The Evolution of Clutch Size in Hosts of Avian Brood Parasites
By: Medina, Iliana, Naomi E. Langmore, Robert Lanfear, and Hanna Kokko. The American Naturalist 190, no. 5 (2017): E000-E000. | Find with Google Scholar »
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Dear all,
Congrats to our latest ARC successes – Josh Madin, Elizabeth Madin and Simon Griffith all received ARC DP funding with MQ as lead institution, Glenn Brock is part of a successful LIEF bid led by Simon George from EPS, while Martin Whiting and Rob Harcourt were successful with projects through UTas. Apologies if I’ve missed anyone – let me know.
This week’s department meeting presentations are attached here.
Looking forward to the retreat next Monday-Tuesday!
cheers,
Michelle
Save the Date
This coming week 13th – 17th November
Mon 13th – Tue 14th: Department Retreat for Academic Staff; venue Kooindah Waters Central Coast.
Wed 15th: Department Morning Tea; 10.30am – 11.30am; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).
Wed 15th: Ally Network BBQ; 12.30pm – 1.30pm; E8 Courtyard.
Thu 16th: Departmental Seminar – Professor Dan Blumstein, UCLA; 1pm – 2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).
Thu 16th: Writing Workshop; 2.30pm – 4.30pm, E8C-212.
Next week 20th – 24th November – Projector Upgrade in E8A 280 Tearoom all week- the usual bookings will be moved elsewhere.
Tues 21st: Special Seminar – Dr Carsten Kulheim – Genes to ecosystems: The problem with complex traits; 9.30am – 10.30am; E7A-801.
Wed 22nd: Department Morning Tea; 10.30am – 11.30am; The Hill.
Wed 22nd: Associate Professor Nathan Lo, The University of Sydney; 1pm – 2pm; ?TBA?
Thu 23rd: Special Seminar – Assoc Prof Jaco Le Roux – Australian acacias – a fascinating experiment in global biogeography; 10.00am – 11.00am; Molecular Sciences – F7B-322 & 325.
Thu 23rd: Writing Workshop; 2.30pm – 4.30pm, E8C-212.
Thu 23rd: Student Drinks; 5pm – 5.30pm, E8A-280 (Biology Courtyard).
Coming up
Every Thursday for the next few months: Writing Workshop; 2.30-4.00pm; E8C-212
Dec 5th: 11am Formal Department Meeting for Grading in E8A 280, followed by the Christmas Party in the Biology Courtyard at 1pm.
General News and Announcements
Upcycle Competition – Congratulations and Thank you!
Best Functional: Ingrid Errington for Upcycled Garden
Functional Special mention: Air Bee and Beetle by the Behaviour Ecology Lab
Best Creative and People’s Choice: Michael Gillings for The Gleaner and Spiral Duck Falls in Love
Creative Highly Commended: TreeCycle by the tech team (Nick Harris, Tarun Ranjan, Sarah Collison and Libby Eyre) and E8A cabinet display by Libby Eyre
Thank you to everyone who submitted entries: Ingrid Errington, Michael Gillings, Libby Eyre, Winnie Man, Muhammad Masood, Tech team (Nick Harris, Tarun Ranjan, Sarah Collison, Libby Eyre), Behaviour Ecology Lab (Lizzy Lowe and others), Santiago Tozer and Rekha Joshi
Thanks to the judges: Michelle Leishman, Rachael Dudaniec and Samantha Newton (members of Biology’s Sustainability Working Group)
Thanks to Rekha for initiating the competition and providing the People’s Choice prize, and prizes for the child entrants.
Thank you to Jenny and the admin team for delicious morning tea.
The entries will stay on display for the remainder of this week. The Christmas Tree will stay until after Christmas. The Air Bee and Beetle will be placed in the garden and used for under graduate teaching.
We will hold another Upcycle Competition in 2018, so start planning now.
Weekly Seminar
Day/Date/Time/Place: Thursday, 16th November, 1:00pm – 2:00pm, E8A-280 (Tea Room).
Speaker: Professor Dan Blumstein, UCLA.
