News
Professor Mike Clarke discusses the Ecological Illiteracy Crisis on La Trobe University Big Fat Ideas
Other research news and seminars
La Trobe News
Understanding how genes and chromosomes evolved
Professor Jenny Graves has made seminal contributions to our understanding of mammalian genome organisation and evolution
Controlling the Queensland fruit fly
Research breakthrough has the potential to help control the destructive behaviour of the Queensland fruit fly
La Trobe #1 in Victoria in employment rankings
La Trobe leads employment rankings in Victoria
Diversity on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau
David Deane on measuring and maintaining ecological diversity.
Native bees and climate change
La Trobe researcher is investigating how native bees will respond to rising temperatures
Passing on a love of plant biology
Dr Alison Kellow brings a love of plant biology to her role as Lecturer in the Department of Environment and Genetics
Tiny creatures restore ecosystems
La Trobe researchers are examining the role that minibeasts play in environmental restoration
Saving the fat-tailed dunnart
Research by PhD candidate, Emily Scicluna, has identified that Australia's fat-tailed dunnart population is in serious decline
Natural Capital Accounting
In the promotion of sustainable farm practices, researchers have developed a way to account for natural resources like soil, vegetation and biodiversity
Rare High Country snowpatch ecosystem threatened
Lower snowfalls threatening rare High Country snowpatch ecosystem
Seminars
The Department's seminar series for 2023 will follow on from the success of previous years.
We have an exciting line up with speakers from Victoria, interstate and overseas. Seminars will be fortnightly on Thursdays and begin at 11 am unless otherwise indicated. Check back soon for a program which will be updated weekly.
Semester One 2023 will be posted soon.
Radio and News Articles
Newspaper articles
featuring staff and research students in the Department:
- Andrew Bennett - Here’s where record-breaking floods have helped the environment - The Age
- Mike Clarke - Native Australian animals vulnerable to habitat loss, grass fires - Bendigo Advertiser
- Christina Lipka - Abbott's booby, aka Christmas Island's 'teddy bear' birds, helped by new research - ABC News
- Alex Maisey - 'Solitary' lyrebirds band together to save themselves in 'incredible' show of unity under bushfire threat - ABC News
- Alex Maisey and Daniel Nugent - Lyrebirds and forest owl populations decimated in bushfire crisis - The Age
- PhD student Simon Verdon and his research on mallee emu wrens in the news - Saving Australia's Angriest Bird from Itself - The Age
- Assoc. Prof. Heloise Gibb is in the news with her research "Habitat Loss Leaving Planet with only Mediocre Ants, Study Finds"
- Mountain Ecosystems undergraduate field trip and Mountain Pygmy Possums in the news. "Possums' tale of survival" - The Border Mail.
Interviews - Radio and TV
with staff and research students of the Department:
- Preserving the Prom - John Morgan, Gardening Australia
- An oratorio based on science, to sit beside Haydn’s oratorio, The Creation - Jenny Graves, ABC News Radio
- Insects Disappearing Before Being Described and Named - Assc. Prof Heloise Gibb, ABC Radio
- La Trobe University Living History - Dr Pat Woolley
The Conversation
The Department of Environment and Genetics has several staff members who contribute to The Conversation, an independent news source, whose content is supplied by academics and researchers. The following staff feature on The Conversation:
News & Seminars Archive
Here you will find links to recordings of past departmental seminars which were presented via Zoom.
Semester Two - 2021
| Date | Speaker | Topic | Recording Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| July 21st | David Deane, La Trobe University | A null model for species diversity in subdivided habitat | Watch David's seminar |
| July 28th | Martin Westgate, CSIRO | Improving the Atlas of Living Australia for ecological researchers | Watch Martin's seminar |
|
Aug 4th 9 am start | Chris Wood, University of British Colombia | Lessons in physiology from a fish living in the most extreme aquatic environment on Earth | Watch Chris' seminar |
| Aug 11th | Romina Rader, University of New England | Pollination ecosystem services | not available |
| Aug 18th | Ashley Sparrow, Arthur Rylah Institute | The art of making run-down ecosystems new again | Watch Ashley's seminar |
| Aug 25th | Sarah Whitely, University of Canberra | Epigenetic mechanisms driving temperature induced sex reversal in the dragon lizard, Pogona vitticeps | Watch Sarah's seminar |
| Sept 8th | Tracey Regan, Arthur Rylah Institute | Decision science for complex environmental problems | Watch Tracey's seminar |
| Sept 15th | Therese Lofroth, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences | Conservation of invertebrates in boreal forests | Watch Therese's seminar |
|
Sept 22nd 4 pm start | Kate Parr, Liverpool University | Ecosystem impact of social insects | |
| Sept 28th | Iliana Medina, University of Melbourne | The wonder of birds’ nests: are they more important than we suspected? | |
