Evolution of displays in Galapagos lava lizards: comparative analyses of signallers and robot playbacks to receivers
Clark, D. L., J. M. Macedonia, J. W. Rowe, M. A. Stuart, D. J. Kemp, and T. J. Ord. 2015. Evolution of displays in Galapagos lava lizards: comparative analyses of signallers and robot playbacks to receivers. Animal Behaviour 109:33-44. | Find with Google Scholar »
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Dear all,
A big week for launches with the official opening of the E8C teaching labs (see pictures below) and also of the Faculty’s strategic plan (I have some hard copies but pdf version available next week). The E8C labs looked fantastic – thanks to Rekha for her organisation. Best wishes to all S2 convenors and markers who are busy exam marking – the formal Department exam meeting will be on 1st December at 2pm and all academic staff are expected to attend. Finally don’t forget that the closing date for Faculty L&T award nominations is next Friday 20 November – you can find all relevant information here.
cheerio
Michelle
General News and Announcements
More Endeavour Success
A 2016 Endeavour Research Fellowship was awarded to Dr Marine Lasbliez from Aix-Marseille University to work with Dr Leanne Armand on the fate of the annual diatom bloom on Kerguelen Plateau, on the southeast Indian sector of the Southern Ocean.
Research retreat RESCHEDULED to Monday 7 December
In light of the clash between the previously proposed date of the Research Retreat and the Big History Anthropocene Conference, we have rescheduled the Retreat to Monday 7 December. The venue is as previously advised – Caley Room, Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. All academic staff are expected to attend and postdocs are also welcome. Further details and a calendar invite to follow soon.
E8C Lab Launch
The E8C Lab Launch was a great success. Many thanks for Rekha who put so much time and effort into the labs and the launch.
photos by Prasanth Subramani
Resolution of S2 Marks
Our Department Formal Exam Meeting will be held on Tuesday 1st December, 2015 in the Biology Tea Room.
Biological Sciences rep for Faculty board
Ian Wright has become the department’s representative on the Faculty board – congratulations to Ian! I’m sure he’d be delighted to convey your opinions to the Faculty.
New PhD Students
Sherrie Chambers
Sherrie is a PhD student from Melbourne with a background in fish ecology and genetics. She will be working on spatial ecology, movement patterns and migration in Port Jackson sharks using a variety of methods including stable isotope analysis, acoustic telemetry and behavioural assays. She is part of Culum Brown’s group and can be found in W21B 101.
Lianne Meah
Lianne’s research entails computationally modelling the parts of the honeybee brain that are involved with decision-making. She’ll also be doing experimental work which will examine how things such as motivation and perceptual similarity can impact honeybee decision-making. The experimental work will hopefully confirm the predictions of Lianne’s model.
Lianne’s prinicpal supervisor is Andrew Barron and Lianne can be found in W19F room 141.
Rene Heim
The joint PhD program between Macquarie University and University of Hamburg has enabled Rene to combine the research fields of spectral vegetation sensing, data mining, phytopathology and plant functional ecology. Rene is eager to cast a glance at the invasive rust Puccinia psidii (myrtle rust), a threat to the native plant family Myrtaceae and as a consequence also to the Australian ecosystems and economy.
Rene’s principal supervisor is Ian Wright and Rene can be found in E7B240.
Marlis Dumke
Marlis is an international student from Germany who recently enrolled in the joint doctoral degree program from Macquarie University and Universität Hamburg. She started her PhD a year ago and already spent the time from January to June 2015 at Macquarie, looking at group-level and individual-level effects on social foraging behaviour in Australia’s group-living crab spiders. She will be back at Macquarie in February and stay for 4 months to collect spiders and conduct a series of feeding experiments, then locatet in E8A 260
If you see these students around say hi and make them feel welcome.
Reading Lists for S3 2015 and S1 2016 units
It’s time to submit your reading list to the library for teaching in S3 which is starting shortly, and S1 next year.
Important things to note:
- Staff with Session 3 reading lists need to contact the library immediately.
- The library has no more ‘7 Day Loan’ option. (They just aren’t being borrowed).
- The library will only be ordering the most recent editions of works for Reserve (and the general collection), unless otherwise specified.
- The Session 1 2016 cutoff date is 22nd January.
