The utility of accelerometers to predict stroke rate in captive fur seals and sea lions
By: Ladds, Monique A., David A. Rosen, David J. Slip, and Robert G. Harcourt. Biology open 6, no. 9 (2017): 1396-1400. | Find with Google Scholar »
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Dear all,
Biology was well represented at the university’s excellence awards with Chris Reid winning the ECR research excellence award, Mel Bishop the Jim Piper award for research leadership (with Andy Barron and Ian Wright the other two short-listed, so a clean sweep for biology), the Biodiversity Node short-listed under the Secure Planet research excellence category (and also short-listed for a BHERT (Business Higher Education Round Table) award in the ‘Outstanding Collaboration for National (Non-Economic) Benefit’ category), plus two new Distinguished Professors – Michael Gillings and myself (yay!). As Mel Bishop was overheard saying at the awards ceremony – we are a kick-arse department!
In other news, Michelle Power and I plus a supportive team from across the university have now made the final pitch to Taronga for an exciting teaching partnership – we should find out if we were successful in the next week or two, so fingers crossed!
I look forward to seeing you all at next Tuesday’s department meeting and the Upcycle competition awards on Wednesday.
cheers,
Michelle
Save the Date
This coming week 6th – 10th November
Tue 7th: Departmental Meeting; 1pm – 2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).
Tue 7th: Melbourne Cup Gathering & Sweeps; 2.30pm – 3.30pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).
Wed 8th: Upcycle Competition Awards; 10am – 11am; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).
Wed 8th: Departmental Seminar – Associate Professor Bob Wong, Monash University; 1pm – 2pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).
Thu 9th: Writing Workshop; 2.30pm – 4.30pm, E8C-212.
Following 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.
Thu 16th: HDR Completion Seminar; 4pm – 4.30pm; E8A-280 (Biology Tea Room).
Coming up
Every Thursday for the next few months: Writing Workshop; 2.30-4.00pm; E8C-212
Dec 5th: Formal Department Meeting for Grading, followed by the Christmas Party.
Department seminar schedule
November 22nd: Associate Professor Nathan Lo, The University of Sydney
General News and Announcements
Academic Staff Awards Ceremony 2017
The awards recognise talented people making an impact in learning and teaching and research throughout Macquarie University. Congratulations to all the nominees and a big thank-you to all the staff who support them.
Biological Sciences was well represented, especially for the Jim Piper Award for Excellence in Research Leadership, where all top nominees were from Biological Sciences. Melanie Bishop was the winner with both Andy Barron and Ian Wright being highly commended.
Chris Reid was awarded the Early Career Researcher of the Year for understanding biological complex systems.
Highly commended for the Excellence in Research: Future shaping research priorities – Secure Planet, was the NSW Adaptation Hub Biodiversity Node. Led by Lesley Hughes, this team includes Linda Beaumont, Rachael Gallagher, Victoria Graham, Michelle Leishman, Leigh Staas and colleagues from Dept. of Environmental Sciences.
Last but not least, we have two new Distinguished Professors in our Department, congratulations to Michelle Leishman and Michael Gillings!
Spookkkeeyyyy!!!
We hope that everyone has had a spook-tacular October. The Biology admin team has been getting in the spirit of the season, as have many of the bats, spiders and rats lurking around E8B level two.
As it is coming to the end of year please remember that all purchases, expenses and travel must be paid for as soon as possible to be accounted for in this year’s budget.
Come and visit our magical staff in admin if you have any questions about deadlines for the aforementioned activities, or any other queries.
Don’t forget to stop by room 206 (HoD Office) for some free Halloween candy, before it disappears.
Upcycle Competition and Awards Morning Tea
View the entries and cast your vote (Monday 6 – Tuesday 7 November)
Gold coin donation to vote. Proceeds go to ‘MS Sydney to the Gong Ride’ Biology Team (Tarun Rajan, Nick Harris and Tim Maher)
Awards Morning Tea: Wednesday 8 November, 10am, Biology Tearoom
Department staff have been busy making creative or functional items from discards and rubbish. Be inspired by their amazing creations.
See who takes the prize for most functional and the prize for most creative.
The People’s Choice award will also be announced.
New: Photo Competition – November 2017
This month’s theme is FIELDWORK!
