February, 2012

  9th    -   Sir Joseph Banks   -  12.30 pm

16th     -   Fungal Pathogens  -  12.30 pm

16th     -  Twilight Dinner  -  6.30 pm

23rd    -  Future of Alpine Offspring  -  12.30 pm

February

Thursday 9th

12.30 pm

Lunchtime Talk

Presenter : Don Beer

Don Beer, active Friend and Guide, and ex-Professor of History
specialising in nineteenth-century Britain and the Empire,
will discuss Banks as a person and botanist and present some
modern views of his historical importance.

Venue :

Theatrette

Donation
appreciated

February

Thursday 16th

12.30 pm

Lunchtime Talk

Presenter : Ken Old

Ken Old, who retired from CSIRO Forestry in 2003, will speak
about the new threat from Puccinia psidii, Myrtle Rust, a pathogen indigenous to South America which attacks leaves, shoots and fruits of Myrtaceae.
First noticed on the mid-north coast of NSW, it has spread to Queensland and Ulladulla, and may extend its range into native plant communities throughout eastern Australia.

Venue :

Theatrette

Donation
appreciated

February

Thursday 16th

6.30 pm

This popular annual event is especially for Friends of the Gardens,
providing the chance to catch up with other members of the Friends in a wonderful venue.
The Dinner this year will vary slightly from the norm, as we will be
including an opportunity for guests to experience the Gardens in the dark ! After our guest speaker has shared with us some of the secrets of the Gardens’ Twilight Walks, we will be taken on a short guided tour to experience the newly installed mood lighting (funded by the Friends)
in the rainforest gully.
Please wear suitable footwear for a short walk down into the rainforest.
And yes, we will also have the traditional lucky door prizes !!

Click here for further details, booking form
and contacts for enquiries and phone bookings

Venue :

Hudson's Cafe Terrace

February

Thursday 23rd

12.30 pm

Lunchtime Talk

Presenters : Dr Adrienne Nicotra and Dr Gemma Hoyle

The Australian alpine flora is critically vulnerable to climate change;
some species may become extinct.
How will climate change affect its reproductive biology and demography
and would our national alpine biodiversity be conserved?
Drs Nicotra and Hoyle, from ANU’s Research School of Biology,
are key members of the team that is doing research on
Australian Alpine seed ecology in collaboration with the
University of Queensland, ANBG and the Friends.

Venue :

Theatrette

Donation
appreciated

 March, 2012

    1st     -  Changes in Bird Occupancy   -  12.30 pm

    8th     -  Desert Leaves   -  12.30 pm

   15th    -   Calling in the Face of Danger   -  12.30 pm

  22nd    -  Trees and Arboreta   -  12.30 pm

  29th     -  Landscape Architecture   -  12.30 pm

March

Thursday 1st

12.30 pm

Lunchtime Talk

Presenter : Nicki Taws

Ms Taws has been involved with the Canberra Ornithologists Group
for nearly 20 years, and has assisted with the Woodland
Bird Monitoring Project since it began.
A recent study explores long-term trends in birds and changes
in habitat in woodlands of the ACT.

Venue :

Theatrette

Donation
appreciated

March

Thursday 8th

12.30 pm

Lunchtime Talk

Presenter : Dr Andrea Leigh

Andy Leigh is a Canberra girl who studied at ANU, travelled and
worked in Africa for several years, and now researches leaf
temperature at UTS, Sydney.
She will present a user-friendly overview of how desert plants
avoid leaf temperature stress, focusing on leaf morphological
adaptations. In particular, leaf size and the lesser known
role of thickness will be highlighted.

Venue :

Theatrette

Donation
appreciated

March

Thursday 15th

12.30 pm

Lunchtime Talk

Presenter : Tonya Haff

Recent research using white-browed scrub wrens as the model
has shown that the young are not quite so helpless as previously believed, and that parents show a surprising nuance in their ability to assess and reduce risk to their chicks.
Ms Haff has undertaken this research as a PhD student at
ANU’s Research School of Biology.

Venue :

Theatrette

Donation
appreciated

March

Thursday 22nd

12.30 pm

Lunchtime Talk

Presenter : Max Bourke AM

A Serit arbores quae alteri saeculo prosint*.    
Collecting new species, preserving and studying them, admiring and wondering about them all contribute to the inspiration for arboreta.
This form of human behaviour with its roots in the early nineteenth
century continues to this day.
As well as having a career in large-scale agricultural projects
Max Bourke is Executive Director of the Thomas Foundation,
which principally supports environmental projects.

*He plants trees that may benefit another age.

Venue :

Theatrette

Donation
appreciated

  April, 2012

  5th      -   Wildflowers and Vegetation of Kamchatka   -  12.30 pm

 12th     -    Pollen - nothing to sneeze at   -  12.30 pm

19th      -   A Short Walk in the Pyrenees  -  12.30 pm

26th     -    Glimpses into the World of Australian Moths   -  12.30 pm

April

Thursday 5th

12.30 pm

Lunchtime Talk

Presenter : Rosemary Purdie

Plant ecologist Rosemary Purdie recently visited Kamchatka,
described as Russia’s land of ice and fire:
ice because of its long, extreme winters, and fire because of the
many volcanoes that dominate its landscape.
These elements contribute to a varied and beautiful floral display
over spring and summer.
Rosemary will introduce lowland forest, tundra, lava flow and alpine vegetation and plants she saw, and show a colourful relationship
between some local plants and brown bears!.

Venue :

Theatrette

Donation
appreciated

April

Thursday 12th

12.30 pm

Lunchtime Talk

Presenter : Andrew Thornhill

To most people pollen is a yellow dust that causes hayfever;
but if you look a little closer, pollen comes in a multitude of shapes
and sizes.
Andrew Thornhill will present pollen images belonging to
Australian plants and describe the many ways that pollen can be
used in scientific research.

Venue :

Theatrette

Donation
appreciated

April

Thursday 19th

12.30 pm

Lunchtime Talk

Presenter : Kim Pullen

Kim Pullen is a CSIRO entomologist. With his wife he recently visited
the Valle d’Aran in the Pyrenees where they undertook some
long walks through alpine meadows and lush forests.
Kim will talk about this part of Spain, close to the French border,
and share some pictures of the rich alpine flora and stunning scenery.

Venue :

Theatrette

Donation
appreciated

April

Thursday 26th

12.30 pm

Lunchtime Talk

Presenter : Ted Edwards

Ted Edwards, co-author with Paul Zborowski of
A Guide to Australian Moths, will provide a general introduction
to the biology of moths, often thought of as
the ugly cousins of butterflies.
However, they can be just as remarkable and their biology
and lifestyles are often far more diverse.

Venue :

Theatrette

Donation
appreciated

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