 The CEO Yarn
Dear <<First Name>>,
Last week we were pleased to release the draft virtual program for the 18th Australasian Vertebrate Pest Conference which is being held May 25th to 27th.
Our Centre is working in partnership with Agriculture Victoria to bring you a great program of keynote speakers, session speakers and some special events. I thank the AVPC technical committee and particularly our Centre’s staff Assoc. Prof Richard Price and Dr Tony Buckmaster who have done much of the heavy lifting in ensuring we could still bring such an excellent program in the age of COVID.
The buzz around the event is growing, with our vertebrate pest community looking forward to attending the event to share their latest learnings from when we last held the conference in 2017.
To say a lot has changed over the past four years is an understatement, and a lot will continue to change over the next decade and beyond as we fully take on board the emerging technology opportunities to ultimately create a feral free future.
You can view the most current AVPC program here and virtual registrations are also open.
The best part to going virtual is that all presentations will be recorded, so you can either participate and watch live or watch on demand at a later date, all for the same registration cost.
We really hope you can all make it.
Enjoy this issue of the CISS Chronicle,
Andreas Glanznig
CEO | Centre for Invasive Species Solutions
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KEYNOTE SPEAKERS CONFIRMED
VISIT THE WEBSITE FOR MORE INFORMATION
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National registration of a new feral cat bait is progressing
With feral cats being a major driver of wildlife extinction in Australia, the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions is one step closer to ensuring another tool becomes available in the feral cat management toolbox.
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Could 'organoids' help optimise rabbit virus management?
Rabbit caliciviruses don’t currently grow in conventional cell cultures and this means that to understand their virulence, genetic makeup and thus optimise their effectiveness, experiments need to be done on live animals which can be laborious and expensive.
Could 'organoids' be the answer?
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Sectors come together to develop the next iteration of the Environment and Community Biosecurity RD&E Strategy
Last month, a series of online workshops were conducted to enable policy makers, on ground practitioners, researchers, NGOs and industry group representatives to come together to further refine and develop the next iteration of the National Environment and Community Biosecurity RD&E Strategy, which is being led through the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions.
Find out more about the outcomes from these workshops.
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The power of 'management knowledge' brings back native animals.
We love these sorts of stories, and thanks to one of our Facebook followers who recently shared his successful pest animal management experience with us, after using our digital management resources.
Mic is a semi professional vertebrate predator trapper who works in the D’Aguilar Ranges, Northwest of Brisbane and has had some great success with seeing native wildlife return to the region.
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ORDER OUR PEST ANIMAL GLOVEBOX GUIDES ONLINE
A number of our online pest animal toolkits have associated printable glovebox guides, which are handy for promoting best practice information at training events, workshops and field days. Fill out the online form via our PestSmart website to order these guides today*
*printing and postage charges apply
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Changes within the CISS research management team
Our Centre recently said farewell to Geena Correa, our Research Administration Officer, who got her dream job as a Biosecurity Officer with the Australian Government. Geena will now be on the front line of protecting our borders from biosecurity threats. Congratulations to Geena and we'll certainly miss you.
We welcome Aaron Pobjie to the team who will now be taking on the role. Aaron comes to us from a decade long career working as a Bio Medical Technician and Animal Ethics Officer at The John Curtin School of Medical Research as well as Field Ecology Assistant to several conservation projects attached to the Australian National University and Australian Conservation Foundation.
Farewell Geena and welcome Aaron.
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Military grade technology to help eliminate feral pigs on KI
A two-week trial of military-grade thermal imaging cameras to locate and cull feral pigs on Kangaroo Island is underway, in the latest move to eradicate this pest from the Island.
The $100,000 trial is part of a $2.67 million Kangaroo Island Feral Pig Eradication Program, which is funded by State and Commonwealth Government Disaster Recovery Arrangements.
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Carp occupies 97% of Australia's east coast rivers, new study reveals
One of the major outputs from the National Carp Control Plan research program has found that as many as 360 million carp could occupy our waterways, and this constitutes about 97% of large rivers on the east coast.
The numbers are quite astounding.
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Public attitudes towards synthetic biology - CSIRO report
Synthetic biology technologies, such as gene editing, could help manage populations of invasive pest species. A national survey has been conducted by CSIRO’s Synthetic Biology Future Science Platform as an important first step in measuring public attitudes towards synthetic biology. The survey draws on the views of more than 8,000 Australians, and researchers are examining the data to determine attitudes and levels of support, perceptions of risks and trust as it relates to the use of synthetic biology (SynBio) technologies.
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Survey: the use of genetics for aquatic invasive species management
Thaïs is a graduate student at the University of Toronto and as part of his PhD studies is examining population changes in an invasive species and their management implications. He is currently looking for participants to answer a 10 minute survey on the use of genetic tools to inform aquatic invasive species management. If you have conducted research-oriented or management-oriented work with aquatic invasive species within the past 5 years, he would love to hear from you.
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Tassie deer spotters citizen science project takes off!
The Tasmanian Government wants to know where people are seeing deer in Tasmania, especially if people are seeing deer in the Wilderness World Heritage Area and in other high-conservation value areas.
They would also like to know if deer are encroaching on Tasmanian suburbs. There are increasing reports of deer on the roads surrounding Launceston, and down south near Hobart and Kingston.
Our friends at the Invasive Species Council have collaborated with iNaturalist Australia to create the Tassie Deer Spotters, check it out today.
Image by Daryl Panther
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Environmental Biosecurity Webinar Series 2021
The Environmental Biosecurity team within the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment are running a series of 7 webinars to learn how we're managing the risks to Australia from exotic environmental pests, weeds and diseases. Attendance is free.
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18th Australasian Vertebrate Pest Conference
"Feral Futures 2051"
25-27 May, 2021 - Virtual
Visit event website
21st Weeds NSW Conference
"discover through recovery"
23-26 August, 2021 - Albury, NSW
Visit event website
2nd Australian Biosecurity Symposium
"A decade of biosecurity"
26-28 October, 2021 - Gold Coast, QLD
Visit event website
Australian Wildlife Management Society Conference
7-9 December, 2021 - Canberra, ACT
Save the date
22nd Australasian Weeds Conference
"A weed odyssey: innovation for the future"
25-29 September, 2022 - Adelaide, SA
Visit event website
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Thanks for reading this issue of the CISS Chronicle.
If you'd like something included in the next issue, please email or call us.
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