NEWS ARCHIVE

October 2009

Four marine undergraduate students from the School of Biological Sciences have won a place aboard the Southern Surveyor to spend five days working with Dr Will Figueira and Dr Sebastian Holmes sailing from Hobart to Sydney on October 11 - 15. Read daily accounts and see images of life on board the ship and what sea creatures they trawl up from the depths. Students sorting the catch from beam trawl net: ocean perch, countless shrimp, crabs and unidentified objects. Photo credit: Will Figueira

The Head of Biological Sciences invites all Biology Alumni to the 2009 Biology Alumni Cocktail Reception being held on October 23 ... Spring time is Swarm time. Read more.

September 2009

Research by Dr Mike Letnic, Freya Koch, Chris Gordon, Dr Mathew Crowther and Professor Chris Dickman has been selected for Faculty of 1000. The research, showing that dingoes can have benefits for Australia's biodiversity, was published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Dingo Photo credit: Mike Letnic

Dr Greg Sword was awarded the Perry Adkisson Distinguished Seminar Speaker Award from Texas A&M University. As part of the award, Greg delivered two lectures at Texas A&M campus and visited graduate students and faculty of the Department of Entomology. The award is named for Dr. Perry Adkisson - a highly distinguished entomologist credited as a developer of what is now known as modern Integrated Pest Management - and recognizes outstanding researchers in the field of entomology. Moulting Orthoptera Photo credit: Sylvain Dubey

Professor Rick Shine has been awarded the 2009 Australian Natural History Medallion by the Field Naturalists of Victoria for his contribution to the understanding of Australia's natural history. Austrochaperina adelphe Photo credit: Matt Greenlees

Professor Stephen Simpson has been named 2009 NSW Scientist of the Year by the Office of Science and Medical Research for his cutting-edge work on nutrition and its implications for ecology, evolution, agriculture and human health. He was also winner of Plant and Animal Sciences Category for his research on causal factors of locust swarms. Telopea speciosissima, Newnes Plateau Wollemi National Park Photo credit: Sylvain Dubey

The Honours Committee invite the School to the 2009 Semester 1 Honours Students' Final Seminar. Refreshments will be served following the seminar. RSVPs to Ros Malin (r.malin@usyd.edu.au) are essential for catering purposes. Details: Friday 18 September at 2.15 PM in the DT Anderson LT (A08). Pardalote Photo credit: Sylvain Dubey

Interested in doing Honours next year? Come to the School of Biological Sciences Honours Information Session. Thursday September 17, 4-5:30pm Botany Lawn. Talk to potential supervisors and find out what interesting projects they have on offer. Drinks and nibbles provided. Mountain Gentian (Gentianella diemensis) visited by Australian native red bee (Lasioglossum sp.). Mount Buffalo N.P., Victoria. Photo credit: Trevor Wilson

August 2009

Come to the launch of the fascinating new book A Natural Calling: Life, Letters and Diaries of Charles Darwin and William Darwin Fox, by Professor Tony Larkum. Hear Tony speak about his book, followed by readings of some of the letters in the book by professional actors, over drinks and nibbles. RSVP to Carla Avolio. October 9 at the Macleay Museum from 4:30 pm – 7:00 pm.

July 2009

Research by Dr Raju Radder together with David Pike, Alexander Quinn and Rick Shine has been selected for Faculty of 1000. The research on sex determination in Bassiana duperreyi was published in Current Biology July 14. Skink Photo credit: Sylvain Dubey

Associate Professor Frank Seebacher was awarded a prestigious Australian Learning and Teaching Council Citations. The citations, worth $10,000, are awarded to academic and professional staff for long-standing contributions to the quality of student learning and improving the overall student experience. Read more here. Salt water crocodile Photo credit: Frank Seebacher

Honours student Alen Faiz, from the laboratory of Professor Ben Oldroyd, won the prize for 'Best Honours Talk' at the Genetics Society of Australasia conference held in Brisbane on 7 - 10 July. Bee on a tea tree Photo credit: Kaye Placing

June 2009

Professor Steve Simpson has won an Australian Laureate Fellowship from the Australian Research Council. Steve is one of 15 Australian scientists to be awarded the prestigious Fellowship, which provides $3 million funding over 5 years. Read more at the ARC website Bull Ant Photo credit: Sylvain Dubey

Research by Mike Letnic, Freya Koch, Chris Gordon, Mathew Crowther, and Chris Dickman, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, has shown that dingoes could deliver benefits for biodiversity across more than 2 million square kilometres of Australia. Read more here.

