Benthic meiofaunal community response to the cascading effects of herbivory within an algal halo system of the Great Barrier Reef
By: Ollivier, Quinn R., Edward Hammill, David J. Booth, Elizabeth MP Madin, Charles Hinchliffe, Alastair R. Harborne, Catherine E. Lovelock, Peter I. Macreadie, and Trisha B. Atwood. PloS one 13, no. 3 (2018): e0193932. | Find with Google Scholar »
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Dear all,
I am back from my whirlwind trip to five European universities, looking at cotutelle and research partnership opportunities – I will tell you about it at the department meeting next week (TUESDAY 3rd April, 12.30 for 1pm). Nicole Gower will also tell us about the state of play with enterprise bargaining at the department meeting, so come along and ask questions.
Many academic staff attended the mental health awareness workshop for supervisors today – thanks Culum for organising this. I believe the presentation will be made available soon. And to increase our mental resilience, a great time was had by all at the annual easter treasure hunt and hot cross bun extravaganza – thanks as always to Mariella! See pictures below.
Enjoy the easter break!
Michelle
Save the Date
This coming week 3rd – 6th April
Mon 2nd: Public Holiday – Easter Monday
Tue 3rd: Transgender Day of Visibility Morning Tea; 10.30am – 11.30am; Biology Tea Room.
Tue 3rd: Department Meeting – with lunch beforehand; 12.30pm for 1.00pm – 2.00pm; Biology Tea Room.
Wed 4th: Department Morning Tea; 10.30am – 12.00pm; Biology Tea Room.
Wed 4th: Departmental Seminar – Dr. April Reside – University of Queensland; 1.00pm – 2.00pm; Biology Tea Room.
Following week 9th – 13th April
Wed 11th: Department Morning Tea; 10.30am – 11.30am; The Hill.
Wed 11th: Departmental Seminar – Assoc. Prof. Kira Westaway – Department of Environmental Science, Macquarie University; 1.00pm – 2.00pm; Biology Tea Room.
Thu 12th: Aboriginal Cultural Safety Training; 9.00am – 1.00pm; Biology Tea Room.
Thu 12th: aaRgh – R drop-in help; 3.00pm – 4.00pm; Biology Tea Room.
Fri 13th: BioNetwork “Killing it in Science” Research Symposium; 8.30 am – 5.30 pm; Lvl 8, 12WW (E7A).
Coming up
Tue Apr 17th: L&T Special Seminar Commitment, engagement and learning in a large cohort of students by Maurizio Manuguerra; 1 – 2pm; 6WW (E8C)-212 for (sign up here).
Wed Apr 18th: Department Morning Tea; 10.30am – 11.30am; Biology Tea Room. (supported by Logical Freight Solutions)
Wed Apr 18th: Biological Sciences Graduation Ceremony; 2.30pm; Location 14SCO (E7B) main hall.
Fri May 11th: Sapphire Bioscience morning tea; 10.30am – 11.30am; Biology Tea Room.
Departmental Seminar Series
Wed May 2nd: Departmental Seminar – Lisa Schwanz, UNSW; 1.00pm – 2.00pm; Biology Tea Room.
Wed May 16th: Departmental Seminar – Assoc. Prof. Michael Renton, School of Plant Biology, The University of Western Australia; 1.00pm – 2.00pm; Biology Tea Room.
Wed May 23rd: Departmental Seminar – Prof. Michael Bunce, School of Plant Biology, ARC Future Fellow Trace and Environmental DNA (TrEnD) laboratory, & Australian Wildlife Forensic Services (AWFS) Department of Environment and Agriculture, Curtin University; 1.00pm – 2.00pm; Biology Tea Room.
Wed June 6th: Departmental Seminar – Prof. Saul Cunningham, Fenner School, ANU; 1.00pm – 2.00pm; Biology Tea Room.
General News and Announcements
2018 Treasure Hunt
In what turned out to be a fierce competition, the Emma lab carried away the win, due to a brilliant tactical maneuver with the 1999 University Handbook. We collected $100 in donations, in addition to the private donations from staff and students directly to the UNHCR: https://www.unrefugees.org.au All buns were devoured and Martin Whiting remains elusive! Marie_Herberstein_2018-03-28_11-13-41-AM
RESEARCH STORIES, OUTCOMES AND OPPORTUNITIES
JAMS Symposium = ECRs, Viruses, Bacteria, Biocontrol, Mining, Big Data and Whale Snot
On the 21st of March, over 30 Macquarie University staff and students attended the 7th annual symposium of JAMS, the Joint Academic Microbiology Seminars, at the Australian Museum. Six students from the Harcourt, Paulsen and Tetu groups presented posters and Vanessa Pirotta won the student poster prize. Congratulations Vanessa! JAMS was very popular on Twitter, with the #JAMS7 hashtag nationally trending on the day. The image shows Vanessa Pirotta with her poster prize plaque, Belinda Fabian, Indrani Sarker and Amaranta Focardi with their posters, the Macquarie dominated crowd and the Paulsen lab ladies at the JAMS symposium. Look out for these new posters in the corridors of E8A and E8C to find out about some of the exciting microbiology work happening in the department.
