SPEAKER: Professor Shai Meiri, Curator of Land Vertebrates, Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, School of Zoology, Tel Aviv University

DATE: Friday, 13th September 2019

TIME: 1:30pm

LOCATION: Melbourne Campus at Burwood – Burwood Corporate Centre

Seminar will also be video linked to the following campuses: Geelong Campus at Waurn Ponds – room ka4.207 and Warrnambool Campus, Room J2.19 (Fishbowl)

ABSTRACT.

Over the last years I have been working with a group of herpetologists and ecologists to document and map the diversity of all the world’s reptile species. Despite reptile numbers growing by ~200 species annually we have recently managed to obtain a rough draft of the ranges of some 99% of the world’s 11,000 or so species, and are now working hard to further improve it.

I will explain how we have done this, what needs to be taken with a largish grain of salt, and what scientific and conservation projects we are using these data for nowadays, or aim to use them for in the near future.

BIO.

PhD: Tel Aviv University, postdoc: Imperial College London, now: Assoc. Prof. at Tel Aviv University, and on a sabbatical in Monash for a year.

Appointments with speaker may be made via natasha.kaukov@deakin.edu.au.

For more info: http://shaimeirilab.weebly.com/lab-members.html.

External visitors – wish to join us and connect to our seminars?
External parties may connect to the live seminar via *N SEBE VMP LES Seminars 52236958@deakin.edu.au [ID.36958] via the methods listed below:

• For external guests, you can connect as a web guest by clicking HERE. If using Chrome you it will prompt you to install the Cisco Jaba Plugin, then it will prompt you to download the extension which you will need to install. Once this has been installed, you will have a black screen with a call button. You will just need to click call and it should connect into the VMP.
• For Deakin staff and students, please join via Skype for Business (Lync) – if you have office installed you may already have Skype for business or Lync installed. You just need to look for it on the start menu. If you find it, you can log into skype using your Deakin email and password and then dial 36958.
• Could not log in? More info on how to connect is available HERE or HERE.
• From a mobile phone or landline: call +613 92517000, wait for the prompt, then enter the five digit VMP number (36958)
• Please note that connection is only available while a seminar is taking place.

As a courtesy, we request that when connecting to the seminar that you mute your microphone unless you are required to speak, this would ensure that the sound from the speaker to the audience is not disrupted by feedback from your microphone – thank you!

SPEAKER: Dr Jonathan Kok, Research Scientist, Technology Development Engineering, Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), QLD

DATE: Friday, 6th September 2019

TIME: 1:30pm

LOCATION: Warrnambool Campus – Room B3.03

Seminar will also be video linked to the following campuses: Geelong Campus at Waurn Ponds – Room ka4.207 and Melbourne Campus at Burwood – The Burwood Corporate Centre

ABSTRACT.

Hyperspectral remote sensing is a unique image acquisition method for studying light response properties of different materials. Materials could be anything such as corals, seagrass, water, coral cores, rocks, leaf, pineapple, etc. The data generated is a 2D image of a scene with each pixel containing its corresponding reflected spectral property, essentially a multi-dimensional dataset.

Unlike conventional cameras that capture only three channels of colour information (namely, red, green and blue), hyperspectral imaging captures hundreds of channels of colour information which allows for a continuous band of spectral information to be measured across every pixel in the scene. This unique spectral profile is known as the material’s spectral signature. The materials spectral signature are like fingerprints, allowing us to study, classify and monitor materials through non-destructive means.

Coupled with drone capabilities (on demand use, medium range, customisable missions, etc), the information-rich spectra provide usefulness in a range of marine science applications, such as pre-bleaching indicators, coral reef health/diversity maps, water quality, change detection, seagrass monitoring, coastal monitoring, etc.

BIO.

