A review of parasites in the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii)
By: Wait, Liana F., Sarah Peck, Samantha Fox, and Michelle L. Power. Biodiversity and Conservation (2016): 1-18. | Find with Google Scholar »
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Dear all,
This week the department held a party in honour of Mark Westoby on his retirement – it was a lovely event and special thanks to Mariella for her organisation! Coming up next week are MRes seminars on Thursday – please come along to support our MRes students. Also drinks and department BBQ on Thursday!
cheerio,
Michelle
Save the Date
This coming week 20th – 24th March
Mon 20th: MU Species Spectrum Research Centre – information session; 2-4pm, Continuum room (Level 3, Talavera road building).
Tue 21st: Faculty of Science & Engineering Town Hall meeting; Macquarie Theatre 1-2pm
Tue 21st: R-Users Group Meeting; 3pm – 5pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).
Wed 22nd: Morning Tea with HoD; 10:30am – 11am; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).
Wed 22nd: Weekly Seminar – Dr Marko Miliša of University of Zagreb, Croatia; 1pm – 2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).
Wed 22nd: Research Enrichment Program – Bookclub: “How to get a PhD: a handbook for students and their supervisors,” Ch 1-4; 4pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).
Thu 23rd: MRes Seminars; 9am- 5pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).
Thu 23rd: James O’Hanlon Farewell; 11am – 11:30am; Biology Courtyard.
Thu 23rd: Writing Workshop; 2:30-4:30pm, E8B 215.
Thu 23rd: Department social drinks & BBQ; from 5pm in the Biology Courtyard.
Following week 27th – 31st March
Wed 29th: Morning Tea with HoD; 10:30am – 11am; The Hill.
Wed 29th: Weekly Seminar – Professor David Warton of University of NSW; 1pm – 2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).
Coming up
April 5th: Research Enrichment Program – Bookclub: “How to get a PhD: a handbook for students and their supervisors,” Ch 5-6; 4pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).
April 19th: Research Enrichment Program – Bookclub: “How to get a PhD: a handbook for students and their supervisors,” Ch 7-8; 4pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).
May 3rd: Research Enrichment Program – Bookclub: “How to get a PhD: a handbook for students and their supervisors,” Ch 9-12; 4pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).
June 13 – 15th: HDR Conference; Timetable TBA; Location TBA.
Department seminar schedule
Apr 5th: Weekly Seminar – Associate Professor Clare McArthur of University of Sydney; 1pm – 2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).
Apr 12th: Weekly Seminar – Professor John Mattick, Executive Director, Garvan Institute of Medical Research; 1pm – 2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).
May 3rd: Weekly Seminar – Associate Professor Tim Parker, Whitman College, Washington; 1pm – 2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).
General News and Announcements
Farewell James O’Hanlon
James is leaving the Department to take up a research fellowship at the University of New England. Please join us for a morning tea on Thursday 23rd at 11 in the Biology Tearoom to wish him all the best.
Celebration for Mark
The wine and cheeses were beautifully matched and the speeches were fabulous!
Outreach
Do you have any outreach activities coming up or recently completed? PLEASE let us know via the outreach form – (an average of 1min 46sec to fill in but worth so much more in terms of brownie points for the department) – ACCESS OUTREACH FORM HERE
DEPARTMENTAL SEMINAR SERIES
Day/Date/Time/Place: Wednesday, 22nd March, 1-2pm, E8A-280 (Tea Room)
Speaker: Dr Marko Miliša of University of Zagreb, Croatia.
Title: Dinaric Karst Organisms and Global Climate Change
Abstract: In karst areas, calcite precipitation in water is common. The calcite deposit encrusts all immersed objects, including organisms such as algae, mosses and animal-originating structures, and is called tufa. Tufa may grow in height more than 1 cm per year, and growth is controlled by many factors, one of which is water temperature. The higher the temperature the more tufa is deposited. Encrusted organisms die-off and with subsequent decay a system of pores and caverns within the substrate is created. These nooks and crannies may be populated by animals and/or filled with organic particles. As such, both tufa deposits and attached organisms may serve as tools to monitor climate change. With a size of approximately 138,595 km² (roughly twice the size of Tasmania) and a mean depth of 173 m the Adriatic Sea is a small pocket of the Mediterranean and harbors extreme biodiversity. Calcium carbonate forms part of the skeletons of many organisms, hence their skeletons have similar monitoring potential to corals. The skeleton growth may be a tool that enables comparisons between diverse marine habitats, e.g. Adriatic Sea and Tasman Sea/Pacific.
