A global analysis of water and nitrogen relationships between mistletoes and their hosts: broad-scale tests of old and enduring hypotheses
Scalon, M. C., and I. J. Wright. 2015. A global analysis of water and nitrogen relationships between mistletoes and their hosts: broad-scale tests of old and enduring hypotheses. Functional Ecology 29:1114-1124. | Find with Google Scholar »
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Dear all,
Another busy week in the department with some road testing of the proposed new workload model, developing plans following the finalisation of the 2016 budget, and developing research support initiatives for the rest of this year and next. All academic staff are invited to come along to a discussion of the outcomes of the 2016 budget next Tuesday 27 October at 1pm in the tearoom.
Congrats to Rachael Gallagher who won a NSW Tall Poppy Award and in other good news we will welcome two new MQ Research Fellows to the department next year: Dr Jonas Wolff (Tough stickers: How are thread anchors of spiders structurally optimized and ecologically adjusted?) and Dr Alex Carthey (The smell of (invasion) success: how do plant chemicals mediate novel plant-vertebrate herbivore interactions?)
SAVE THE DATE: 11 November from 3pm we will have the official opening and celebration for the new E8C teaching labs in the biology courtyard.
Distraction of the day – check out the image found by Ian Wright (further down in Dept Matters) – I can name 56 people, can you beat that?
cheerio
Michelle
General News and Announcements
NSW Young Tall Poppy Award
Huge congratulations to Rachael Gallagher for winning a well-deserved NSW Young Tall Poppy Award! The awards were made at a ceremony at the Powerhouse Museum on Wednesday night.
Equipment Needs
The Faculty is looking for a list of equipment items that they could potentially throw money at in the event of an end-of-year budget surplus. Is there a piece of equipment that you would like, in the price range $150K-$500K, and that could be purchased and paid for within a short turn around of several weeks? If so, please let Melanie (melanie.bishop@mq.edu.au) know the details and we’ll add it to the list (but no promises).
Support for Developing New Collaborative Grant Proposals (Academics only) – Deadline 5 pm, Monday 26th October
As one of the Research Initiatives that was funded this year the research committee have some money available to help people develop new collaborative grant proposals. Money is available for domestic travel (airfares and accommodation costs only) to help you bring someone to you, or for you to go somewhere else and meet with someone. The funding rules are:
1. A maximum of $1000 per application will be awarded
2. Airfares must be booked / accommodation paid for by the end of year financial deadline of Friday 14 November (but travel can be in 2015 or the first half of 2016)
3. The expected output is a collaborative grant proposal that is submitted by mid-2016 and is forwarded to the Departmental Research Committee as a reporting requirement.
Applications need to be submitted by close of business on Monday 26th October. To apply please submit a short email to Melanie Bishop, titled ‘ Collaborative grant proposal funding’ with:
1. The funding requested (ie. how much you need, what it is for, when will it be used);
2. The names of the collaborators involved (with a link to their webpage);
3. A short paragraph on the proposal you are developing, the scheme you are targeting and how this funding will help to progress the proposal.
The committee will inform you of the success of your application by Wednesday 28th October.
Save the Date: annual research retreat Thursday 10 December
The Annual Research Retreat has been scheduled for Thursday 10 December. Please save the date. All academics are expected to attend. More details will be provided soon.
Would You Like to Host an Industry Partner Breakfast/Lunch?
One of the latest strategic research initiatives from the Faculty is modest funding to help support breakfasts/lunches that bring Faculty researchers together with industry partners. Do you have particular industry partner(s) with whom you would like to work? Would you like to host a breakfast or lunch at which you discuss potential research opportunities with the industry partner? If so, please let Melanie (melanie.bishop@mq.edu.au) know and she’ll put you in touch with the relevant people from the Faculty.
Feedback for Research Office
The Research Office are holding their annual planning day on 12 November. They are after feedback on what you would like to see more/less of. Please email any feedback to Melanie (melanie.bishop@mq.
Are You an Editor of a Journal?
In order to assist people with their paper writing, the Research Committee, would like to put together a list of which staff are editors for which scientific journals. This will be made public to the Department with the intention that if our researchers are submitting a paper to a journal, and are after some feedback on their submission, they can find out whether the Department has any editors for that particular journal, which may serve as appropriate first points of contact for feedback.
Please add your editorial duties to the Google Spreadsheet here.
Attention all HDR Supervisors
You will find useful information on the Supervision Enhancement Program and the MQ Supervisor Register here. If you’re an academic and are, or intend to be a Principal supervisor, follow the link for some frequently asked questions about;
- Getting yourself on the supervisor’s register
- Maintaining yourself on the supervisor’s register
Calling all Faculty and Postdoc ECRs
A few of us have decided to set up an informal, four-times-a-year, ‘ECR lunchtime meetup’ for all the faculty and postdoc early career researchers (ECRs) in our department (people from closely related departments are also welcome!). ECR status is by self-nomination. 🙂
To get an idea of interest and to decide on a day/time, we’ve set up a Doodle poll. if you think this is a good idea and you’d be interested in coming when you can (no commitment needed), fill in the poll here by Friday, Oct. 30th. **Ignore the dates on this poll; we just need to know which days of the week work best for everyone.** Once we figure out which day of the week generally suits everyone best, we’ll send an email to let everyone know the specific dates we’ll meet up.