A major topic of the day was remediation of contaminated sites with talks on amending microbial communities to assist with remediation, microbes using atmospheric hydrogen to survive in nutrient depleted environments, and stochastic vs directed assembly of microbial communities in mine tailings. Continuing the environmental microbiology theme there were also talks on marine viruses in contrasting environments, and the physiology and metagenomics of plant-fungi associations. On top of all of that it was great to hear about the valuable work the EMCR Forum is doing on behalf of early- and mid-career STEM researchers, and to everyone’s relief it’s free to join. Thanks to the JAMS organising committee for another excellent microbiology meeting – we’re all looking forward to the next monthly JAMS meeting on 24 April 2018 (TBC). For more information visit jams.org.au.
Conference Sponsorship Program
The Office of the NSW Chief Scientist & Engineer is pleased to advise that applications are now open for the Conference Sponsorship Program round for conferences being held between June 2018 and June 2019.
Please visit our website at http://www.chiefscientist.nsw.gov.au/investing-in-science/conference-sponsorship-program for further details on eligibility and how to apply.
To submit an application, please email raap.grants@industry.nsw.gov.au by COB Friday 20 April.
2018 Research Grant Opportunities from the Royal Zoological Society of NSW
Each year, RZS NSW coordinates two grant schemes dedicated to furthering the field of Australian zoology and conservation biology. Both of these programs are aimed at supporting young researchers and urge you to share the following information with your students and wider research networks. Please feel free to contact Dr Martin Predavec <office@rzsnsw.org.au> should you have any questions about these opportunities.
Small and short-term grants
The Ethel Mary Read Research Grant Fund aims to support short term research projects and student researchers working in any aspect of zoology within Australasia. Nine grants of up to $1500 are made available each year. The grant may be used to bridge a gap in existing funding, instigate pilot studies, alleviate fieldwork travel costs or support major equipment purchases. Applicants must be a member of RZS NSW to apply. Applications close on April 30th 2018 and grant recipients will be contacted in July 2018.
More information including application details can be found athttp://www.rzsnsw.org.au/emr
Postgraduate and early career researcher grants
In partnership with Paddy Pallin and the Foundation for National Parks and Wildlife, RZS NSW is offering annual grants of up to $7000 for field-based ecological research. The objective of the grant program is to provide financial support for conservation‐based research of Australian ecosystems that will ultimately lead to tangible outcomes for management. Grants are open to postgraduate students or early career researchers with less than 3 years of research-related experience post-PhD. Applicants must be a member of RZS NSW and be enrolled with, or employed by, an Australian University or research institution. Applications for these grants will open in August 2018.
More information can be found at http://www.rzsnsw.org.au/paddy-pallin-research-grants
Hidden Figures in STEM
The Hidden Figures in STEM exhibition was run as part of the celebrations for International Women’s Day. If you missed it, A4 copies of the posters have now been put up in the Tea Room Corridor, E8A (14EAR) 2nd floor. The exhibition consists of biographies of women scientists whose contributions and discoveries were ignored, dismissed, or even stolen. Come learn about the amazing discoveries these women made!
Participate in the Falling Walls Lab Australia 2018
The Academy invites applications from Australian researchers, postdocs and students, entrepreneurs, engineers and innovators from all areas to attend the Falling Walls Lab Australia 2018. Deadline for applications is 5pm (AEST) Monday 28th May 2018. 20 contestants will be invited to participate in this challenge with each required to give a 3 minute presentation on their research work, business model, social idea or initiative based on the “Which walls will fall next” concept. Candidates should be research active in any field of the natural sciences, including technology, engineering and medicine as well as social sciences and humanities. Follow this link to view more information and to apply.
SoS Science and Research – Call for Proposals
OEH is now calling for proposals for projects under the SoS Science and Research Plan. The SoS Science and Research Plan addresses critical program level knowledge needs and aligns with the SoS aim to improve the maximum number of species in the wild over the next 100 years. As such projects must benefit multi-species and/or ecological communities and maintain a collaborative approach between external partners and OEH. Proposals that focus on single species will not be considered.
