Spatial variation in the ongoing and widespread decline of a keystone plant species
By: Dickson, C.R., Baker, D.J., Bergstrom, D.M., Bricher, P.K., Brookes, R.H., Raymond, B., Selkirk, P.M., Shaw, J.D., Terauds, A., Whinam, J. and McGeoch, M.A., 2019. Austral Ecology. | Find with Google Scholar »
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Dear all
Nothing major to report on this week. We enjoyed the launch of the new Department video at the monthly department meeting – well done to Martin & Prasanth for organising and to all the participants. You can catch up on what else was discussed at the meeting here.
Cheers
Michelle
Save the Date
This coming week 12th – 16th August
Wed 14th: Rick Shine’s 1000th paper celebration morning tea; 10:30-11.30am, 14EAR(E8A)-280 (Biology Tea Room) – there will be delicious cakes!
Wed 14th: Department Seminar – Karen Burke da Silva, Flinders University; 1.00pm – 2.00pm; 14EAR(E8A)-280 (Biology Tea Room).
Sat 17th: MQU Open Day; 9.00am – 3.30pm; Campus wide.
Following week 19th – 23rd August
Wed 21st: Department Morning Tea; 10.30am – 11.30am; 205B Culloden Rd.
Wed 21st: Department Seminar -Dr Georgy Sofronov and Dr Lyndon Koens, MQU; 1.00pm – 2.00pm; 14EAR(E8A)-280 (Biology Tea Room).
Thu 22nd: REP: The Art & Science of Getting Published; 9:30 am – 3:00 pm; 14 EAR(E8A)-280 (Biology Tea Room) – Register here.
Thu 22nd: Leaflet and interactive maps in R by Dr. James Lawson; 3.30 PM – 5.30 PM; Continuum room (75 Talavera road, room 3114); snacks provided.
Thu 22nd: Biology Social Club; 5.00pm – 7.00pm; Biology Courtyard.
Weekly Events
Wed: Shut up and Write sessions; 11.00am – 12.00pm; 6WW(E8C)-212 or 14EAR(E8A)-360A.
Thu: Venture Café; 3–8pm; (map). Find out what is on each week here – https://venturecafesydney.org/
Fri: Writing workshops with Prof Ken Cheng – to support HDRs and ECRs with scientific writing; 2–4pm; Ken’s office at 205b Culloden Road, G12.
Fri: Behaviour and Evolution Journal Club; Friday at 12:30pm (bring your lunch); 205B Culloden Rd Boardroom.
Weekly Biological Sciences seminar program is here
Future Events
September 19th: REP: Reviewing for Journals workshop; 3:00 – 5:00 pm; 14EAR(E8A)-280 (Biology Tea Room) – Register here.
September 23rd: MQ graduation ceremony for Biological Sciences; 10.30am.
October 2nd: Developing your five-year plan workshop; 12:30 – 2:00 pm; 12 Wally’s Walk, 801 – Register here.
General News and Announcements
Exceptional Teaching Session 1 – Congratulations to our exceptional unit convenors and teachers in S1 – Kath McClellan (BIOL700), Nathan Hart (BIOL257) and Matthew Kosnik (BIOL379) who all did exceptionally well, scoring an average of 4.6 or above in their Learner Experience of the Unit (LEU) feedback from students.
On L&T issues – a reminder to teaching staff to make sure you do your peer assessment or get peer assessment for your teaching – see Caitlin <caitlin.kordis@mq.edu.au> to have peer assessments recorded in the system or if you need any help to organise a peer assessment of your teaching.
Rick Shine’s 1000th+ pier-reviewed paper celebration!
Click Ricks1000th for more.
Click Ricks1000th for more.
