Novel habitat causes a shift to diurnal activity in a nocturnal species
By: Doody, J. Sean, Colin R. McHenry, David Rhind, and Simon Clulow. Scientific reports 9, no. 1 (2019): 230. | Find with Google Scholar »
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Hi all,
Welcome to the first edition of Department Matters for 2019. I hope that you all had a restful and happy Christmas-New Year break and have returned full of great ideas and renewed energy!
This week we held a special morning tea to wish Prof David Raftos all the best for a long and happy retirement, after more than 20 years with the department. Raf has authored many papers, supervised lots of Honours and PhD students and received awards (including a Eureka prize) for his work, largely on immunology of marine invertebrates. We will miss him!
The department’s leadership team held a planning day on Tuesday to map out strategies and activities for 2019. Come along to the department meeting next Tuesday 5th February 1-2pm in the Biology Tearoom to hear about what’s in store for 2019 – all academic & professional staff and students are encouraged to join in.
Also coming up is the Department’s Welcome to HDRs (Wednesday 6th Feb 10.30am) and Early Career Researcher (ECR) kick-off meeting for the year (Wednesday 6th Feb 1pm), both in the Biology Tearoom.
See you there,
Michelle
Save the Date
This coming week 4th – 8th February
Tue 5th: Department Lunch followed by Department Meeting; 12.30pm – 2pm; 14EAR (E8A) – 280 (Biology Tea Room).
Wed 6th: HDR Welcome morning tea, 10:30-11:30am, Biology Tea Room (14 Eastern Road 280) – Welcome from HoD; come and have cake!
Wed 6th: Early Career Researcher kick-off meeting. 1-2pm Biology Tea Room, lunch provided.
Thu 7th: Biology Social Club Drinks; 5pm – 7pm; Biology Courtyard.
Following week 11th – 15th February
Wed 13th: Department Morning Tea; 10.30am – 11am; 205b Culloden Rd, Dining Area.
Fri 15th: 4WW (F7B) Digital Teaching Lab Induction; 9.30am – 11:30am; 4WW (F7B) – 105.
Future Events
Feb 18th: HDR Supplementary Conference, 11:30am-12, Biology Tea Room (14 Eastern Road 280), Interviews: 2:30-4pm.
Please see Conference Booklet (will be updated as abstracts are submitted)
Feb 19th: 14EAR (E8A) Digital Teaching Lab Induction; 9.00am – 12:00pm; 14EAR (E8A) – 120 (Red Lab).
Feb 20th: 6WW (E8C) Digital Teaching Lab Induction; 9.00am – 11:30am; 6WW (E8C) – 106. **please note the new date**
June 11th-14th: HDR Conference 2019, 9am-5pm, venue TBD – Save the date!
General News and Announcements
Funding Success – Rachael Dudaniec, Anthony Chariton, Adam Stow, Grant Hose & Kirstie Fryirs have received funding for a 3 year NSW Environmental Trust project Evaluating resilience of swamp communities to environmental change in the Sydney Basin.
Also Simon Clulow has been awarded an additional $30k by the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage Saving our Species (SOS) grant program to continue his work on Ecology and conservation of the threatened frog, Uperoleia mahonyi.
It’s a Girl! Tarun Rajan and Family are happy to announce the birth of our daughter Shiuli (she-you-lee). Mum and daughter doing very well. Avani was very excited to see her sister. – click the thumbnail for a larger image –
and for Jaco Le Roux and his family, also a new addition – a baby boy (Benjamin) born just after Christmas – congratulations!
Higher Education Academy award for Kirsten – Congratulations to Kerstin Bilgmann who has been awarded a ‘Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy’. The Senior Fellowship award is for demonstrating outstanding contribution and leadership in teaching and supporting student learning. It is a great addition to an academic teaching portfolio, so keep an eye out for when opportunities to apply for the scheme are advertised this year.
