News
20 March 2024
Abstract submissions are now open! Submit before the 31st of May, as the deadline won't be extended. The conference will be held at the Melbourne Zoo - you won't want to miss it! Head to the conference web page for more details.
Did you know that there are several awards available to AMS members (students, ECRs and others) planning to attend this year's conference? Head to the awards page for details.
12 February 2024
SAVE THE DATE! The 2024 AMS conference will be held in Melbourne, Victoria from the 1st to the 4th of July. Keep an eye on the conference web page - more details will be coming soon.
1 August 2023
The abstract submission deadline for AMS2023 has been extended to the 25th of August! Get your abstracts in and join us for the Adelaide conference, with great speakers, conference tours, panels and more... Check out the conference web page for more details. Don't forget to register, early-bird registrations close on the 4th of August.
In taxonomy news, the AMTC steering committee is due to renew at the AMS conference and some of the current committee will be stepping down. Nominations for any AMS member that wishes to be part of the committee are due by the 31st of August. Send your nomination to Andrew Baker, with a short summary of their experience in taxonomy.
21 July 2023
Abstract submissions and student award nominations are closing soon! Don't forget to submit your abstract for AMS2023. The Adelaide conference is shaping up to be a fantastic event, you won't want to miss it! Head to the conference web page for more details. Early Bird registration ends on August 4th, so don’t miss out on cheaper registration.
Did you know that there are several awards available to AMS student members planning to attend this year's conference? Follow the links below for nomination forms and other details. Be sure to submit nominations for the following awards with your abstract, before the closing date for abstract submissions.
- The Adolph Bolliger Award is given to the best spoken presentation by a student member at the conference.
- The A.G. Lyne Award is given to the best poster presentation by a student member at the conference.
- Student Travel Awards are given to eligible students to assist with transport to and from the conference.
- The John Seebeck Travel Award is given to a student member who has received a Travel Award and has presented the best-spoken paper or poster.
There are also several other awards available to all AMS members. Nominations are now open and will be presented at the Annual General Meeting or conference dinner. Follow the links below for nomination forms and other details. Be sure to submit nominations before the conference.
- The Ellis Troughton Memorial Award is given in recognition of the significant contribution of a member of the Society to Australian mammalogy.
- The President's Early Researcher Award is made on the basis of significant research conducted during the post-doctoral period (not necessarily within a formal post-doctoral position) up to a maximum of 5 years after being awarded a PhD.
- The Ronald Strahan Memorial Award is given in recognition of significant contributions to the popular understanding of Australian mammals.
02 May 2023
Attention all budding graphic designers! The AMS is looking to re-design our logo, and we need your help. Submit your designs to win a one-year membership and conference registration! Follow this link for terms and conditions, submission links and details about why the AMS needs a new logo.
05 March 2023
Are you planning to join us for this year's AMS conference? Hanging out for more info? Check out the conference page for recent updates, including the unveiling of the incredible conference logo!
10 February 2023
Our monthly seminar series has started again for the year - don't miss today's seminar from two fantastic PhD students, Evie Jones and Christina Naesborg-Nielsen. You can find the link to all previous seminars in the member's section. Not a member yet? Why not join our society?
22 December 2022
Annual memberships for the Australian Mammal Society are due on the 31st of December. You can join or renew your membership here. Our society relies 100% on Memberships to be able to achieve our mission. Your membership helps sustain our society, ensuring we can undertake scientific meetings and continue to provide dissemination of scientific information through our society journal, Australian Mammalogy. Without membership, there would be no scientific journal, no conference, no newsletter, and no common voice to promote research and conservation.
Benefits of Membership include online access to the Society's scientific journal "Australian Mammalogy" and monthly scientific seminars and workshops. Members also get discounted conference registration and access to the members-only section on the website (which includes seminar and conference recordings, contact details of other members to facilitate networking, and the ability to access and advertise events, projects or job offers, and recruit volunteers). Members are eligible for Awards offered by the Society and have voting rights at the Society’s Annual General Meeting.