National campaign for National Science Week- 10 -18 August – National Science Week and the Sydney Science Festival are just a week away, and we are asking support from the STEM community for the nation-wide campaign for National Science Week, please see here and attached flyer for further information. You can contribute to this campaign by assisting in building of a significant and connected social media presence over the National Science Week period.The hashtags to use are:
#scienceweek
#STEMgotmehere
#thisismylab
Happy National Science Week! Science Week thisismylab
Sydney Institute of Marine Science is holding a night of Exploring the Wonders of Coral Reefs along our NSW coastline as part of the 2019 Sydney Science Festival. The event is jointly hosted by SIMS and UNSW and features leading researchers in the field including Jane Williamson from our Department. The event will take place this Saturday 10th August, from 6-8pm. All are welcome.
Franklin Women have a newsletter they send out via email. It is far too long to include here, but if you are interested in perusing the content of this publication, please follow this link. https://mailchi.mp/c6e2941e01d3/fw-march-newsletter-442789?e=2e6ff006b5
Resources: Here is a fantastic website and suite of resources for women and others established by ARC Laureate Fellow Sharon Parker.
https://www.womeninresearch.org.au/
It has an incredible depth of information for managing a career, mentoring and more.
Plant of the Week – click the thumbnails for larger images-
This week, Grevillea ‘Superb.’
Grevillea ‘Superb’ is a magnificent, modern, man-made, hybrid Grevillea. It couldn’t be anything other than man-made, as the natural distribution of its parents, Grevillea banksii (white form) (♂) from coastal north Queensland, and Grevillea bipinnatifida (♀) from the south-west of Western Australia, are about 3,600 kilometres apart.
OPPORTUNITIES
STEM Careers Forum – Monday, 12 August 2019 – The annual STEM Careers Forum is taking place on Monday 12 August, and the event is for ALL FSE UG, PG, and HDR students (careers outside of academia) and academic/professional staff who are interested in industry engagement. More information can be found here:
Faculty Staff (Professional & Academic) Travel Grants – support for staff travel is now provided centrally by the Faculty. Funding is available for ECR travel, international collaboration, teaching and professional staff development. If you would like to apply, please discuss with your supervisor and A/Prof Andrew Barron (for research travel) or Dr Drew Allen (for teaching travel). Research Eligibility and application details can be found here.https://staff.mq.edu.au/intranet/science-and-engineering/faculty-awards,-schemes-and-procedures
One round remain for the rest of the year:
– Round 3 closes Friday 27 September 2019
Apply as soon as possible for any travel you intend on taking in 2019, that meets the criteria. Funds awarded must be spent in 2019 and will not be carried into 2020.
Media Training Opportunity for ECRs! – Nominations are now open for Fresh Science 2019 (closing: Wed, 14 August 2019 – 11.59pm).
This national competition is targetted at ECRs with no media experience but whose peer-reviewed research (e.g. a discovery, invention, patent) is deserving of attention. Selected applicants will receive a day of media training, to help them find their voice and tell their “story”. Full details of what’s involved is available from the Fresh Science webpage. Eligibility criteria:
- ECR with PhD completed no more than five years ago.
- Currently working in Australia and preferably for work done in Australia.
- Research which has produced peer-reviewed results – e.g. a discovery, invention, patent, etc.
- Research which is currently being undertaken or has been published/ concluded since January 2018.
- Research that is newsworthy but has not had significant media coverage.
- Researchers who can demonstrate (through the online nomination form) some ability to present their research to a lay audience in a clear, interesting and informative way.
NOTE: Your research must be cleared for public and media presentation – may need to consult with collaborators and commercial partners before nominating.
SEMINARS AND WORKSHOPS
Biological Sciences Seminar – Date/Time: Wednesday, 14th August, 2019; 1pm – 2pm. Speaker: Dr Karen Burke da Silva, Flinders Uni. Title: Teach like a Scientist. Venue: 14EAR-280 (Biology Tea Room). More information on this and all department seminars ON OUR WEBPAGE HERE.
Leaflet and interactive maps in R
Description: “Good maps are essential to communicating spatial science effectively. Static maps can only communicate so much though, especially when what we’re trying to show is complex or has multiple layers of data associated with it. Interactive data visualisation is the new black and Leaflet is the easiest and most powerful way to achieve this in R. I’ll introduce you to Leaflet and get you making awesome looking interactive maps.”