Detailed instructions on the wiki here.
New Staff Member
Dr Chronis Rempoulakis has joined the department as a 5-year Senior Research Fellow, funded by grants from Horticulture Innovation Australia Ltd. Originally from Greece, Chronis has most recently been based at the Volcani Institute in Israel. Chronis has worked extensively in strategic basic and applied fruit fly research projects in Greece, Austria and Israel. His interests include insect reproductive behaviour, nutrition, symbiosis, chemical ecology, and the application of strategic basic knowledge from these fields to enhance environmentally benign pest management practises.
Supervisor Training
In addition to Mariella and Glenn’s in house supervisor training to meet the requirements of the annual update for supervision enhancement (Tuesday Nov 17, 2-3pm in the biology tea room), two further university-wide workshops are scheduled for 2015 . Go to web addresses provided to register.
Forum – what policy, guidelines and support do Post-Doctoral Fellows need as HDR Supervisors? Tuesday 1st December 2015, 12.30-1.30pm. Register here.
HDR Supervision and graduate employability Tuesday 8 Dec 2015, 12.30-1.30pm. Register here.
For further information, contact the Convenor of the Supervision Enhancement Program. Dr Merilyn Childs, A/Prof & Convenor – Supervision Enhancement Program Higher Degree Research – Macquarie University.
Survey Techniques for Citizen Scientists
I (Geetha Ortac) work for National Parks Association of NSW, a non-government and not-for-profit conservation organisation. We have developed a comprehensive field survey manual suitable for students from biology and various other environmental disciplines. It is based on sound research and well written to suit a variety of knowledge levels. I think many students will benefit from purchasing a copy of this manual.
Some details about the manual:
“The National Parks Association of NSW is proud to present our new publication, Survey Techniques for Citizen Scientists. This comprehensive, full colour publication provides detailed information on how to collect data on a range of plant, animal and marine species, presented in a clear, easy to follow way. The manual is suitable for scientists and non-scientists alike, and has been produced to assist community groups and individuals to develop citizen science surveys that can help them make informed decisions about their natural environment.
The manual is designed to increase participation and cooperation between community groups, scientists and members of the public, to facilitate the sharing of knowledge leading to a better understanding of biodiversity issues.”
To check out a sample or place an order, please visit http://www.npansw.org.au. Price per manual: $99 (including GST) + $15 postage and handling.
Should you need any further clarification, please do not hesitate to contact me <npansw@npansw.org.au>. I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you very much for your support.
Rotary District 9685 Rotary Global Grant Scholarship in 2016
Invitation to a Young Person Interested in International Postgraduate Study to Apply for a Rotary District 9685 Global Grant Scholarship
Closing 31 March 2016
The purpose of the Global Grant Scholarship program is to support international study at post graduate level.
Rotary District 9685 supports the Global Grant Scholarship Program of The Rotary Foundation and will offer one Global Grant Scholarship in 2016. This scholarship program is funded by a District 9685 grant of US$15,000 which is matched by the Rotary Foundation providing a scholarship to the total value of US$30,000.
Rotary District 9685 extends from the Blue Mountains to the Sea north of Sydney Harbour, reaching across the Hawkesbury River and north to Toukley on the Central Coast. Within its boundaries are the business districts of North Sydney, Chatswood, Gosford, Penrith, and the Ryde industrial area.
For a description of the boundaries and a listing of the 74 Rotary Clubs in Rotary District 9685 see here. More information available here.
Fisheries Scientific Committee Student Research Grants
The NSW Fisheries Scientific Committee (FSC) has opened their 2015/16 round of Student Research Grants. The FSC has available $3,000 to fund 1-2 student projects aimed at filling gaps in research information for threatened and rare species of fish and marine vegetation in NSW. The grant is intended for use by undergraduate third year major project students, or as part of a Honours, Masters of PhD project.
Further information and the application form can be downloaded from the FSC’s webpage here.
Applications close on 12 February 2016.
Tohoku University and Macquarie University Biomedical Sciences and Engineering Symposium
Academics and students from two prestigious research institutes of Tohoku University as well as Macquarie’s Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS) and Science & Engineering will present at the Symposium. The Symposium is open to all Macquarie staff and students interested in Biomedical Sciences and Biomedical Engineering related research areas.
