The first management of a marine invader in Africa: The importance of trials prior to setting long-term management goals
By: Mabin, Clova A., John RU Wilson, Johannes J. Le Roux, Prideel Majiedt, and Tamara B. Robinson. Journal of Environmental Management 261 (2020): 110213. | Find with Google Scholar »
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Dear all,
Huge (virtual) welcome to Dr Oliver Griffith who has now officially joined the Department. Oliver will be staying in Melbourne until travel restrictions lift and will be working with Kerstin Bilgmann to deliver BIOL1110 Genes to Organisms in S2, in addition to setting up his research here. In more good news, congratulations to Julianna Kadar who won the People’s Choice award at the NSW FameLab semi-finals – now on to the Finals!
Meanwhile the department is settling well into the new normal of work from home. There were over 40 participants in last week’s research seminar and department business continues via email and zoom. We have surveyed our HDR students about the impact of COVID-19 on their studies and have helped individuals where needed. We will survey our ECR community also from this week to see how they are going and help to facilitate their research and well-being as much as possible. If anyone has any particular problems or has any suggestions to keep us all connected and productive, please let me know.
Stay safe and healthy,
Michelle
Save the Date
This Week
Wed 22nd April: Zoom meeting for teaching staff to share ideas and experiences on online delivery (organiser is Linda Beaumont)
Next Week
Wed 29th April: Zoom meeting for teaching staff to share ideas and experiences on online delivery (organiser is Linda Beaumont)
30th April: MRes application deadline
Weekly Events
Wed: Shut Up and Write sessions – now online! See below for further details
Wed: Department seminars; Schedule ON OUR WEBPAGE HERE – Chris Reid will send out notices for future seminars to be held on Zoom
General News and Announcements
COVID-19 need to know
GENERAL
- everyone who has been approved to access campus facilities should now have received their official letter. You must call Campus Security on arrival and departure. Otherwise, enjoy working from home!
RESEARCH
- facilities are currently open for essential research. If you are not approved for campus access but would like to be, you should contact Calli Miller. Access to labs/facilities will require sign-off by academic supervisor, lab supervisor, HoD & ExecDean. Physical distancing and working alone guidelines apply.
- only very limited local fieldwork is being approved. Please discuss with our fieldwork managers – Josh (terrestrial) or Nick (marine) – if you would like to go in the field
L&T
- invigilated exams will not be supported by the university for S1
- Wednesday regular zoom drop-in sessions for teaching staff to exchange ideas and stay connected
- likely that S2 will start as online delivery, with potential to transition to face-to-face if restrictions are relaxed. Timetabling is being done now.
- Reminder that information about resources for online delivery are available at the FSE000 iLearn site, including the Biology section. The Faculty L&T April Newsletter also has lots of tips for online teaching
Welcome to Dr Oliver Griffith!
Oliver Griffith joins us as a Lecturer (Evolutionary Genomics). He comes from the University of Melbourne, bringing with him an ARC DECRA. He is broadly interested in using non-model organisms to study the origin and evolution of complex structures in animals. His research focuses on the evolution of pregnancy, looking at unique study systems including reptiles and marsupials. Oliver looks forward to developing opportunities for collaboration on genomics projects within the Department. Please make him welcome via virtual means!
MRes Recruitment
We need your help to encourage our students to continue into our HDR program.
- We know that HDR research is key to our department research productivity, and the best HDR students heard about the program early in their Bachelor and volunteered with research groups before becoming MREs and/or PhD students.
- Please take the opportunity to make a sales pitch for you, the department and the university!
- Please see the 2020 MRes-Recruitment slides for advertising on iLearn etc.
- Encourage students to contact Matt Kosnick <matthew.kosnik@mq.edu.au> for more information about the Master of Research (Biology) program.
- Encourage them to use the volunteer contact page on the departmental website.
Should students email you – please be nice and encouraging!
The mid-year (July 2020 start) MRes application deadline is the 30th of April. There is another deadline at the end of the year for starting in 2021.
