Wells provide a distorted view of life in the aquifer: implications for sampling, monitoring and assessment of groundwater ecosystems
By: Korbel, Kathryn, Anthony Chariton, Sarah Stephenson, Paul Greenfield, and Grant C. Hose. Scientific Reports 7 (2017). | Find with Google Scholar »
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Dear all,
The tents are up so O-Week and Session 1 approaches – good luck to all S1 convenors! Coming up this week is the first of the department seminar series for 2017 – thanks to Alex Carthey & Rachael Gallagher who are organising the seminars this year! The Department Social (drinks, nibbles and music in the courtyard) also kicks off for this year with the first gathering on Thursday at 5pm. Finally, anyone (staff, students) interested in diversity or sustainability in the department – what we do and how we can improve – please let me know so we can organise some working groups.
cheerio,
Michelle
Save the Date
This coming week 20th – 24th February
Tues Feb 21st: E8A Digital Teaching Lab Induction; 9am – 12:20pm; E8A-120 (Red Lab).
Wed Feb 22nd: Morning Tea with HoD; 10:30am – 11am; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room)
Wed Feb 22nd: Weekly Seminar – Emeritus Professor Dick Frankham of MQU – Genetic management of fragmented animal and plant populations: highlights from our new book; 1pm – 2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).
Thurs Feb 23rd: E8C Digital Teaching Lab Induction; 9am – 12:00pm; E8C-106.
Thurs Feb 23rd: Research Enrichment Program ‘Launch Meeting’; 1 – 2pm; E6A-102.
Thurs Feb 23rd: Department social – drinks, nibbles & music in the Biology courtyard from 5pm
Fri Feb 24th: F7B Digital Teaching Lab Induction; 9:30am – 11:00am; F7B-108 (and 105).
Following week 27th February – 3rd March
Mar 1st: Morning Tea with HoD; 10:30am – 11am; The Hill.
Mar 1st: Weekly Seminar – Professor Lourens Poorter & Associate Professor Marielos Pena-Claros of Wageningen University, The Netherlands; 1pm – 2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).
Coming up
Mar 7th: Department meeting (1-2pm) with lunch before (12.30-1pm); E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).
Department seminar schedule
Mar 8th: Weekly Seminar – Dr Antoine Wystrach of University of Edinburgh, UK; 1pm – 2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).
Mar 15th: Weekly Seminar – Dr Geertje van der Heijden of University of Nottingham, UK; 1pm – 2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).
Mar 22th: Weekly Seminar – Dr Marko Miliša of University of Zagreb, Croatia; 1pm – 2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).
Mar 29th: Weekly Seminar – Professor David Warton of University of NSW; 1pm – 2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).
Apr 5th: Weekly Seminar – Associate Professor Clare McArthur of University of Sydney; 1pm – 2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).
General News and Announcements
Hollywood In The Lab!
This week, we’ve had the Learning Innovation Hub film crew in the E8C labs, filming a lab safety awareness video. Our own Prasanth Subramani and Winnie Man had bit parts. We look forward to seeing them on the screen once the post production is finished. Below are some ‘behind the scenes’ shots. Many thanks to the film crew and actors for doing such a marvelous job.
Promote Your Research Group to Advanced Biology Students
Third-year students enrolled in Advanced Biology (BIOL388) are required to complete 60 hours in a research-based placement with a biological research group. This placement counts as the PACE component of the Advanced Science (Biology) program. The placement may be taken up with the Department, or with an external partner organisation.
While many of the students may already have approached possible supervisors or research teams, we would like to provide them with a ‘snapshot’ of potential research projects within the Department. If you have a suitable project, or would simply like to advertise your research group in general, please email Koa Webster (koa.webster@mq.edu.au) with the following details, preferably before 24th February.
Lab name:
Contact person and e-mail:
Lab website address:
Project titles/brief descriptions: (if applicable)
If you frequently work with external organisations, you may also want to highlight this.
DEPARTMENTAL SEMINAR SERIES
Day/Date/Time/Place: Wednesday, 22nd February, 1-2pm, E8A-280 (Tea Room)
Speaker: Emeritus Professor Dick Frankham
Title: Genetic management of fragmented animal and plant populations: highlights from our new book
Abstract: Genetic management of fragmented populations is one of the most important, largely unaddressed issues in all of conservation biology. Dick Frankham and seven of his colleagues have recently completed a book on the topic which seeks to provoke a paradigm shift in the management of fragmented populations. This seminar will provide highlights from the book and an overview of it. A central issue is the potential to genetically rescue small inbred populations with low genetic diversity by augmenting gene flow, and thereby prevent many unnecessary population extinctions.