12 September 2022
The full conference program is now available on the conference page - have a browse through all of the fantastic talks and events. Don't forget to register for the conference dinner and a pre/post-conference tour!
30 August 2022
Our final keynote speakers have just been announced! Azarnia Malay, Amelia Hurrell (Dambimangari Rangers) and Larissa Potter (Australian Wildlife Conservancy) will be speaking about Working in partnership for conservation in the Kimberley. Check out the conference page to read their bios.
10 August 2022
Check out the fantastic tours AMS is offering alongside this year's conference! We have a pre-conference tour of the WA Museum Collection and Research Centre and post-conference tours of the Australian Wildlife Conservancy’s Karakamia and Paruna Sanctuaries on offer. Details and registration links are available on the conference page - get in quick as spots are limited!
1 August 2022
Just announced: Dr Rebecca McIntosh and Dr Kevin Rowe will be two of our keynote speakers for the 68th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Australian Mammal Society! Check out the conference page to read their bios and talk titles.
25 July 2022
More conference news! You can now register for a unique behind-the-scenes tour of the Western Australian Museum. Visit the various areas where mammals are preserved and researched, in the dry collection, wet collection, palaeontology collection and the molecular systematic unit (mammal DNA!). Get in quick, as spots are limited! And don't forget to register for the conference and conference dinner (and why not grab yourself an AMS t-shirt while you're at it!). Follow this link for all the details.
20 July 2022
Registration is now open for the 68th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Australian Mammal Society. Check out the conference page for all the details, including links to the conference and dinner registration. This year we are also offering a t-shirt with our fabulous conference logo - don't miss out on this season's must-have fashion trend (well, for Aussie mammologists anyway...)! Get those abstracts in!
28 June 2022
The Perth council is excitedly organising this year's conference, which is shaping up to be a fabulous event! You won't want to miss out on our first in-person meeting in 3 years - check out the conference page for all the details. Mammologists - get those abstracts in!
26 May 2022
Exciting news! This year Cosmos magazine is running the inaugural Australian Mammal of the Year competition. Head to the magazine to nominate your favourite species, and read stories from mammal enthusiasts spruiking their favourite species to try to to win your vote. Read more about the competition here.
10 May 2022
Be sure to check out the latest AMS newsletter, available to members here. Catch up on what's been happening in the society and get the latest AMS updates, including:
- 2022 AMS Conference Announcement
- Science Meets Parliament report
- Featured student member
- Update on Australian Mammalogy publishing model
- Call for Australian Mammal Society Award nominations
5 May 2022
We are pleased to announce that we will be hosting the 68th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Australian Mammal Society, an in-person meeting for the Society for the first time since the pandemic started. This will be held in Perth from the 27th to the 30th of September 2022. The Perth AMS Council is now busy planning the venue. See the conference page for more details.
22 April 2022
Call for Symposia & Workshops for IMC-13. Proposals for Symposia and Workshops for the 13th International Mammalogical Congress (IMC-13) are now being accepted. The IMC-13 meeting will take place 14 to 20 July 2023 at the Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center in Anchorage, Alaska. The meeting will be hosted by the American Society of Mammalogists. Proposals are due by 1 August 2022 and should be submitted using the online application form. See the IMC website for details
3 March 2022
Reminder Membership Payments Are Now Due! There are many benefits to AMS membership, including access to members-only content, eligibility for Society Prizes, reduced registration for annual conferences (or free online), as well as access to the society’s journal, Australian Mammalogy. Membership runs from 1st Jan to 31st December each year. You can view the current membership fees here, or log-in to the members-only area and renew your membership today!
Do you know an AMS member that should be acknowledged for their contribution to natural history? Please nominate them (or yourself) by emailing a brief justification to the AMS Secretary. More information can be found here.
Have you checked out our new Australian Mammal Society Facebook page yet? Please head on over and Like our page! Do you have Australian mammal content you would like to share? We want to hear about your new papers, projects, photography or even volunteer call-outs. You can post here, tag us in your own posts or forward material to our Communications Officer. And don't forget our Twitter account (@AusMammals).