Tohoku University is one of the oldest and most prestigious research universities in Japan; it is ranked 75 in the world by QS in 2015.
The Institute of Development, Ageing and Cancer (IDAC) of Tohoku University is a unique institute affiliated with Japanese national universities that promote ageing research. As a ‘Joint Usage/Research Center for Ageing’, its objectives are to investigate basic mechanisms of ageing, as well as to control age-related diseases, such as dementia and intractable cancers. The Graduate School of Engineering (GSE) of Tohoku University is one of world’s leading institutes in engineering research and education.
The Tohoku delegation of 17 is led by academic leaders of IDAC and GSE. The main Macquarie host of the delegation is Professor Itsu Sen at FMHS.
If you are interested in attending the Symposium, or would like to take part in meeting with the delegation after the Symposium, please contact Dr David Verrelli.
| Date | 16 November 2015 |
| Time | 9:00 am – 1:00 pm |
| Location | Seminar Room, Level 1, 75 Talavera Road, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Macquarie University |
Job Opportunities List
The Society of Australian Systematic Biologists (SASB) maintains a list of postdoc and faculty jobs, and PhD scholarship opportunities here.
Plant of the Week: Carrots
brought to you by Nicole Vella
Bonus Plant of the Week: Cordyline stricta
brought to you by Brian Atwell
Community Interest Projects
Homes for Homes is an initiative lead by The Big Issue (a magazine sold to assist the Homeless of Sydney), where people who are selling their homes can include a caveat on the home’s title to donate 0.01% of the house sale price to the initiative. This amount will be donated each time the house is sold to support fund projects assisting the homeless.
More info here.
Street Smart
Visit particular restaurants/cafes from 9 Nov to 31 Dec and $2 that you choose to donate will go directly towards helping grassroots projects and the homeless.
More info here.
Decline of the Lecture
Two articles have come out that discuss lower levels of lecture attendance based on evidence collected at ANU. You can see them here and here.
Missing Guillotine
The guillotine from the biology copy room has gone missing. If you know its whereabouts please let us know or return it.
New Publications
Rab1-dependent ER-Golgi transport dysfunction is a common pathogenic mechanism in SOD1, TDP-43 and FUS-associated ALS
Soo, K. Y., M. Halloran, V. Sundaramoorthy, S. Parakh, R. P. Toth, K. A. Southam, C. A. McLean, P. Lock, A. King, M. A. Farg, and J. D. Atkin. 2015. Rab1-dependent ER-Golgi transport dysfunction is a common pathogenic mechanism in SOD1, TDP-43 and FUS-associated ALS. Acta Neuropathologica 130:679-697. | Find with Google Scholar »Biological, ecological, conservation and legal information for all species and subspecies of Australian bird
Garnett, S.T., Duursma, D.E., Ehmke, G., Guay, P.-J., Stewart, A., Szabo, J.K., Weston, M.A., Bennett, S., Crowley, G.M., Drynan, D., Dutson, G., Fitzherbert, K., Franklin, D.C., 2015. Biological, ecological, conservation and legal information for all species and subspecies of Australian bird. Scientific Data 2, 150061. | Find with Google Scholar »In the Media
Robert Kooyman spoke on ABC North Coast’s Mornings program on a CSIRO sustainability paper which looks at projections to 2050 to determine if Australia is sustainable
Nathan Hart spoke to Nova106.9’s Ash, Kip and Luttsy about his work on shark deterrence methods
Jane Williamson did live TV interviews on the “Today Show” and on “Mornings” discussing recent shark bites on the north coast
Read more »
Daisy Duursma has been featured in Data Descriptor and Wild Magazine for the launch of a database describing all Australian bird species
Read more »
Rob Harcourt has contributed an article to The Conversation on right whale recovery
Rob Harcourt was interviewed by Radio 6PR in Perth about his study into right whales
Elizabeth Sheldon spoke to 936 ABC Hobart Breakfast about how sparrows are affecting Australian ecosystems.
Rob Harcourt provided comment to The Australian and Business Insider Australia, and also spoke to 6PR Perth News, about his recent study which links migratory habits to the genetics of southern right whales.
Read more »