May 2009

	Dr John Runcie won the Kathleen Drew Baker prize for submitting the best paper, "In situ photosynthetic rates of tropical marine macroalgae at their lower depth limit", to the European Journal of Phycology in 2008.
	Associate Professor Frank Seebacher won the Faculty of Science Citation for Excellence in Teaching. Frank was one of eight winners to accept the award at the Faculty of Science's prize giving event on May 14th. Bee Photo credit: Kaye Placing
	The 2009 Memorial Keast Lecturer, Dr Peter Weston from the National Herbarium of NSW, will be presenting "Austral Biogeography" on Friday May 1 from 1pm – 2pm in the Eastern Ave Lecture Theatre. Everybody is invited to attend the seminar with refreshments to follow. Memorial Keast Lecture

April 2009

	Dr Raymond Ritchie has won a 2009 Endeavour Award from the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. The award, valued at $20, 000, is for a four month research program in Thailand.   Diopodium variegatum Photo: Aaron Greenville
	Professor Rick Shine, Georgia Ward-Fear, Matt Greenlees and Dr Greg Brown have discovered that cane toads are far more susceptible to being killed and eaten by meat ants than native frogs. The research published in Functional Ecology has received major coverage in newspaper, radio and TV. Read more here. Meat ant with cane toad Photo: Georgia Ward-Fear
	Professor Peter Waterhouse has been elected into the Australian Academy of Science. He was one of 16 new Fellows to be honoured by election into the Academy on March 24. Read more here. Professor Peter Waterhouse FAA Photo: Peter Waterhouse
	The ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, which has a node at the School of Biological Sciences, has been awarded $9.8 million dollars over the next three and a half years to continue its research. Read more here. PhD student Ozlem Yilmaz from PEB holding Arabidopsis

March 2009

In response to the attention surrounding recent shark attacks in Sydney Harbour, A Prof Ross Coleman and Phoebe Hill have commented in the media to refute claims that shark numbers are on the rise. See here for comments by Ross and Phoebe. Dusky Whaler in Fairy Bower Photo: Eco Divers

Researchers Dr Jonathan Webb, Dr Martin Whiting (University of the Witwatersrand) and Dr Scott Keogh (Australian National University) have discovered that some males of the multi-coloured Augrabies Flat Lizard from South Africa mimic females during early maturity and thereby avoid the costs of broadcasting their masculinity. By labelling males, females and she-males with chemicals from conspecifics, the researchers found that resident males are fooled by the sight of she-males, but not their smell. The research features in the current volume of Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B and has been featured in media including ABC news. The male Augrabies Flat Lizard (Platysaurus broadleyi) are brightly coloured to attract the attention of the much duller females. Photo: Martin Whiting

February 2009

Dr Stuart Gilchrist's talk on the ABC Radio National Science Show on 7 Feb about fruit fly (Drosophila) genetics and P factors is available on the Science Show website.

Research by Dr Mike Letnic, which will soon appear in Animal Conservation, has been featured in the current issue of the magazine ECOS. The research suggests that dingoes are beneficial for the endangered dusky hopping mouse, probably by reducing the numbers of introduced red foxes. The endangered dusky hopping mouse Photo credit: Dr Mike Letnic

January 2009

Research by Prof Steve Simpson, and colleagues from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, has been featured on the cover of the 30 January issue of Science. Their research, which was also featured as a Perspective in the same issue, has pinpointed a single neurochemical – serotonin – as the cause of phase change, and thus swarming behaviour, in locusts. Photo: Science

New research by Dr Greg Sword, Prof Steve Simpson and colleagues has shed light on the adaptive significance of swarming behaviour in locusts. The work – published in Current Biology and in Nature Jan 8 as a research highlight – uses maths modelling to explain why swarming might have evolved. Desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria) in the gregarious phase.