Elizabeth M., Rachael G., Dan F. and the rest of the ECR committee
Information for Tarun’s Absence
Tarun will be on annual leave from the 26th November till the 1st December 2015. During this period, he will not have any email or phone contact whatsoever. Please direct your vehicle queries to Ms. Sarah Collison. Sarah will offer vehicle inductions till the 20th November 2015, but please be patient with possible delays in organising inductions, as Sarah will be busy with her ongoing duties. Inductions will recommence only after the 2nd December 2015. For information regarding vehicle bookings, please visit the Vehicle Booking Calendar at here. Inducted drivers will need OneID to make a vehicle booking. Thank you for your co-operation.
IMPORTANT DATES:
Vehicle inductions offered by Sarah, till: 20th NOVEMBER 2015
Vehicle inductions recommence from: 2nd DECEMBER 2015
EMERGENCY VEHICLE BREAKDOWN CONTACT:
Ms. Sarah Collison (x7484)
Mr. Andrew Irvine (x8218)
This Week’s BioSeminar Seminar
We have two great internal BioSeminar speakers next week so we get to learn a bit more about what’s going on within our ranks! Dr. Daniel Falster from the Westoby lab will be talking about plant trait diversity and Dr. Fleur Ponton from the Taylor lab will tell us about her work on nutritional Immunology. Be sure to come along!
Time & location: 1pm Wednesday in the Bio tea room
| Speaker 1 | Dr. Daniel Falster |
| Title | Towards a theory of plant trait diversity |
| Abstract | How do plant species differing in physiological traits coexist when competing for the same resources? Early research relied on niche-based explanations, but thus far, niche models have failed to capture patterns of diversity in tropical forests, prompting development of a neutral theory. Yet, the fitness equivalence assumed by neutral theory is also controversial. In this talk I use a mechanistic frame-work for modelling trait-based ecology and community assembly, to show how trait mixtures are maintained, based on well-known trade-offs. We find that extending niche models to include features common to all plant communities – two trait-mediated tradeoffs and size-structured competition for light – greatly enhances the diversity of species that can be maintained. Moreover, we show that the fitness equivalence assumed in neutral theory arises as an outcome of niche differentiation, but only in a restricted region of trait space. Combined, these results provide a platform for understanding traits mixtures in forests worldwide. |
| Speaker 2 | Dr. Fleur Ponton |
| Title | Nutritional Immunology: a multidimensional approach |
| Abstract | Nutrition is critical to immune defence and resistance to pathogens, with consequences that affect not only the health, welfare and reproductive success of individual organisms, but also have profound ecological and evolutionary implications. My research focuses in better understanding the network of interactions that define the relationships between nutrition, immune function, infection, and microbiota to provide a more comprehensive and robust understanding of the key determinants of the outcome of host–pathogen interactions. During this talk, I will present the work I developed using Drosophila melanogaster as a model system, and how my research will be applied to increase knowledge of nutritional interactions in the Queensland fruit fly (Bactrocera tryoni), one of the most difficult and costly pest management challenge for Australian fruit producers. |
Seeking Work Experience Placement
John Gall, a Year 10 student at Manly Selective, is looking for a work experience placement in Marine Science for the week 23 to 27 November 2015. If you have a spot in your lab for John, please contact derek.vandyk@mq.edu.au
Golden Oldies
Thanks to Ian Wright who dug this image out of the vault! Anyone care to guess the year and event? how many people can you name? and how many current staff can you spot?
STEP Talk on Birds of Northern Sydney
STEP is a community-based environmental group of the northern Sydney region. They are hosting a talk by Ross Rapmund on the birdlife of northern Sydney. Ross is co-ordinator of the Hornsby Council Community Nursery with a wonderful knowledge of birds as well as native plants. His talk will look at the changing populations of our local birdlife and discuss some reasons for these changes. All welcome!
Date: Tuesday 27 October
Time: 7:45 pm
Venue: St Andrews Uniting Church, Chisholm Street, Turramurra
Time: 7:45 pm
Venue: St Andrews Uniting Church, Chisholm Street, Turramurra
Zoology on the Table
There is a one day conference on the 7th of November at the Australian Museum hosted by the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales entitled ‘Zoology on the table: the science, sustainability and politics of eating animals’. More information in the flyer here or people can register and find more information at rzsnsw.org.au.
Pint of ScienceAre you interested in sharing science with the public? Do you enjoy relaxing with friends at the pub?
If the answer to both is YES, then Pint of Science Australia is for you!
