What insects can tell us about the origins of consciousness
By: Barron, Andrew B., and Colin Klein. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 113, no. 18 (2016): 4900-4908. | Find with Google Scholar »
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Dear all,
Welcome to Dr Chris Reid who joined the department this week. Chris is interested in optimisation in natural systems, using ants and slime moulds as study organisms. He will be responsible for BIOL114 while Mariella is Senate Chair.
Just a quick reminder that the department will be holding a meeting lunchtime on Tuesday to discuss the ARC’s proposed engagement and impact assessment strategy. This will affect all researchers so your input is important.
Finally I am delighted to see the department’s traditional celebration of autumn in the courtyard – go and have a look for yourself or check it out on the Facebook page
cheerio
Michelle
Save the Date
This coming week 30th May – 3rd June
Tue 31st May; Department Meeting to discuss ARC engagement and impact assessment; 1:00 – 2:00pm; E8A-280 (tea room).
Tue 31st May; R-Users Group – Project Management ; 3:00 – 4:00pm; E8A-280 (tea room).
Wed 1st June; Morning Tea with HoD; 10:30 – 11:00am; The Hill.
Wed 1st June; Departmental Seminar: Prof Chris Dickman (Faculty of Science, University of Sydney); 1:00 – 2:00pm; E8A-280 (tea room).
Thu 2nd June; Green Wall Office Party; 11:00am; E8A-170.
The following week 6th – 10th June
Tue 7th; Department Meeting; 1:00 – 2:00pm; E8A-280 (tea room).
Wed 8th; Morning Tea with HoD; 10:30 – 11:00am; E8A-280 (tea room).
Wed 8th; Departmental Seminar: Rachel Brown “What evolvability really is”; 1:00 – 2:00pm; E8A-280 (tea room).
Coming up
Wed 15th – Fri 17th June; 2016 Annual HDR Conference; 9am onwards each day; Location E8A labs.
July 5th; Formal Department meeting for S1 grades
July 31st; applications for PhD scholarships due
Aug 20th; Open Day
General News and Announcements
Your input needed: ARC Engagement and impact consultation paper
As part of its National Innovation and Science Agenda (NISA) the Government is developing a national engagement and impact assessment which will examine how universities are translating their research into economic, social and other benefits and incentivise greater collaboration between universities, industry and other end-users of research. The ARC and the Department of Education and Training will implement this assessment. It will run as a companion to ERA, with the first full collection and assessment to take place in 2018.
A consultation paper has been developed and the Research Committee are presently seeking your feedback on it. Please find attached:
- The ARC Engagement and Impact Assessment Consultation paper,
- A template for providing your feedback to the ARC Consultation paper, and
- The ATSE paper with metrics – please see p.12 for details
We will hold a Department meeting on Tuesday 31 May 1-2 pm to discuss
If you are unable to attend, would you please email your feedback, using the attached template, to Melanie Bishop (melanie.bishop@mq.edu.au) by COB Friday 3 June.
ARC Engagement and Impact Assessment Consultation Paper
ATSE – Research-engagement-australia-pilot-report
ARC Engagement and Impact Assessment Consultation – Appx A – Template for Feedback
Binless Office Trial – Commences Wednesday 1 June
As discussed previously Biology is undertaking a trial to remove individual underdesk bins from offices. This trial will take place in the following areas:
E8A level 1 and 2
E8B level 1 and 2
E8C level 1
W19F
We appreciate your involvement and cooperation with the trial, and look forward to any feedback you have on how to improve arrangements. The trial is the best opportunity to provide feedback on how a binless office situation can work well. Please email samantha.newton@mq.edu.au with all your feedback.
By looking after our own waste, we can reduce plastic bag use, feed our worms, and improve the health of our environment. These small individual steps will have a huge communal impact.
Weekly Seminar
Day/Date/Time/Location: Wednesday, 1st June, 1pm – 2pm, E8A-280 (Tea room)
Speaker: Prof Chris Dickman, Faculty of Science, University of Sydney
Title: Risks and rewards: the ecology of boom-bust cycles in arid Australia
Abstract: Episodic floods or heavy rains in arid environments usually herald pulses of productivity that trigger ‘booms’ in the numbers of consumer organisms and dramatic but short-lived increases in local and regional biodiversity. But these times of reward can also be times of great risk, providing opportunities for invasive plants and animals to move into arid regions at the expense of native biota. As ‘bust’ times of low resources begin, wildfires often sweep through large areas and provide further opportunities and hazards for biota. In this talk, I will describe long-term (25-year) trends in vegetation, lizards and small mammals in the Simpson Desert, central Australia. I will also show the responses of these groups to flooding rains, droughts and wildfire, and discuss the likely effects of climate change on boom and bust cycles and the management options that may help to mitigate these effects.
