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Welcome

Peter Frappell has been appointed Dean of Graduate Research and will start in this role in a few months. Peter is a Zoologist who works on the physiological processes and mechanisms that underlie respiratory, thermoregulatory and energetic adaptation to the environment in a range of animals, from crustaceans to mammals. For research purposes Peter will be associated with the School.

Craig Sanderson has taken up the role of Senior Technical Officer, in charge of the day-to-day running of Craig Johnson's ‘Centrostephanus' project to rebuild resilience in rocky reef systems on the east coast. Craig Sanderson's considerable experience and expertise with sea urchins and seaweeds (he did his PhD on seaweeds in Scotland ) is of great benefit to the project (the fact that two-thirds of the permanent field crew are called Craig is not). Craig S shares an office with J.S. Lauzon-Guay.

Scott Ling has also signed on to the ‘Centrostephanus' project as a ‘post doc' – it means his PhD is moments away from being submitted.

Tracey Hollings has started as a PhD student working with Hamish McCallum.

 

Congratulations

Rob White has been seconded to CALT (Centre for the Advancement of Learning and Teaching) as a professorial fellow. He will take responsibility for two major initiatives: the common course structure, and the introduction of criterion-based assessment. Congratulations, Professor Rob!

Congratulations to all Honours students: Najjib Abdul Aziz, Owen Daniel, Kasey Darts, Paul Humphrey, Katherine O'Connor, Lavenia Ratnarajah, and Nicole Pitt , who have recently submitted their thesis. We all wish you well for the future. Enjoy a good break after all your hard work!

Awards

Peter Davies has been awarded a Land and Water Australia Senior Research fellowship to work on the problems of the Murray-Darling. Read more ….

Randy Rose and co-authors have received a nomination from CSIRO Publishing for their publication ‘Bettongs, Potoroos and the Musky Rat-kangaroo' for the 2008 Whitley Awards. These awards take place in September so we will wait with anticipation till then! Good luck to Randy and authors!

Mark Hindell recently received a special recognition award from the Board of Graduate Research for his “Contribution to graduate research and education”. Well done, Mark!

Joanne Clapcott (graduated with PhD in Dec 2007) received a Dean's Commendation for an outstanding thesis.  Her primary supervisor was Dr Leon Barmuta. Her research has pioneered the application of measures of ecosystem function in the assessment of forestry practices on small, headwater streams. While small, these streams can comprise 40% or more of the stream network in a catchment and many are naturally species-poor. Joanne's thesis proved up a number of alternative measures of stream "health" that focus on the functioning of streams rather than their biodiversity values.

Grants Received

Congratulations to the following PhD students who have gained funding for their research from the Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment: Sarah Tassel, Anne Watson, Keisuke Itonaga, Gemma Morrow . The School greatly appreciates the support provided to our students by Dr Holsworth's grant scheme.

Funding was also received from the Ingram Trust by: Erin Flynn and Sarah Tassell. This is also greatly appreciated by the School.

Postgraduate Theses Submitted

Heather Hesterman, Jay Willis, and Clare Lawrence. We congratulate them on their achievement, and look forward to their graduations, and to following their future careers.

Thanks!

A big ‘Thank You' to Kathryn Wheatley for being the First Year Practical Co-ordinator for Semester 1, 2008. We and the students really appreciated the energy and enthusiasm she brought to this role.

Goodbye and Farewell

Dr Hugh Forehead resigned in March to take up a research position in Hawaii .

Have a look at this…

A new identification guide to local marine zooplankton has just gone live. This is the result of collaboration between the Marine Research Laboratories, School of Zoology and the Australian Antarctic Division. A fabulous website to look at no matter what your interests!

Publications – 2008 (to date)

