Giant Australian cuttlefish use mutual assessment to resolve male-male contests
Schnell AK, Smith CL, Hanlon RT, Harcourt R, 2015. Giant Australian cuttlefish use mutual assessment to resolve male-male contests. Animal Behaviour 107:31-40. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.05.026. | Find with Google Scholar »
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Dear all,
I am ready to pass the buck (actually the doe) to Michelle Leishman. Join us on Wednesday July 15 at 10am in the E8 tearoom to witness the transmogrification of power!
cheerio
Mariella
ps- this is my last newsletter, thank you all for sending stuff in – keep at it!
General News and Announcements
Grant success
Congratulations to Phil Taylor who has won a $20.5 million research grant with Horticulture Australia. The work will be on all aspects of Q-fly biology and pest control. More details are here.
New MQ Research Center
More congratulations to Phil Taylor and colleagues for their successful bid of a MQ research center: Biosecurity Futures
Biology at the Australian Museum Science Festival
We are looking for volunteers to participate at the festival in August. We have limited money to reimburse HDR students for some of the effort (please email Mariella if you are interested). The activities are similar to Open Day (bring a display and chat to children and adults). Here are the dates:
- Tuesday 11 Aug – Thursday 13 Aug: Primary schools
- Friday 14 Aug: Under 7s
- Saturday 15 Aug: Community day
- Tues 18 – Fri 20 Aug: Secondary schools
Work experience candidate
We have a year 10 student seeking work experience in November. Please contact Samantha Newton if you are able to host the student.
Work experience is for one week, either of the following dates:
- 2nd-6th November
- 16th-20th November
Rowan is in Year 10 at Fort Street High School. He has commenced one HSC subject, Earth and Environment Science and is undertaking Geography Extension, among other subjects. He has background knowledge and interest in plant ecology and animal science (especially reptiles).
Job – Conservation Project Manager, Taronga Zoo
We have a new position for Conservation Project Manager that has been posted on JobsNSW and the Taronga Website. I would be very grateful if you would send this far and wide to your networks. We are keen to have someone with a landscape background and knowledge to bring to the team.
Here is the link: https://taronga.org.au/content/conservation-project-manager
NTEU Presents Free Movie Screening of “Ivory Tower”
In the US, as tuition rates spiral beyond reach and student loan debt passes US$1 trillion (more than credit card debt), Ivory Tower asks: Is college worth the cost?
From the halls of Harvard, to public colleges in financial crisis, to Silicon Valley, filmmaker Andrew Rossi assembles an urgent portrait of a great American institution at the breaking point. Through profiles at Arizona State, Cooper Union, and San Jose State – among several others – Ivory Tower reveals how colleges in the US, long regarded as leaders in higher education, came to embrace a business model that often promotes expansion over quality learning. But along the way we also find unique programs, from Stanford to the free desert school Deep Springs to the historically black all women’s college Spelman, where the potential for life-changing college experiences endure.
Ultimately, Ivory Tower asks, what price will society pay if our universities cannot evolve a sustainable economic model that enables them to maintain equitable access to high quality education and meet the needs of our communities?
NTEU Macquarie Branch is holding a Free Screening Macquarie University (trailer attached to the link)
Thursday 13 August, 4.30pm
Film at 5pm, Room 136, Building E6B
Treats supplied:
- Jaffa’s
- Lollies
- Pop Corn
- Mixed soft drink and water
Supervisor survey
Nick Mansfield, Dean HDR, Dominic Verity, Head of Academic Senate, Ren Yi, Director, Research Training and International Research Training Partnerships, and Julie Fitness, Head of Department and Chair of HDR Appeals Committee, are conducting a Lean process improvement project to improve the HDR Terminations and Appeals processes with the support of the Business Process Improvement team.
We’d appreciate any feedback you could give us about these processes based on your experiences of them as a Research Supervisor and any observations of or feedback from candidates.
Your insights will be used to help us evaluate the current processes and develop and implement improved processes.
Click here to complete a brief survey by Friday 24 July.
Biosecurity for NSW – how prepared are we in Sydney?
The next event we are organising at the Field of Mars Reserve is a presentation, Biosecurity for NSW: How prepared are we in Sydney? by Graham Wilson, Manager Biosecurity and Emergency Services from Greater Sydney Local Land Services .
This will be held at the Field of Mars Environmental Education Centre with an early start at 9.30am!
Further details attached – hope to see you there. Please circulate to others who may be interested in this important matter.
Also don’t forget to Like us on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ryde-Hunters-Hill-Flora-and-Fauna-Preservation-Society/1092104437471266?fref=ts
Plant of the week
Woollsia pungens – a prickly white flowered heath from Sydney sandstones
Jobs – Research officer Climate Council
Please find attached the ad for the new Research officer role .http://www.ethicaljobs.com.au/Members/climatecouncil/research-officer-1.
2nd Biennial Meeting of the ANZ Student Chapter of the Society for Marine Mammology
This conference will provide ANZ students with the opportunity to present and discuss their research in a relaxed environment while meeting and networking with other marine mammalogy students and researchers. The two day conference will consist of student oral and poster presentations along with several guest speakers. If you are interested in attending please send an abstract (300 words max) to anzscsmm@gmail.com by the 31st August 2015
More detail attached
2nd Biennial Student Chapter Annoucement
Compound Microscope for sell
We have 34 mics to sell @50.00 each. All compound microscopes are in good condition and has been maintained by Ray Cameron.
