At 8:30 a.m., Vilis and I put in an application with John Gribbins Realty to rent a 2-bedroom maisonette on Webster Street in Townsville, which we’d been eyeing for the past few days, and which we were finally able to view yesterday afternoon. Close to James Cook University and the Ross River Parkway, the maisonette was bright and well-organized inside. We were told we would hear from the company within 48 hours. As a back-up, we viewed a ground-floor unit on Lindsay Street at 4p.m. with the current tenants as guides, since the rental agent didn’t show up. The tenants told us how noisy the second-floor tenants were, something we never would have learned from an agent. We tossed aside that possibility, as we had many others, and focused all our energy on the Webster Street unit. It seemed as if we were strung on a tight wire of expectation with an outcome we couldn’t control.

I did, however, learn some science. While skimming through the July 2009 issue of JCU’s Discover magazine in a quiet moment before visiting the realtor’s office, I came across three articles of ecological interest. The first of these involved clownfish (of Nemo fame) finding their way home.¹ I learned that clownfish, which are washed out to sea from their home reefs as babies, use their sense of smell to cue in to the scents of anemones on their home reefs, as well as the scents of trees in nearby tropical rainforests, in order to find their way home to good adult clownfish habitat. However, increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide absorbed by oceans as a result of climate change are causing ocean water to become more acidic. JCU researcher Dr. Philip Munday has shown that ocean water acidified to a level that may exist by the end of this century muddles up the clownfish’s ability to smell its way home. Experimental fish cued in to the smells of swamp trees and tropical grasses, which they normally avoid, as well as the correct habitat cues. At even higher water acidities, the clownfish didn’t respond to smells at all. This points to big navigational problems for Nemo’s relatives if climate change keeps rolling on.¹

From the second article, which focused on freshwater systems, I learned that two introduced species of fish are becoming the “cane toads of the waterways,” as described by Dr. Damien Burrows, Director of the Australian Centre for Tropical Freshwater Research at JCU.² These fish, commonly referred to as tilapia because both are species of Tilapia, are also known as the Mozambique mouth brooder and the spotted cichlid. Both are aquaculture favourites because they grow fast and will eat anything, and both were introduced in different regions of Australia between 1977 and 1981. However, the interlopers, which are also aggressive, soon went the way of the cane toad, spreading into new waterways and attacking native fauna. Australia is now fighting to keep the hardy, voracious invaders, described in the article as “one of Australia’s greatest environmental pests,” out of the vast system of waterways leading into the Sea of Carpentaria.² That scenario doesn’t look good, either.

The third story was one in which humans haven’t messed up anything, which was a refreshing change. For more than 50 years, JCU researchers and students have studied the campus’s great bowerbirds and their 10 to 15 active bowers.³ In the article, Dr. Simon Robson of the School of Marine and Tropical Biology offered insight into the minds of the precise avian builders and decorating enthusiasts. He’s quoted as saying, “The section of their brain that deals with visual and conceptual processing is relatively large. It’s quite likely that they possess a wonderful aesthetic or artistic sense of beauty.”³ When I read that, I thought of the carefully-constructed bower Chris Johnson showed me last week, and of its bounty of decorations so carefully arranged. It was beautiful, even to my human eyes.

During the evening, we heard on the radio that the heat wave in Victoria and South Australia appears to be over after having peaked yesterday and Monday. Perhaps we’ll be granted a temporary reprieve over the airwaves from the nerve-stretching effect of hearing the term ‘catastrophic’ repeatedly applied to the bushfire danger level in Australia’s southern states. Knowing those were my feelings made me appreciate how much greater the relief would be for the residents of those southern states.

References:

1. James Cook University. Nemo: lost again. JCU Discover Magazine, July, 2009, p. 3.

2. James Cook University. How bad can a fish be? JCU Discover Magazine, July, 2009, pp. 4-5.

3. James Cook University. The bird collectors. JCU Discover Magazine, July, 2009, pp. 10-11.