Presenter: Dr. James Lawson is a postdoc in Rachael Gallagher’s Plant Ecology and Conservation Lab at MQU. He is developing conservation planning software in R Shiny that helps decision makers choose the best sites to manage threatened species.
Date: Aug 22, 2019. Time: 3:30 PM to 5:30 PM. Venue: Continuum Room (75 Talavera Road, room 3114). Snacks provided, BYO mug.
Shut Up and Write Sessions, every Wednesday 11am. It’s pretty simple, we shut up… and we write. Using the pomodoro technique we’ll meet at 11am to write, stop 25 minutes in for a 10 min break, then settle down again for another 25 minutes of writing. You’ll be amazed how productive you can be. More details on the concept here: https://thesiswhisperer.com/shut-up-and-write/
Room will be either 6WW(E8C)-212 or 14EAR(E8A)-360A, email <lizzy.lowe@mq.edu.au> to confirm or with any questions.
All welcome!
Lunchtime Litter Collection – The days may be cooler, but they’re also clear and sunny. Lunchtime is a great time to go for a walk and get some vitamin D! It’s also a great time to join the Biology Litter Collection competition! The next event will be Tuesday 13th August, 1pm. Meet in the Biology courtyard, bring a bucket or bag if you can.
We’ll be holding events throughout the rest of the year, every few weeks. At each event you go out to collect litter, between 1 and 1:30pm. Collections will be assessed at the end of each collection and gold stars awarded accordingly. Event results are tallied at the end of the year with a prize for the best collector.
Event dates: Tues 13th August; Tues 10th September; Tues 8th October; Tues 12th November; Tues 10th December.
Venture Café – Want to know more about innovation, and how to achive it? Come along to the Venture Cafe, Thursday, 3pm – 8pm, (map). Find out what is on each week here – https://venturecafesydney.org/
This week: 3.00pm: Sydney Hardware Tech Meetup; 3.00pm: DemoTables: Sydney Hardware Tech; 3.00pm: Innovate Here Meetup; 3.30pm: Office Hours: Abbie Widin, Business Strategy; 5.00pm: Office Hours: Sayee Ganjekar of Innovation Drive; 5.15pm: Panel: Tapping into Sydney’s hardware tech services; 530pm: Office Hours: Stuart Campbell, IP and Legal.
Wildlife at the Watering Hole – 3rd Tuesday of each month, 6:30pm @ Botany View Hotel, King St Newtown!
HDR NEWS AND OPPORTUNITIES
Research Enrichment Program (REP) Workshop Series – The Department now has a fully fledged research enrichment program for 2019 – you can find out about upcoming workshops here (click on this PDF). All HDR students are encouraged to attend several of these workshops each year to develop their skills and track record for the post-PhD world. Supervisors please encourage your students!
REP Workshop: The Art and Science of Getting Published – Thursday 22 August, 9:30 am – 3:00 pm; 14 EAR(E8A)-280 (Biology Tea Room); facilitated by Michael Gillings.
This whole-day workshop will cover:
– Planning and writing papers – Structure of papers, Plans and mind maps, Pivotal parts of papers, Who should be an author, Writing a good title, Choosing good keywords, Writing abstracts and other sections of papers, Editing and feedback, Writing skills, and What makes a good paragraph.
– The submission process – Choosing a journal, What is an impact factor, Predatory journals, Instructions to authors, The letter to the editor, How editors make decisions, Dealing with rejection, and Dealing with reviewers.
– Improving the impact of your papers – What papers are high impact, Social media for researchers, Popular science writing, Understanding research metrics, Media and press releases.
– Planning and writing papers – Structure of papers, Plans and mind maps, Pivotal parts of papers, Who should be an author, Writing a good title, Choosing good keywords, Writing abstracts and other sections of papers, Editing and feedback, Writing skills, and What makes a good paragraph.
