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Ecologists in Adelaide for national symposium

A kookaburra at Daisy Hill National Park near Brisbane.
Photo by Sarah Williams.
Full Image (148.38K)

Monday, 26 March 2012

The ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥ of Adelaide will this week host an annual symposium that brings together a network of ecological scientists from around ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥.

The (TERN) will have its at the National Wine Centre, Adelaide, on 28-29 March.

The ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥ of Adelaide is a founding partner in TERN, and two key research facilities are based at the ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥.

TERN relies on hi-tech equipment in the field and sophisticated data collection and sharing to provide the best, most up-to-date information to environmental scientists about the current state of ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥'s ecological diversity.

Using the resources and expertise provided by TERN, scientists will be able to tackle some of the big issues for the nation's ecology, such as:

• How ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥'s ecosystems change over time;
  
• What is the current health of some of ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥'s key ecosystems;
  
• How introduced plant and animal species affect native species;
  
• How the spatial distribution of ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥n plant and animal species change, and how some become extinct.

The ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥ of Adelaide hosts two of the eight key facilities for the TERN project:

• Eco-informatics - a new, national web-based system of ecological knowledge and observations. This information is available for the benefit of researchers, planners and policy-makers right across ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥.
  
• Multi Scale Plot Network - a facility coordinating the collection and archiving of scientific measurements and observations. This is key to developing a detailed understanding of ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥'s biodiversity and how our ecosystem works.

"Right across this nation, researchers from universities, government and non-government organisations are gaining a unique understanding of the diversity of life in ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥ and how our ecosystems are changing," says , Director of the at the ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥ of Adelaide and a joint appointment with the (DENR).

"By pooling this information in a coordinated way, TERN is providing an invaluable service to science, government and the community in a way not seen anywhere else in the world. We hope the future of ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥'s environment will benefit from the work we're doing today," Professor Lowe says.

One of the highlights of the symposium will be a keynote address by Dr Steve Morton, CSIRO Fellow and Chair of the Board of the Environment Institute at the ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥ of Adelaide.

For more details about the Symposium and a full program, go to: or visit the TERN website for more information:

TERN is supported by the ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥n Government through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) and the Super Science Initiative.

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