Pint of Science is an international festival that aims to showcase the amazing research of local scientists to the general public in the relaxed venue of the local pub. In 2015, the Pint of Science Australia festival expanded to include Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Brisbane, hosting fantastic events over 3 nights.
For 2016 – we want to expand even more to include more themes and even more cities across Australia – and we need you!
Events in 2016 will take place from 23-25 May, and will incorporate the following themes: Beautiful Mind (neurosciences), Atoms to Galaxies (physics, chemistry) Our Body (life sciences) Planet Earth (geosciences) and Tech Me Out (engineering, computer science, mathematics).
We are looking for volunteers for various roles: city coordinators, team coordinators, social media reps and fundraisers. Each team will source out a venue, speakers and activities for the night.
This is an incredible opportunity to be a part of our ever growing festival so if you are interested in getting involved, please email contact@pintofscience.com.au with what you’re keen to do, tell us a little bit about yourself and how we can best reach you.
New Ph.D. Student
Ravindra Nettimi has just arrived from India to start his PhD in Ajay Narendra’s group. He will be working on ‘identifying the implications of being miniature’. If you see him around, please make him feel welcome.
FEI Visualisation Presentation
FEI Visualisation Sciences Group are visiting Macquarie on Friday, October 30. They are most known for the Amira, a 3D visualisation and image analysis software, a useful tool for processing data from CT and from confocal microscopy, for quantification and building 3d reconstructions. Morgan Mariano will be presenting a seminar on this at 11 am on October 30 in our tea room. All are welcome! More info available on the flyer here.
November SCB Sydney Conservation Cafe
This month’s Conservation Cafe will be with Dr. John Martin, wildlife ecologist with the Botanic Gardens and Centennial Parklands. John has worked on ecological research and management projects with a focus on urban ecology and human—wildlife conflict. He coordinated the flying-fox dispersal from the Royal Botanic Garden, this program aimed to conserve the living botanical collection within the garden whilst not impacting a nationally listed vulnerable species and he will lead the group on a walk through the flying-fox colony.
November 7, 2:30pm
Learning Centre, Centennial Parklands
More information available on the flyer here.
Apartment for lease in Surry Hills (Buckingham Street)
$410 per week – 6 or 12 month lease through agent. Studio with separate divided bedroom, floorboards, large balcony internal laundry facilities and dryer included5 minutes walk from Central Station. Short stroll to Crown Street bars and cafes.
Available: Saturday November 7th
Please contact rachael.dudaniec@mq.edu.au
Academic Positions Under Recruitment
University of Western Sydney School of Science and Health currently have 11 academic positions under recruitment across the School. The positions are in the following areas and range from Associate Lecturer to Professor level.
| Position | Level | Campus |
| Agriculture | B/C | Hawkesbury |
| Animal Science | B/C | Hawkesbury |
| Environmental Health and Management | B/C | Hawkesbury |
| Ecology | D/E | Hawkesbury |
| Biochemistry | B/C | Parramatta |
| Biology | B | Parramatta |
| Pathobiology | B/C | Campbelltown |
| Health Services Management | B/C/D | Campbelltown |
| Leisure and Recreation Studies | A/B/C | Campbelltown |
| Paramedicine | A/B/C | Campbelltown |
| Health and Physical Education | D/E | Penrith |
These positions appear in The Australian Higher Education Supplement today (see here) and are also advertised in Seek and UniJobs. Details of these positions are available at westernsydney.edu.au/vacancies. The closing date for all positions is 9 November.
Plant of the Week Pecan Nuts – Carya illinoiensis
Volunteer film maker extraordinaire urgently needed
The Biodiversity Node has some drone and helicopter footage of the Macquarie Marshes and we would like to present this as a short video for the upcoming NSWAdapt Conference on Friday, 6 November 2015. We are looking for a creative volunteer who would be willing and able to make this footage into something that can showcase our research. You will be given credit rights at the end of the film. Please contact Leigh Staas for further details leigh.staas@mq.edu.au
New Publications
Answer (in part) blowing in the wind Comment on “Liberating Levy walk research from the shackles of optimal foraging” by A. Reynolds
Cheng, K. 2015. Answer (in part) blowing in the wind Comment on "Liberating Levy walk research from the shackles of optimal foraging" by A. Reynolds. Physics of Life Reviews 14:90-93. | Find with Google Scholar »In the Media
Dr Steven Van Sluyter spoke to ABC Eyre Peninsula and West Coast about the development of an online tool to predict grapevine yields
John Alroy provided comment to Archaeology Magazine about research which links early human activity to Australia’s megafaunal extinctions.
Read more »
John Alroy was featured in Care2 in ongoing coverage on research showing hundreds of species of frogs have been lost due to factors such as pollution and habitat destruction
Read more »
Lesley Hughes spoke to ABC Radio National’s Country Breakfast about how global warming is contributing to rising food costs
Read more »