20 December 2021
The latest AMS newsletter is now available, login to the member section of the website to check it out. If you're not already a member, why not join? Membership gives access to members only content (like the newsletter), Society Prizes, reduced conference registration, and the society’s journal (Australian Mammalogy). Membership runs from 1st Jan to 31st December each year.
Have interesting news to share?
Please remember to send in your news and other interesting tidbits for the next edition of the newsletter. Please send your articles or information to our newsletter editor Linette Umbrello at newsletter@australianmammals.org.au.
4 October 2021
The 67th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Australian Mammal Society was successfully held online from 28th September to 1st October. We had 83 presenters and 242 registered attendees. This year’s online conference gave Australian mammalogists and students an opportunity to showcase their research, and despite it being such a difficult year for many due to travel restrictions, we were left in no doubt that the community is continuing to conduct fantastic research on mammals.
25 June 2021
The 67th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Australian Mammal Society (AMS) will be held online from 28th September to 1st October 2021, hosted by the Perth committee. Registration is free to AMS members. The virtual conference will begin with a day of student workshops, followed by a 3-day scientific program, with presentations grouped by theme. The AMS will hold an annual general meeting (AGM) on the second day of the scientific program, and in-person conference dinners will be held in multiple hubs across Australia on the final day. More details, including how to register, can be found here.
16 September 2020
The 66th Annual Scientific meeting of the Australian Mammal Society has been transformed. This year, the meeting will be a virtual conference run from the Lismore campus of Southern Cross University from 17-18 November. Registration is free to AMS members. For non-members, registration is the price of membership. For details, including abstract submission, please visit the website here.
21 July 2020
The AMS Committee has made a submission to the Australian Government Inquiry into the problem of feral and domestic cats in Australia. Read the AMS Committee's submission here.
As many AMS members would be acutely aware, Australia has the worst record for mammal extinctions globally, with introduced domestic cats being a primary driver of these extinctions.
In our submission, AMS highlighted the key facts (supported by peer-reviewed scientific research) about the impact of feral and domestic cats in Australia.
These key facts are:
- Feral cats have been implicated in the extinction of at least 22 Australian mammals.
- Feral and domestic cats are distributed across >99.8% of the area of Australia and its islands.
- Feral and domestic cats cumulatively eat BILLIONS of Australian native species every year.
- Although feral and domestic cats are key drivers of extinction and decline, they are just one of many threats impacting Australian mammals (and other taxonomic groups).
27 May 2020
We have a call by Marlee Tucker from the Max Planck Institute, and international collaborators, to help with data for a project to explore the potential changes in mammalian movement patterns in response to the current COVID-19 lockdowns. If you think you are able to contribute data to this exciting project, please have a look at this PDF for more information.
26 May 2020
Lyndall Dawson has released a new book entitled: 'Tunnels in time: the discovery, ecology and extinction of Australia's marsupial megafauna.' For more information, click here.
24 April 2020
The AMS Council has made a submission to the EPBC expert review panel. Our document makes suggestions for improvement to the EPBC Act, which is currently under review. To read the AMS Council submission, click here.
20 April 2020
The International Federation of Mammalogists meeting (IMC13) will be held in Anchorage Alaska USA 9th to 15th July 2021 and is a Joint meeting with ASM. Workshop and Symposium proposals are due on 1st of May. You can find information about the meeting here, the guidelines for proposal of symposia here and those for proposals of workshops here.
25 February 2020
The list of papers that have been nominated for inclusion in our Australian Mammalogy virtual issue can be found here. You can use it to rank up to ten of your favourite papers on our survey.
6 February 2020
Two PhD projects are up for grabs as part of a 20 year conservation and research program to Re-wild the Southern Yorke Peninsula in South Australia. In particular, these PhD projects relate to the Reintroduction of Brush-tailed bettongs onto the Southern Yorke Peninsula, focusing on survival, bettong reintroduction biology and the ecological costs and benefits associated with the reintroduction. For more information, click here and here.