– The submission process – Choosing a journal, What is an impact factor, Predatory journals, Instructions to authors, The letter to the editor, How editors make decisions, Dealing with rejection, and Dealing with reviewers.
– Improving the impact of your papers – What papers are high impact, Social media for researchers, Popular science writing, Understanding research metrics, Media and press releases.
Suitable for: all
Morning tea will be provided.
To attend: REGISTER HERE
Reviewing for Journals – Thursday 19 September, 3:00 – 5:00 pm; 14EaR(E8A)-280 (Biology Tea Room); facilitated by Rachael Gallagher.
Would you like to review for journals, but are not too sure how the whole process works? Have you already reviewed, but would like to brush-up on your skills?
This short, two-hour course is designed to introduce young researchers to the ethics and skills required to become a good journal reviewer.
WHAT WILL BE COVERED:
– The ethics of reviewing – how to be fair and helpful to authors
– Examples of good and not-so-good reviews
– Worked examples of scenarios that may arise when reviewing
– The opinions of journal editors from within the Department
Suitable for: Early-mid career researchers.
To attend: REGISTER HERE
PhD Students: got a grant? Dept. will co-fund up to $1500 – The Department would like to encourage students to seek external sources of funding, and has a small budget with which to support successful candidates.New limits from 2019:PhD students ONLY: Dept. will match up to $1500 of external (non-MQ) funding ONCE during the student’s candidature.
If you have received a grant (student as chief investigator) and wish to request co-funding, please forward a copy of the award letter to <sharyon.odonnell@mq.edu.au> and <julian.may@mq.edu.au>.
Are you a HDR student? Need help with writing? HDR Mentors in collaboration with HDR Learning Skills is running another round of Peer Writing Assistance (PWA) for the rest of the year! This program is designed to support MRES and HDR candidates in managing thesis writing and research-related concerns. All peer writing assistants have undergone training for their role and are current PhD candidates at Macquarie.
The PWA program is based on the principle of collaborative learning in which a more experienced research student helps you develop stronger academic and research skills. Peer Writing Assistants are not teachers. Rather, they are trained to function as a ‘friendly audience’ or ‘fresh pair of eyes’ to help you gain new perspectives on your writing or research ideas.
Registrations are now open for individual consultation bookings. If you are interested, please go to book in for a 45-minute session with a PWA here.
And:
Writing workshops – Convened by Ken Cheng, running weekly for most of the year: Fridays 2-4pm in Ken’s office at 205b Culloden Road, G12.
These writing workshops are meant for HDR students and early-career researchers. In these face-to-face encounters, writing at any stage of any genre is welcome, from first draft to final polish, from empirical paper to literature review to popular news story. Ken envisages personal feedback linked perhaps with rounds of revisions on selected passages during the session. The aim is not just to get stuff written, but to write everything well.
Those interested in attending a session should email Ken Cheng <ken.cheng@mq.edu.au> by Wednesday 12:00-noon, preferably with a draft attached of what they are working on and some indication of what they especially need help with.
ADMIN THINGS
Need to Contact the Biology Admin Team via Email? Please send your email to <fse.bio-adm@mq.edu.au> or drop in and see us. The old google group (sci.bio-adm) email no longer works, if you have this email as a remembered address please delete.
Outreach Activities – Have You Participated in an Activity for Biology Recently? Don’t forget to fill in the super-quick form here – ACCESS OUTREACH FORM HERE
Building Name Changes – Cheat Sheet – If you are trying to identify buildings on campus with new names or old names, please use this link to convert them from old to new or vice versa.
THIS AND THAT
Harvest Hub – great food that doesn’t cost the earth
Do you want:
- To eat with the seasons?
- Have fresh fruit and veg delivered weekly?
- Buy from local growers and support local farmer more directly?
- Access weekly specials and a flexible, easy to use ordering system?
- Have produce delivered to you at work?
- Buy grains and cereals too?
Then try Harvest Hub www.harvesthub.com.au
Hub name: MACQUARIE04 F: @harvesthubau
More information?
