Effects of habitat disturbance on tropical forest biodiversity
By: Alroy, John. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2017): 201611855. | Find with Google Scholar »
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Dear all,
A quiet week of feverish marking around the department – best wishes to all our S1 teaching staff. Unit convenors please get your unit spreadsheets and reports to Sharyon as soon as they are completed in readiness for the formal department meeting on July 4.
We had a great turnout on Tuesday to say thanks and wish our departing admin staff (Veronica, Jen & Hannah) all the best for their next roles in the university. Thanks to the technical staff for managing the catering! We will keep you updated as our new admin team develops with new external appointments arriving over the next few weeks to months.
cheers,
Michelle
Save the Date
This coming week 26th – 30th June
Tue 27th: Reproducible Research Using R and Related Tools; 3:00 – 4:30pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).
Wed 28th: Department Morning Tea; 10:30am – 11:00am; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).
Wed 28th: Professor Madeleine Beekman, The University of Sydney; 1pm – 2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).
Thu 29th: Writing Workshop; 2:30-4:30pm, E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).
Following week 3rd – 7th July
Tue 4th: Formal Department meeting for grading; 1-2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).
Wed 5th: Department Morning Tea; 10:30am – 11:00am; The Hill.
Wed 5th: Professor David Haig, Harvard University; 1pm – 2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).
Thu 6th: Writing Workshop; 2:30-4:30pm, E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).
Coming up
Every Thursday for the next few months: Writing Workshop; 2:30-4:00pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).
July 12th: REP Workshop – ‘Making Lectures Interactive’
July 17th: REP Event – ‘NSW Chief Scientist & Engineer Event: Mary O’Kane’; 1-4pm; The Australian Hearing Hub, Level 1 Theatre, 16 University Avenue, Macquarie University.
July 19th: E8C Digital Teaching Lab Induction; 9am – 11:30am; E8C-106.
July 21st: F7B Digital Teaching Lab Induction; 9:30am – 11:30am; F7B-108.
July 24th: E8A Digital Teaching Lab Induction; 9am to 12 noon; E8A-120.
July 25 & 26th: REP Outlook conference 2017
Sept 19th: ECR Showcase; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).
Nov 13-14: Department retreat for academic staff; venue TBD.
Department seminar schedule
August 2nd: Professor Rick Shine, The University of Sydney; 1pm – 2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).
General News and Announcements
Farewell to Admin Staff
It was with great sadness that we reluctantly farewelled our helpful admin staff – Veronica, Jen & Hannah. But we hope their new roles within the University are enjoyable and give them new challenges and ways to grow.
The final image shows our incoming interim admin staff, from left to right: Claire, Harriet, (with Sharyon in the middle), Phil and Suchitra.
DEPARTMENTAL SEMINAR SERIES
Day/Date/Time/Place: Wednesday, 28th June, 1-2pm, E8A-280 (Tea Room).
Speaker: Professor Madeleine Beekman, The University of Sydney.
Title: Why I study social insects.
Abstract: In Virgil’s poem The Georgics, worker bees are described as happily sacrificing their reproductive prerogatives in order to joyfully labour in the service of their colony and monarch. This view has held sway for the greater part of history, until the publication of Hamilton’s inclusive fitness theory. Although Hamilton’s work initially explained how non-reproductive workers in insect colonies could evolve, Darwin’s ‘one special difficulty’, his gene-focused explanation also predicts conflict. So, we can view an insect colony both as a harmonious, xenophobic society in which workers selflessly sacrifice their reproductive opportunities in order to serve their queen and as a battlefield, with selfish individuals pursuing their own interests. Which angle is most appropriate depends on the exact question one wants to ask. I study honeybees to ask questions about how a collective makes decisions but also to elucidate when conflict is expected and means to avoid conflict.
Grant Success
Ajay Narendra and Yuri Ogawa were awarded a three-year research grant from the Hermon Slade Foundation to study the simple eyes in ants. Congratulations!
Donate Your Old Mugs to the Department
So far we have received 12 mugs towards our target of 70. Only 4 weeks left to reach our target of 70 mugs.
Now is the time to clear out those kitchen cupboard, camping boxes, and miscellaneous just in case stashes of cups. Or perhaps it’s time to update your day to day mug collection to something less scratched and tannin stained.
Our goal is to collect 70 additional mugs by the commencement of Session 2 (so we don’t need to use disposable cups). Rewards offered: Bring 5 mugs and get a drink voucher (free alcoholic drink at Thursday drinks, or free coffee at campus outlets). Please deliver mugs to the tearoom and email Samantha Newton <samantha.newton@mq.edu.au> Thanks to Mark W and Marita for the first donations.