Congratulations on being accepted at the University of Sydney. If you’d like to find out more about how to study biology click here.  We will have academic advisors at all enrolments sessions to answer all your questions.  If you are interested in enrolling in the bridging course click here.  Don’t miss our welcome barbecue during SWOT week on Thursday 26 February.

December 2008

New research conducted at the School of Biological Sciences by Rudolf and Elizabeth Raff from Indiana University provides the first demonstration that soft tissue fossilisation is a biological process which is mediated by bacterial replacement and mineralization. The research is published in the December 9 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Professor Rick Shine has been voted by the Sydney Morning Herald as one of Sydney’s 100 most influential people. The list, published on December 11 in the (sydney) magazine, recognises 100 people who made a difference to the city of Sydney in 2008. Rick appears in the Science & Technology category for his work in understanding cane toads in the Australian environment. Read more here. Professor Rick Shine, one of Sydney?s 100 most influential people

Dr Audrey Dussutour has been awarded The Journal of Experimental Biology’s 2008 Outstanding Paper Prize. This annual prize recognises the contribution of an outstanding young scientist to an exceptional research paper. Audrey’s paper, co-authored with Prof Steve Simpson, reveals that individual ants forage for the collective stomach – responding most strongly to nutritional needs of larvae. Read more here. Rhytidoponera sp Green Headed ants

Ecological Society of Australia 33rd annual conference held at The University of Sydney The 33rd Ecological Society of Australia Annual Conference will be held at The University of Sydney on Monday 1st - Friday 5th December 2008. This year's meeting theme is Interactions in Science, Interactions in Nature. Visit the conference website here.

November 2008

Dr Ashley Ward and colleagues has shown that fish will make better decisions when acting as a group than they do as individuals. The work - done on sticklebacks' ability to choose 'good' leaders - has been published in the latest issue of Current Biology, and has been featured on numerous websites. Gasterosteus aculeatus Stickleback Photo: Wikipedia Common Licence

The Australian and New Zealand Society for Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry’s 25th Annual Meeting will be held at The University of Sydney on December 5-8, 2008. See conference website here http://www.zoo.latrobe.edu.au/anzscpb/. Plenary speaker Professor Ken Storey from Carleton University will give a special public talk - Forever Young: Cryopreservation, a secret weapon in the animal world? - on December 5th in the Eastern Ave Lecture Theatre 3:15 – 4:15 pm. Everybody Welcome!

October 2008

Greg Sword is this month's 'featured researcher' on the new Entomology Australia website. The website, launched in early October, is devoted to raising the profile of entomological education in Australia and 'acts as a portal to obtaining information about insects in education at all levels, from primary school to university postgraduate level.' Anabrus simplex Mormon Cricket Photo: Beth Redlin - USDA/ARS

Trevor Wilson from the Plant Systematics Lab won the Pauline Ladiges award for the best oral presentation by a student at the Australian Systematic Botany Society conference in Adelaide. Trevor presented his research on the evolution of bird pollination in Australian mint bushes (Prostanthera) inferred from molecular phylogenetics. Prostanthera ovalifolia found near Mendooran, NSW Photo: Trevor Wilson

Professor Chris Dickman has won the Whitley Medal for his recent book A Fragile Balance: The extraordinary story of Australian marsupials. The Whitley Medal - the most prestigious of all the Whitley Awards given by the Royal Zoological Society of NSW - is awarded for a publication that makes a landmark contribution to the understanding, content or dissemination of zoological knowledge. Read more here. A fragile balance: The extraordinary story of Australian marsupials Photo: Book cover

Dr Jeremy Sumner, until recently a postdoctoral associate with Dr Michael Charleston (School of IT) and Assoc. Prof. Lars Jermiin, has published a paper in Journal of Theoretical Biology on Markov invariants, plethysms, and phylogenetics. The paper shows that group representation theory provides a general framework for analysing Markov processes on tree, and that the simplest Markov invariant forms the foundation of the well-known Log-Det distance measure.