9 January 2020
For some recent commentary by our scientists regarding the effects of recent fires on wildlife, click here.
The EPBC Act is up for its 10-yearly review, but the review panel does not include any experts in conservation or ecology. For more information on how you can make your expert voice heard in this important process, please click here.
Click here to submit your best-ever AM paper nominations for our virtual issue and click here for more information!
20 September 2019
At the last AGM of the Australian Mammal Society, the membership voted to send a letter to the Victorian Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, the Hon. Lily d'Ambrosino, voicing their concerns about the potential for future logging in the Strathbogie ranges to impact on important populations of the Greater Glider. You can find our letter here, and the response here.
9 October 2018
The NSW Government has tasked the Natural Resources Commission to deliver independent research to better understand how koalas are responding to regeneration harvesting on north coast state forests. This work is one action under the NSW Koala Strategy. The Commission has released a request for proposals to deliver this research.
Please find the request for proposal document and submission form attached.
We would appreciate it if you could distribute the details provided in this email and attached documents to relevant contacts who may be interested in submitting a proposal.
The request for proposal closes at 9 am AEST on the 12 November 2018.
You can also read more and access the request for proposals and submission form on the Commission’s koala research webpage: http://www.nrc.nsw.gov.au/koala-research
Regards, Anna Bissett Anna Bissett | Advisor Natural Resources Commission Level 6, 52 Martin Place (enter via 127 Phillip St), Sydney | GPO Box 5341, Sydney NSW 2001 T: 02 9228 4841 M: 0408 699 474 | anna.bissett@nrc.nsw.gov.au | www.nrc.nsw.gov.au
20-August-2018
Please see the link below for an amazing position within our Wildlife Conservation and Science team at Zoos Victoria for a Threatened Species Biologist! The closing date is August 27th.
Threatened Species Biologist, ZV – Please click here to get the vacancy details.
Please feel free to circulate this to anyone you think may be interested.
Many thanks, Marissa
Dr Marissa Parrott | Reproductive Biologist Wildlife Conservation & Science Zoos Victoria | Elliott Avenue, Parkville VIC 3052 P: 03 9340 2729 | M: 0425 724 562 mparrot@zoo.org.au | zoo.org.au
18-July-2018
Crowd funding campaign for desert rat-kangaroo
I have started a crowdfunding campaign on an international scientific research platform called Experiment.com, and I’m looking for your support and help in getting the word out from AMS Members.
You can learn about the project, promote via Facebook and Twitter, and get involved here.
Our project team aims to search for a small desert marsupial called the desert rat-kangaroo or ‘Ngurlukanta’. There is great mystery surrounding the status of this animal, and it has intrigued me for many years. Our 2-week expedition will trek to one of Australia’s most harsh and remote deserts to set camera traps for this elusive animal and to map the habitat of where sightings have been reported. I’m looking for backers for this research, and for you to help me get the word out as far and wide through your network.
You can learn about the project, promote via Facebook and Twitter, and get involved here.
Cheers, Karl Vernes
Foxes in Tasmania - Update
18/10/2014
The issue of foxes in Tasmania is one that has remained high on the Australian Mammal Society’s radar for many years now….and understandably for good reason! The Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and the Environment has been managing the eradication program through their Invasive Species Unit, and Dr Stephen Harris has provided us with the following information on the projects progress.
· No physical evidence of fox presence in Tasmania has been collected or noted since 2011. We are hopeful about what this might mean but are conducting a methodical approach to determine absence/presence on the basis of several techniques.
1. The first is landscape scale monitoring using detector dogs to systematically survey the extent of “core fox habitat”. So far over 470 K ha has been monitored (about a third of core fox habitat) and no positive detection has occurred.
2. Secondly, an extensive sampling program for predator scats carried out across eastern Tasmania was completed recently. DNA from the scats will be determined to identify the predator and its prey items as part of an inter-connected series of studies which include determining whether fox is detected. Processing of these scats in the laboratory is likely to take some months. (posters on this work are being presented at the Society conference: see Campbell et al. and Modave et al. in the conference list of presentations).