• Anderson, RC*, Mather, JA*, Sinn, DL, ‘Octopus Senescence: Forgetting how to eat clams', Festivus , XL (4) 55-57 (2008) [Non Refereed Article]
• Brien, ML*, Read, MA*, McCallum , HI , Grigg, GC*, ‘Home range and movements of radio-tracked estuarine crocodiles (crocodylus porosus) within a non-tidal waterhole', Wildlife Research (35) 140-149 (2008) [Refereed Article]
• Dell, JT, Hobday, AJ, ‘School-based indicators of tuna population status', I C E S Journal of Marine Science (65) 1-11 (2008) [Refereed Article]
• Hesterman, H*, Jones, SM, Schwarzenberger, F*, ‘Pouch appearance is a reliable indicator of the reproductive status in the Tasmanian devil and the spotted-tailed quoll', Journal of Zoology (2008) 1-9 (2008) [Refereed Article]
• Hesterman, H*, Jones, SM, Schwarzenberger, F*, ‘Reproductive endocrinology of the largest dasyurids: Characterization of ovarian cycles by plasma and fecal steroid monitoring. Part I. The Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii)', General and Comparative Endocrinology, 155 244-254 (2008) [Refereed Article]
• Hesterman, H*, Jones, SM, Schwarzenberger, F*, ‘Reproductive endocrinology of the largest Dasyurids: Characterization of ovarian cycles by plasma and fecal steroid monitoring. Part II. The spotted-tailed quoll (Dasyurus maculatus)', General and Comparative Endocrinology , 155 234-243 (2008) [Refereed Article]
• Horsburgh, JM*, Morrice, M*, Lea, MA, Hindell , MA , ‘Determining feeding events and prey encounter rates in a southern elephant seal : a method using swim speed and stomach temperature', Marine Mammal Science, 24 (1) 207-217 (2008) [Refereed Article]
• Lea, MA, Guinet, C*, Cherel, Y*, Hindell , MA , Dubroca, L*, Thalmann, SJ, ‘Colony-based foraging segregation by Antarctic fur seals at the Kerguelen Archipelago', Marine Ecology - Progress Series (358) 273-287 (2008) [Refereed Article]
• McCallum, HI, ‘Landscape Structure, Disturbance, and Disease Dynamics', Infectious Disease Ecology, Effects of Ecosystems on Disease and of Disease on Ecosystems, Princeton University Press, Richard S Ostfeld, Felicia Keesing and Valerie T Eviner (ed), Princeton, 485 (2008) [Research Book Chapter]
• Ritz, DA, ‘Gut residence time in pelagic crustaceans', Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , 2008 (88(1)) 65-67 (2008) [Refereed Article]
• Rose, RW, Johnson, K*, ‘Tasmanian Bettong (Bettongia gaimardi)', The Mammals of Australia, New Holland Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd, Yani Silvana (ed), Sydney, 873 (2008) [Edited Book Chapter]
• Rose, RW, Johnson, K*, ‘Tasmanian Pademelon (Thylogale billardierii)', The Mammals of Australia, New Holland Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd, Yani Silvana (ed), Sydney, 873 (2008) [Edited Book Chapter]
• Sherman, C*, Wapstra, E, Uller, T*, Olsson, M*, ‘Male and female effects on fertilization success and offspring viability in the Peron's tree frog, Litoria peronii', Austral Ecology: a journal of ecology in the Southern Hemisphere (33) 348-352 (2008) [Refereed Article]
• Sherman, CDH*, Wapstra, E, Uller, T*, Olsson, M*, ‘Males with high genetic similarity to females sire more offspring in sperm competition in Peron's tree frog Litoria peronii', Royal Society of London Proceedings. Biological Sciences (275) 971-978 (2008) [Refereed Article]
• Sinn, DL, ‘Patterns of activity cycles in juvenile California two-spot octopuses (Octopus bimaculoides)', American Malacological Bulletin (24) 65-69 (2008) [Refereed Article]
• Wheatley, KE, Bradshaw, CJA, Harcourt, RG*, Hindell , MA , ‘Feast or famine: evidence for mixed capital-income breeding strategies in Weddell seals', Oecologia, 155 11-20 (2008) [Refereed Article]
• While, GM, Wapstra, E, ‘Are there benefits to being born asynchronously: an experimental test in a social lizard', Behavioral Ecology, 19 208-216 (2008) [Refereed Article]
• Willis, J, ‘Simulation model of universal law of school size distribution applied to southern bluefin tuna (Thunnus maccoyii) in the Great Australian Bight', Ecological Modelling (213) 33-44 (2008) [Refereed Article]

Cake Roster

• 18 June Wapstra, McEvoy
• 25 June Melbourne-Thomas, While
• 2 July Tassell, Hamilton
• 9 July Reid, White
• 16 July Doubleday, Watson
• 23 July Barmuta, M. Jones
• 30 July Todd, Sprent
• 6 Aug Rumbold, Talbot
• 13 Aug Horrigan, Hollings
• 20 Aug Marzloff, Sanderson
• 27 Aug Stuart-Smith, Watson
• 3 Sept Abdul, Darts
• 10 Sept Johnson, Lauzon-Guay