Thank goodness for Thursdays!

You are here

Home | Thank goodness for Thursdays!

The Friends' 2020 Thursday Talks program kicked off on 6 February with an acutely timely and topical presentation by Professor Peter Kanowski on ‘Forests Near and Far: Issues in a Warming World’.

Peter is Professor of Forestry in The Fenner School of Environment and Society at ANU. He spoke about the world’s forests, which are under pressure from deforestation and degradation – and increasingly from climate change. Australian forests, and those locally that make Canberra livable, are also threatened. Peter reviewed the situation, and our options and priorities in responding to these challenges. (For more information, see the website calendar entry).

Most of the Thursday Talks in 2020 will showcase the ANBG’s science and conservation programs. Here's a list of the first 3 months' speakers and topics:

Speaker Event title Date
Dr Todd McLay ‘Phylogenomics and Taxonomy of Native Hibiscus’ 13 February 2020
Dr Jason Sharples ‘Understanding Extreme Bushfire Development’ 20 February 2020
David Newby & Graham Fletcher ‘The Australian School of Gardening – What is it, and why do we need it? 27 February 2020
Dr Peter Schalk ‘Biodiversity Science in the Future. Creating Order in the Acronym Soup of Organisations’ 5 March 2020
Dr Rosemary Purdie ‘Simpson Desert Revisited – More Than Plants!' 12 March 2020
Dr Linda Broadhurst ‘Connecting Indigenous and Scientific Plant Names 19 March 2020
Professor Adrian Gibbs ‘The History of the Potato and its Viruses’ 26 March 2020
Dr Si-Chong Chen ‘Latitudinal Gradients in Seed Predation, Seed Defence and Seed Dispersal’ 2 April 2020
Dr Francisco Sánchez-Bayo ‘The Decline of the Entomofauna and its Drivers’ 9 April 2020
Dr Anna Howe ‘Planting Democracy: Plantings, Places and People in the Parliamentary Triangle’ 16 April 2020
Dr Chris Cargill ‘The 3 R’s: Riccia, Riella and Research’ 23 April 2020
David Taylor & Kevin Collins ‘The New Banksia Garden at the ANBG’ 30 April 2020

 

Lunchtime talks are held at 12.30 pm every Thursday from February to November in the Gardens’ Theatrette.

Talks last for one hour. Admission is by gold coin donation. There is no need to book but please note that for safety reasons the ANBG Theatrette seating is strictly limited to 90 people. The Friends of the ANBG thank the speakers who volunteer their time and talents to further the knowledge of all attending events in the Gardens. The Friends use the ‘gold’ coin donations received at each activity to support Gardens’ programs and development and thank all those who have donated.

Some summaries or PowerPoint presentations of Thursday Talks are available to Friends from the ANBG library. A donation to the Friends for the use of this material will be gratefully accepted. For more details on speakers’ topics and biographies see the Friends’ website calendar.