Title: Conservation Behavior: A Fearful Perspective
Abstract: Biomedical scientists realize that fundamental research can be ‘translated’ into clinical success. As behavioural biologists, many of us engage in translational research with a clear wildlife conservation benefit. The field of conservation behavior is explicitly translational in that it translates fundamental advances in behavioral biology to help conserve or manage wildlife populations. Focusing on some of my past work studying birds, hermit crabs, lizards, kangaroos, and wallabies, I will illustrate how a fundamental study of behavior could be used to improve wildlife management outcomes. My goals are to stimulate others to identify translational benefits in their research and, ultimately, to help humans better coexist with wildlife.
Cultural Safety Training
Do you feel comfortable and confident talking about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, their history and cultural knowledge? Do you want to engage more with Indigenous cultures and embed Indigenous knowledge into your teaching and research but are worried about causing offense? If so, this is the workshop for you! Phil Duncan, from the Indigenous Strategy unit will provide Cultural Safety Training for Biology staff. There are only 25 places available, so be quick – sign up now: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cultural-safety-training-biological-sciences-staff-tickets-39633526946
When: Thursday 7th December, 9am-12:30pm (includes morning tea and lunch)
Where: E8A280 (Biology Tea Room),
Who: Biology staff
Dietary restrictions? Please email Jenny Ghabache with your needs after registering.
The Department is pleased to welcome visiting scholar, Marta Skowron Volponi
Marta’s research involves studying members of the Sesiidae family (clearwing moths) are characterized by imitating bees, wasps and hornets, forming a classic example of Batesian mimicry. The misleading characteristics include partially hyaline, narrow wings, the presence of hair-like scales on the legs and other parts of the body, simple and often clavate antennae or bright bands on the abdomen. Due to difficulties in locating these insects in the wild, entomologists use synthetic pheromones to attract them, placing the lure in a trap with a killing agent. The main disadvantage of this method is that it gives no information on the biology, behaviour or even true appearance of the captured sesiid.
As a result, very little is known about these aspects of representatives of the Sesiidae family. She studies clearwing moths of Southeast Asia in their habitat, focusing mainly on behavioural aspects and describing new taxa on the way. In order to find them, and must go deep into the rainforest to locate potential habitats and even when she does, Marta usually observes only one to several individuals on a perfect day. When in the field, it amazed her to see that a new species of sesiid she was currently studying, Heterosphecia pahangensis, not only looks like a bee but also flies in a zig-zag just like it! In flight, it was impossible to distinguish from similar-sized bees occurring in the same area. To test whether this is a case of locomotor mimicry, she has filmed the flight of sesiids, bees and wasps in 1000 frames per second and later generated their flight trajectories. Marta is currently mathematically comparing flight parameters of the registered insects to verify whether bee-like clearwing moths mimic bees also behaviourally. Another aspect she looks into is possible acoustic mimicry in clearwing moths – she has heard them buzz just like bees do! It seems that these incredible insects have at least three “levels” of mimicry: morphological, locomotor and acoustic.
Worm Farm and Tea Bags
Our worms are healthy and enjoying the lovely coffee, banana and salad scraps you’ve been providing. The worm farm is about to be refreshed, with lovely worm castings available for the home veggie garden.
A quick inspection reveals a layer of tea bags and tags.
Further investigation, via google, has revealed some interesting information about tea bags:
- Most teabags (including the Dilmah tea supplied by the department) is 70-80% biodegradable
- T2 tea bags are made of Nylon (not biodegradable)
- Loose leaf tea is fully biodegradable and tastes better
Therefore, for the sake of our worms, our gardens and or planet, please switch to loose-leaf tea, or non-T2 teabags where possible. If you absolutely must use a T2 tea bag, or a bag sealed with a staple, please throw the used bag into the general waste, not the worm container.
If you would like to take home some worm castings for your garden, please email Samantha Newton, <samantha.newton@mq.edu.au>
Do You Tweet?
A few representatives of the Biology Department went to a Twitter workshop this week. Please see some useful tips in the workshop’s handouts attached.
6-SMS-Tips-for-scientists-using-social-media
Top tips for Twitter_Nov17
Photo Competition – November 2017 – Chance to WIN $100 Gift Card
This month’s theme is FIELDWORK!
Please follow the drop box file request link to submit your images.
Submission close: 30 November 2017
The top photos each month will be shared on our Department website and this newsletter. The top winning photo for the month will be featured on our Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. The best image from the preceding 12 months will be announced at the annual Biology Department Christmas party and the lucky winner will receive a $100 Gift Card! You can enter as many photos as you like.