Dr Jon Kok is a Research Scientist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) within the Technology Development Engineering team. He is currently developing and demonstrating the use of hyperspectral technology for a range of marine and coastal science applications, such as seagrass monitoring, water quality, shallow coral reef mapping, bleaching/stress studies, fluorescence properties of coral skeleton cores and corals, etc.

Other than hyperspectral technology, Jon is also familiar with autonomous systems in aerial drones, optimisation problems and algorithms (genetic algorithm, MOEA, etc), multi-objective optimisation problems and algorithms, artificial intelligence/machine learning, 3D printing, automated image processing methods, and snowboarding.

Appointments with speaker may be made via npucino@deakin.edu.au.

For more info: https://www.aims.gov.au/.

External visitors – wish to join us and connect to our seminars?
External parties may connect to the live seminar via *N SEBE VMP LES Seminars 52236958@deakin.edu.au [ID.36958] via the methods listed below:

• For external guests, you can connect as a web guest by clicking HERE. If using Chrome you it will prompt you to install the Cisco Jaba Plugin, then it will prompt you to download the extension which you will need to install. Once this has been installed, you will have a black screen with a call button. You will just need to click call and it should connect into the VMP.
• For Deakin staff and students, please join via Skype for Business (Lync) – if you have office installed you may already have Skype for business or Lync installed. You just need to look for it on the start menu. If you find it, you can log into skype using your Deakin email and password and then dial 36958.
• Could not log in? More info on how to connect is available HERE or HERE.
• From a mobile phone or landline: call +613 92517000, wait for the prompt, then enter the five digit VMP number (36958)
• Please note that connection is only available while a seminar is taking place.

As a courtesy, we request that when connecting to the seminar that you mute your microphone unless you are required to speak, this would ensure that the sound from the speaker to the audience is not disrupted by feedback from your microphone – thank you!

SPEAKER: Dr Jessica Walsh, Head, Conservation Science Research Group, School of Biological Sciences, Monash University

DATE: Friday, 30th August 2019

TIME: 1:30pm

LOCATION: Melbourne Campus at Burwood –Burwood Corporate Centre

Seminar will also be video linked to the following campuses: Geelong Campus at Waurn Ponds – room ka4.207 and Warrnambool Campus, Room J2.19 (Fishbowl)

ABSTRACT.

The core theme of my research focuses on evaluating the effectiveness of conservation actions and developing frameworks to improve management decisions. In this talk, I will present my research on the conservation of Pacific salmon in Canada and give a snapshot of my current and past work on Australian woodland birds, data-limited fisheries and evidence-based conservation.

I applied a Priority Threat Management framework to prioritise conservation recovery strategies for salmon over the next 20 years, in collaboration with First Nations on the Central Coast of British Columbia.

Effective management of five species of Pacific salmon is extremely important in Canada and the US, given their immense commercial, social, cultural and ecological significance. Yet, until now there was no strategic or integrated approach that considers costs, benefits and feasibility to ensure the limited resources allocated to hundreds of salmon populations are spent wisely.

BIO.

Jessica Walsh is a Lecturer at Monash University. Her current work focuses on identifying evidence-based management strategies for Australian woodland birds and calculating the cost-effectiveness of biodiversity offsets.

For her PhD, Jessica identified the barriers and solutions to implementing evidence-based conservation at the University of Cambridge.

She has previously assessed the return on investment of invasive species control, dabbled in global fisheries modelling and evaluated the effectiveness of threatened species recovery planning in Australia.

Appointments with speaker may be made via e.nicholson@deakin.edu.au.

For more info: https://www.monash.edu/science/schools/biological-sciences/staff/jessica-walsh.