Research priorities for the 2018/19 round of grants are:
- Adaptive capacity of threatened species and threatened ecological communities
- Monitoring, evaluation and reporting (MER)
- Fire
- Research grant pool
For the 2018/19 financial year there is an allocation of $400,000 for new projects.
The research project application and assessment process is set out in the attached SoS Science & Research Plan and Implementation Plan 2017/18. Please read the attached guiding documents carefully before preparing and submitting a proposal. If re-applying please ensure you have addressed previous feedback and that projects align with priority research themes for this year. Proposals can be submitted electronically to me via email using the attached template. The deadline for submitting a proposal is Sunday 13th May 2018. For information on the SoS Program visit http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/topics/animals-and-plants/threatened-species/saving-our-species-program. If you require further information or assistance with your project proposal, please contact <Bryony.Horton@environment.nsw.gov.au>. SoS Science and Research Plan-Jul2016 Proposal template 2018_19 SoS Science and Research Implementation Plan – 201718
Ecological Society of Australia Grant Opportunities for HDR Students – As an added bonus, the dept will match funds up to $3k for successful applicants.
https://www.ecolsoc.org.au/news/2018/02/holsworth-round-1-applications-now-open https://www.ecolsoc.org.au/awards-and-prizes/student-awards-and-grants/jill-landsberg-trust-fund-scholarship
LEARNING AND TEACHING
Calling all Academics
The graduation ceremony for biological sciences is at 2.30pm on 18 March. So far ONLY TWO academic staff are registered to be in the procession! So please be prepared to gown-up and strut down the aisle to support our graduates – you must register here by Friday COB http://macquarie.clicktix.com.au/AcademicStaff/AcademicStaffLogin.aspx
After this date registration can be done manually.
Call Out for Industry Partners!
We want to improve the employability of our Masters of Conservation Biology graduates by giving them opportunities to work with partner organisations outside of Macquarie University, as part of their coursework degree. If you have already established a relationship with an someone within an organisation (e.g. OEH, Nature Conservancy, Australian Museum, etc…) please let us know! Fill in database here, and please indicate if you think they might be interested in have internship students.
Future Students – Upcoming Events on Campus
The Macquarie in a Day website has gone live. The URL is: mq.edu.au/mqinaday Please feel free to share this with your academic staff members who have contacts within schools and may like to extend the invite to them. NB – Future Students sends an event invitation out to all schools Career Advisers.
The STEM Entrepreneurship Design-Thinking Workshop been promoted. This is for young women who are interested in STEM, entrepreneurship and social enterprise and is a 2-day design thinking workshop held here on campus at The Incubator. An event invitation went out late last week however if any academics know of some schools who that would be interested in getting their female students involved, please feel free to share the event registration link: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/young-change-agents-at-macquarie-university-tickets-43540831800 NB – as this is funded by Women NSW, the event is only open to government schools.
It would be great if some faculty representation could be garnered as part of the event.
- Event opening/welcome: 9:00am – ~9:15am, Monday 23rd April
- Judging panel members: 2:30pm – 4:00pm, Tuesday 24th April
If you know anyone who might be interested in either of the above, feel free to extend the information and/or put them in touch with Ashleigh Cassilles <ashleigh.cassilles@mq.edu.au>.
SEMINARS AND WORKSHOPS
Departmental Weekly Seminar
Day/Date/Time/Place: Wednesday, 4th April, 1:00pm – 2:00pm, 14EAR (E8A)-280 (Tea Room).
Speaker: Dr. April Reside, University of Queensland.
Title: Land clearing across Australia, the regulated and un(der)-regulated
Abstract: https://goto.mq.edu.au/biologyseminar2018-abstracts
PoCD Morning Tea
Point of Care Diagnostics (POCD) is holding a morning tea to showcase its biotech products. Please see flyer below.
When: Wed April 4th, 10:30am-12
Where: 14EAR (E8A) 280 Biology tea room
Contact: jlee@pocd.com.au https://www.pocd.com.au/
Logical Freight Solutions Morning Tea
Logical Freight Solutions is holding a morning tea to showcase its business services, which include shipping perishable goods and lab relocations. See flyer below.