The Tony Price Award
Congratulations to James Listberger who is the 2020 recipient of the Tony Price Award. The funding from this award will be put to good use towards the sequencing of rhizobia from his glasshouse experiments, as part of his MRes project on the role of soil biota in ecological restoration.
Congratulations to Julianna Kadar!
Congratulations to Julianna Kadar on being awarded Audience Choice at the NSW FameLab semi-final for her research using ‘Fitbits’ to study shark movement and behaviour. You can watch her 3 minute presentation here!
Baby News!
Louisa Wang from our Admin team delivered a baby girl!
Mum and baby are both doing well.
Do you have great ideas for staying connected? Want to share what your friends and colleagues are doing to stay physically distant but socially close?
Send us ideas to share, images to post on the Biology Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts to Calli Miller: <calli.miller@mq.edu.au>
Plant of the Week
This week: Pavonia hastata
Until relatively recently, Pavonia hastata, a small shrub with pale pink, Hibiscus-like flowers, common in Sydney bushlands, was regarded as a native plant. However, its very odd disjunct distribution – from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay to eastern Australia – has been somewhat of an enigma.
Read the full story: plant of the week – Pavonia hastata
OPPORTUNITIES
Teaching in BIOL2220 Systems Physiology
We are seeking expressions of interest for casual teaching, specifically convening and lecturing, for BIOL2220 Systems Physiology in S2. If you are interested please send a short CV with a letter outlining your teaching experience to <fse.bio-hod@mq.edu.au> by May 8th. Any enquiries please contact Michelle Leishman at the same email.
The 2020 ECA Research Grants are now extended!
The Ecological Consultants Association of NSW supports ecological research in Australia and would like to award three grants each year to assist researchers to carry out their ecological projects.
- ECA of NSW Conservation Grant ($2000)
- Ray Williams Mammal Research Grant ($2000)
- Bushfire Ecology Research Grant ($1000)
Download a PDF Information and Application Form – Grant Application 2020
Download a Word Application Form – Grant Application Form 2020
Due to the uncertainty of how long the university-imposed restrictions will be in place as a result of COVID-19, the ECA NSW has decided to extend the deadline for the receipt of student grant applications to 30 June 2020.
Winston Churchill Trust is offering funding to do research overseas
See the Churchill Trust website to apply. Closes 30 April
Note: NOT suitable for HDR candidates
2020 Eureka Prizes program announced
The Australian Museum Eureka Prizes are back – and in 2020 we’re marking 30 years of celebrating outstanding scientific achievement. This year, there are 17 prizes on offer across the categories of Research & Innovation, Leadership, Science Engagement and School Science.
Prizes cover a broad spectrum of scientific disciplines, aiming to recognise the work of scientists, researchers and science communicators at all career stages. There’s a prize pool of $170,000 to be shared between winners, and it’s free to enter!
SEMINARS AND WORKSHOPS
Shut Up and Write Sessions now online!
We have a WhatsApp group and we make times as they suit us, so if you’re interested in being involved, pop Lizzy Lowe an email with your phone number and she’ll add you to the group.
Venture Café – will be convening their community online, via Zoom, and offering the #ThursdayGathering programming in a Virtual format. This week the focus is on Earth Day – leaping into the green economy.
For more information visit: https://venturecafesydney.org/whats-on-this-week
HDR NEWS AND OPPORTUNITIES
Free one-year RZS NSW membership for students
The Royal Zoological Society of NSW (RZS NSW) is offering free one-year student membership. The benefits of membership of the RZS NSW include:
- The ability to interact with zoologists from Australia and around the world (e.g., at the monthly Wildlife at the Watering Hole)
- Full and open access to Australian Zoologist, the oldest Australian journal of Zoology
- Reduced ticket prices for RZS NSW events, such as:
- The annual forum
- The biennial student career forum
- Ability to apply for grants including the Ethel Mary Read Research Grant and the Paddy Pallin Research Grant.