Dr Simon Ho, a former Honours and MSc student of Assoc. Prof. Lars Jermiin, recently publish, by invitation, his MSc research in a book. The book, entitled Confounding Factors in Phylogenetic Analysis: A Simulation Study, was published by VDM Verlag Dr. Müller, Saarbrücken. 2008 Murray Lecture: Zebra Societies and Conservation: Different Types for Different Stripes Come along on a fascinating journey across the African landscape, as visiting professor Dan Rubenstein of Princeton University shares with us his research on zebra behaviour and ecology. Everybody welcome but bookings essential for catering purposes: register online. Work by Tonia Schwartz, Shauna Murray and Frank Seebacher has led to insights as to how salt water crocodiles manage the trade-off between the benefits of metabolic augmentation during cold acclimation and the oxidation damage this incurs. The research, published early this year in Proc. R. Soc. B and recently reviewed in J. Exp. Biol., provides the first evidence of UCP genes - which have a role in oxidation protection - in a reptile and demonstrates that UCP genes are upregulated during cold acclimation.

September 2008

Marine turtle conservation research by David Pike has appeared in the latest issue of Biology Letters. The research, which analysed scientific literature from the past 17 years, has shown that coastal development negatively affects loggerhead and green sea turtles by lowering the number of eggs that hatch from each nest. David's work was featured in the Sydney Morning Herald. Read more here. Loggerhead Turtle Caretta caretta Photo: David Pike

August 2008

Congratulations Steve and Charlotte! Professor Steve Simpson and Dr Charlotte Taylor were both awarded prestigious Australian Museum Eureka Prizes at the Awards Dinner on Tuesday night. Steve won his award in the category for Scientific Research and Charlotte, a member of the Birds in Backyards team, won in the category of Environmental Sustainability and Education. Eureka Prize finalist Steve Simpson with locusts, his study organism

Work by Tonia Schwartz, Shauna Murray and Frank Seebacher has led to insights as to how salt water crocodiles manage the trade-off between the benefits of metabolic augmentation during cold acclimation and the oxidation damage this incurs. The research, published early this year in Proc. R. Soc. B and recently reviewed in J. Exp. Biol., provides the first evidence of UCP genes - which have a role in oxidation protection - in a reptile and demonstrates that UCP genes are upregulated during cold acclimation. Salt Water Crocodile Crocodylus porosus. Photo: Frank Seebacher

Vote for Steve Simpson in the Eureka Prizes Professor Steve Simpson is a finalist in the 2008 Australian Museum Eureka Prizes People's Choice Award and in the category for Scientific Research. Help Steve win the People's Choice by voting before 17 August 2008. Click to Vote! View Steve talking about his work in this video.

Calling all Biology Alumni. It's time to reunite with the herd! The School of Biological Science's inaugural alumni cocktail reception is taking place in the Macleay Museum on August 22. Come and enjoy an evening of Memories, Music and Microscopy. Get your invitation here.

Tony Larkum, Emeritus Professor, will be presenting an Ockham's Razor talk on the 150 year anniversary of the Darwin-Wallace papers on organic evolution to the Linnean Society of London, which will go to air on Sunday 10th August at 8.45 am.

July 2008

A/Prof Ross Coleman's research on predator-prey interactions appears in the latest issue of Ecology. The paper details how aggregation of prey, which can represent reduced food abundance, alters our understanding of trophic cascades.

An invited paper by Associate Professor Lars Jermiin has appeared in Methods in Molecular Biology. The paper reviews model selection and model evaluation, and presents, for the first time, a road map of how violation of commonly assumed phylogenetic assumptions might be detected and overcome.

Professor Chris Dickman has won the 2008 C. Hart Merriam Award for outstanding research contributions to mammalogy. The C. Hart Merriam Award is hosted by the American Society for Mammalogists and Professor Dickman represents the first Australian ecologist to be given the Award in its history.

Peter Oxley’s research on worker sterility in the honeybee has been featured as a research highlight in the July 3 issue of Nature. His study, published in the journal Genetics, identifies four regions of the honeybee genome that play a role in ovary activation.

Recent work by Dr Audrey Dussutour appears in the latest issue of New Scientist. The research, published in Animal Cognition, shows that leaf-cutting ants will adjust their behaviour to overcome obstacles placed in their path, and provides a rare example of foraging-related problem solving in insects.