3. The third approach is mathematical modelling (Spread Model and Detection) using a Bayesian approach to produce an extinction probability curve for the incursion. Naturally the data set is small but preliminary indications support our hope (Caley and Barry, 2014) about fox status.
· The Department is embarking on stage 3 of the fox program which has field monitoring as a major component of its effort. We are also committed to developing a long term strategy for future fox incursions in the State. The work detailed above will clearly contribute to the first decision point in developing a decision management framework that guides how effort and resources are best divided (e.g. surveillance, monitoring, quarantine) in the future.
· Gonçalves et al. published a letter in Forensic Science International Genetics regarding the issue of false negatives and false positives and a response has been submitted to the same journal (Sarre, McDonald, Berry, Barclay, Saunders and Ramsey).
Caley, P. And Berry, S.C. (2014) Quantifying extinction probabilities from sighting records: inference and uncertainties. PLoS ONE 9(4):e95857.doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0095857
Gonçalves, J., Marks, C.A., Obendorf, D., and Pereira, A.F.F. (2014) The risks of using “species-specific” PCR assays in wildlife research: The case of red fox (Vulpes vulpes) identification in Tasmania. Forensic Science International Genetics. 2014:e1-e3.
Sarre, S.D., McDonald, A.J., Berry, O.F., Barclay, C., Saunders, G.R. and Ramsey, D.S.L. (submitted) Defining specificity in DNA detection of wildlife: Response to Gonçalves et al. “The risks of using “species-specific” PCR assays in wildlife research: The case of red fox (Vulpes vulpes) identification in Tasmania. submitted to Forensic Science International Genetics.
Quolls are in danger...
04/07/2014
A recent article has been featured in The Conversation, highlighting the plight of our quolls.
“With sharp teeth and an attitude to match, quolls are some of Australia’s most impressive hunters. Ranging from around 300g to 5kg, these spectacularly spotted marsupials do an out-sized job of controlling invasive pasture grubs and rodents, as well as cleaning up carcasses. They are even credited with thwarting early attempts to establish the rabbit in Australia.
But our quolls are in trouble. The recent Action Plan for Australian Mammals highlighted their extraordinary decline. Collectively, these species once occurred in high numbers across the country. Now they are all considered threatened, although not all state, federal and international listings reflect these current assessments.” Read more in the full article.
ABC TV has also featured the decline of eastern quolls in Tasmania and the need for establishing an insurance population. Read or watch the full news story.
Discovering New Antechinus
05/02/2014
Over the last few years, my research team has been reviewing the systematics of the dasyurid marsupial genus Antechinus. In the course of this work, we have formally described three new species of antechinus, all from south-east Queensland. There is emerging evidence of several other new species within the genus from southern Australia. The team of scientists includes three PhD students, working on the basic ecology of each of the newly named species. Two of the new species appear to be limited geographically and steps are currently underway to list these animals as threatened under Queensland state legislation.
Hopefully, in the next few years as part of the PhD studies, the team will better understand the distributions of all three species to enable their Federal listing in a threatened category. The research to date could not have been conducted without the generous help of many collectors across Australia enabling a total evidence approach, explicitly linking genetics with morphology. The results beg the question: what other new mammal species are still hiding in our diverse Australian forests? The team seeks ear clips (genetics) and voucher specimens (morphology) from all antechinus species across Australia, in all locations. In particular, dusky antechinus (A. swainsonii) samples are sought from across their distribution in south-east Australia, especially Tasmania.
Scientists or collectors wishing to donate any and all antechinus samples should please contact me ASAP: Andrew Baker (Queensland University of Technology Science and Engineering); phone: 0424 272 051; email: am.baker@qut.edu.au.
Christmas Island Flying Fox now Critically Endangered
28/01/2014
The Christmas Island flying-fox has been listed as Critically Endangered. The decline in the population is alarming, and scientists are fearing a scenario similar to the one that led the Christmas Island pipistrelle to extinction recently. Some of the best flying-fox scientists in Australia are tackling the issue.