E8A Scaffolding and Parapet Work Update
Stage 2 of the Parapet refurbishment will commence this Thursday with installation of additional scaffolding along the Science Road and courtyard perimeters of E8A. There will be some disruption of access and views to the Biology garden while this takes place.
Reminder: Empty Your Mini-bin
Many of you have mini-bins on your desk or in your shared office, rather than under desk bins. Please don’t forget to empty these out each day before you go home. The cleaners are not supposed to empty mini-bins – giving them more time to clean bathrooms and floors. If you need a mini-bin for your desk, please email Samantha Newton <samantha.newton@mq.edu.au>.
If you have a cleaning issue, please lodge a service request with Property. https://ofm.mq.edu.au/service_request.html
Travel – no need for panic
In Veronica’s absence, Claire & Suchitra will be looking after Absence on Duty in Tracker. Since they are both new it would be appreciated if all the staff & students can lodge their AoDs as soon as they know that they need one rather than waiting until a couple of days before they travel.
Also, to all travellers in Biology:
Our Absence on Duty is soon to undergo a “facelift”, as the layout and old/broken links will be updated to make the process clearer and easier for everyone. For the time being, the process will still operate through ask.mq and Tracker. Please watch for a new link, which will be sent out when the process is complete. There will be a short transition period (TBD), after which all new AoDs must be submitted through the new link – so please update any bookmarks you may have on your computers. We will also be updating part of the Biology department website so you can more easily find travel-related information. Meanwhile you’ll find all sorts of useful stuff on the department intranet page
If you have any queries, you can contact <julian.may@mq.edu.au>.
Cool New Gear in Microscopy
The Microscopy crew have recently brought some new, high-tech items of equipment online. If you have an interest in capturing images of the microscopic world, check out the following flyer.
MICROSCOPY UNIT New Instrument Flyer
MQMarine Seminar & Social Friday
Speaker: Dr Laetitia Gunton
Title: “Deep-Sea Macrofaunal Biodiversity of the Whittard Canyon (NE Atlantic)”
Abstract: Submarine canyons are considered to be biodiversity “hotspots” in the deep sea, harbouring an increased abundance and diversity of benthic fauna compared with the adjacent slope. However, due to their high environmental variability, faunal patterns and the drivers of these patterns are poorly understood. The Whittard Canyon is located on the Irish Margin in the Northeast Atlantic, and encompasses water depths from 200 m to 4000 m. In this talk, I will present highlights from my PhD thesis, which focused on benthic macrofauna inside the Whittard Canyon. Interesting patterns in abundance, community composition and diversity of macrofauna were revealed, both between the open slope and canyon location, as well as among canyon branches. This variation probably reflects the influence of organic enrichment and hydrodynamic activity, both of which are influenced by the topographic profiles of individual canyon branches.Biography: Laetitia grew up in Poole, on the south coast of England, where she spent a lot of time wallowing in mud searching for shore crabs and rag worms. She studied Biological Sciences at St. Hilda’s college at the University of Oxford. She then went on to do a Masters in Oceanography at the University of Southampton. She stayed at Southampton University for a PhD in marine ecology, which was joint with Natural History Museum in London. Her PhD focused on deep-sea polychaete worms in canyons. She has also worked at the Royal Society of Biology in London, and at the Institution of Engineering and Technology, in the academic publishing department. She has very recently moved over to Sydney with her husband for a new adventure.
When: 4 pm, Friday, 30th June 2017
Where: Biology Tearoom (E8A 280)
Followed by drinks at U-Bar!
REP workshop – ‘Making your lectures interactive’ (10:30am – 12, 12th July)
Develop. Design. Deliver. These are the key steps to any presentation, but how can we improve our process?
We need to constantly think of different ways to actively engage students in our lectures if we want to achieve a deeper learning experience.
Join Beverley Miles, Learning Designer from the Faculty of Human Sciences, over a tea or coffee and we will explore the strategies you can use to engage students using Echo’s Active Learning Platform (ALP). You will then apply what you learn to your own lecture content, design and delivery. You can use these strategies with any other interactive tool that you may be using. Don’t forget to bring along a laptop or device to work from as we can only provide a limited number of loans.
This is an expanded version of the first successful running of this workshop, so we will discuss the positive impact these strategies have had on staff and students since then.
Everyone is welcome to attend. Whether you are completely new to interactive learning techniques, you’ve been using them with other tools or you just want to find out how you can bring you lectures up a notch, we would be more than happy to see you there.