Criteria
- Shows what’s unique about the work being done
- Taken in the last five years
Please provide the following details to jenny.ghabache@mq.edu.au:
- Details of where/what/who/ is featured in the photo
- Who took the photo
- Date/Year is was taken
Session 1 2018 Biology tutor applications are now open
If you’re interested, you can apply here.
More information about the application process, including selection criteria, can be found on the BIOL899 or BIOL990 iLearn webpages.
Please contact Caitlin Kordis if you have any questions.
Applications close 30 November 2017.
A New 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.
Biological Sciences Administrative Requests
Please email any admin requests you have to <sci.bio-adm@mq.edu.au>. The email is monitored by the whole Admin Team, so your request won’t sit unanswered in a single person’s inbox should they be away or on leave. If you need to contact the individual admin staff member directly, you will find their contact details in this document.
And if you need HoD signoff on any applications, forms, etc please send to <fse.bio-hod@mq.edu.au>
Plant of the Week
This week – African, or Cape Daisy – Osteospermum ecklonis. This colourful garden plant is a South African endemic from the Eastern Cape. Surprisingly, in view of its very limited natural distribution in South Africa, it is a problem weed in Australia, particularly in Western Australia and Victoria. However, new compact varieties have been developed in recent years, many with extraordinary flower colour and petal shape. Hopefully these cultivars will not be as invasive as the species.
STEM Speakers in Schools
What is it?
The Speakers in Schools program places Macquarie University academics in schools to connect students and teachers with researchers who inspire, inform and challenge students to question their thinking. Presentations discuss hot topics, global issues affecting society, have inspirational and significant impact for students.
How does it work?
We request that interested schools give us 4 weeks’ notice with some suggested dates, Alison Willard (FSE Future Students) will then liaise with you to see if any of those dates suit your schedule. The FSE Future Students Team provides transport for you (either someone will accompanying and drive you, or you can get a cab charge voucher).
Are you interested?
Please express your interest here:
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
Urban Green Space Discovery Day at the Coal Loader and surrounding Balls Head Reserve, North Sydney (Saturday 11 Nov)
Urban green spaces are important places for our community and wildlife. This Discovery Day, supported by Macquarie University and North Sydney Council, aims to explore the role of urban greens spaces and their benefits including improvements to our health and wellbeing, social interactions and connection with place. This day will also explore the unique ecology and wildlife of Balls Head Reserve and its Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal cultural and heritage values. This is a FREE Community Event but some activities will require registration due to number restrictions https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/urban-green-space-discovery-day-tickets-38711171155
Faculty of Human Sciences public lecture: ‘Opening Minds – Civil discourse in an uncivil age: the quest for a post-partisan citizenship’
The Faculty of Human Sciences invites you and any networks of which you may be a part, to a public lecture given by Alexander Heffner (bio in the link below), host of the Public Broadcasting Service show (PBS in the US), The Open Mind.
Date: Tuesday 21 November 2017
Venue: The Macquarie Theatre
Time: 6:15pm for a 6:30pm punctual start
Title: Opening Minds – Civil discourse in an uncivil age: the quest for a post-partisan citizenship
We believe this will be a very enlightening talk by one of the most well-known public affairs program hosts in the world. First broadcast in 1956, The Open Mind was hosted by Mr Heffner’s grandfather, Richard Heffner. In 2014, Alexander Heffner became the new host, renewing the show’s commitment to civil discourse for the new generation.
Light refreshments will be served following the presentation.
Please refer to the link for further information, speaker biography and registration.
RSVP: Friday 17 November 2017 (please use the link below)
MU Species Spectrum Research Centre — call for expressions of interest for 2018 working group funding
The MUSSRC Executive Committee is calling for expressions of interest to fund MUSSRC working groups in 2018.
The MQ Species Spectrum Research Centre (MUSSRC) was established in 2017 and funds working group activity around the application of the trait-based approach to a broad range of questions and organisms (http://www.mq.edu.au/research/research-centres-groups-and-facilities/secure-planet/centres/species-spectrum-research-centre). The unifying element across the working groups is 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”.
EOI’s for 2018 working group funding should be no more than 250 words. Each EOI should outline the question being addressed, how it will be addressed, a budget (with the amount of funding requested), the researchers involved, and the proposed outputs. EOI’s should be sent to fse.species-spectrum-admin@mq.edu.au no later than 5pm on the 30th Nov.