Have you completed the MQ Inclusion Survey? – The FSE inclusion survey can be accessed here:
https://mqedu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_ezm6mqVZkOhnonX
This survey has been designed to help us understand Macquarie’s current culture and provide information to help us to continue to build a community that is diverse, inclusive and where all staff are able to flourish. The data from this survey will enable our Department and the University to identify where progress is being made but also where further work and changes are needed to ensure all staff at MQ are supported, safe and treated equitably. An overview of the results and responses to the data will also be shared with the university community. Analysis will be conducted by the Workplace Diversity and Inclusion Team. Responses and personal details gathered in the course of the survey will remain anonymous. No data will be shared or made available where individuals can be identified. The survey should take no more than 15 minutes to complete. Please take some time to respond to this survey as your feedback will be extremely valuable to our department and to the University. For more information on the survey, please see that attached FAQs, or contact the Workplace Diversity & inclusion team – <workplacediversityinclusion@mq.edu.au>.
Call for Volunteers – The Behavioral Ecology Lab is looking for a volunteer with a driver’s licence to help with spider collections in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park on Mondays in January and February. If you have some time and are able to help out please contact <lizzy.lowe@mq.edu.au>. Thank you!
Christmas Hamper collection – Thank you! On behalf of the Department, Sustainability office, and North Ryde Aged Care, thank you to everyone who donated to North Ryde Aged Care’s Christmas hamper collection. Your donation helped improve Christmas celebrations for many elderly in the North Ryde Area.
Tim Pearson Featured in the Cairns Post – click thumbnail for full article –
IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR THOSE THAT HAVE BEEN ON LEAVE OVER XMAS – legacy (guttenburg) printing ended last year. You must set up iPrint ASAP if you have not done so already, and update your campus card (old fobs will not work) if you use an old fob or old campus card. If you have trouble setting up the iPrint drivers on your computer, please contact FSE IT for assistance.
COMINGS AND GOINGS
Welcome Michael Clark! Michael comes from ANU with a background mostly in organic chemistry. Halfway through his Honours year he got excited about the genetic biocontrol technologies CSIRO was looking to develop. After sending off some emails Michael was put in touch with Dr. Maciej Maselko who agreed to take him on. As part of a member of the newly formed Maselko group Michael will be exploring the prospect of genetically engineering synthetic speciation in Aedes aegypti as well as working on engineering insects to express enzymes for bioremidation. Michael can’t wait to properly start his research in a new field at a new University. In his spare time he will be trail running, trying to get down to the beach and he wants to learn how to rock climb this year.
Welcome Oscar Perez-Priego! Oscar is a Forestry engineer and PhD in Bioscience from the University of Córdoba, Spain. He was later a Postdoc in the Science Faculty of the University of Granada, Spain (2011-2013) and at the Max-Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena, Germany (2014-2018). He just arrived in Sydney to join Ian Wright’s lab. He is broadly interested in plant functional ecology and modelling. Here, he aims to develop theoretical foundations for a new generation of global vegetation models that better represent the plasticity of ecosystem structure and function.
SEMINARS AND WORKSHOPS
Biological Sciences Seminar – Date/Time: Friday, 8th February, 2019; 1pm – 2pm. Speaker: A/Prof Leslie New, WSU Vancouver. Title: Humanity’s fascination with death and the supernatural. Venue: 14EAR-280 (Biology Tea Room). More information on this and all department seminars ON OUR WEBPAGE HERE.
MolSci Seminar – Date/Time: Tuesday, 5th February, 2019; 1pm – 2pm. Speaker: Dr Qing Zhong, Cancer Data Science, Children’s Medical Research Institute and Conjoint Senior Lecturer, the University of Sydney. Title: Cancer Data Science for Mass Spectrometry-based Proteomics. Venue: 4WW 322 seminar room. For more, visit: https://goto.mq/7l
Behaviour and Evolution Journal Club – every Friday at 12:30 (bring your lunch).
What: discussion of a recent (or not-so-recent) journal article in behavioural or evolutionary (or ecological) research. There is also the opportunity to discuss any aspects of how we do or should do science. Held in the 205B Culloden Rd Boardroom, i.e. the big meeting room in the new building up the hill.
Who: anyone ready to get critical of or inspired by some science (and preferably has read that week’s paper)
Upcoming papers:
Friday 1st Feb: Gazzola, A., Vallortigara, G. & Pellitteri-Rosa, D., 2018. Continuous and discrete quantity discrimination in tortoises. Biology Letters, 14(12), pp.20180649–4.