Click here to register for ‘Making your lectures interactive’
NSW Chief Scientist & Engineer Lecture: Mary O’Kane
July 17, 2017; 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM
The Australian Hearing Hub
Level 1 Theatre, 16 University Avenue
Macquarie University, New South Wales 2109
The MQ Research Enrichment Program and the Faculty of Science and Engineering are delighted to host Professor Mary O’Kane AC, Chief Scientist and Engineer for the NSW Government at Macquarie University.
Under the theme “the science communication problem”, Professor O’Kane will present a lecture entitled “What government needs from university researchers” and explain how her office deals with highly-politicized issues.
Following the talk, you are invited to join focus group sessions with Professor O’Kane and members of her office which will run from 2:00pm – 4:00pm. The aim of these focus groups is to identify upcoming issues that might be at risk of developing the “science communication problem”, meaning topics that become politicized to an extent where the public decides what to believe in order to remain aligned with their social circle, rather than on a basis of evidence or scientific authority. The focus groups will also scope ways to better communicate these topics to the public. The last 30 minutes will involve reporting back, looking forward and closing. Everyone is welcome to attend the focus groups, but they are not in any way obligatory.
For more information and registration: https://www.cvent.com/c/express/91d71bdc-1c92-4364-aee1-422c72628cb6
About the Speaker
Professor Mary O’Kane AC is NSW Chief Scientist & Engineer. She is also active on many Boards, being currently Chair at CRC for Spatial Information, Space Environment Management CRC and Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies at the University of Tasmania, and director of New Zealand Antarctic Research Institute, Capital Markets Cooperative Research Centre and Business Events Sydney. Among previous activities she has served as Vice-Chancellor and Rector of University of Adelaide (1996-2001), on the Finkel Review, the Commonwealth’s Review of the National Innovation System, the Australian Research Council, the Cooperative Research Centres Committee, and the Boards of FH Faulding & Co Ltd and of CSIRO. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and an Honorary Fellow of Engineers Australia. In 2014 she was awarded the Pearcey Medal for lifetime achievement in ICT.
REP ‘Outlook conference’ 2017 (25 and 26th July)
The Research Enrichment Program’s annual Outlook Conference – this year run with the Sydney School of Entrepreneurship in their new building in Ultimo – brings together leading thinkers in diverse disciplines, spanning molecules to landscapes, across deep time frames, and from scientific, historical and social viewpoints. Our objective is to immerse participants in the advancing fronts of research in adjacent, and more distant disciplines.
The 2017 meeting is called What Matters, and Why. Invited speakers will present ideas on why their discipline matters, and how research fronts in these disciplines inform diverse areas of human inquiry. These talks will not recount personal research findings, but will be future-scoping exercises. Our goal is to identify promising areas for high level trans-disciplinary collaboration, for novel commercial or industrial applications, and to expose researchers at all career stages to different ways of thinking.
The two day meeting will consist of seminars by invited speakers, followed by afternoon discussion and brain-storming sessions. A key feature of the conference is the opportunity to meet and interact with research leaders across the breadth of human inquiry.
Click here to register for ‘REP Outlook’
Applications for Ecological Society of Australia Awards in Science Communication and Outreach
are open now..all details here https://www.ecolsoc.org.au/students/awards-and-grants/OEH_ESA_Outstanding_Outreach
What Not To Do
Here is a little article, the name says it all.
How to write consistently boring scientific literature
Short-term Research Assistant Position to Work on Ornamental Plant Decision Support Tools
We have a casual position available that would suit an HDR student or recent graduate (~160 hours/ 4 weeks full-time). The role is to conduct a literature search of ornamental plant decision support tools and collect data to be used in evaluating the tool’s ability to produce transparent, reproducible assessments of the environmental weed risk of ornamental plants.
Brief position description
- Search for decision support tools evaluating weed risk of ornamental plants using search engine (e.g. Google Scholar)
- Collate data from online tools into a database
- Liaise with project team on progress
- Complete the work by 31 August (possible opportunity for more work for the right candidate)
Required skills
- Experience in conducting literature searches and reviews
- Strong data analysis and management skills
- Sound analytical, research and project management skills
- Demonstrated oral and written communication skills
- Background in plant biology, knowledge of weeds desirable
- Skilled in Microsoft Excel, coding skills desirable
If you know anyone who would be interested and suitable for this work, please contact Tori Graham <victoria.graham@mq.edu.au> for more information.