- Avenues to have a say on topics that concern the Society, such as land clearing, climate change and environmental legislation.
Students can join online at: rzsnsw.org.au
THIS AND THAT
The funny sides of working from home:
Correct Method for Submitting to Department Matters
Department Matters submissions now have their own email address. Please send all your news items for the newsletter to <fse.bionewsletter@mq.edu.au>
Have You Missed Out on an Issue of Department Matters? Back issues can be found at this newsletter archive link for your reading pleasure.
New Publications
The first management of a marine invader in Africa: The importance of trials prior to setting long-term management goals
| Find with Google Scholar »Direct and indirect community effects of the invasive plant pathogen Austropuccinia psidii (myrtle rust) in eastern Australian rainforests
By: Berthon, Katherine A., Entwistle, Peter, Manea, Anthony, Winzer, Nelida, Fernandez-Winzer, Laura, Berthon, Katherine A, Winzer, Nélida, Pegg, Geoff S, Carnegie, Angus J, and Leishman, Michelle R. Biological Invasions., 2020 | Find with Google Scholar »The buzz around spatial resolving power and contrast sensitivity in the honeybee, Apis mellifera
By: Ryan, Laura A., Rhianon Cunningham, Nathan S. Hart, and Yuri Ogawa. Vision Research 169 (2020): 25-32. | Find with Google Scholar »The genus Trematodon (Bruchiaceae) in Australia
By: Seppelt, Rodney D., and Downing, Alison J. Telopea / 23 (2020): 1-19. | Find with Google Scholar »P-model v1.0: an optimality -based light use efficiency model for simulating ecosystem gross primary production
By: Stocker, Benjamin D., Han Wang, Nicholas G. Smith, Sandy P. Harrison, Trevor F. Keenan, David Sandoval, Tyler Davis, and I. Colin Prentice. Geosci. Model Dev. Discuss 2019 (2019): 1-59. | Find with Google Scholar »Intraspecific variation in seedling drought tolerance and associated traits in a critically endangered, endemic Hawaiian shrub
By: Westerband, Andrea C., Lalasia Bialic-Murphy, Lauren A. Weisenberger, and Kasey E. Barton. Plant Ecology & Diversity (2020): 1-16. | Find with Google Scholar »Visual Opsin Diversity in Sharks and Rays
By: Hart, Nathan S., Trevor D. Lamb, Hardip R. Patel, Aaron Chuah, Riccardo C. Natoli, Nicholas J. Hudson, Scott C. Cutmore, Wayne IL Davies, Shaun P. Collin, and David M. Hunt. Molecular Biology and Evolution 37, no. 3 (2020): 811-827. | Find with Google Scholar »Bumble bees display cross-modal object recognition between visual and tactile senses
By: Solvi, Cwyn, Selene Gutierrez Al-Khudhairy, and Lars Chittka. Science 367, no. 6480 (2020): 910-912. | Find with Google Scholar »Uncovering the function of an enigmatic display: antipredator behaviour in the iconic Australian frillneck lizard
By: Perez-Martinez, Christian A., Julia L. Riley, and Martin J. Whiting. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 129, no. 2 (2020): 425-438. | Find with Google Scholar »Lessons from 10 Years of Experience with Australia’s Risk-Based Guidelines for Managed Aquifer Recharge
By: Dillon, Peter, Declan Page, Joanne Vanderzalm, Simon Toze, Craig Simmons, Grant Hose, Russell Martin, Karen Johnston, Simon Higginson, and Ryan Morris. Water 12, no. 2 (2020): 537. | Find with Google Scholar »In the Media
Dr Georgia Ward-Fear from the Department of Biological Sciences was interviewed on Radio National Science Friction about the impact of COVID-19 on her cane toad research.
Read more »
Dr Vanessa Pirotta was interviewed on ABC Radio Sydney Drive about sharing educational science content for children online.
Read more »