Friday 8th Feb: Young, R. L., Ferkin, M. H., Ockendon-Powell, N. F., Orr, V. N., Phelps, S. M., Pogány, Á., et al. (2019). Conserved transcriptomic profiles underpin monogamy across vertebrates. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(4), 1331–1336. http://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1813775116
Send Callum McDiarmid (Griffith Lab) an email <callum.mcdiarmid@hdr.mq.edu.au> to get on the mailing list.
JAMS is a group of microbiologists that meet once a month to chat about all things microbiology over a beverage! JAMS is set for another big year. In 2018 a new JAMS group and seminar series started in Brisbane and there are rumours that Melbourne and Perth may follow. Please see the flyer for our January event. More details on our annual event (scheduled for early March) will be circulated soon. – click on thumbnail for larger image –
MQRF Showcase: Thursday 14th February 2019 (9:00am to 12:30pm), level 1 lecture theatre, Australian Hearing Hub building, Macquarie University.
The MQRF Showcase will celebrate Macquarie University research talent supported by the Macquarie University Research Fellowship scheme. It will also offer postgraduate students, ECRs, and potential supervisors of MQRFs extra insight into the process and the value of the scheme. Twelve current Macquarie University Research Fellows will present their research projects and participate in panel discussions discussing their experiences with the fellowship from application through to managing their programs of research since. The schedule of the event is attached. Please register here for the MQRF Showcase:
https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/mqrf-showcase-tickets-54913402465
Registrations open for Wildlife Translocation Health Symposium in February 2019 – The Symposium will provide a comprehensive review of the health disciplines that should be taken into consideration during translocations and intensive wildlife management actions, along with some key note addresses about the ecology of translocations and disease ecology. Carl Jones, Chief Scientist with Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, will be delivering the translocation ecology keynote. Carl has extensive experience with intensive wildlife recovery programs on Mauritius, Africa and the UK.
Personal meetings can be organised with ecologist Carl Jones the following morning for select personnel who are involved in wildlife translocation or similar intensive management.
Farewell for Dr Scott McCallum (Department of Computing) – After working in Department of Computing in Macquarie University for 30 years, Dr Scott McCallum decided to retire from the busy academic life to enjoy a more relaxed life style. We would like to thank Scott for his past contributions to the Department and wish him good luck. Please come and join the Farewell Party on Thu 7 Feb 2019 at 3-5pm in 12 Wally’s Walk (E7A) Rm 801-803.
You are welcome to come and sign the card at the office in 09 WW E6A360.
HDR OPPORTUNITIES
If you are, or supervise, a female PhD candidate who is an Aust citizen or permanent resident, please take a look at these Fellowships:
The 2019 Barbara Hale Fellowships and the 2019 Georgina Sweet Fellowship will close to applications on the 30th April 2019.
The 2019 AFGW Barbara Hale Fellowships are offered to women graduates who are Australian citizens or permanent residents of Australia and are enrolled for a PhD degree by research in any discipline at an Australian university. Only citizens of Australia or Australian permanent residents may apply. In 2019, two (2) AFGW Barbara Hale Fellowships will be offered at $7500 each.
The 2019 AFGW Georgina Sweet Fellowship is offered to women graduates who are Australian citizens or permanent residents of Australia and are enrolled for a PhD degree by research in any discipline at an Australian university. Only citizens of Australia or Australian permanent residents may apply.
Australian Plant Society Scholarships – Applications are now invited from scholars undertaking scientific research at the Honours, Masters or PhD levels. The research should contribute to the knowledge, conservation or propagation of Australian native plant species in the Sydney or surrounding regions.
The North Shore Group of Australian Plants Society NSW awarded the inaugural $2,000 scholarship in 2009 and since then thirteen scholars have used their scholarship money to augment their research. It amounts to $3,000 for Round Eleven in 2019. Application forms are attached or can be downloaded from our web site at 
https://austplants.com.au/NS-4
Applications close on 8th March 2019 and the successful applicant will be notified by 5th April 2019. An independent selection committee of three North Shore Group members will have the responsibility of selecting the recipient. VWS Applic Information 2019 VWS Application Form 2019 VWS Application Form 2019
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. Registrations are now open for individual consultation bookings. If you are interested, please go to book in for a 30-minute session with a PWA. If you have questions about the PWA program please email hdrmentors@mq.edu.au>.
ADMIN THINGS
Not receiving general emails? – We have had some trouble with the email lists. If you or anyone you know seems to have dropped off the email lists to receive department seminar notices, Department Matters, etc, please email or drop in to see Jenny Ghabache in the admin office.