External visitors – wish to join us and connect to our seminars?
External parties may connect to the live seminar via *N SEBE VMP LES Seminars 52236958@deakin.edu.au [ID.36958] via the methods listed below:

• For external guests, you can connect as a web guest by clicking HERE. If using Chrome you it will prompt you to install the Cisco Jaba Plugin, then it will prompt you to download the extension which you will need to install. Once this has been installed, you will have a black screen with a call button. You will just need to click call and it should connect into the VMP.
• For Deakin staff and students, please join via Skype for Business (Lync) – if you have office installed you may already have Skype for business or Lync installed. You just need to look for it on the start menu. If you find it, you can log into skype using your Deakin email and password and then dial 36958.
• Could not log in? More info on how to connect is available HERE or HERE.
• From a mobile phone or landline: call +613 92517000, wait for the prompt, then enter the five digit VMP number (36958)
• Please note that connection is only available while a seminar is taking place.

As a courtesy, we request that when connecting to the seminar that you mute your microphone unless you are required to speak, this would ensure that the sound from the speaker to the audience is not disrupted by feedback from your microphone – thank you!

SPEAKER: Dr Payal Bal, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Quantitative and Applied Ecology Group, University of Melbourne

DATE: Friday, 23rd August 2019

TIME: 1:30pm

LOCATION: Melbourne Campus at Burwood –Burwood Corporate Centre

Seminar will also be video linked to the following campuses: Geelong Campus at Waurn Ponds – room ka4.207 and Warrnambool Campus, Room J2.19 (Fishbowl)

ABSTRACT.

Economic policy can have profound effects on the environment through its pervasive influence on human consumption and land use. Land-use change, as driven by consumption, is the number one driver of loss of species habitat. Although studies have broadly characterised the links between global consumption, land use and biodiversity, current analyses cannot identify the location and severity of the impacts of human consumption on biodiversity. There exists a unique opportunity to develop and apply predictive methods for identifying regions of impending conflict between nature and land use. I work with colleagues at the University of Melbourne (Brendan Wintle, Tom Kompas, Simon Kapitza, Matthew Cantele and other researchers) to develop a global, coupled economic, land-use and ecological modelling framework to evaluate the influence of economic decisions (e.g. trade agreements) on production and consumption patterns (i.e., commodity supply and demand) and subsequently on land-use and the displacement of biodiversity.

Our prototype approach downscales global trade patterns to local (<1ha) biodiversity impacts via a land-use change model at a national scale. I am currently working on extending this approach to a global scale, expanding on the number of commodities, economic regions and species considered within the assessment. Our aim is to provide high-resolution spatial models of species’ ranges (and range changes) for over 100,000 species on a worldwide scale, under future scenarios of economic and environmental change.

BIO.

I work in the Quantitative and Applied Ecology Group at the University of Melbourne and am currently involved in a Discovery project to assess the global impacts of trade on biodiversity. During my doctoral research at the University of Queensland, I have applied decision-analysis and structured decision-making approaches to evaluate biodiversity indicators and to monitoring strategies for improving conservation decisions. I have previously worked on modelling spatial vegetation patterns to develop indicators of ecosystem collapse; on developing methods of abundance estimation from biodiversity survey data; and on studying the man-animal conflict in India.

Appointments with speaker may be made via e.nicholson@deakin.edu.au.

For more info: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=RNri_C0AAAAJ&hl=en.

External visitors – wish to join us and connect to our seminars?
External parties may connect to the live seminar via *N SEBE VMP LES Seminars 52236958@deakin.edu.au [ID.36958] via the methods listed below:

• For external guests, you can connect as a web guest by clicking HERE. If using Chrome you it will prompt you to install the Cisco Jaba Plugin, then it will prompt you to download the extension which you will need to install. Once this has been installed, you will have a black screen with a call button. You will just need to click call and it should connect into the VMP.
• For Deakin staff and students, please join via Skype for Business (Lync) – if you have office installed you may already have Skype for business or Lync installed. You just need to look for it on the start menu. If you find it, you can log into skype using your Deakin email and password and then dial 36958.
• Could not log in? More info on how to connect is available HERE or HERE.
• From a mobile phone or landline: call +613 92517000, wait for the prompt, then enter the five digit VMP number (36958)
• Please note that connection is only available while a seminar is taking place.