R-Users Group Meeting
In the upcoming R users meeting about (R)emote Sensing, Dr. Jens Oldeland from the University of Hamburg, Germany, will present how to exploit R for the analysis of satellite and drone imagery. We will go from global to local, learn about recent sensor technology and see some really useful R packages for image analysis and handling. As always, everybody is welcome to join us next Tuesday, 21.03.2017, at 3 pm in the Biology Tea Room E8A 280.
Biology Safety Alert
1. Minutes from Faculty of Science and Engineering WHS committee meeting held 23rd February 2017
Minutes_FSE_WHS committee 23-2-17
Research Enrichment Program – Bookclub: “How to get a PhD: a handbook for students and their supervisors”, Wednesday 22nd March 4pm
Subsequent sessions: 5th April, 19th April, 3rd May. Biological Sciences Tea Room (E8A-280).
The Research Enrichment Program (REP) offers a series of masterclasses designed to help you encounter new research questions and possibilities across a wide range of fields. These masterclasses also provide opportunities to enhance your soft and generic skills. Masterclasses are open to everyone – including HDR and MRes students – and range from those that invite participation across all faculties through to those that are discipline-specific, highlighting the latest research methods and concepts. The current list of offerings can be found on the REP website: https://staff.mq.edu.au/research/resources-and-support/research-enrichment-program.
One upcoming masterclasses that you might find particularly useful is REP Book club: “How to get a PhD: a handbook for students and their supervisors” by Phillips and Pugh. Email wade.tozer@mq.edu.au to get a copy of the book (limited quantities available, first in, first served).
Plant of the Week
This week – Mosses – They may be small but they play a major role in desert, rainforest and arctic tundra environments. (Photographs Mark Olson, Alison Downing, Ross Peacock)
We Want to Give You Money for Trait-based Research: MU Species Spectrum Research Centre Information Session.
Have you been thinking about using the trait-based approach in your research? Do you want to explore the possibility of applying this approach to your own research questions? Come along to the newly-formed MU Species Spectrum Research Centre information session: Monday the 20th March (2-4pm) in the Continuum room (Level 3, Talavera road building).
At this information session you will have the opportunity to find out what trait research is all about and how this way of thinking can inform big questions across a wide range of research directions. You will have the opportunity to pitch an idea you may have been thinking about and/or give feedback on other research directions involving traits. You may find collaborative opportunities. Or you many like to become more informed around new directions in trait research. Everyone is warmly welcome to attend.
The broad aim of the MU Species Spectrum Research Centre is to fund working groups in the application of the trait-based approach to a broad range of questions and organisms. The unifying element across the working groups will be in the compilation of trait data for a broad set of organisms, materials and behaviours to understand their function at the continental and global scale: ie to characterise “species spectra”. Monday’s information session will culminate in a call for proposals for working groups to achieve this aim.
To RSVP for the MU Species Spectrum Research Centre information session, please e-mail: <fse.species-spectrum-admin@mq.edu.au>.
Looking forward to seeing you there.
Mariella and the MUSSRC Executive Committee
From Rob Harcourt – Co-Chair of the Faculty’s Women in Stem committee
An excellent video on Unconscious Bias from the Royal Society
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVp9Z5k0dEE
Do You Want Help to Improve Your Writing?
Ken Cheng and Jennifer Hallinan run weekly writing workshops, Thursdays 2:30-4:30pm (next week’s session will be held in E8B 215).
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. The sessions will involve personal feedback linked perhaps with rounds of revisions on selected passages during the session, but will vary depending on the needs of participants. The aim is not just to get stuff written, but to write everything well.
Those interested in attending a session should email both Ken Cheng <ken.cheng@mq.edu.au> and Jennifer Hallinan <jennifer.hallinan@mq.edu.au> by Wednesday 12:00, preferably with a draft attached of what they are working on and some indication of what they especially need help with.
Tutor Recruitment
The Wallumai tutoring program is currently recruiting tutors to support the studies of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students within Macquarie University. We are currently seeking tutors for all undergraduate and masters level units.
The Wallumai program offers Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students a maximum allowance of 20 hours per unit for undergraduate students and 10 hours per unit for postgraduate students. This is a supplementary program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and as such, tutors are not guaranteed work throughout the program. The program is adapted to and reflects students needs, and students may not use the full amount of tutoring allocated.
Applicants need to have received a distinction grade or above in the unit/s they wish to tutor in and/or demonstrate relevant industry/teaching experience.
Applicants must be aware that they cannot tutor students who are enrolled in units in which applicants are lecturing and/or tutoring. This applies even if the student is not enrolled in tutorials that the applicant runs, due to conflicts of interest.
To apply
- Visit the Wallumai tutoring program website and create an account (see attachment for how to add units and hours of availability)
- Send the following documentation to dorothy.smith@mq.edu.au
- Academic transcript/s
- Proof of right to work in Australia. This can be a birth certificate, passport, or visa
- CV
- Details on availability for an interview over the next two weeks.