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.
OPPORTUNITIES
The Macquarie Marine Research Centre is now inviting applications from ECRs to be a part of the 2019 MQ Marine leadership team. This is an exciting opportunity to get involved in the planning and organisation of MQ Marine activities and to learn how the Research Centre is run, plus it will be a great addition to your CV!
From 2019 the Centre’s administration duties will be partly carried out by the four ECR reps. You may find yourself helping to organise MQ Marine seminar/social hour events, managing Centre finances and assisting with Centre communications (e.g. running the email account, preparing monthly newsletters & posting to Twitter).
Please send your application (approximately 1/2 page, including a statement on why you would like to be an ECR on the MQ Marine Board) to: <marinescience@mq.edu.au> by 21st January, 2019.
Title: BirdLife Australia Volunteering – The BirdLife Discovery Centre in Newington Armory, Sydney Olympic Park, is looking for volunteers. The Discovery Centre is open on the weekends from 10.00 am until 4.00 pm. There are no live birds but plenty of displays of stuffed ones; lots of things for kids to do and short videos to watch. There is also live streaming on the internet of the White-bellied Sea Eagles’ nest in the forest behind the Discovery Centre. There is also a free guided bird walk the last Sunday of each month commencing at the Visitors Centre next to the bicycle hire at the wharf. Some knowledge of the common, local Australian birds would be required.
If interested please contact the volunteer coordinator Deborah Harris via email <daisyproctor@yahoo.co.uk>.
BLOGS AND OTHER THINGS OF INTEREST
Plant of the Week – will return in February 2019.
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.
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New Publications
Sex peptide receptor-regulated polyandry modulates the balance of pre- and post-copulatory sexual selection in Drosophila
By: Morimoto, Juliano, Grant C. McDonald, Emelia Smith, Damian T. Smith, Jennifer C. Perry, Tracey Chapman, Tommaso Pizzari, and Stuart Wigby. Nature communications 10, no. 1 (2019): 283. | Find with Google Scholar »Bridging Drought Experiment and Modeling: Representing the Differential Sensitivities of Leaf Gas Exchange to Drought
By: Zhou, Shuang-Xi, Iain Colin Prentice, and Belinda Medlyn. Frontiers in Plant Science 9 (2018): 1965. | Find with Google Scholar »Does prey encounter and nutrient content affect prey selection in wolf spiders inhabiting Bt cotton fields?
By: Rendon, Dalila, Phillip W. Taylor, Shawn M. Wilder, and Mary EA Whitehouse. PloS one 14, no. 1 (2019): e0210296. | Find with Google Scholar »The complete mitochondrial genome of the Epaulette Shark, Hemiscyllium ocellatum (Bonnaterre, 1788)
By: Nevatte, Ryan J., Jennalee A. Clark, Jane E. Williamson, and Michael R. Gillings. Mitochondrial DNA Part B 4, no. 1 (2019): 534-535. | Find with Google Scholar »Computational aspects underlying genome to phenome analysis in plants
By: Bolger, A.M., Poorter, H., Dumschott, K., Bolger, M.E., Arend, D., Osorio, S., Gundlach, H., Mayer, K.F., Lange, M., Scholz, U. and Usadel, B., 2019. The Plant Journal, 97(1), pp.182-198. | Find with Google Scholar »The genome of the oyster Saccostrea offers insight into the environmental resilience of bivalves
By: Powell, Daniel, Sankar Subramanian, Saowaros Suwansa-ard, Min Zhao, Wayne O’Connor, David Raftos, and Abigail Elizur. DNA Research 25, no. 6 (2018): 655-665. | Find with Google Scholar »Advances from the nexus of animal behaviour and pathogen transmission: new directions and opportunities using contact networks
By: Leu, Stephan T., and Stephanie S. Godfrey. Behaviour 155, no. 7-9 (2018): 567-583. | Find with Google Scholar »Partitioning mortality into growth-dependent and growth-independent hazards across 203 tropical tree species