- Check out the website
- Talk to Samantha Newton <samantha.newton@mq.edu.au>.
- Orders are delivered weekly, on Tuesdays
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>
Also, please see the following to correctly format your additions, and keep them rolling in!
You may have noticed that we try to keep all the articles to the same format for the Department Matters, however, rest assured, they do NOT all turn up in this format! To help keep your Department Matters looking as good as possible, when sending in additions to the Newsletter, please try to keep these formatting guidelines in mind.
- Please write in third person. The information is coming from the Newsletter, not directly from you.
- Do not use fancy text formatting. Bold heading, normal text, and only italics or bold to highlight. No font size changes will make it through, sorry.
- If sending via email, set your email output to basic. HTML output will add all sort of formatting that will have to be removed before your article can go into the newsletter.
- Keep your submission short and direct (two paragraphs) and if possible provide a document, email or link where readers can get more information. Any long submissions will be cropped.
Keeping to these guidelines will streamline your article’s addition to the newsletter. Thank you.
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 resprouting response of co-occurring temperate woody plant and grass species to elevated [CO2]: An insight into woody plant encroachment of grasslands
By: Manea, Anthony, and Michelle R. Leishman. Austral Ecology (2019). | Find with Google Scholar »The potential evolutionary impact of invasive balloon vines on native soapberry bugs in South Africa
By: Foster, Jarryd D., Allan G. Ellis, Llewellyn C. Foxcroft, Scott P. Carroll, and Johannes Le Roux. NeoBiota 49 (2019): 19. | Find with Google Scholar »Traces of a Neonicotinoid Induce Precocious Foraging and Reduce Foraging Performance in Honey Bees
By: Colin, Théotime, William G. Meikle, Xiaobo Wu, and Andrew B. Barron. Environmental science & technology (2019). | Find with Google Scholar »Leaf economics and plant hydraulics drive leaf : wood area ratios
By: Mencuccini, M., Rosas, T., Rowland, L., Choat, B., Cornelissen, H., Jansen, S., Kramer, K., Lapenis, A., Manzoni, S., Niinemets, Ü. and Reich, P., 2019. New Phytologist. | Find with Google Scholar »The influence of landscape, climate and history on spatial genetic patterns in keystone plants (Azorella) on sub-Antarctic islands
By: Chau, John H., Céline Born, Melodie A. McGeoch, Dana Bergstrom, Justine Shaw, Aleks Terauds, Mario Mairal, Johannes J. Le Roux, and Bettine Jansen van Vuuren. Molecular ecology (2019). | Find with Google Scholar »Observed and modelled historical trends in the water-use efficiency of plants and ecosystems
By: Lavergne, Aliénor, Heather Graven, Martin G. De Kauwe, Trevor F. Keenan, Belinda E. Medlyn, and Iain Colin Prentice. Global change biology (2019). | Find with Google Scholar »Connectivity of the seagrass Zostera muelleri within south-eastern Australia
By: Stafford-Bell, R. E., W. F. D. Van Dongen, R. W. Robinson, and A. A. Chariton. Marine and Freshwater Research (2019). | Find with Google Scholar »Genotyping of Ribosomal Proteins in Sordaria fimicola to Study Genetic Polymorphisms and Phosphorylation Modifications
By: Arif, Rabia, Siu Fai Lee, Memuna Ghafoor Shahid, and Muhammad Saleem. 2019. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE & BIOLOGY DOI: 10.17957/IJAB/15.1056 | Find with Google Scholar »In the Media
Stephanie Deering gave an extended interview to Spirit Broome Radio
Stephanie Deering, Masters Student to Dr Simon Clulow, gave an extended interview to Spirit Broome Radio regarding whether Torresian crows are learning how to safely eat toxic cane toads.
Rick Shine was featured in Smithsonian Magazine and the Courier Mail
Professor Rick Shine from the Department of Biological Sciences was featured in Smithsonian Magazine and the Courier Mail regarding a study that found turtle embryos are able to influence their sex by moving around within their eggs.