July 13th : Film: The Weeping Tree – Scottsdale Library Meeting Room 11 am. [back entrance]

The Tas land Conservancy have been showing their acclaimed film The Weeping Tree which is a combination of art, science, the connection of Palawa to country and a very intimate way of storytelling. This is the story of a critically threatened iconic Tasmanian tree, the cider gum, Eucalyptus gunnii, which is being affected by climate change and other influences. The film is set in the Central Highlands, a place rarely seen on our screens, but holding a place deep in the Tasmanian psyche. I’m sure it will attract interest from our members, many of whom love being in the Central Highlands

So with the Central Highlands as the place of interest and threatened species as our theme, who better to complete the day than Karen Richards who is now Senior Zoologist with the Threatened Species Section of NRE. 

The Scottsdale Library is booked for the event beginning at 11am. Please bring something to share for lunch. 

Thanks to Ross for this interesting snippet:

UTAS has recently (26 June 2024) had research published in the journal Nature claiming that the devastating fungal disease Chytridiomycosis can be halted if the body temperature of frogs can be raised above 30 degrees Celsius. Researchers used heat shelters to treat infected green and golden bell frogs and clear their infections. Resistance to reinfection was also observed. The research was published in Nature here and detailed in lay terms in The Conversation here.

 

Behind the scenes with the QVMAG ornithology collections

It’s not often you can go behind the scenes of a museum collection — but now, this online 3D collection database lets you do exactly that. 

The latest 3D collection release is set to take you up close with the ornithology collections —specifically, Tasmanian bird nests and study skins as well as an image of the eggs to complete the set.

“Some of the nests are quite elaborate, and some are just a few sticks thrown together… But all of them are really well-documented,” said QVMAG Collections Officer Judy Rainbird.

“We have all the data: the date collected, the species, the location, if it was located near a river, even the height [of the nest] in the tree — all of which is so important.

“Other museums are starting to recognise that nests can offer a lot of information. The Australian Museum recently said that they have a big collection of 800 nests across their different locations, Australia-wide.

“But we’ve got 800 nests. Just from Tasmania. The fact that we have a comparable number of nests — from endemic birds — is really significant.”

Natural Sciences Collections Officer Simon Fearn said most specimens within this collection at QVMAG were accompanied with full collection data, making this collection extremely valuable for research.

“The importance of this collection is further reinforced by its holdings of rare and extinct species as well as first records of previously unrecorded species that have reached Tasmania,” said Simon.

“The collection also eclipses many of the other museums around Australia with its holdings of locally endemic species and sub species. The significance of this is the ability of the collection to support taxonomic research at the subspecies level, and support DNA sampling requests for endemic species and subspecies.”

Pretty amazing, right?  

Explore the online 3D collection www.qvmag.tas.gov.au/collections

Discover what’s on at QVMAG www.qvmag.tas.gov.au

Camera Trap Chronicles

The Tasmanian Land Conservancy is holding an exhibition in Launceston on the weekend of August 15 – 17th and is appealing to Citizen Scientists who have camera trap photos to submit them. 

Here is a page with more information on how one can submit photos: Submit your photos for our WildTracker Exhibition – Tasmanian Land Conservancy (tasland.org.au)

Photo submissions are made here.

We have received an invitation to the exhibition which is free and bookings for the opening on August 15th from 5 – 7pm can be made here.

 Try your luck at identifying bird calls:
Sunday 9.05 am radio national ‘Tweet of the week.’