Australian Society for Limnology Newsflashes

Australian Society for Limnology 47th Annual Congress

The ASL 2008 conference will be held at Mandurah from Sept 29 to Oct 3, 2008. See under ‘Events’  for preliminary details. Registration will be available on the website next week. See the Mandurah tourist website (http://www.visitmandurah.com) for accommodation options.

The 8th International Wetlands Conference!

The 8th INTECOL Wetland Symposium will be held in Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, Brazil, from 20-25 July, 2008.  The host institution is the Federal University of Mato Grosso (Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso) and the Pantanal Research Center. This is the first meeting of the Wetland Working Group (WWG) in South America and it will be the largest international meeting on wetlands in Latin America. It will stimulate international and continental-scale interactions and promote wetland education, research and management throughout the region. A major field attraction is the Pantanal of Mato Grosso, an excellent example of international cooperation in research and development of wetlands, bordered by three countries. The city of Cuiabá is the gateway to the Pantanal the capital of Mato Grosso state. Adequate convention center and modestly-priced housing are available. In the city a special effort is an being made to facilitate student participation and international exchanges.   

See http://www.cppantanal.org.br/intecol/eng/venue_cuiaba.php.  

Freshwater Ecology Post Doctoral Fellow (A136-08J)

School of Biological Sciences, College of Science, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

Looking for Information on Australian Freshwater Molluscs

My name is Dale Edwards. I am an aquatic biologist, who is interested in addressing the evolutionary ecology of Unionicola water mites that live in symbiotic association with freshwater mussels.  My recent research efforts, in collaboration with Malcolm Vidrine, have addressed phylogenetic relationships among North American members of the group primarily using molecular approaches.   I am currently working on a grant proposal in conjunction with Malcolm and another colleague of mine, Brian Ernsting.  One of the things that we are interested in doing is generating a molecular phylogeny for species of Unionicola from subgenera that reside in a host gill tissues (gill mites).  Some of the important groups of mites needed for this analysis reside in mussels from Australia.   Morphologically speaking, the least-derived group of gill mites are member of the subgenus Kovietsatax that occur in hyriid bivalves from Australia.  Also, these mites appear to be closely related to free-living mites from the subgenera Downesatax and Smithatax which are also found in Australia. In my opinion, It would be useful to obtain DNA sequence data from representative species of Unionicola from the subgenera Kovietsatax, Downesatax, and Smithatax.  I am hoping someone may have access to host mussels or may be aware of mussel populations that harbor Unionicola mites?  I would be willing to talk to interested parties about ways of potentially obtaining specimens and would be more than happy to include them in a collaborative research project involving Unionicola gill mites?  I realize that this is a huge request, but I would greatly appreciate any help that you could offer.  

Dale D. Edwards, Ph.D.
Department of Biology
University of Evansville Evansville, IN 47722
ph: 812.488.2645

homepage: faculty.evansville.edu/de3/

ASL Newsletters

All ASL newsletters will soon be available on the web. If you have the latest password (and can remember the username), you can log on and read it now! If you don't know the password and you are a member, then go [here] to access the latest password
The ASL database is now online! This will allow ASL members to:

  • keep their details (phone number, address, email, etc) up-to-date
  • Easily acquire the latest password to access the online ASL newsletter and executive minutes

Find out when their membership fees are due If you are an ASL member and have an email address which is currently on our system, you will have been emailed a username and password. If you have not received your password, please contact the ASL membership officer. You do not need an email address to use this facility, but it will help the whole process run more smoothly. Please ensure that your email address, along with all your contact and address details are kept up-to-date. To access your details and password online, please follow the link below Member details.

National Reserve System (NRS)

Comprehensive review of the directions of the National Reserve System (NRS) by the National Reserve System Taskforce with comments by the ASL [here]

National Reserve System (NRS) register of experts

The Environmental Defender's Office (EDO) is a non-profit community legal centre, specialising in environmental law. We give free legal advice to the community, and provide legal representation for cases that are in the public interest. We often require expert technical and scientific assistance for complex cases.

We are currently compiling a register of experts willing to provide technical or scientific advice on a pro bono basis to assist in public interest environmental cases.

Members of the Australian Society for Limnology would make a significant contribution to the register. For members interested in community involvement it is a formalised way to participate in public interest environmental matters.

We do not ask much of the experts who join the register. We distribute requests for assistance fairly between experts, so most will only be asked to help about once a year or less. Most matters will only involve a few hours work. Expert assistance will normally be limited to reviewing part of a document and providing written advice, but occasionally there may be an opportunity to appear as an expert witness in court.

Having joined the register, experts are under no obligation to assist in any matter. Experts always have the option of declining to assist, or of being removed from the register.

The registration form is available [here]

An FAQ is available [here]

Department of the Environment and Heritage register

The Australian Government's - Department of the Environment and Heritage has an established register of persons or bodies to be consulted on applications for permits to undertake actions that may impact on listed species in inland waters, as specified under Section 266A of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC).

For more information about the register, go to http://www.deh.gov.au/epbc/publicnotices/species/register.html

As a result of a fundamental reform of Commonwealth environment laws in recent years, the Australian Government under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 now requires persons undertaking an activity that is likely to involve the killing, injuring, taking, trading, keeping or movement of a listed species in inland waters in a Commonwealth area to obtain a permit.

Commonwealth areas are lands owned or leased by the Commonwealth. For an application form, go to
http://www.deh.gov.au/epbc/permits/species/standard.html

New Full Colour Brochure for ASL!

The Australian Society for Limnology Inc. have printed a new coloured brochure to promote ASL, to assist a concerted effort by you, our current members, to increase awareness and membership of the Society.

WE NEED YOU!

To do the right thing, don't just have a quick read and let it gather dust on your shelf, use it to the Society's advantage - pass it onto students that you are supervising; pin it up at relevant departmental noticeboards; take a bundle along to the next conference you attend.

Pin up on your noticeboard

If you require additional copies of the brochure, please contact the publicity officer

*** ASL newsletter format registration *** If you are a member of the ASL and wish to receive the ASL newsletter by email rather than by post, then go to the registration page [here]. If you still want the paper format, then please still let your preference be known by registering your preference (We do not have plans to phase out the paper format of the ASL newsletter!)

A list of other limnology-based email groups is now listed here. If you know of any others, please let me know.

To learn how to join the ASL email list, please email the ASL webmaster.