News (123)
Last week Melinda Waterman and Johanna Turnbull finished writing their PhD theses and submitted them for examination. So a big congratulations to both of them for getting through by the deadline. Writing a book is never easy and that is effectively what they have done. Now we just need to wait and see what the examiners have to say, but in the meantime they are both catching up on sleep and hopefully enjoying having their lives back.
It's been a busy week. Wednesday was the big day. Dr Jessica Bramley-Alves made a flying visit from Singapore to Graduate and to give her final PhD seminar. Jess managed to get history, science and modern culture into her talk on Antarctic moss demonstrating what an inter-disciplinary lot we are. Dr Ari Nugraha also graduated. Ari is an honorary member of the moss team having worked with Mel on moss pigment identification.
Anna Nydahl recently completed Honours in the Robinson Lab and is now back in Sweden. She tested how sensitive Antarctic moss and algae were to contaminated soil. Around the Antarctic stations there have been quite a few fuel spills where the diesel used to fuel the stations has accidently leaked into the soil. The Australian Antarctic Division are cleaning up a number of these sites using innovative remediation techniques.
During the first year of their PhD, students have to write a Literature review, produce a project proposal and give a seminar. Together these are the hoops that need to be jumped through to get confirmed in your PhD program. Rhys did his seminar at the postgrad retreat last year and was so impressive he won the prize for the best 1st year talk. Last week he completed the other two components in excellent style, so congratulations Rhys.
Jessica has been really busy this year, she submitted her thesis at the end of last year and it has been examined so we think she is already Dr Jess, although maybe she needs to graduate first for that to be really official. Plus then we can get a picture of her in the gown, hood and cap. In addition, she has a new job at CUGE in Singapore and is busy running environmental projects there. She has also published a paper from her PhD work and another from some work she did on Macquarie Island before her PhD. So an excellent start to 2015.
On the 31st January, multiple helicopter rides transferred us and our camping gear from the beach on Byers Peninsula back on to the Aquiles before heading to our next same-day destination, Deception Island. Another helicopter ride dropped us off to Gabriel de Castilla, the Spanish base on the active volcanic island.
University of Wollongong was chosen as the venue to launch the latest $2 million round of grants from the Australian Biological Resources Study (devoted to funding taxonomic research). It caused a buzz in the School of Biological Sciences with A/Prof. James Wallman assisting in the launch with an excellent and entertaining speech.
Now that I have settled in back home, sifted through my photos and have good internet access I can tell you about the next part of the Antarctic trip. After Sharon, Andrew and Sarah departed King George Island by plane, the remaining members of the moss team patiently awaited our transport to our next leg in the trip, the Aquiles, a ship from the Chilean Navy fleet.
Our group studies mosses in Antarctica. Long shoots of these mosses reveal information about past climate and are showing marked changes to current conditions. Changes in ozone and carbon dioxide are driving winds further south, resulting in increased evaporation and a reduction in the growing period. Our latest paper on this topic is in press in Global Change Biology (Bramley-Alves et al. Moss δ13C: an accurate proxy for past water environments in polar regions). Well done Jess! You can also listen to an interview on the ABC Science Show about an early paper by Laurence Clarke.