ALL WELCOME
FREE TIM TAMS
Research Enrichment Program (REP) – Launch Meeting
On Thursday, the 23rd February the Research Enrichment Program (REP) will ‘Launch’ its menu of masterclasses for 2017 in E6A102 (1-2pm). You’ll have an opportunity to see what masterclasses are on offer and begin to sign-into them.
The menu is almost complete. The offerings this year will look something like this:
- Programming in R
- Programming in python
- Tutor training
- Academic writing and communication
- Soft skills and teamwork
- Life in the universe
- Making your science matter
- Writing workshop
- Microbial traits
- Non-academic jobs following a PhD
- Future directions in Neuroethology
- How to embed extra-curricular training in your C.V.
- Making a five-year research plan
- Experimental design
- How to negotiate the PhD journey
- The evolution of Art
- REP Outlook – the REP 2-day celebration of research
Looking forward to seeing you there!
Wade, Andrew and Mariella
New Seat in the Garden
The biology garden annexe has a beautiful new wooden seat. Made by Eric Seabrook from Property, and finished by Rob Roy in METS, this seat was formerly a living tree here at Macquarie Uni. It fell down during one of the storms last year and will live on in our wonderful garden.
This seat has much to attract attention. There’s the beautiful colour of the heartwood, the patterns and textures within the wood, and the fascinating trails left by wood borers large and small. Are the wood borers from two different age classes, or two different species?
Also in the garden are these tiny bees. They cluster around a small Geraldton Wax in the morning and evening, but disappear in the middle of the day. They’ve been in the garden for a few months now. If anyone knows the species name, please email samantha.newton@mq.edu.au, or post a follow-up article to this newsletter. Thanks to Katherine McClellan for the photo.
Australian Proteome Analysis Facility Access 2017
If you need APAF access for your research, please read the following flyer.
Plant of the Week
For next week: Cleome – an old fashioned garden plant, closely related to Arabidopsis, with species showing progression from C3 to C4 photosynthesis, now a potential new model in understanding the evolution of C4 photosynthesis.
ECA Research Grants 2017
The Ecological Consultants Association of NSW will once again be awarding three Research Grants in 2017.
Please see the attached information or the ECA webpage for further information http://www.ecansw.org.au/ECA-Research-Grants/ on the grants and the association.
Please don’t hesitate to contact Amy Rowles <admin@ecansw.org.au> if you have any questions and please pass on this information to others that you feel may be interested.
ECA Research Grant Application Form 2017
Grant Information and Application Form 2017
MSc Research Project with the Tvärminne Benthic Ecology Team, Finland
We are currently seeking an independent, conscientious and highly motivated Master student to work on “Carbon sequestration in different coastal habitats“.
The Finnish archipelago constitutes a mosaic of charismatic environments; including dense stands of Fucus, vibrant seagrass meadows and extensive plains of bare sediment. Environments such as these need to be quantitatively characterised, in order to assess which properties of these habitats enhance the delivery of ecosystem services such as food security, water quality control and carbon sequestration. This Masters project will assess the role of major habitat characteristics on carbon sequestration, with a particular focus on the role of primary and secondary production. It will encompass seasonal variability in the production of vascular plants, microphytobenthos as well as the macrofaunal community.
The student will be working as part of a team in a hands-on field and laboratory based campaign in the Finnish archipelago during the summer of 2017. The ability to scuba dive is preferred. Accommodation at Tvärminne Zoological Station is available at reduced rate, and the student is expected to apply for an MSc grant under guidance of the supervisors. There will be a possibility to take part in writing a scientific article after the study is finished. The student will be supervised by Charlotte Angove (PhD student), Dr. Camilla Gustafsson and Dr. Anna Villnäs at Tvärminne Zoological Station, University of Helsinki.
Interested candidates can send their motivation letter (in English) to the current project, CV and one reference by e-mail to <anna.villnäs@helsinki.fi> or <camilla.gustafsson@helsinki.fi>. The deadline for applications is 28th February 2017. If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to email us.
Reminder of the 2017 Travel Award, Sponsored by Diversity, for a PhD Student or Postdoctoral Researcher
As Editor-in-Chief of the open access journal Diversity, I am pleased to announce the journal is sponsoring a 2017 travel award for excellence in any field of diversity.
The travel award will be given to a PhD student or postdoctoral researcher and consists of 800 CHF toward attending a conference in 2017.
We are currently accepting nominations and applications for this award. Please send the application by 15 March 2017. The winner will be announced on the Diversity website by 30 April 2017. Please find additional details here.
Diversity (ISSN 1424-2818) is an open access journal on the science of biodiversity, published quarterly online by MDPI. It is indexed by Scopus, Zoological Record, etc. For more information on Diversity please visit our website: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/diversity.