The top photos will be shared on our Department website and this newsletter, and the top winning photo will be featured on our Twitter and Facebook. You can enter as many photos as you like.
drop box file request link to submit your images and send the info to jenny.ghabache@mq.edu.au
30 November 2017
Criteria
- Shows what’s unique about the work being done
- Taken in the last five years
Please provide the following details:
- Details of where/what/who/ is featured in the photo
- Who took the photo
- Date/Year it was taken
Weekly Seminar
Day/Date/Time/Place: Wednesday, 8th November, 1:00pm – 2:00pm, E8A-280 (Tea Room).
Speaker: Associate Professor Bob Wong, Monash University.
Title: Behavioural Responses to a changing world: evolutionary and ecological consequences
Abstract: Humans have brought about unprecedented changes to environments worldwide. For many species, behavioural adjustments represent the first response to altered conditions. Such behavioural modifications can potentially improve an organism’s prospects of surviving and reproducing in a rapidly changing world. However, not all behavioural responses are beneficial. Human-altered conditions, for instance, can undermine the reliability of sexual signals used by animals to assess potential suitors. Environmental changes can also impair sensory systems or interfere with physiological processes needed to mount an appropriate behavioural response. An understanding of behaviour could therefore be important in helping to explain why some species are able to survive, or even flourish, under human altered conditions, while others flounder. In this talk, I will consider the pivotal role that behaviour plays in determining the fate of species under human-induced environmental change, and discuss recent research in my Group investigating the impacts of anthropogenic change on behaviour in fish.
MQ Marine Seminar
MQMarine is hosting a seminar by Patrick De Deckker, Emeritus Professor, The Australian National University.
Title: ‘The 1897-99 Belgica expedition that first overwintered in Antarctic waters. A tale of extraordinary scientific achievements and of human endurance’
9 November 4pm – Venue TBA
See MQMarine News for more details.
MQMarine Grant Writing Workshop
Are you planning to apply for an ARC grant? MQ Marine is organising a workshop for grant applicants as well as ECRs looking to build a track record in attracting research funding. The aim is to support our Centre members to submit successful grant applications for ARC DP/DECRA. The workshop will have three parts:
- Grant applicants (academics and ECRs) will have the opportunity to pitch their research ideas and receive feedback from current grant holders and Ross Hill from the Research Office. There is no need to have a full draft application to present. The focus is on work-in-progress to support applicants during the writing stage. Of particular interest will be the aims, expected outcomes, and impact of the research idea. Those who have written drafts sections of their application can bring them along to receive feedback. Places for this part of the workshop are limited. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to get feedback on your work-in-progress.
- ECRs will receive tips about how to find and attract grants, philanthropic funding, and funding from industry partnerships to build a track record. All PhD candidates, Master students, postdocs, and other ECRs welcome.
- All participants will receive tips for writing grant application from current grant holders as well as Ross Hill from the Research Office.
Registration:
To attend the workshop (without presenting), please register here (password: Grantwriting-Attendee).
To attend and present your grant application at the workshop and receive feedback on it, please register via the links below. Places are limited.
DECRA applicants: register here (password: Grantwriting-DECRA)
All other ARC applicants: register here (password: Grantwriting-ARC)
Registration deadline is 12 November 2017.
Confirmed speakers:
Ian Paulsen (ARC Australian Laureate Fellow), Ian Goodwin (ARC Discovery grant holder), Laurie Menviel (DECRA holder), Ross Hill (Research Office), Mark Berlage (Research Office), Caitlin Crockford (Office of Advancement), Rene Logan (Research Professional).
Location: Function area, level 8 in 12 Wally’s Walk
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.
Plant of the Week
This week – Parsley, Petroselinum crispum Where would we be without this delicious, meal-enhancing herb from the Mediterranean?
Ockham’s Razor
It is also now available online for your listening/sharing pleasure: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/ockhamsrazor/a-botanic-record-250-years-in-the-making/9091680
And to follow:
Security Advice for Microsoft Outlook
The short version: don’t click links or open attachments from suspicious emails.
David Mabberley – 3 Major Books Encompassing Botany, History, & Art
For those who have not yet met David Mabberley, he is an eminent botanist who has held appointments in famous botanic gardens and universities in the UK, Netherlands, the USA and Australia, including being the previous Executive Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney. His botanical studies have focused on Rutaceae, notably citrus, and also the history of science and botanical art. We are fortunate to have David as Adjunct Professor in this Department. This year he has produced three major works. Mabberley’s Plant-Book: A Portable Dictionary of Plants, their Classification and Uses, is an essential reference for all herbaria and this year, the 4th edition was successfully launched at the International Botanical Congress in Shenzhen, China.
