Nectar mimicry: a new phenomenon
By: Klaus, Lunau, Ren Zong-Xin, Fan Xiao-Qing, Judith Trunschke, Graham H. Pyke, and Hong Wang. Scientific Reports (Nature Publisher Group) 10, no. 1 (2020). | Find with Google Scholar »
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Dear all,
We had an update on most things at last week’s department meeting (presentation can be found here). The general news is that MQ is doing relatively well despite the massive disruption to our usual modes of teaching, research and support. The new processes are largely in place, student feedback on their experience is surprisingly positive (although they miss their pracs), and research is continuing (although only limited fieldwork). In L&T world our S1 convenors have been finalising exams while our S2 convenors have been busy working out if/how to offer prac classes and updating unit entries in the Curriculum Management System. It has been a pretty hectic few months, so those of you who can take a break, even for a day or two, should try to have a few days off and re-charge. I know that many people struggle with work from home conditions not being ideal – my advice is be kind to yourself and others, and let the department know if you need support. And if you have suggestions for keeping the department socially connected, let us know!
cheers
Michelle
Save the Date
This Week
Wed 13th May: IDAHOBIT Morning Tea, 10am (details below)
Wed 13th May: Department seminar is on from 1pm, by Dr Charles Foster from the University of Sydney. Lizards, Sharks and the Evolution of Live Birth. Zoom invitations went out by email today.
Next Week
TBD
Future Events
Tuesday 9th – Thursday 11th June: HDR Conference via Zoom; three days; 9:00am-12:30pm.
Weekly Events
Wed: Shut Up and Write sessions – now online! See below for further details
Wed: Department seminars; Schedule ON OUR WEBPAGE HERE – Chris Reid will send out notices for future seminars to be held on Zoom
General News and Announcements
COVID-19 need to know
GENERAL
- everyone who has been approved to access campus facilities should now have received their official letter. You must call Campus Security on arrival and departure. Otherwise, enjoy working from home!
RESEARCH
- facilities are currently open for essential research. If you are not approved for campus access but would like to be, you should contact Calli Miller. Access to labs/facilities will require sign-off by academic supervisor, lab supervisor, HoD & ExecDean. Physical distancing and working alone guidelines apply.
- only very limited local fieldwork is being approved. Please discuss with our fieldwork managers – Josh (terrestrial) or Nick (marine) – if you would like to go in the field
L&T
- Wednesday zoom drop-in sessions for teaching staff to exchange ideas and stay connected are now on an ‘as needs’ basis – Linda will let teaching staff know if/when they are on each week
- L&T Directors are now co-ordinating input from unit convenors on the mode of delivery of units, learning outcomes, learning activities, student workload and assessment structure for all S2 units
- Reminder that information about resources for online delivery are available at the FSE000 iLearn site, including the Biology section. The Faculty L&T April Newsletter also has lots of tips for online teaching and the wiki has lots of information for S2 2020 Unit Transition for COVID-19
If you need to know what the NSW rules are on what you can and can’t do, you can find it here
Learning & Teaching information
Please see the Learning & Teaching slides from last week’s Department Meeting in the Dept Meeting presentation.
IDAHOBIT Morning Tea
Get your Rainbow on and join the Diversity and Inclusion committee for morning tea on Wednesday May 13 at 10am using the Zoom link: https://macquarie.zoom.us/j/97164646056 and stand out against discrimination and support the LGBTI community. See more info on the flyer: IDAHOBIT Morning tea
Zoom backgrounds can be downloaded here.
Congratulations
Congratulations to Justin McNab for being awarded the Joyce Vickery Scientific Research Grant from the Linnean Society of New South Wales for his research titled “How toxic are Australian flatworms? Identification of tetrodotoxin in marine flatworms from south-eastern Australia”. Justin is supervised by Jane Williamson, Jorge Monter-Rodriguez and Peter Karuso.
Biology Garden Update
Autumn is a great time to get into the garden. See the attached PDF for updates on Biology garden activities: Biology Garden Update May 2020
Do you have great ideas for staying connected? Want to share what your friends and colleagues are doing to stay physically distant but socially close?