We look forward to receiving your nominations and applications and please let us know if you have any questions. If you are interested to apply for these awards, please send your information to us by 15 March 2017.
Emergency Specialist Clinic
A new clinic, WISE (Walk in Emergency Specialists), has opened at 33-39 Talavera Rd, which is helping to take the strain off hospital emergency facilities .
As a private practice a fee of $200 is payable, which covers your consultation and any scans you may need.
See attached pamphlet for more information.
New Publications
Heritability and causal reasoning
By: Lynch, Kate E. Biology & Philosophy 32, no. 1 (2017): 25-49. | Find with Google Scholar »Contrasting behavior between two populations of an ice-obligate predator in East Antarctica
By: Heerah, Karine, Mark Hindell, Virginia Andrew‐Goff, Iain Field, Clive R. McMahon, and Jean‐Benoît Charrassin. Ecology and Evolution (2016). | Find with Google Scholar »Male Siamese fighting fish use gill flaring as the first display towards territorial intruders
By: Forsatkar, Mohammad Navid, Mohammad Ali Nematollahi, and Culum Brown. Journal of Ethology 35, no. 1 (2017): 51-59. | Find with Google Scholar »A global invader or a complex of regionally distributed species? Clarifying the status of an invasive calcareous tubeworm Hydroides dianthus (Verrill, 1873) (Polychaeta: Serpulidae) using DNA barcoding
By: Sun, Yanan, Eunice Wong, Erica Keppel, Jane E. Williamson, and Elena K. Kupriyanova. Marine Biology 164, no. 1 (2017): 28. | Find with Google Scholar »Is the Antarctic Ophryotrocha orensanzi (Annelida: Dorvilleidae) a circumpolar non-specialized opportunist?
By: Paxton, Hannelore, Helena Wiklund, Frances Alexander, and Sergi Taboada. Systematics and Biodiversity (2016): 1-10. | Find with Google Scholar »How Species Boundaries Are Determined: A Response to Alexander et al.
By: Westoby, Mark, Georges Kunstler, Michelle L. Leishman, and John Morgan. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 32, no. 1 (2017): 7-8. | Find with Google Scholar »In the Media
Ajay Narendra was interviewed on ABC Radio Brisbane’s Evenings program
Dr Ajay Narendra from the Department of Biological Sciences was interviewed on ABC Radio Brisbane’s Evenings program, and featured on ABC Brisbane Breakfast on his new research on bull ants and how these insects acquire visual information in low-light. See page 2 of the report.
Ben Pitcher’s new paper was covered by Sciencemag.org, Huffington Post, and Radio New Zealand
Dr Ben Pitcher of the Department of Biological Sciences has a new paper out that was covered by various sources.
Paper:
http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/4/2/160346
Associate media:
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/02/goats-know-what-their-friends-sound
Radio New Zealand
Michael Gillings was interviewed by Clinical Omics Magazine, had an article in The Conversation, and his groups’ latest paper was mentioned in the Sydney Morning Herald, San Diego Union Tribune and by the CDRP
Interview on antibiotic resistance appeared in Clinical Omics magazine this week:
Article in The Conversation
Gillings (2017) Our research in China’s estuaries offers glimpses of a dire future: A world without effective antibiotics.
Media mentions about our latest paper (Zhu et al. 2017, Nature Microbiology)
Sydney Morning Herald http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/superbug-risk-high-levels-of-antibiotic-resistance-genes-found-in-estuaries-20170127-gu0cyo.html Mirrored in Goulburn Post, Border Mail, Illawarra Mercury, Brisbane Times
San Diego Union Tribune http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/biotech/sd-me-antibiotic-resistance-20170130-story.html
Center for Disease Research and Policy http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2017/01/stewardship-resistance-scan-jan-31-2017
Culum Brown was interviewed on ABC Radio Adelaide Evenings
Associate Professor Culum Brown from the Department of Biological Sciences was interviewed on ABC Radio Adelaide Evenings on his new research into sexual harassment in guppies, finding it is the male fish who suffer the most.
Matthew Bulbert was interviewed on ABC Radio Darwin’s Afternoons program
Dr Matthew Bulbert from the Department of Biological Sciences was interviewed on ABC Radio Darwin’s Afternoons program on his new study which found more than 140 species of insects mimic each other to ward off predators. See page 4 of the report.
Recent Completions
Peri Bolton submitted her thesis entitled “Colourful conservation: genetic incompatibility and conservation genetics in the wild Gouldian finch (Erythrura gouldiae)”
Supervised by Dr Simon Griffith