David now delights us with two beautiful books that incorporate botany, history and art. The first of these is Joseph Banks’ Florilegium: Botanical Treasures from Cook’s First Voyage. Joseph Banks accompanied Lieutenant (later Captain) James Cook on his first round the world voyage, from 1768 to 1771. Banks and his team collected plant specimens when and wherever they could, and his collections, especially those of Banksia, from Botany Bay, are quite famous. Banks’ Florilegium, is an original set of more than 700 engravings commissioned by Banks on his return to England. These were not published until 1990 when a complete set was produced by the British Museum of Natural History. David’s exquisite book includes a selection of these prints, each with a botanical commentary, and additional historical text by Mel Gooding and a description of the history of the 1990 printing by Joseph Studholme.
David has also produced a second beautiful work incorporating the same delightful mix of botany, art and history in Painting by Numbers: The life and art of Ferdinand Bauer, an account of the work of illustrator and artist, Ferdinand Bauer who accompanied Matthew Flinders on his circumnavigation of Australia from 1801 – 1805. Bauer was famous in Europe for the accuracy and beauty of his scientific illustrations, but it was during the voyage with Flinders that he developed the technique for which he became famous, of sketching and colour-coding in the field, and colouring in later – painting by numbers. The book includes many reproductions of Bauer’s work not previously published and David reveals Bauer’s innovative colour-coding technique.
http://www.florilegium.com.au/product/painting-by-numbers-the-life-and-art-of-ferdinand-bauer/
David recently spoke on Banks’ Florilegium with Robyn Williams on ABC Radio Ockham’s Razor and you can hear this on: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/ockhamsrazor/a-botanic-record-250-years-in-the-making/9091680
There will also be two opportunities to hear David when he will be speaking at the 4A Centre for Contemporary Art in Haymarket:
On Saturday, 10th November, 11 am – 12.30 pm, you can enjoy breakfast at the 4A Centre and listen to David and exhibition curator Michael Do discussing art and botany. http://www.4a.com.au/breakfast-with-a-botanist/
On Wednesday, 15 November, 6 – 8 pm, David will speak about his work as part of the Please Explain talks series, a discussion of the work of Sir Joseph Banks.
http://www.4a.com.au/not-niwe/
Biological Sciences Administrative RequestsPlease 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
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:
Did You Participate in an Outreach Activity Recently for the Department?
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
MU Species Spectrum Research Centre — Funding Working Groups in 2018 — Call for Expressions of Interest
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”.
The MUSSRC Executive Committee is calling for expressions of interest to fund MUSSRC working groups in 2018.
EOI’s for 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.
New Publications
Physiological Concentrations of Ascorbate Cannot Prevent the Potentially Damaging Reactions of Protein Radicals in Humans
By: Nauser, Thomas, and Janusz M. Gebicki. Chemical research in toxicology 30, no. 9 (2017): 1702-1710. | Find with Google Scholar »Challenges and opportunities in land surface modelling of savanna ecosystems
By: Whitley, R., Beringer, J., Hutley, L.B., Abramowitz, G., De Kauwe, M.G., Evans, B., Haverd, V., Li, L., Moore, C., Ryu, Y. and Scheiter, S., 2017. Biogeosciences, 14(20), p.4711. | Find with Google Scholar »In the Media
Dr Lizzy Lowe provided an article to The Conversation
Dr Lizzy Lowe from the Department of Biological Sciences provided the article “Eight reasons not to be spooked by spiders” to The Conversation.
Stephan Leu featured in In Daily
Dr Stephan Leu from the Department of Biological Sciences featured in In Daily in relation to his new study which looks at how sleepy lizard behaviour determines their health and survival.
Jemma Geoghegan featured in News.com.au, Adelaide Now & APN Australian Regional Media
Dr Jemma Geoghegan from the Department of Biological Sciences featured in News.com.au and Adelaide Now in relation to her new study which has argued that it is impossible to predict a global epidemic or pandemic because there are too many variables. The coverage was also syndicated across numerous titles from APN Australian Regional Media. See page 6 of the report.
Culum Brown provided comment to The Straits Times
Associate Professor Culum Brown from the Department of Biological Sciences provided comment to The Straits Times in ongoing coverage of whether fish can become depressed and how fish can give scientists insight into treating humans with depression.