Send us ideas to share, images to post on the Biology Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts to Calli Miller: <calli.miller@mq.edu.au>
Plant of the Week
This week: Australian Finger Lime – Citrus australasica
Most of us are familiar with citrus – oranges, lemons, mandarins, limes, grapefruit – but in recent years, an Australian native plant, the Finger Lime, Citrus australasica, from the Border Ranges of north-eastern NSW and south eastern Queensland, has become a much prized gourmet bush food. Read more: Plant of the week – Finger Lime – Citrus australasica 2
OPPORTUNITIES
Postdoctoral Research Fellow in eDNA and Spatial Analysis
The Postdoctoral Research Fellow in eDNA and spatial analysis plays a key role within the BIOSPACE project, responsible for undertaking high quality research within the European Research council (ERC) Project ‘Biodiversity monitoring from space’. This role will focus on a fundamentally different approach to terrestrial biodiversity monitoring by coupling environmental DNA (eDNA) profiling with next generation remote sensing, complemented where available by legacy human-observed datasets. The successful applicant will have a PhD in environmental genomics or molecular ecology and is comfortable in sampling and molecular procedures as well as standard bioinformatics pipelines. An enthusiasm for biogeography and terrestrial ecology. We are looking for applicants who have demonstrated experience and a good research track record. Link: https://www.utwente.nl/en/organisation/careers/!/1189707/postdoctoral-researcher-in-edna-and-spatial-analysis
Applications close: 24 May 2020
CALL FOR NOMINATIONS: NSW Premier’s Prizes for Science & Engineering
The NSW Premier’s Prizes for Science & Engineering seek to recognise excellence in science and engineering, and reward leading researchers for cutting-edge work that has generated economic, environmental, health, social or technological benefits for New South Wales.
Over $100,000 Prize Pool, including $60,000 for the 2020 NSW Scientist of the Year.
See the NSW Premier Prizes website for more details.
Student Bird Data Collection during COVID – BirdLife
BirdLife Australia is currently helping research students affected by the COVID-19 shutdown with a community-, volunteer-led data collection. If your project /data collection has been affected, please consider contacting Katherine Aburrow (katherine.aburrow@birdlife.org.au), indicating your contact details, project title, location and details/methods for data collection. Kathrine will be advertising student projects in the 29th April BirdLife eNews as well as social networks and email channels to seek community and volunteer support, and link students with dedicated volunteers able to help. Citizen-science with a COVID flavour!
The 2020 ECA Research Grants are now extended!
The Ecological Consultants Association of NSW supports ecological research in Australia and would like to award three grants each year to assist researchers to carry out their ecological projects.
- ECA of NSW Conservation Grant ($2000)
- Ray Williams Mammal Research Grant ($2000)
- Bushfire Ecology Research Grant ($1000)
Download a PDF Information and Application Form – Grant Application 2020
Download a Word Application Form – Grant Application Form 2020
Due to the uncertainty of how long the university-imposed restrictions will be in place as a result of COVID-19, the ECA NSW has decided to extend the deadline for the receipt of student grant applications to 30 June 2020.
2020 Eureka Prizes program extended
The Australian Museum Eureka Prizes are back – and in 2020 we’re marking 30 years of celebrating outstanding scientific achievement. This year, there are 17 prizes on offer across the categories of Research & Innovation, Leadership, Science Engagement and School Science.
Prizes cover a broad spectrum of scientific disciplines, aiming to recognise the work of scientists, researchers and science communicators at all career stages. There’s a prize pool of $170,000 to be shared between winners, and it’s free to enter!
Entry deadline extended to 7pm AEST Friday 15 May.
SEMINARS AND WORKSHOPS
Shut Up and Write Sessions now online!
We have a WhatsApp group and we make times as they suit us, so if you’re interested in being involved, pop Lizzy Lowe an email with your phone number and she’ll add you to the group.
Venture Café – will be convening their community online, via Zoom, and offering the #ThursdayGathering programming in a Virtual format.
For more information visit: https://venturecafesydney.org/whats-on-this-week
HDR NEWS AND OPPORTUNITIES
Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment – applications open
The Holsworth Endowment invites applications for post-graduate student research support in ecology, wildlife management and natural history studies. Grants of up to $7,500 will be awarded for the purchase of equipment, supplies, travel to study areas and conferences to assist students going into the field and publishing their results.
HDRs in our Department have been very successful in securing this grant over past years, so it is worth giving it a go! For more information, go to: https://www.ecolsoc.org.au/awards-and-prizes/holsworth-wildlife-research-endowment
Applications close 31 May 2020
CSL Florey Next Generation Award 2020 – Call for Nominations
The Australian Institute of Policy and Science is pleased to announce the 2020 CSL Florey Next Generation Awards.
