Griffith University

Every semester the Environmental Futures Centre hosts a seminar series at both Nathan and Gold Coast Griffith University Campuses. We invite both national and international researchers to share their various research topics and projects.

All are welcome to the seminar series and refreshments are provided. If you would like to share your research through one of our seminars, please enquire about becoming a guest speaker.

Upcoming Seminars

Prof Yakov Kuzyakov, University of Göttingen, Germany

Application of isotopes for studies of soil carbon sequestration

Monday 10 October 2011 | Gold Coast campus | The Chancellery (G34_2.02) | 12:00pm - 1:30pm

Biography
Prof Kuzyakov is a Professor of Soil Science of Temperate Ecosystems, University of Göttingen,Germany and a well-known expert in the application of isotopic techniques to study the soilecosystem processes. Prof Kuzyakov is supported by the 2011 Sir Allan Sewell Visiting Fellowship(Griffith University Short-Term Visit Fellowship) to work with A/Prof Chengrong Chen and othercolleagues at the Environmental Futures Centre and Griffith School of Environment between 12 September and 13 October 2011.

Abstract
Carbon (C) sequestration in soil is one of the most important optionsto mitigate the increase of CO₂ concentration in the atmosphere andto decrease global warming. Very slow C turnover in soil however,limits the possibilities of direct estimation of changes of C stocks.Various isotopic approaches allow us to overcome this limitation andto estimate not only the stocks, but also mechanisms and processesof C s equestration. The principles of δ¹³C natural abundance andlabelling approaches will be presented using examples of studiesof C sequestration in grasslands and agricultural ecosystems.

Professor Jonathan Wright, Trondheim University, Norway

Advances in animal behaviour: Characterising behavioural traits, personalities and syndromes

Thursday 27 October 2011  |  11:00am - 12:30pm  |  Bray Centre (N54_2.02), Nathan campus

Biography
Professor Wright's research interests centre on the evolution of cooperation and work on biparental cooperation, parent-offspring conflict, cooperative breeding in birds, cooperative anti-predator behaviour and levels of selection, as well as foraging, personalities and adaptive responses to stochasticity.

Abstract
Organismal phenotypes (and genotypes) are best characterised as a nested hierarchy of quasi-independent functional units. This modular structure has obvious relevance for the characterisation of behaviours in light of recent interest in individual consistency and plasticity in the same behaviour across contexts, and for the study of covariance between different behaviours. In an attempt to unify the diversity of approaches taken when studying what might be termed behavioural ‘traits’, ‘personalities’ and ‘syndromes’, we propose a semantic-free statistical framework based around the concept of behavioural reaction norms (BRNs). The objective hierarchical characterisation of behavioural phenotypes should allow researchers to statistically identify measurements of what, for the sake of expediency, can be treated as the ‘same’ versus ‘different’ behaviours. This approach and extensions of it will better facilitate the integration of behavioural studies with investigations of associated morphological and physiological characters, and with underlying developmental and genetic processes.

2011 Seminar Series Calendar

Campus Maps

• Nathan campus map
• Gold Coast campus map

Previous Seminar Series

• 2010 Seminar Series