As a courtesy, we request that when connecting to the seminar that you mute your microphone unless you are required to speak, this would ensure that the sound from the speaker to the audience is not disrupted by feedback from your microphone – thank you!

SPEAKER: Dr Chantal Huijbers, Training and Engagement Manager, eResearch Services, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD

DATE: Friday, 16th August 2019

TIME: 1:30pm

LOCATION: Melbourne Campus at Burwood –Burwood Corporate Centre

Seminar will also be video linked to the following campuses: Geelong Campus at Waurn Ponds – room ka4.207 and Warrnambool Campus, Room J2.19 (Fishbowl)

ABSTRACT.

In this seminar, Chantal Huijbers will showcase two free-to-use online platforms that can be used for environmental sciences: the Biodiversity and Climate Virtual Laboratory (www.bccvl.org.au) and the ecocloud Platform (www.ecocloud.org.au).

These platforms provide access to national and global biodiversity, climate and environmental datasets integrated with a suite of analytical tools and linked to high-performance cloud computing infrastructure.

The BCCVL is a point-and-click online platform for modelling species responses to environmental conditions, which provides an easy introduction into the scientific concepts of models without the need for the user to understand the code behind the models.

For ecologists who write their own modelling scripts, ecocloud provides access to data connected with command-line analysis tools like RStudio & Jupyter Notebooks as well as a virtual desktop environment using Australia’s national cloud computing infrastructure.

Linked to these tools is a national training program, ecoEd, that provides ready-to-use lecture and workshop materials that are free to use in your courses. These materials use BCCVL and ecocloud, but also include modules for other tools such as the Atlas of Living Australia.

Chantal will show how you can use these tools for your own research as well as how these can be easily integrated in various undergraduate courses.

BIO.

Dr Chantal Huijbers is the Training and Engagement Manager for digital research infrastructures in the EcoSciences domain. She is based at Griffith University in the eResearch Services team.

Her work includes helping build a community and skills base around the Australian Research Data Commons-funded Biodiversity and Climate Change Virtual Laboratory and ecocloud, in collaboration with other NCRIS infrastructures such as the Atlas of Living Australia and the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network.

Chantal has a research background in ecology, and uses this to translate the needs of the scientific community to the developers of the platforms. She also manages ecoEd, the innovative national training program for digital EcoSciences.

Please note – This is an excellent opportunity to find out more about our ecological research infrastructure!

Chantal will also give a hands-on workshop/training on these tools in the morning at 10am in BCC, with VMP available for those not at Burwood (BCC VMP 3 – 522 54631). Please contact Emily Nicholson (e.nicholson@deakin.edu.au) if you plan to go.

In the afternoon after her seminar, she will be available for more questions and help. Please let me know if you would like to meet with Chantal in addition to these opportunities.

Make the most of her being here to learn more about our available infrastructure!

Appointments with speaker may be made via e.nicholson@deakin.edu.au.

For more info: https://twitter.com/ChantalHuijbers.

External visitors – wish to join us and connect to our seminars?
External parties may connect to the live seminar via *N SEBE VMP LES Seminars 52236958@deakin.edu.au [ID.36958] via the methods listed below:

• For external guests, you can connect as a web guest by clicking HERE. If using Chrome you it will prompt you to install the Cisco Jaba Plugin, then it will prompt you to download the extension which you will need to install. Once this has been installed, you will have a black screen with a call button. You will just need to click call and it should connect into the VMP.
• For Deakin staff and students, please join via Skype for Business (Lync) – if you have office installed you may already have Skype for business or Lync installed. You just need to look for it on the start menu. If you find it, you can log into skype using your Deakin email and password and then dial 36958.
• Could not log in? More info on how to connect is available HERE or HERE.
• From a mobile phone or landline: call +613 92517000, wait for the prompt, then enter the five digit VMP number (36958)
• Please note that connection is only available while a seminar is taking place.

