7th one-day postgraduate course on Current Ecology and Evolution

Sunday Nov 30th 2008, at University of Sydney, Eastern Avenue Lecture Theatre

in association with Ecological Society of Australia, Australasian Evolution Society, ARC-NZ Research Network for Vegetation Function

Provisional Program

Last updated 1st September 2008

0900 Mark Westoby, Macquarie U: Introduction, and a brief history of ecology in Australia 

0920 Dr Ian Watson, CSIRO: Long-term change in the arid rangelands

0940 Focus groups 1: What advice would you give to someone who is contemplating a PhD? What questions should they ask themselves (or others) in choosing a topic, or a university, or a supervisor? The list of questions that you compile may grow quite long, but try especially to identify the 1-2 most important questions, and to give advice as concrete and as helpful as possible about how to gather information and make your mind up.

1030 Break

1100 Focus groups reporting back.   

1120 Dr Don Driscoll, ANU: A recent advance in animal conservation ecology

1150 Dr Molly Whalen, Flinders U: A recent advance in plant defence ecology

1210 Dr Peter Spooner, Charles Sturt U: A recent advance in landscape ecology

1230 Two participants about research papers that inspired them: to be invited

1250 Lunch (as a group, provided)

1340 Dr Mariella Herberstein, Macquarie U: A recent advance in evolution

1400 Dr Jenny Martin, U Melbourne: A recent advance in behavioural ecology

1420 Dr Catherine Lovelock, U Queensland: A recent advance in ecophysiology

1440 Focus groups 2: Suppose some visionary future government were to decide to allocate one-third of the land area of Australia to become a "wild" ecosystem (i.e. no extractive economic activity). The area allocated is to be a single continuous block, not a patchwork or network. You are on the Board responsible for managing it, and the question for you to answer is what the aim of management should be over the next 200 years from now. Consider the following possible aims:

(a) to approximate the pre-European ecosystem (e.g. 250 years BP) as closely as possible
(b) to approximate the pre-Aboriginal ecosystem (e.g. 250,000 years BP) as closely as possible
(c) to sequester as much carbon from the atmosphere as possible
(d) to conserve as many highly endangered species as possible (not just Australian ones, protecting species from other continents also where possible)
(e) some other objective that you may wish to propose.

For extra kudos, you may also provide a map showing which one-third of Australia's surface should be designated in this way, and why.

1520 Break 

1540 Focus groups to report back

1610 Dr Brendan Wintle, Applied Environmental Decision Analysis and U Melbourne: Adaptive management: what works and what doesn't? 

1640 Panel discussion (all speakers)

1700 On to registration and mixer at ESA2008.

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