By: Camac, James S., Richard Condit, Richard G. FitzJohn, Lachlan McCalman, Daniel Steinberg, Mark Westoby, S. Joseph Wright, and Daniel S. Falster. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115, no. 49 (2018): 12459-12464. | Find with Google Scholar »Fairyflies
By: Palavalli-Nettimi, Ravindra; Sane, Sanjay P. CURRENT BIOLOGY Volume: 28 Issue: 23 Pages: R1331-R1332 Published: DEC 3 2018 | Find with Google Scholar »The effect of captive breeding upon adult thermal preference in the Queensland fruit fly (Bactrocera tryoni)
By: Lynch, Kate E., Thomas E. White, and Darrell J. Kemp. Journal of thermal biology 78 (2018): 290-297. | Find with Google Scholar »Biomacromolecules in bivalve shells with crossed lamellar architecture
By: Agbaje, Oluwatoosin BA, Denise E. Thomas, J. Gabriel Dominguez, Bernie V. Mclnerney, Matthew A. Kosnik, and Dorrit E. Jacob. Journal of Materials Science 54, no. 6 (2019): 4952-4969. | Find with Google Scholar »Combined use of eDNA metabarcoding and video surveillance for the assessment of fish biodiversity
By: Stat, Michael, Jeffrey John, Joseph D. DiBattista, Stephen J. Newman, Michael Bunce, and Euan S. Harvey. Conservation Biology 33, no. 1 (2019): 196-205. | Find with Google Scholar »Interaction between temperature and sublethal infection with the amphibian chytrid fungus impacts a susceptible frog species
By: Campbell, Lachlan, Deborah S. Bower, Simon Clulow, Michelle Stockwell, John Clulow, and Michael Mahony. Scientific reports 9, no. 1 (2019): 83. | Find with Google Scholar »Does prey encounter and nutrient content affect prey selection in wolf spiders inhabiting Bt cotton fields?
By: Rendon, Dalila, Phillip W. Taylor, Shawn M. Wilder, and Mary EA Whitehouse. PloS one 14, no. 1 (2019): e0210296. | Find with Google Scholar »Environmental enrichment influences spatial learning ability in captive-reared intertidal gobies (Bathygobius cocosensis)
By: Carbia, Penelope S., and Culum Brown. Animal cognition (2018): 1-10. | Find with Google Scholar »Genetic analysis of three remnant populations of the rufous hare-wallaby (Lagorchestes hirsutus) in arid Australia
By: Eldridge, Mark DB, Linda E. Neaves, and Peter BS Spencer. Australian Mammalogy 41, no. 1 (2019): 123-131. | Find with Google Scholar »Architects of the underworld: bioturbation by groundwater invertebrates influences aquifer hydraulic properties
By: Hose, Grant C., and Christine Stumpp. Aquatic Sciences 81, no. 1 (2019): 20. | Find with Google Scholar »Movement responses to environment: fast inference of variation among southern elephant seals with a mixed effects model
By: Jonsen, I. D., C. R. McMahon, T. A. Patterson, M. Auger‐Méthé, R. Harcourt, M. A. Hindell, and S. Bestley. Ecology 100, no. 1 (2019): e02566. | Find with Google Scholar »Evaluating the application of the statistical index method in flood susceptibility mapping and its comparison with frequency ratio and logistic regression methods
By: Shafapour Tehrany, Mahyat, Lalit Kumar, Mustafa Neamah Jebur, and Farzin Shabani. Geomatics, Natural Hazards and Risk 10, no. 1 (2019): 79-101. | Find with Google Scholar »Assembly of chloroplast genomes with long- and short-read data: a comparison of approaches using Eucalyptus pauciflora as a test case
By: Schalamun, Miriam, Alejandro Morales Suarez, David Kainer, Benjamin Schwessinger, and Robert Lanfear. bioRxiv (2018): 320085. | Find with Google Scholar »Rhizosphere microorganisms can influence the timing of plant flowering
By: Lu, T., Ke, M., Lavoie, M., Jin, Y., Fan, X., Zhang, Z., Fu, Z., Sun, L., Gillings, M., Peñuelas, J. and Qian, H., 2018. Microbiome, 6(1), p.231. | Find with Google Scholar »Salinity tolerance in Australian wild Oryza species varies widely and matches that observed in O-sativa