Genes to Geoscience & Faculty of Science and Engineering Tutor Induction
Organised by Melanie Bishop, this workshop is designed to enhance your confidence in, and develop your awareness of, issues in teaching small groups (such as in a prac classes or tutorials). Topics covered will include: effective questioning, encouraging equal participation, managing student behaviour, and giving and receiving feedback. This workshop will be of interest to new and experienced tutors alike.
When: mornings (9:30am – 12:30pm) Wednesday the 13th July and Thursday the 14th July (both sessions are compulsory)
Where: EMC-G240
Limit: 50 (first-in secures a place)
Registrations are open now: https://hdrworkshops.mq.edu.au/registration/new/13141
Tea/coffee & biscuits will be available
For more information, contact: g2g-admin@mq.edu.au
Plant of the week – Aechmea gamosepala
Aechmea gamosepala – a bromeliad from Atlantic rainforests of southern Brazil
R Users Group Meeting
Our second R users group meeting is coming up next Tuesday, 31.05.2016. This week, Josh Madin will show us how to best organize and manage your data files and outputs for using R. He prepared a ZIP-file with a bunch of files and pictures in it, please download it from the following link: http://acropora.bio.mq.edu.au/projects.zip.
So, if you want to get some tips on how to put an end to the steadily growing amount of unsorted files on your computer, come to our next R users group meeting on the 31st of May, at 3 pm in the biology tearoom.
As always, if anybody needs assistance beforehand come around at 2:30 pm.
Green Wall Office Party – June 2, 11am
Rekha made the awesome green wall from recycled material. It is now hanging in Mariella’s office. Come by on Thursday June 2 at 11am for an office party (BYO tea/coffee)…cakes are at hand!!! E8A170
Women In Science
A peer-voted prize/competition for women in science has just been received:
https://www.thinkable.org/vote_competitions/the-peer-prize-for-women-in-science
Entries are based around a specific piece of research, and each entry into the competition costs $50 (cheaper early-bird entries have closed). Teams as well as individuals can self-nominate. There might be some women-only research teams in the Dept who could be encouraged to apply?
So Many Papers!
Congratulations to Elke Vermulen, PhD student in the Parasitology Lab, who had her fifth PhD paper accepted today. Elke is looking at parasites in rock wallabies. This is an excellent achievement.
2016 Winter School in Mathematical & Computational Biology (4-8 July 2016)
A premier annual bioinformatics training event in Australia for 13 years, the Winter School in Mathematical & Computational Biology will be held 4 to 8 July 2016 at the Institute for Molecular Science, The University of Queensland, St Lucia. Only $260 for the whole week for early bird students!
The series of winter schools is designed to introduce bioinformatics, mathematical and computational biology to advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students, postdoctoral researchers and others working in the fields of biology, mathematics, statistics, computer science, information technology, complex systems analysis, and chemical and medical sciences and engineering.
THEMES
* Next generation sequencing & bioinformatics
* Bioinformatics methods, models and applications to disease
* Advanced bio-data visualisation
* Ecogenomics
FEATURED SPEAKERS
Prof. Burkhard Rost,Technische Universität München (TUM), Germany
Prof. Edward DeLong, University of Hawaii, USA
Dr Seán O’Donoghue, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, CSIRO
Dr Mathieu Bourgey, McGill University, Canada
Dr Kate Patterson, Garvan Institute of Medical Research
Speakers at Winter School are chosen as great presenters and world leaders in their field. See website for the complete list of 30 or so speakers and presentation titles.
WORKSHOP & BOOTCAMP
A Genomics Virtual Laboratory training workshop (limited places) will be run during the Winter School on Wednesday 6th July. A Software Carpentry Bootcamp (11-12 July) is also being run in conjunction with the Winter School. Both events were fully subscribed in days last year, so register early to avoid disappointment.