As a courtesy, we request that when connecting to the seminar that you mute your microphone unless you are required to speak, this would ensure that the sound from the speaker to the audience is not disrupted by feedback from your microphone – thank you!

SPEAKER: Dr Peter Durr, Senior Veterinary Epidemiologist, Australian Animal Health Laboratory (CSIRO-AAHL), Geelong, Victoria

DATE: Friday, 26th July 2019

TIME: 1:30pm

LOCATION: Geelong Campus at Waurn Ponds – Room ka4.207 (Green room)

Seminar will also be video linked to the following campuses: Melbourne Campus at Burwood –Burwood Corporate Centre and Warrnambool Campus, Room J2.19 (Fishbowl)

ABSTRACT.

Common carp (C. carpio) are a serious invasive species of the rivers and waterways of south-eastern Australia, and are incriminated as a contributing factor to the decline of native fish populations. Currently, the potential of a viral biocontrol agent, Cyprinus herpes virus-3 (CyHV-3) to reduce carp populations is being assessed through a research program coordinated by the National Carp Control Plan (https://www.carp.gov.au/).

One such research project aims to assist in determining where, when and how to best release the virus to achieve sustainable reduction of carp populations. To this end we adopted an integrated modelling approach, whereby we have developed hydrological, habitat suitability, demographic and epidemiological models to enable us to explore scenarios of release.

This modelling shows that – given key assumptions of transmission – that the virus can be expected to achieve sustained reduction of populations for at least 10 years, and potentially for a longer period, conditional on the absence of rapid build-up of genetic resistance by the carp population.

BIO.

Peter Durr has worked as a veterinary epidemiologist for the past 20 years, initially at the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (Weybridge) in the UK, and since 2006 with CSIRO’s Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL) based in Geelong, Victoria.

At AAHL, his work has mostly been on the epidemiology of Transboundary Animal Diseases of livestock, but has included work on the role of wildlife and feral species as reservoirs for infectious diseases including fruit bats and Hendra virus, camels and MERS-CoV and captive birds and avian influenza and Newcastle disease.

Appointments with speaker may be made via Natasha Kaukov (natasha.kaukov@deakin.edu.au).

For more info: https://research.csiro.au/fmd/staff/peter-durr/.

External visitors – wish to join us and connect to our seminars?
External parties may connect to the live seminar via *N SEBE VMP LES Seminars 52236958@deakin.edu.au [ID.36958] via the methods listed below:

• For external guests, you can connect as a web guest by clicking HERE. If using Chrome you it will prompt you to install the Cisco Jaba Plugin, then it will prompt you to download the extension which you will need to install. Once this has been installed, you will have a black screen with a call button. You will just need to click call and it should connect into the VMP.
• For Deakin staff and students, please join via Skype for Business (Lync) – if you have office installed you may already have Skype for business or Lync installed. You just need to look for it on the start menu. If you find it, you can log into skype using your Deakin email and password and then dial 36958.
• Could not log in? More info on how to connect is available HERE or HERE.
• From a mobile phone or landline: call +613 92517000, wait for the prompt,then enter the five digit VMP number (36958)
• Please note that connection is only available while a seminar is taking place.

As a courtesy, we request that when connecting to the seminar that you mute your microphone unless you are required to speak, this would ensure that the sound from the speaker to the audience is not disrupted by feedback from your microphone – thank you!

Dear CIE staff and students in Geelong,

This week’s CIE seminar will be given by ARC Laureate fellow Professor Justin Marshall (details below) and hosted by Professor Andy Bennett.

Justin will be at the Waurn Ponds campus from about 11am on Friday and will be around for lunch and dinner.

You are welcome to attend these meals but please let Natasha Kaukov (natasha.kaukov@deakin.edu.au) know no later than 1500 on Thursday, 18th July so I can book for the right numbers.