By: Yichie, Yoav, Chris Brien, Bettina Berger, Thomas H. Roberts, and Brian J. Atwell. Rice 11, no. 1 (2018): 66. | Find with Google Scholar »Low-temperature storage of Exorista larvarum puparia as a tool for assisting parasitoid production
By: Benelli, Maurizio, Franciska Tóth, and Maria L. Dindo. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata (2018). | Find with Google Scholar »The emergence emergency: A mudskipper’s response to temperatures
By: Nay, Tiffany J., Connor R. Gervais, Andrew S. Hoey, Jacob L. Johansen, John F. Steffensen, and Jodie L. Rummer. Journal of thermal biology 78 (2018): 65-72. | Find with Google Scholar »The effect of captive breeding upon adult thermal preference in the Queensland fruit fly (Bactrocera tryoni)
By: Lynch, Kate E., Thomas E. White, and Darrell J. Kemp. Journal of thermal biology 78 (2018): 290-297. | Find with Google Scholar »Differential sperm-egg interactions in experimental pairings between two subspecies and their hybrids in a passerine bird
By: Hurley, Laura L., Melissah Rowe, and Simon C. Griffith. Ecology and Evolution (2018). | Find with Google Scholar »Distribution and development of molecularly distinct perineuronal nets in visual thalamus
By: Sabbagh, U., Monavarfeshani, A., Su, K., Zabet‐Moghadam, M., Cole, J., Carnival, E., Su, J., Mirzaei, M., Gupta, V., Salekdeh, G.H. and Fox, M.A., 2018. Journal of neurochemistry, 147(5), pp.626-646. | Find with Google Scholar »Paterimitra pyramidalis Laurie, 1986, the first tommotiid discovered from the early Cambrian of North China
By: Pan, Bing, Glenn A. Brock, Christian B. Skovsted, Marissa J. Betts, Timothy P. Topper, and Guoxiang Li. Gondwana Research 63 (2018): 179-185. | Find with Google Scholar »Comparative ecology of Escherichia coli in endangered Australian sea lion (Neophoca cinerea) pups
By: Fulham, Mariel, Michelle Power, and Rachael Gray. Infection, Genetics and Evolution 62 (2018): 262-269. | Find with Google Scholar »Differential investment in brain regions for a diurnal and nocturnal lifestyle in Australian Myrmecia ants
By: Sheehan, Zachary, J. Frances Kamhi, Marc A. Seid, and Ajay Narendra. Journal of Comparative Neurology (2018). | Find with Google Scholar »Spatial resolving power and contrast sensitivity are adapted for ambient light conditions in Australian Myrmecia ants
By: Ogawa Y, Ryan LA, Palavalli-Nettimi R, Seegar O, Hart NS and Narendra A. 2019. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2019.00018 | Find with Google Scholar »Deep, helical communal nesting in the yellow-spotted monitor lizard in a desert ecosystem: Indirect evidence for a response to extreme dry conditions
By: Doody, J. S., McHenry, C., Durkin, L., Brown, M., Simms, A., Coleman, L., Phizacklea, C., Jones, H., Phizacklea, O. & Clulow, S. (2018). Herpetologica, 74(4): 306-310. | Find with Google Scholar »Forecasting the spatiotemporal pattern of the cane toad invasion into northwestern Australia.
By: Doody, J. Sean, Colin McHenry, Mike Letnic, Corinne Everitt, Graeme Sawyer, and Simon Clulow. Wildlife Research 45, no. 8 (2019): 718-725. | Find with Google Scholar »Urban noise and grey-headed flying-fox vocalisations: evidence of the silentium effect
By: Pearson, Tim, and Jennifer A. Clarke. Urban Ecosystems (2018): 1-10. | Find with Google Scholar »Urban Gardens as a Space to Engender Biophilia: Evidence and Ways Forward
By: Lin, Brenda B., Monika Egerer, and Alessandro Ossola. Frontiers in Built Environment 4 (2018): 79. | Find with Google Scholar »In the Media
Vanessa Pirotta was interviewed on ABC News Afternoons
Dr Vanessa Pirotta from the Department of Biological Sciences was interviewed on ABC News Afternoons about the impacts of global shipping on marine animals like whales and sharks.
Mariella Herberstein was featured in Quanta Magazine
Professor Marie Herberstein from the Department of Biological Sciences was featured in Quanta Magazine regarding research on insect reproductive strategies.
