been utilised for energy. Although adults sustained their nutritional status, the amount of
lipids in adults leaving the Tasmanian colony was insufficient to accomplish the long-distance migration, so post-breeding adults probably
first visited Antarctic waters to accumulate fat reserves before commencing their northward migration.
Royal Society of Tasmania, RST, Van Diemens Land, natural history, science, ecology, taxonomy, botany, zoology, geology, geography, papers & proceedings, Australia, UTAS Library
Published Papers
The Royal Society of Tasmania acknowledges, with deep respect, the traditional owners of this land, and the ongoing custodianship of the Aboriginal people of Tasmania. The Society pays respect to Elders past, present and emerging. We acknowledge that Tasmanian Aboriginal Peoples have survived severe and unjust impacts resulting from invasion and dispossession of their Country. As an institution dedicated to the advancement of knowledge, the Royal Society of Tasmania recognises Aboriginal cultural knowledge and practices and seeks to respect and honour these traditions and the deep understanding they represent.
On 15 February 2021, the Royal Society of Tasmania offered a formal Apology to the Tasmanian Aboriginal people.