If you wish to book an appointment to talk to Justin during the day, then please also contact Natasha.

Friday, 19th July: 1200 noon, Lunch at Natural-1 café, GTP Building, Waurn Ponds campus (note: staff will need to pay for their own lunch).

Friday, 19th July: 1830 Dinner at Real Thai Café, 12/14 Pearl St, Torquay

Friday, 19th July: 2115 onwards, beer at Blackman’s Brewery, 26 Bell Street, Torquay.

SPEAKER: Professor Justin Marshall, ARC Laureate Fellow, Sensory Neurobiology Group, Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland

DATE: Friday, 19th July 2019

TIME: 1:30pm

LOCATION: Geelong Campus at Waurn Ponds – Room ka4.207 (Green room).

Seminar will also be video linked to the following campuses: Melbourne Campus at Burwood –Burwood Corporate Centre and Warrnambool Campus, Room J2.19 (Fishbowl).

ABSTRACT.

Animals that live in aquatic environments face different challenges to those that live on land. First of all, it is wet and that means that optics to focus need to be internalized and not reliant on an air-eyeball interphase.

There are no eagles underwater, or indeed any animal that might need to spot things at a great distance as it is not possible to see beyond a few meters due to the absorption and scatter of light. In fact, the visual world many aquatic species seldom strays outside the range of a large goldfish bowl.

The attenuation of light by water also changes its colour and its polarization content and this talk will focus on these two aspects of difference to terrestrial-world. From animals with 20 channels of information (12 spectral, 6 polarisation and 2 for B&W) to those with 2; fish, crustaceans and cephalopods will be compared for visual capability, colours, camouflage and any other word beginning with C that the audience might like to suggest. Confusion might be one, and indeed there is a fair bit of it to talk about.

BIO.

Much of the work in my laboratory within The Queensland Brain Institute focusses on the marine environment, in particular reef systems and the deep-sea. One label for what we do is neuroscience in the real world; that is, we examine neural function and vision in animal systems that are not the usual model systems. I am more interested in the retinal design of a mantis shrimp than a mouse and the brain design of an octopus than a rat.

As part of this effort I have become acutely aware of man’s influence on both these environments and have run two projects: The Deep Australia Project, and CoralWatch, the world’s largest citizen-science-based coral health assessment program (137 countries, 12 languages) that examine, educate and involve everyone in these very different habitats.

My research efforts fall into six areas:

1. Vision in stomatopod (mantis shrimp) – the world’s most complex visual system.
2. Reef fish vision – the evolution and diversity of colour vision.
3. Cephalopod vision and behaviour – complex visual capability in invertebrates.
4. The Deep Australia Project – unlocking the sensory systems of the abyss.
5. Coral Watch – using colour to save the reef.
6. Bio-inspired sensor design and applications from reef-vision.

Appointments with speaker may be made via Natasha Kaukov (natasha.kaukov@deakin.edu.au).

For more info: https://coralwatch.org/index.php/about/our-team-and-supporters/.

External visitors – wish to join us and connect to our seminars?
External parties may connect to the live seminar via *N SEBE VMP LES Seminars 52236958@deakin.edu.au [ID.36958] via the methods listed below:

• For external guests, you can connect as a web guest by clicking HERE. If using Chrome you it will prompt you to install the Cisco Jaba Plugin, then it will prompt you to download the extension which you will need to install. Once this has been installed, you will have a black screen with a call button. You will just need to click call and it should connect into the VMP.
• For Deakin staff and students, please join via Skype for Business (Lync) – if you have office installed you may already have Skype for business or Lync installed. You just need to look for it on the start menu. If you find it, you can log into skype using your Deakin email and password and then dial 36958.
• Could not log in? More info on how to connect is available HERE or HERE.
• From a mobile phone or landline: call +613 92517000, wait for the prompt,then enter the five digit VMP number (36958)
• Please note that connection is only available while a seminar is taking place.