Oct 6th | Howard Jacobs, Tampere University | Alternative respiratory chain enzymes: what they do and why we lost them | |
| Oct 13th | Bronte van Helden, Universit of Western Australia | Ecology of the western ringtail possum |
Semester One - 2021
| Date | Speaker | Topic | Recording link |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 3rd | Meghan Castelli, University of Canberra | Temperature sex reversal and evolving thermal thresholds in the wild | Watch Meghan's seminar |
March 10th | One Pagan, West Cheshire University | Animals and Intoxication | Watch One's seminar |
| March 17th | Angie Haslem, Department of Environment and Genetics, La Trobe University | Tracking the recovery of bird communities following restoration in agricultural environments: insights from a multi-scale, long-term study | Watch Angie's seminar |
| March 24th | Alejandro Ordonez, Aarhus University | Rising Novelty in Ecosystems and Climates | Watch Alejandro's Seminar |
| March 31st | Denise Fernando, Department of Environment and Genetics, La Trobe University | Black box, the iconic Murray Darling Basin eucalypt: nutrition through flooding | Watch Denise's seminar |
April 14th | David Nash, University of Brighton, UK | Geochemical fingerprinting the sarsen stones at Stonehenge | Watch David's seminar |
| April 21st | Chris Reid, The Australian Museum, NSW | The leaf beetles and why they are important | Watch Chris' seminar |
| April 28th | Akane Uesugi, RMIT | Rapid evolution of drought resistance in invasive capeweed | Watch Akane's seminar |
| May 5th | Andre Siebers, Centre for Freshwater Ecology, La Trobe University | Towards an improved understanding of biogeochemical processes across surface-groundwater interactions in intermittent rivers and ephemeral streams | Watch Andre's seminar |
| May 12th | Lars Brudvig, Michigan State University, USA | Restoration of longleaf pine savannas in the southeastern United States | Watch Lars' seminar |
| May 19th | Amanda Franklin, University of Melbourne | Why are beetles so brilliant? Vision and colour of Australian beetles | Watch Amanda's seminar |
| May 26th | Katherine Moseby, University of New South Wales | Conservation of Australian mammals | Watch Katherine's seminar |
Semester Two - 2020
| Date | Speaker | Topic | Seminar recording link |
|---|---|---|---|
| July 22nd |
Jen Wood La Trobe University | Cross talk between microbial ecology and the rest of ecology | Watch Jen Wood's seminar |
| July 29th |
Richard Fuller University of Queensland | The importance of urban green space for biodiversity and human health and wellbeing | Watch Richard Fuller's seminar |
| Aug 5th |
Rebecca McIntosh Phillip Island NP | Using drones, Citizen Science and fur seals for healthy oceans | Watch Rebecca McIntosh's seminar |
| Aug 12th |
Ursula Ellenberg Eudyptes EcoConsulting Ltd. | Seabird conservation research between midnight sun and shadowlands | Watch Ursula Ellenberg's seminar |
| Aug 19th |
Jim Radford La Trobe University | Does regenerative agriculture benefit biodiversity? | Watch Jim Radford's seminar |
| Aug 26th |
Rachael Gallagher Maquarie University | Conservation biogeography: assessing the vulnerability of plants in a rapidly changing world | Watch Rachael Gallagher's seminar |
| Sept 9th |
Rachel Nolan University of Western Sydney | Towards prediction and quantification of bushfire impacts in Australian forests | Watch Rachel Nolan's seminar (La Trobe accounts only) |
| Sept 16th |
Daniel Blumstein UCLA | Conservation biology - the fearful perspective | Watch Daniel Blumstein's seminar |
| Sept 23rd |
Philip Barton Federation University | Exploring the necrobiome | Watch Philip Barton's seminar |
|
Sept 30th 4pm |
Johnathan Green University of Liverpool, UK | Constraints, challenges and consequences for seabirds: Insights from ecological energetics | Watch Jonathan Green's seminar |
October 7th |
Ana Davidson Colorado State University | Bological roles and conservation challenges of burrowing mammals in the world's grasslands | Watch Ana Davidson's seminar |
| October 14th | Eleanor Slade, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore | Using trait-based ecology to study responses of insects along environmental gradients | Watch Eleanor Slade's seminar |
Semester One 2020
| Date | Speaker | Topic | Seminar recording link |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 6th | Prof. Jenny Graves, La Trobe University | "Australian animals reveal how sex determination works and how it evolved" | Jenny Graves Seminar |
| May 13th | April Reside, University of Queensland | Death by a thousand cuts: conservation challenges for the Black-throated finch, and what this means for Australia’s environmental law reform | April Reside Seminar |
| May 20th | Adriana Verges, University of New South Wales | Operation Crayweed and Operation Posidonia: engaging the public to restore underwater forests and meadows | Adriana Verges Seminar |
| May 27th | Kerry Fanson, La Trobe University | Animal physiology | Kerry Fanson Seminar |
| June 3rd | Ewen Silvester, La Trobe University | 'Good, don’t call me good’: assessing peatland function and condition from seasonal patterns and event response. | Ewen Silvester Seminar |