KEY DATES
Online registration:
– Early bird – Now to 15 June 2016
– Normal – 16 June to 26 June 2016
TRAVEL SCHOLARSHIPS
– Applications open for student travel bursaries: 15 – 31 May 2016
– Panel discussion: 1 – 7 June 2016
– Announcement of outcome: 8 – 10 June 2016
For more information: http://bioinformatics.org.au/ws16
Sydney Chapter – Society for Conservation Biology
We invite you to join our next Conservation Cafe 11th June @ 10am at the Education Precinct in Centennial Park. This is a free event and includes morning-tea nibblies.
This June, we welcome Macquarie’s own Julia Riley and James Baxter-Gilbert:
Conservation biologists aim to mitigate human impacts on natural ecosystems, but does conservation research itself impact target species?
With this in mind, our guests will discuss their research on the effectiveness of mitigation methods. Julia will discuss a tool used to reduce predation of rare turtle nest and James will discuss measuresput in place to reduce the impact of roads on reptiles.
They will also discuss the Massasauga Rattlesnake research project they started with the community of Magnetawan First Nation, increasing understanding of Ontario’s only venomous snake. Research in the Great White North of Canada certainly comes with its fair share of trials, tribulations, and adventures, and James and Julia have selected a few particularly unique stories to share with us.
Please download our flyer belowand RSVP on Eventbrite (https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/conservation-cafe-june-2016-tickets-25506920887)
Behavioural Studies Unit Research Volunteer Positions Available
New Publications
Reductions in native grass biomass associated with drought facilitates the invasion of an exotic grass into a model grassland system
By: Manea, Anthony, Daniel R. Sloane, and Michelle R. Leishman. Oecologia (2016): 1-9. | Find with Google Scholar »Floral Nectar: Pollinator Attraction or Manipulation?
By: Pyke, Graham H. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 31, no. 5 (2016): 339-341. | Find with Google Scholar »Differential genotypic effects of sexual trait size on offspring mating success and viability
By: Polak, Michal, Kerry V. Fanson, Phillip W. Taylor, and Sarsha Yap. Behavioral Ecology (2015): arv174. | Find with Google Scholar »A multilocus comparative study of dispersal in three codistributed demersal sharks from eastern Australia
By: Corrigan, Shannon, Charlie Huveneers, Adam Stow, and Luciano B. Beheregaray. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences ja (2015). | Find with Google Scholar »Multiple rod – cone and cone – rod photoreceptor transmutations in snakes: evidence from visual opsin gene expression
By: Simões, Bruno F., Filipa L. Sampaio, Ellis R. Loew, Kate L. Sanders, Robert N. Fisher, Nathan S. Hart, David M. Hunt, Julian C. Partridge, and David J. Gower. In Proc. R. Soc. B, vol. 283, no. 1823, p. 20152624. The Royal Society, 2016. | Find with Google Scholar »In the Media
Associate Professor Culum Brown featured in The Age, and Canberra Times, and Australian Geographic
Associate Professor Culum Brown from the Department of Biological Sciences featured in The Age, and Canberra Times, discussing a recent Macquarie study that found that Port Jackson sharks have personalities. Coverage also appeared in Australian Geographic.
You can also read about this in the MQU Newsroom.
Michael Gillings interviewed by SBS’s ‘The Feed’ about DNA testing for discovering your ancestry
The EMMA Lab was on SBS The Feed on Thursday night:
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/thefeed/article/2016/05/26/jan-fran-takes-dna-test-what-did-she-discover
Jeanette Francis interviewed me about DNA testing for discovering your ancestry.
Simon Griffith spoke to the Glebe Society Meeting about the decline of sparrows in Sydney.
Michelle Power’s work on human sewage presenting a threat to Antarctic wildlife has been covered in the MQU Newsroom.
Michelle Power’s work on human sewage presenting a threat to Antarctic wildlife has been covered in the MQU Newsroom.
Elizabeth Sheldon spoke with the Northern Daily Leader about a research project in Armidale that looks at sparrows
Elizabeth Sheldon from the Department of Biological Sciences spoke with the Northern Daily Leader about a research project in Armidale that looks at sparrows’ adaptability to the changing Australian environment.
A full PDF report can be previewed or downloaded here.
Robert Harcourt’s work on a new species of Frogfish was covered in The Guardian
Robert Harcourt of the Department of Biological Sciences was covered in The Guardian on a new species of Frogfish, Porophryne erythrodactylus.