As a courtesy, we request that when connecting to the seminar that you mute your microphone unless you are required to speak, this would ensure that the sound from the speaker to the audience is not disrupted by feedback from your microphone – thank you!

SPEAKER: Dr Matthew McGee, Head, Behavioural Studies Research Group, ARC DECRA Fellow, School of Biological Sciences, Monash University

DATE: Friday, 12th July 2019

TIME: 1:30pm

LOCATION: Geelong Campus at Waurn Ponds – Room ka4.207 (Green room).

Seminar will also be video linked to the following campuses: Melbourne Campus at Burwood –Burwood Corporate Centre and Warrnambool Campus, Room J2.19 (Fishbowl).

ABSTRACT.

Rates of speciation vary tremendously among evolutionary lineages and our understanding of the factors facilitating the very rapid speciation seen within species flocks remains incomplete.

Here, we examine the extrinsic and intrinsic factors promoting speciation within the cichlid fishes, a tropical freshwater group known for their exceptional diversity.

We analyze cichlids on a macroevolutionary scale using a large complete phylogeny of all described species, as well as a microevolutionary scale using one hundred whole genomes of the Lake Victoria species flock, which has the fastest sustained speciation rate in vertebrates.

BIO.

My lab uses whole genomic sequencing, phylogenetic comparative methods, and functional experiments to study the factors governing speciation, adaptation, and extinction, with an emphasis on fishes.

I received my PhD at the University of California Davis, then did my postdoc with Ole Seehausen at University of Bern.

Appointments with speaker may be made via Larry Croft (l.croft@deakin.edu.au).

For more info: https://www.monash.edu/science/schools/biological-sciences/staff/matt-mcgee.

External visitors – wish to join us and connect to our seminars?
External parties may connect to the live seminar via *N SEBE VMP LES Seminars 52236958@deakin.edu.au [ID.36958] via the methods listed below:

• For external guests, you can connect as a web guest by clicking HERE. If using Chrome you it will prompt you to install the Cisco Jaba Plugin, then it will prompt you to download the extension which you will need to install. Once this has been installed, you will have a black screen with a call button. You will just need to click call and it should connect into the VMP.
• For Deakin staff and students, please join via Skype for Business (Lync) – if you have office installed you may already have Skype for business or Lync installed. You just need to look for it on the start menu. If you find it, you can log into skype using your Deakin email and password and then dial 36958.
• Could not log in? More info on how to connect is available HERE or HERE.
• From a mobile phone or landline: call +613 92517000, wait for the prompt,then enter the five digit VMP number (36958)
• Please note that connection is only available while a seminar is taking place.

As a courtesy, we request that when connecting to the seminar that you mute your microphone unless you are required to speak, this would ensure that the sound from the speaker to the audience is not disrupted by feedback from your microphone – thank you!

SPEAKER: Professsor Bob Wong, Head, Behavioural Ecology Research Group/Deputy Head of School, School of Biological Sciences, Monash University

DATE: Friday, 28th June 2019

TIME: 1:30pm

LOCATION: Geelong Campus at Waurn Ponds – Room ka4.207 (Green room).

Seminar will also be video linked to the following campuses: Melbourne Campus at Burwood –Burwood Corporate Centre and Warrnambool Campus, Room J2.19 (Fishbowl).

External visitors – wish to join us and connect to our seminars?
External parties may connect to the live seminar via *N SEBE VMP LES Seminars 52236958@deakin.edu.au [ID.36958] via the methods listed below:

• For external guests, you can connect as a web guest by clicking HERE. If using Chrome you it will prompt you to install the Cisco Jaba Plugin, then it will prompt you to download the extension which you will need to install. Once this has been installed, you will have a black screen with a call button. You will just need to click call and it should connect into the VMP.
• For Deakin staff and students, please join via Skype for Business (Lync) – if you have office installed you may already have Skype for business or Lync installed. You just need to look for it on the start menu. If you find it, you can log into skype using your Deakin email and password and then dial 36958.
• Could not log in? More info on how to connect is available HERE or HERE.
• From a mobile phone or landline: call +613 92517000, wait for the prompt,then enter the five digit VMP number (36958)
• Please note that connection is only available while a seminar is taking place.