When: Wed April 18th, 10:30am
Where: E8A 280 Biology tea room
Contact: boeya@lfs.com.au www.lfs.com.au
20180418 Logical Freight Solutions morning tea
MolSci Weekly Seminar
Date: Tuesday, 3rd April 2018
Time: 1 – 2pm
Speaker: Associate Professor Koushik Venkatesan, Department of Molecular Sciences, Macquarie University
Venue: 4WW (F7B) 322 seminar room
Website: http://www.goto.mq.edu.au/6s
Title: Conceptual Design Approaches to Next Generation Electronic and Optoelectronic Materials
Research Enrichment Program – Outlook Conference
July 24-25, Incubator Building, Macquarie University – “The Future of the Human Landscape”
The Outlook Conference will bring together leading thinkers in diverse disciplines, spanning molecules to landscapes, and from scientific, historical and social viewpoints. The objective is to immerse participants in the frontiers of adjacent, and more distant disciplines. Speakers will present their vision for humanity’s future. 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 applications, and to expose postgraduate students and early career researchers to different ways of thinking. To register, email <fse.rep-admin@mq.edu.au>. Research Enrichment Program Outlook Flyer
ACST for Biological Sciences Staff Postponed
Unfortunately the planned ACST for Biology staff set down for 12 April 2018, 14 Eastern Rd Level 2 Room 280, 9:00am – 1:00pm, has had to be postponed. The providers are taking stock of the many great recommendations from previous ACST participants and now working very closely with LIH partners to build a better product for delivery and that is beneficial for staff and the various Faculties, Departments and Offices. They are streamlining the whole package for every Faculty, Departments and Offices to ensure the quality of the content and accessibility for staff. Once customisation is complete, a new date will be set for the session.
Respect. Now. Always. Programme – More information click here. Respect@MQ Workshops– More information click here.
BioNetwork “Killing it in Science” Research Symposium
Friday 13th of April 2018 at Macquarie University – Building 12WW (E7A), Level 8, 8.30 a.m. – 5.30 p.m., free event, catering included! The aim of this one day symposium is to foster the Macquarie University researcher community across the Faculties of Science & Engineering and Medicine & Health Sciences, with a common interest in the biosciences. The event is being organised by Macquarie’s own ECRs, for anyone keen to build their career in science in academia and industry. The program will consist of: a unique career building session in the morning: ‘Killing it in science: Adventures and misadventures of a research scientist’ and a dynamic scientific session in the afternoon to create a platform for interdisciplinary research collaborations to commence novel or strengthen existing projects.Click here for more information and to register.
Upcoming Workshop: Gender and Queer Perspectives in the Biological Sciences
Thursday 5th April (10am – 3pm) Continuum room, level 3, 75 Talavera road. Organisers: Andrew Barron, Malin Ah- King, Mariella Herberstein, and Simon Griffiths.
A large focus of the biological sciences is to understand the evolution of sex, sexes and sex roles. This workshop will explore how our own assumptions of gender and sex roles in human society have influenced the scientific study of sex and vice versa.
Some pre-reading will be required for this workshop. Numbers will be capped – first-in secures a place.
Please click here <https://hdrworkshops.mq.edu.au/registration/new/15404?year=2018 > to register for ‘Gender and queer perspectives in the biological sciences’
For more information, contact <harriet.jones@mq.edu.au>.
Writing Workshops
Running weekly for most of the year: Fridays 2-4pm in room 6SR (E8B) 111. Convened by Ken Cheng. 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. Ken envisages personal feedback linked perhaps with rounds of revisions on selected passages during the session. The aim is not just to get stuff written, but to write everything well. Those interested in attending a session should email Ken Cheng <ken.cheng@mq.edu.au> by Wednesday 12:00-noon, preferably with a draft attached of what they are working on and some indication of what they especially need help with.
ADMIN THINGS
Administration Staffing Updates
Minor changes to admin staff will result in reduced staff availability as of April, so please make an effort to plan your admin needs and avoid potential delays to your request.
Changes:
Sharyon O’Donnell – Unavailable/On Leave from Monday 26 March until Friday 6 April, returning Monday 9 April
Julian May – Unavailable/On Leave from Thursday 29 March until Friday 27 April, returning Monday 30 April
Adyen De Courcey – Working Part Time and available Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays
For any administration enquiries please email them to <fse.bio-adm@mq.edu.au> as this is seen by all administrative staff. The most appropriate person will reply to your email.
Location-W (Fauna Park) Admin Support
Monday, Wednesday & Friday from 10am – 1pm in W19F
Deliveries
You will notice that we have placed a red “transfer Box” in W19F, put anything in this box that needs to be delivered to the E8 area location. We also have a red “Transfer Box” in E8B Level 2 location, which is for goods to betaken to the W location. These boxes will be emptied every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 10am. Deliveries from the main “MQ” store will be delivered daily. Any questions please contact Sharyon O’Donnell
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.
Staff parking permits – Now available from the Admin Office – 6SR (E8B) 206.