If there are any additional questions, please email <dorothy.smith@mq.edu.au>
New Publications
The golden mimicry complex uses a wide spectrum of defence to deter a community of predators
By: Pekár, Stano, Lenka Petráková, Matthew W. Bulbert, Martin J. Whiting, and Marie E. Herberstein. eLife 6 (2017): e22089. | Find with Google Scholar »The perceptual similarity of orb-spider prey lures and flower colours
By: White, Thomas E., Rhiannon L. Dalrymple, Marie E. Herberstein, and Darrell J. Kemp. Evolutionary Ecology: 1-20. | Find with Google Scholar »High density brood of Australian gall-inducing Acacia thrips aid in fungal control
By: Coates, Peterson J., Adam Stow, Christine Turnbull, Andrew Beattie, Christopher F. Hammill, and Thomas W. Chapman. Evolutionary Ecology: 1-12. | Find with Google Scholar »De novo post-illumination monoterpene burst in Quercus ilex (holm oak)
By: Dani, KG Srikanta, Giovanni Marino, Cosimo Taiti, Stefano Mancuso, Brian J. Atwell, Francesco Loreto, and Mauro Centritto. Planta: 1-7. | Find with Google Scholar »First record of bluish Podarcis muralis (LAURENTI, 1768)
By: Perez i de Lanuza, Guillem; Reguera, Senda; Badiane, Arnaud; Brejcha, Jindrich. HERPETOZOA , 2017, Vol.29(3-4), p.218-223. | Find with Google Scholar »Dietary habits and feeding strategy of the fivespot flounder, Pseudorhombus pentophthalmus in the southeastern coast of Korea
By: Park, Joo Myun, and Sung-Hoi Huh. Ichthyological Research 64, no. 1 (2017): 93-103. | Find with Google Scholar »Photosynthetic responses to altitude: an explanation based on optimality principles
By: Wang H, Prentice IC, Davis TW, Keenan TF, Wright IJ, Peng C (2017). New Phytologist, 213: 976-982. | Find with Google Scholar »Incorporation of plant traits in a land surface model helps explain the global biogeographical distribution of major forest functional types
By: Lu X, Wang Y-P, Wright IJ, Reich PB, Shi Z, Dai Y (2017). Global Ecology & Biogeography 26: 304-317. | Find with Google Scholar »Towards a thesaurus of plant characteristics: an ecological contribution
By: Garnier E, Stahl U, Laporte M-A, Kattge J et al (inc. IJ Wright)(2017). Journal of Ecology 105:298-309. | Find with Google Scholar »Leaf nitrogen from first principles: field evidence for adaptive variation with climate
By: Dong N, Prentice IC, Evans B, Caddy-Retalic S, Lowe A, Wright IJ (2017). 14:481-495. | Find with Google Scholar »In the Media
Culum Brown was interviewed on ABC Radio Melbourne’s Breakfast program
Associate Professor Culum Brown from the Department of Biological Sciences was interviewed on ABC Radio Melbourne’s Breakfast program on his new research on the social behaviours of sharks, which was conducted via scuba observation of the reef sharks in French Polynesia. See page 1 of the report.
Rob Harcourt contributed to The Conversation
Professor Rob Harcourt from the Department of Biological Sciences contributed the piece ‘From disaster planning to conservation: mobile phones as a new tracking tool’ to The Conversation. Related TREE article, The Ecology of Human Mobility.
Glenn Brock provided comment to ABC Online
Associate Professor Glenn Brock from the Department of Biological Sciences provided comment to ABC Online on new scanning technology which has given scientists a view inside the cells of what may be the oldest plant-like fossils ever found.
New scanning technology gives scientists an extraordinary view inside the cells of what may be 1.6 billion-year-old red algae, the oldest plant-like fossils ever found.
Read the full story
http://ab.co/2n6X0Wa
Leanne Armand was interviewed on ABC Radio Melbourne’s Saturday Breakfast program
Associate Professor Leanne Armand from the Department of Biological Sciences was interviewed on ABC Radio Melbourne’s Saturday Breakfast program on her recent expedition as Chief Scientist on the research vessel Investigator to map the sea floor in Antarctica. See page 2 of the report.
Recent Completions
Lisa Harrison submitted her thesis entitled “NEW APPROACHES TO MODELLING DRIVERS OF SPECIES DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE IN THE SOUTHERN OCEAN.”
Supervised by Rob Harcourt and Martin Cox
Peterson Jacob Coates submitted his Master of Philosophy thesis entitled: The Antifungal Defences of Australian Acacia thrips
Supervised by Associate Professor Adam Stow