Rick Shine was interviewed on Radio National Late Night Live
Professor Rick Shine from the Department of Biological Sciences was interviewed on Radio National Late Night Live about whether it is possible to eradicate cane toads.
Andrew Barron contributed to The Conversation and Australasian Science Magazine
Associate Professor Andrew Barron from the Department of Biological Sciences contributed the article ‘Bees can learn the difference between European and Australian Indigenous art styles in a single afternoon’ to The Conversation and Australasian Science Magazine.
Jonas Wolff contributed to The Conversation
Dr Jonas Wolff from the Department of Biological Sciences contributed the article ‘Curious kids: Why do spiders have hairy legs?’ to The Conversation.
Simon Clulow was featured on ABC Online, Brisbane Courier-Mail, ABC Sunshine Coast Mornings and the Townsville Bulletin
Dr Simon Clulow from the Department of Biological Sciences was featured on ABC Online, Brisbane Courier-Mail, ABC Sunshine Coast Mornings and the Townsville Bulletin regarding normally nocturnal cane toads being found awake and active during the day in shady habitats.
Simon Clulow was featured on Seven News Sunshine Coast, 2SER Drive, ABC Radio Darwin Drive, ABC Radio Perth News and ABC Tropical North Breakfast
Dr Simon Clulow from the Department of Biological Sciences was featured on Seven News Sunshine Coast, 2SER Drive, ABC Radio Darwin Drive, ABC Radio Perth News and ABC Tropical North Breakfast regarding normally nocturnal cane toads being found awake and active during the day in shady habitats.
Culum Brown was featured in Australian Geographic
Associate Professor Culum Brown from the Department of Biological Sciences was featured in Australian Geographic regarding sea hares that have been washing up on beaches in New South Wales and Victoria.
Simon Clulow was featured on Sky News, Nine News and in the Sunday Territorian
Dr Simon Clulow from the Department of Biological Sciences was featured on Sky News, Nine News and in the Sunday Territorian regarding normally nocturnal cane toads being found awake and active during the day in shady habitats.
Simon Clulow featured in Australian Geographic
Dr Simon Clulow from the Department of Biological Sciences has had his work on conserving Australia’s frog fauna and his new book on Australian frogs was featured in the front-page feature article for the January 2019 issue of Australian Geographic.
Simon Clulow was featured in BBC World Service’s “The Inquiry”
Dr Simon Clulow from the Department of Biological Sciences has had his research on genome storage, assisted reproduction and de-extinction was featured in a 25 min episode of BBC World Service’s “The Inquiry” program. Each episode of The Inquiry asks a pressing question or idea currently shaping the world and interviews four world-experts to come up with an answer. This week’s question was “Can we stop a mass extinction?”.
https://twitter.com/bbcworldservice/status/1084118687072817152
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cswqvg?ocid=socialflow_twitter
Vanessa Pirotta was interviewed on Channel 10’s Studio 10
Dr Vanessa Pirotta from the Department of Biological Sciences was interviewed on Channel 10’s Studio 10 regarding collecting whale snot to research the health of whales.
Barbara Wueringer was interviewed on ABC News
Dr Barbara Wueringer from the Department of Biological Sciences was interviewed on ABC News regarding a campaign to help recover dwindling populations of sawfish.
Rick Shine was interviewed on ABC Radio Canberra PM
Professor Rick Shine from the Department of Biological Sciences was interviewed on ABC Radio Canberra PM regarding different proposed methods of eradicating cane toads.
Chris Reid was featured on Radio National Breakfast and ABC Radio Canberra AM
Dr Chris Reid from the Department of Biological Sciences was featured on Radio National Breakfast and ABC Radio Canberra AM regarding declining Christmas beetle populations.
Lesley Hughes was featured on Channel 9’s Today On Sunday
Distinguished Professor Lesley Hughes from the Department of Biological Sciences was featured on Channel 9’s Today On Sunday regarding Australian authorities needing to take action to move towards renewable energy.
Culum Brown was interviewed on Channel 10’s The Project
Associate Professor Culum Brown from the Department of Biological Sciences was interviewed on Channel 10’s The Project regarding declining numbers of sharks.
Recent Completions
Guyo Duba Gufu submitted his PhD thesis entitled “Effects of Elevated Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Concentration and Nutrient Enrichment on Freshwater Plant Species
Supervised by Professor Michelle Leishman