As a courtesy, we request that when connecting to the seminar that you mute your microphone unless you are required to speak, this would ensure that the sound from the speaker to the audience is not disrupted by feedback from your microphone – thank you!

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.

BIO.

Bob Wong is a behavioural and evolutionary ecologist based in the School of Biological Sciences at Monash University. Bob received his PhD from the Australian National University and completed postdoctoral stints at Boston University and the University of Helsinki before joining Monash.

Research in Bob’s Group focuses on mate choice and reproductive investment, and how human-induced environmental change affects animal behaviour. Work undertaken in the group encompasses a wide range of species, from insects and cephalopods to birds and fish.

Appointments with speaker may be made via Natasha Kaukov (natasha.kaukov@deakin.edu.au).

For more info: https://www.monash.edu/science/schools/biological-sciences/staff/wong.

SPEAKER: Dr Katherine Moseby, Centre for Ecosystem Science, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales

DATE: Friday, 21st June 2019

TIME: 1:30pm

LOCATION: Melbourne Campus at Burwood –Burwood Corporate Centre.

Seminar will also be video linked to the following campuses: Geelong Campus at Waurn Ponds – room ka4.207 and Warrnambool Campus – room J2.19 (Fishbowl).

External visitors – wish to join us and connect to our seminars?
External parties may connect to the live seminar via *N SEBE VMP LES Seminars 52236958@deakin.edu.au [ID.36958] via the methods listed below:

• For external guests, you can connect as a web guest by clicking HERE. If using Chrome you it will prompt you to install the Cisco Jaba Plugin, then it will prompt you to download the extension which you will need to install. Once this has been installed, you will have a black screen with a call button. You will just need to click call and it should connect into the VMP.
• For Deakin staff and students, please join via Skype for Business (Lync) – if you have office installed you may already have Skype for business or Lync installed. You just need to look for it on the start menu. If you find it, you can log into skype using your Deakin email and password and then dial 36958.
• Could not log in? More info on how to connect is available HERE or HERE.
• From a mobile phone or landline: call +613 92517000, wait for the prompt,then enter the five digit VMP number (36958)
• Please note that connection is only available while a seminar is taking place.

As a courtesy, we request that when connecting to the seminar that you mute your microphone unless you are required to speak, this would ensure that the sound from the speaker to the audience is not disrupted by feedback from your microphone – thank you!

ABSTRACT.

Feral cats are implicated in the extinction of 30 mammal species and the decline of over 100 threatened fauna in Australia. There are an estimated 3 million feral cats in Australia and they occupy every habitat type.

Re-establishing our native mammals back into the wild is a challenge when predation is the leading cause of reintroduction failure. In response, we protect threatened mammals inside fenced reserves and on islands where cats are excluded.

I discuss how innovative research is finding new ways to reduce predation impacts through harnessing natural selection, understanding hunting behaviour and altering habitat. These methods may allow widespread recovery of our unique mammals beyond the fence.

BIO.

Katherine Moseby is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Ecosystem Science at UNSW and considers herself a transdisciplinary conservation biologist. She lives on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia where she owns and manages a private nature reserve and is also co-founder of three other conservation research initiatives, Wild Deserts (NSW), Arid Recovery (SA) and Tetepare Island (Solomon Islands).

Katherine conducts research designed to improve conservation outcomes through understanding the ecology of threatened species and their threats.

Appointments with speaker may be made via Tim Doherty (timothy.doherty@deakin.edu.au).

For more info: https://www.ecosystem.unsw.edu.au/people/katherine-moseby.