There is no return and no warranty. Please email Rekha.
Conference success
Congratulations to Kim Kliska, MRes student in Rob Harcourts lab, who just won best PEP talk at AMSA!
Looking for internship
My name is Joan Nazzaro (<joanmiquel.nazzaro@uvic.cat>)
and I am currently on my 4th Biology degree year at Univeristat de Vic – Universitat Central de Catalunya (Catalonia, Spain).
I have recently come across your work on animal behaviour with great interest.
I am addressing to you since I would be very interested in applying for a position as an intern at your institution from February to June. I consider myself a very hardworking and fast learning person with good laboratory skills and already with professional working experience in technological companies.
I think it would be a great opportunity for both of us if I could get involved in any of your projects, thus I would appreciate if you could contact me. You will find attached my CV, a letter of recommendation from the head of my university studies and my Letter of Motivation.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Write a novel in 3 days
Now, there is a challenge: http://www.3daynovel.com/
Most cited climate change papers
Some people have put together a list of the most highly cited climate-change related papers of all time, according to Scopus:
http://www.carbonbrief.org/blog/2015/07/analysis-most-cited-climate-change-papers/
Number 3 is Thomas et al 2004, of which Linda Beaumont and Lesley Hughes were authors (among many).
Number 9 is Wright et al 2004, of which Ian Wright and Mark Westoby were authors (among many).
STEM Consultation
Science has been attracting more policy attention in the Federal arena in recent months, with a number of reports and announcements. Of particular note are Government consultations on their formal response to the Chief Scientist’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) strategy with the expectation that some concrete result may be seen before year’s end.
Submissions have been invited: https://consult.industry.gov.au/science-and-commercialisation-policy-division/vision-for-a-science-nation
New Publications
Technicolour deceit: a sensory basis for the study of colour-based lures
White TE, Kemp DJ, 2015. Technicolour deceit: a sensory basis for the study of colour-based lures. Animal Behaviour 105:231-243. doi: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.04.025. | Find with Google Scholar »Active but asocial: exploration and activity is linked to social behaviour in a colonially breeding finch
McCowan LSC, Griffith SC, 2015. Active but asocial: exploration and activity is linked to social behaviour in a colonially breeding finch. Behaviour 152:1145-1167. doi: 10.1163/1568539x-00003272. | Find with Google Scholar »Export fluxes in a naturally iron-fertilized area of the Southern Ocean – Part 2: Importance of diatom resting spores and faecal pellets for export
Rembauville M, Blain S, Armand L, Queguiner B, Salter I, 2015. Export fluxes in a naturally iron-fertilized area of the Southern Ocean - Part 2: Importance of diatom resting spores and faecal pellets for export. Biogeosciences 12:3171-3195. doi: 10.5194/bg-12-3171-2015. | Find with Google Scholar »Shifting time: recent changes to the phenology of Australian species
Beaumont LJ, Hartenthaler T, Keatley MR, Chambers LE, 2015. Shifting time: recent changes to the phenology of Australian species. Climate Research 63:203-214. doi: 10.3354/cr01294. | Find with Google Scholar »Predicting long-term carbon sequestration in response to CO2 enrichment: How and why do current ecosystem models differ?
Walker AP, Zaehle S, Medlyn BE, De Kauwe MG, Asao S, Hickler T, Parton W, Ricciuto DM, Wang YP, Warlind D, Norby RJ, 2015. Predicting long-term carbon sequestration in response to CO2 enrichment: How and why do current ecosystem models differ? Global Biogeochemical Cycles 29:476-495. doi: 10.1002/2014gb004995. | Find with Google Scholar »The timing of autumn senescence is affected by the timing of spring phenology: implications for predictive models
Keenan TF, Richardson AD, 2015. The timing of autumn senescence is affected by the timing of spring phenology: implications for predictive models. Global Change Biology 21:2634-2641. doi: 10.1111/gcb.12890. | Find with Google Scholar »Comparison of the cross-shelf phytoplankton distribution of two oceanographically distinct regions off Australia
Armbrecht LH, Thompson PA, Wright SW, Schaeffer A, Roughan M, Henderiks J, Armand LK, 2015. Comparison of the cross-shelf phytoplankton distribution of two oceanographically distinct regions off Australia. Journal of Marine Systems 148:26-38. doi: 10.1016/j.jmarsys.2015.02.002. | Find with Google Scholar »The danger within: the role of genetic, behavioural and ecological factors in population persistence of colour polymorphic species
Bolton PE, Rollins LA, Griffith SC, 2015. The danger within: the role of genetic, behavioural and ecological factors in population persistence of colour polymorphic species. Molecular Ecology 24:2907-2915. doi: 10.1111/mec.13201. | Find with Google Scholar »Why biodiversity has so many enemies
Beattie AJ, 2014. Why biodiversity has so many enemies. Telopea 16:185-193. doi: 10.7751/telopea20148076. | Find with Google Scholar »In the Media
Should sharks be culled?
Should sharks be culled? Shark expert Rob Harcourt discusses this controversial question on 2GB: http://www.2gb.com/article/karl-stefanovic-%E2%80%93-should-sharks-be-culled
Photo credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_shark
Recent Completions
PhD – Vincent Raoult: The biology and fisheries of angle sharks and sawsharks in South-Eastern Australia
Supervised by Jane Williamson