Selected EOI’s will be invited to present a short pitch to the MUSSRC Executive Committee in December. Successful pitches will be notified later in December. Funds will be made available in early 2018 and would need to be used by the end of 2018.
3 Jobs (2 x Technical Officers and 1 x Technical Manager) Going @ The School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Science at UNSW
Link to job description: https://applicant.cghrm.unsw.edu.au/psp/hrm/NS_CAREERS/HRMS/c/HRS_HRAM.HRS_APP_SCHJOB.GBL?Page=HRS_APP_JBPST&Action=U&FOCUS=Applicant&SiteId=1&JobOpeningId=60181&PostingSeq=1
If anyone is interested, contact Dr Patrick Smith <p.m.smith@unsw.edu.au>
New Publications
Fast-growing oysters show reduced capacity to provide a thermal refuge to intertidal biodiversity at high temperatures
By: McAfee, Dominic, Wayne A. O'connor, and Melanie J. Bishop. Journal of Animal Ecology 86, no. 6 (2017): 1352-1362. | Find with Google Scholar »Ants’ navigation in an unfamiliar environment is influenced by their experience of a familiar route
By: Schwarz, Sebastian, Antoine Wystrach, and Ken Cheng. Scientific Reports 7, no. 1 (2017): 14161. | Find with Google Scholar »Morphospaces of functionally analogous traits show ecological separation between birds and pterosaurs
By: Chan, Nicholas R. In Proc. R. Soc. B, vol. 284, no. 1865, p. 20171556. The Royal Society, 2017. | Find with Google Scholar »Mating-induced sexual inhibition in the jumping spider Servaea incana (Araneae: Salticidae): A fast-acting and long-lasting effect
By: Mendez, Vivian, Rowan H. McGinley, and Phillip W. Taylor. PloS one 12, no. 10 (2017): e0184940. | Find with Google Scholar »First observations of living sea-ice diatom agglomeration to tintinnid loricae in East Antarctica
By: Armbrecht, Linda H., Ruth Eriksen, Amy Leventer, and Leanne K. Armand. Journal of Plankton Research 39, no. 5 (2017): 795-802. | Find with Google Scholar »Gamma irradiation of the carob or date moth Ectomyelois ceratoniae: dose-response effects on egg hatch, fecundity, and survival
By: Chakroun, Salwa, Polychronis Rempoulakis, Kaouthar Lebdi‐Grissa, and Marc JB Vreysen. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata (2017). | Find with Google Scholar »Suppression of cuelure attraction in male Queensland fruit flies provided raspberry ketone supplements as immature adults
By: Akter, Humayra, Saleh Adnan, Renata Morelli, Polychronis Rempoulakis, and Phillip W. Taylor. PloS one 12, no. 8 (2017): e0184086. | Find with Google Scholar »Characterization of measurement errors using structure-from-motion and photogrammetry to measure marine habitat structural complexity
By: Bryson, Mitch, Renata Ferrari, Will Figueira, Oscar Pizarro, Josh Madin, Stefan Williams, and Maria Byrne. Ecology and Evolution (2017). Harvard | Find with Google Scholar »Palaeo leaf economics reveal a shift in ecosystem function associated with the end-Triassic mass extinction event
By: Soh, W. K., I. J. Wright, K. L. Bacon, T. I. Lenz, Margret Steinthorsdottir, A. C. Parnell, and J. C. McElwain. Nature Plants 3, no. 8 (2017): nplants2017104. | Find with Google Scholar »In the Media
Lizzy Lowe co-authored the article in The Conversation, and was interviewed by Red Symons on ABC radio Melbourne
Dr Lizzy Lowe from the Department of Biological Sciences co-authored the article ‘Five reasons not to spray the bugs in your garden this summer’ in The Conversation.
Lizzy Lowe also spoke on ABC Radio Melbourne Breakfast about the important role spiders play in ecosystems. See page 8 of the report.
Dr Lizzy Lowe, Dr Cameron Webb & Dr Kate Umbers
Five reasons not to spray the bugs in your garden this summer
https://theconversation.com/five-reasons-not-to-spray-the-bugs-in-your-garden-this-summer-85673