Research by Dr Mike Letnic published in the latest issue of Biological Conservation provides the first evidence for the destructive effect of the cane toad invasion on the freshwater crocodile. The findings were also featured in numerous radio interviews, newspapers and magazines including New Scientist.

Work by Sean Blamires, Dr Dieter Hochuli and Prof Mike Thompson in the latest issue of Biological Journal of the Linnean Society has been featured in National Geographic. The work, carried out on St Andrews Cross spiders living in the campus grounds, shows how the spiders' investments in web decorations enhance foraging success.

June 2008

The latest issue of the Journal of Experimental Botany features an invited review by Dr Charles Warren on resistances to CO2 movement within leaves. The paper describes a meta-analysis showing that stomata are not necessarily the major resistances to CO2 movement and photosynthesis. Much of the resistance can instead be attributed to blocked CO2 movement from sub-stomatal cavities to chloroplasts.

Congratulations to Prof Tony Underwood who was awarded an Honorary DSc (Doctor Honoris Causa) from the University of Gothenburg (Sweden) "in recognition of the immense influence of your research on the scientific views and approaches used by a majority of researchers at the Department of Marine Ecology, University of Gothenburg".

The latest issue of Plant Cell has highlighted Dr Deborah Barton and Prof Robyn Overall's paper on high resolution imaging of plant microtubules. It is also featured in Faculty 1000 Biology.

Research which sheds light on the evolution of eusociality has been published in Science. The work conducted by a team including Prof Ben Oldroyd and A/Prof Madeleine Beekman, has provided the first evidence that monogamy was critical in the evolution of eusociality – a result that strongly supports the kin selection paradigm based on high relatedness.

May 2008

Locust research in the School has recently appeared in two papers in Current Biology, one of which was featured on the cover (with a nice photo taken by Gabe Miller). The cover story describes work conducted by an international team - including Dr Jerome Buhl, Prof Steve Simpson and Dr Greg Sword - which reveals that the movement of locust migratory bands is driven by cannibalistic interactions and that the insects are in effect on a "forced march" to escape the threat of attack by locusts approaching from behind. The second paper, published by Prof Simpson and Dr Sword, is a 'Quick Guide' to locusts and provides an overview of their biology and current research. The locust group's cannibalism study has been eaten up by a variety international newspapers, radio shows and websites.

Work by Dr Ashley Ward has revealed the importance of quorum responses in the collective movement decisions of fishes. The research published in PNAS has shown that fish can make accurate decisions about when to follow group behaviour, by responding only when they see a threshold number of fellow group members performing that behaviour.

Prof Ian Hume and Prof Rick Shine presented their research at The Australian Academy of Science's peak annual event, Science at the Shine Dome on May 7. Prof Hume's findings of how changes in atmospheric CO2 are affecting koalas, and Prof Shine's proposal of novel methods to reduce the impact of cane toads both appeared in numerous newspapers including the Sydney Morning Herald.

January 2008

Research by PhD student Dan Warner, conducted in the Shine Lab, has been published in Nature. The publication explains the adaptive significance of temperature-dependent sex determination in reptiles, using Amphibolurus muricatus - Jacky Dragons - as a model organism.

Research undertaken in the Firth/Skurray Molecular Genetics Lab by PhD student Anthony Brzoska and postdoctoral fellow Slade Jensen, in collaboration with colleagues in the laboratory of Maria Schumacher from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, has been published in Nature. The paper concerns a DNA partitioning mechanism from the drug resistant bacterial pathogen Staphylococcus aureus ("Golden staph"), which serves as a model system for a process fundamental to all living things, the movement of DNA in dividing cells to achieve faithful inheritance of genetic information.

Chris Dickman has released a new book, A Fragile Balance: the extraordinary story of Australian marsupials. With wonderful illustrations by Rosemary Woodford-Ganf, the book explores the lives and threats posed to 150 native marsupials. The review by James Woodford and radio interview with Chris Dickman and Robyn Williams are available online. Can Dingoes protect smaller native species? Find out more.