Outreach Opportunities and Requests – We Need Your Help
Outreach
The department has an unprecedented representation in this year’s upcoming Science Festival. The festival runs from 8th-20th of August. Effectively the department will have representation for every day of the festival. The events will include: Wild Science Race (16th/17th) in conjunction with Taronga Zoo, Night of Illusions (18th/19th) in conjunction with Department of Cognitive Sciences from MQ and USyd; The Great Evolutionary Arms Race: Emerging Pathogens and Rise of Superbugs (20th); and the Future of Human Evolution – these latter two are multi-department events; and lastly the Australian Museum Booth from 8th-17th which will involve PhD and Postdocs interacting with Primary, Secondary schools and the general Public. As a result we have a base level of around 20 individuals from academics to postdocs and postgrads representing 12+ labs. On behalf of the Outreach team I want to thank all those that have put their hand up for these events.
In the middle of all this is Open Day, which is the 19th. More will be made of this day in the next coming weeks. Some labs have already taken up the challenge of creating a new activity! Lastly please continue to enter details into the Outreach form. Our approach here has also been recognised at the Faculty level so all your efforts are hitting the desired mark! If you have any questions regarding outreach events or want to know how to get more involved or wish to propose an idea please contact any of the outreach team which includes Matthew Bulbert, Kath McClellan, Jemma Geoghegan, Chris Reid, Kerstin Bilgmann, Alex Carthey, Julian May, Ken Cheng and Ajay Narendra. – ACCESS OUTREACH FORM HERE
Science Festival Gigs for August – We Need You!
- Excite schools and public at the Australian Museum
For this year’s science festival the faculty will have a booth/space at the Australian Museum. The museum is the central hub of the festival and hence has high flow through traffic including both public and high schools. This is a great opportunity for Macquarie and a great one for those of you wanting to increase your outreach profile as well as broaden the knowledge of the public.
We need volunteers for:
Primary school days: 8th (AM) and 11th (Anytime)
Super Public day: 12th (Anytime)
High School days: 15th (anytime), 16th (AM), 17th (Anytime), 18th (AM)
Your commitment:
At minimum, a couple of hours with whatever display/activity of your choosing
Have fun telling passer-by’s about the cool stuff you do
I particularly encourage participation on the high school days.
- National Indigenous Science Education Program (NISEP)
The National Indigenous Science Education Program (NISEP), Redfern Community Centre and City of Sydney are once again running the Indigenous Science Experience at Redfern – 16-18th and 20th August. If you would like to contribute an activity to this, please contact the biology outreach team or Joanne Jamie directly for more information. It’s a wonderful opportunity to showcase our disciplines. I highly recommend (for those who have not contributed previously) checking out the YouTube channel to see previous years’ events:www.youtube.com/user/NISEPmq
Annual Report Anecdotes
Did you do an outreach activity last year that you were particularly proud of?
We need some nice examples for the 2016 Annual report. So, if you do please send through a few lines about what it was and a picture or two (if you have one – if not please send details anyway).
For any of these items please contact: <matthew.bulbert@mq.edu.au> or talk to any member of the outreach team which include Kath McCellan, Chris Reid, Ken Cheng, Jemma Geoghegan, Alexandra Carthey, Kerstin Bilgmann and Julian May. It is important you talk to us about any activities. Thanks.
New Publications
Different Roles for Honey Bee Mushroom Bodies and Central Complex in Visual Learning of Colored Lights in an Aversive Conditioning Assay
By:Plath, Jenny A., Brian V. Entler, Nicholas H. Kirkerud, Ulrike Schlegel, C. Giovanni Galizia, and Andrew B. Barron. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 11 (2017). | Find with Google Scholar »Optimum air temperature for tropical forest photosynthesis: mechanisms involved and implications for climate warming
By: Tan, Z.H., Zeng, J., Zhang, Y.J., Slot, M., Gamo, M., Hirano, T., Kosugi, Y., da Rocha, H.R., Saleska, S.R., Goulden, M.L. and Wofsy, S.C., 2017. Environmental Research Letters, 12(5). | Find with Google Scholar »Early social environment influences the behaviour of a family-living lizard
By: Riley, Julia L., Daniel WA Noble, Richard W. Byrne, and Martin J. Whiting. Royal Society Open Science 4, no. 5 (2017): 161082. | Find with Google Scholar »Intrinsic and extrinsic influences on standard metabolic rates of three species of Australian otariid
By: Ladds, Monique A., David J. Slip, and Robert G. Harcourt. Conservation Physiology 5, no. 1 (2017). | Find with Google Scholar »In the Media
Rob Kooyman was interviewed on ABC North Coast Breakfast
Dr Rob Kooyman from the Department of Biological Sciences was interviewed on ABC North Coast Breakfast on biomimicry in nature. See page 1 of the report.
Jonas Wolff provided comment to New Scientist
Dr Jonas Wolff from the Department of Biological Sciences provided comment to New Scientist in ongoing coverage of his new study which has found that species of ground spider catch their prey by shooting sticky silk to immobilize them.