Detailed information about the awards is available on the AIPS Website – CSL Florey Next Generation Award Page .
The CSL Next Generation Award is awarded every second year to a current Australian PhD candidate who has demonstrated outstanding capability, creativity and potential in the biomedical sciences and human health advancement.
Nominations must be via the Nomination Form which is linked to the AIPS Website – CSL Florey Next Generation Award page.
The 2020 applications are open from Monday 20th April and close at COB (Sydney time) on Friday 5th June 2020.
For more information please contact Steve Burke, General Manager, AIPS on director@aips.net.au
THIS AND THAT
The funny sides of working from home:
Correct Method for Submitting to Department Matters
Department Matters submissions now have their own email address. Please send all your news items for the newsletter to <fse.bionewsletter@mq.edu.au>
Have You Missed Out on an Issue of Department Matters? Back issues can be found at this newsletter archive link for your reading pleasure.
New Publications
Butterfly richness and abundance along a gradient of imperviousness and the importance of matrix quality
By: Kurylo, J. S., C. G. Threlfall, K. M. Parris, A. Ossola, N. S. G. Williams, and K. L. Evans. Ecological Applications (2020). | Find with Google Scholar »Experimental assembly reveals ecological drift as a major driver of root nodule bacterial diversity in a woody legume crop
By: Ramoneda, Josep, Johannes J. Le Roux, Emmanuel Frossard, Beat Frey, and Hannes Andres Gamper. FEMS Microbiology Ecology (2020). | Find with Google Scholar »Effect of acute exposure to high ambient temperature on the thermal, metabolic and hygric physiology of a small desert bird
By: Cooper, C. E., L. L. Hurley, and S. C. Griffith. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A: Molecular & Integrative Physiology (2020): 110684. | Find with Google Scholar »Enabling reusability of plant phenomic datasets with MIAPPE 1.1
By: Papoutsoglou, Evangelia A., Daniel Faria, Daniel Arend, Elizabeth Arnaud, Ioannis N. Athanasiadis, Inês Chaves, Frederik Coppens et al. New Phytologist (2020). | Find with Google Scholar »Components of leaf-trait variation along environmental gradients
By: Dong, Ning, Iain Colin Prentice, Ian J. Wright, Bradley J. Evans, Henrique Furstenau Togashi, Stefan Caddy‐Retalic, Francesca A. McInerney, Ben Sparrow, Emrys Leitch, and Andrew J. Lowe. New Phytologist (2020). | Find with Google Scholar »Rapid and repeated divergence of animal chemical signals in an island introduction experiment
By: Donihue, Colin M., Anthony Herrel, José Martín, Johannes Foufopoulos, Panayiotis Pafilis, and Simon Baeckens. Journal of Animal Ecology (2020). | Find with Google Scholar »A Pacific oyster invasion transforms shellfish reef structure by changing the development of associated seaweeds
By: Andriana, Rosyta, Isabelle van der Ouderaa, and Britas Klemens Eriksson. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 235 (2020): 106564. | Find with Google Scholar »Seasonal Adaptation of the Thermal-Based Two-Source Energy Balance Model for Estimating Evapotranspiration in a Semiarid Tree-Grass Ecosystem
By: Burchard-Levine, Vicente, Héctor Nieto, David Riaño, Mirco Migliavacca, Tarek S. El-Madany, Oscar Perez-Priego, Arnaud Carrara, and M. Pilar Martín. Remote Sensing 12, no. 6 (2020): 904. | Find with Google Scholar »Do lizards have enhanced inhibition? A test in two species differing in ecology and sociobiology
By: Szabo, Birgit, and Martin J. Whiting. Behavioural Processes (2020): 104043. | Find with Google Scholar »Envisioning the future with ‘compassionate conservation’: An ominous projection for native wildlife and biodiversity
By: Callen, Alex, Matt W. Hayward, Kaya Klop-Toker, Benjamin L. Allen, Guy Ballard, Femke Broekhuis, Rohan H. Clarke et al. Biological Conservation 241 (2020): 108365. | Find with Google Scholar »In the Media
Dr Robert Kooyman was featured on ABC Radio North Coast Breakfast regarding a study about the impact of logging on the severity of the bushfires over summer.
Read more »