Photo Competition – April 2018 – Enter to win a $100 Gift Card this month!
This month’s theme is ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL
Your images could be used on our Department website, this newsletter, on our social media and in other biology publications. A lucky person’s name will be drawn each month, and they will receive a $100 Gift Card! Criteria: you must provide caption information including details of what/where/who(names of people)/date & you must have taken all photos & the image was taken in the last five years. Please follow the dropbox file request link to submit your images. Submission close: 27 APRIL 2018 You can enter as many photos as you like – one entry to the draw for each good photo, good luck!
Correct Method for Submitting to Department Matters
Department Matters submissions now have their own email address. Please send all future submissions to 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.
Keeping to these guidelines will streamline your article’s addition to the newsletter. Thank you.
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Are you getting credit for your Outreach Activities? Have participated in an activity for Biology recently?
Don’t forget to fill in the super-quick form here – ACCESS OUTREACH FORM HERE
JOB POSITIONS AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Research Associate, Climate Risk – Estuarine Ecology
Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University
Closing Date: 13/04/2018
We are seeking a Research Associate to contribute to a project on estuarine risk assessment and strategic responses to climate change, as part of the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage’s Adaptation Hub. The Research Associate will contribute to a desk-top study which collates experimental and survey data from published and grey literature studies to calculate quantitative climate thresholds of key estuarine taxa (e.g. heat extremes for oysters, depth limitations for seagrass, inundation maximums for salt marsh, etc). Please see attached for full details.
BLOGS AND OTHER THINGS OF INTEREST
Plant of the Week!
White Ginger Lily – Hedychium coronarium. This perennial with exquisite, sweetly scented white flowers may be the national flower of Cuba, but don’t be deceived by its fragrance and the beauty of its flowers, it is an invasive weed in many parts of the world.
University bioQuest 1-30 April 2018
We are taking part in the University bioQuest challenge and we want your help! This is a worldwide program with Universities competing against each other for points and prizes.
Find out more on the event page: http://goo.gl/X38JPG Tell your students: see attached powerpoint slide, or email <samantha.newton@mq.edu.au>.
How does it work?
Step 1. Download the app (through the App Store for iPhone, or through Google Play for Android)
Step 2. Register with QuestaGame https://questagame.com/
Step 3: Join the Macquarie University Team https://questagame.com/university-bioquest/
Step 4. Take a photo and upload to the app. Location is automatically recorded. Sightings are verified by a team of experts.
Step 5. Take more photos and go in the running for great prizes and awards.
Why join this BioQuest?
More than fun: BioQuesting with QuestaGame will empower you to experience, learn about, and protect the diversity of life on Earth. You’ll be taken on an adventure into nature, where you’ll see the life around you in a whole new light. Your sightings will contribute to open biodiversity research (through the Atlas of Living Australia, and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility).
BioQuest_slide
The Guardian: Universities are PhD Factories
New Publications
Variation in avian egg shape and nest structure is explained by climatic conditions
By: Duursma, Daisy Englert, Rachael V. Gallagher, J. Jordan Price, and Simon C. Griffith. Scientific reports 8, no. 1 (2018): 4141. | Find with Google Scholar »Deciphering the nature of the coral-Chromera association
By: Mohamed, Amin R., Vivian R. Cumbo, Saki Harii, Chuya Shinzato, Cheong Xin Chan, Mark A. Ragan, Nori Satoh, Eldon E. Ball, and David J. Miller. The ISME journal (2018): 1. | Find with Google Scholar »Intraspecific differences in the transcriptional stress response of two populations of Sydney rock oyster increase with rising temperatures
By: McAfee, Dominic, Vivian R. Cumbo, Melanie J. Bishop, and David A. Raftos. Marine Ecology Progress Series 589 (2018): 115-127. | Find with Google Scholar »Stress decreases pollen foraging performance in honeybees
By: Bordier, Célia, Simon Klein, Yves Le Conte, Andrew B. Barron, and Cédric Alaux. Journal of Experimental Biology (2018): jeb-171470. | Find with Google Scholar »Temperature and Symbiodinium physiology affect the establishment and development of symbiosis in corals
By: Cumbo, Vivian R., Madeleine JH van Oppen, and Andrew H. Baird. Marine Ecology Progress Series 587 (2018): 117-127. | Find with Google Scholar »In the Media
Vanessa Pirotta was featured in the Weekend Australian and ABC News Afternoons
Vanessa Pirotta from the Department of Biological Sciences was featured in the Weekend Australian and ABC News Afternoons in relation to the mass beaching of whales off the coast of WA. See page 35 of report.