ILWS - Institute of Land, Water and Society
Featured Stories
Published feature stories in 2012:
- Survival Tail The adaptability of brush tail possums has made them one of the most widespread of all Australian native mammals and a pest in urban areas. PhD candidate Karolina Petrovic came from Poland 5 years ago to study possums and to understand how their survial strategies make them so adaptable. "They move from the country, dominated by hard-to-digest and toxic ecualyptus, to the city and discover the glories of fast food from your bins and gardens" she says on video made on her research on ABC's Catalyst website, as part of the Sell Your Science promotion.
- Rich Pickings The rich history of Indian hawkers serving their customers with their covered wagons in the Albury streets and the wider regions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was commemorated in the 1960s when three Lavington streets were named in their honour. That the names chosen, Indianna, Sioux and Cheyenne do not relate to the sub-continent where the hawkers came from was just one of the stories uncovered though Prue Laidlaw's research for her PhD thesis on itinerant workers.
Published feature stories in 2011:
- Collaboration puts rural communities in front
Serious collaboration between relevant groups in small rural communities in southern NSW has allowed the communities to direct changes rather than have them forced on them. Communities in Wakool Shire in southern NSW are taking positive steps to plan their future with the help of leading researchers working with CSU and the Murray Catchment Management Authority (CMA), according to ILWS social researcher, Dr Michael Mitchell. - Birds disappearing from southern woodlands.
Wander through many woodlands in southern Australia these days and they are much quieter than they were 50 years ago. The birds are disappearing.
One of Australia’s leading bird ecologists, ILWS lead researcher Associate Professor David Watson, believes he has some answers, which may have implications for Australian agriculture.
- Passions meet in mistletoe book Associate Professor David Watson is an ecologist with a passion for mistletoe. Robyn Hulley is a nurse with a passion for drawing plants. Their passions have met in a new book Mistletoes of Southern Australia, which represents the first thorough treatment of mistletoes in Australia.
- Alarm Bells on the Murrumbidgee In one of Australia’s newest national parks, ILWS researcher Dr Skye Wassens and Dr Jennifer Spencer, an environmental scientist with the NSW Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water (DECCW) are assessing how controlled environmental flows help biodiversity – and whether they can save one frog in particular.
- Australian Scientists at Work on the International Stage Australian experts, including ILWS Director wetland ecologist Professor Max Finlayson, hold key roles in the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, assessing how they can be better managed to mitigate the effects of climate change and the importance of wetlands for human health. Wetlands Australia Issue 18.
Published feature stories in 2010 :
- Biodiversity and human wellbeing ILWS Researchers A/Prof Gary Luck and Dr Di Boxall have found that demographic factors such as age, gender and years lived in a neighbourhood are more important in influencing personal well-being than variations in biodiversity or natural features in neighbourhoods. Summer 2010 Landcare Magazine.
- Biodiversity Photography Landcare Magazine published a selection of photographs from an exhibition of photographs highlighting the rich biodiversity of the Riverina region which is on tour after a successful showing at the Albury Library-Museum. Many of the photographs were taken by members of ILWS.
- Pulse flows to liven up rivers ILWS river ecology researcher A/Prof Robyn Watts is advocating innovative ways of achieving environmental benefits for ecosystems in rivers that are regulated by dams.
- Water – a basis for the future Water researcher and Director of ILWS, Professor Max Finlayson, criticises the way water has been used in agricultural production and led to widespread environmental degradation globally, and offers some choices for future management of water in agriculture.
- Anchorage Museum exhibit revisits World War II Aleutian battlefields. Archaeologist A/Prof Dirk H.R. Spennemann's work and photographs on the battlefields of Kiska was on display at the Anchorage Museum.
- “Bowmer’s Lifetime of Leading the Way” A profile piece on Prof Kathleen Bowmer and her contribution to CSU Page 1 , Page 2
- Big fish found far from deep sea Feature by CSU Media about PhD student Keller Kopf, an ILWS researcher who travels the southern Pacific to study an elusive fish.
Published feature stories in 2009 :
- Antartic ice-capade Pristine Antartica should be preserved for future generations is the conclusion of Dr Rosy Black, an ILWS researcher in ecotourism, who spent 2 months at sea working as an assistant expedition leader with Aurora Expeditions.
- Championing the Southern Bell Frog "Just weeks away from disaster, the release of small amounts of environmental water has helped to ensure the survival of the endangered southern Bell Frog." says Dr Skye Wassens
- March of the Aliens "Big headed" and "crazy" invaders are placing Fraser Island's biodiversity under threat, are some of the findings ILWS scientist Wayne Robinson is uncovering in his research into native and non-native ants.
- Parasitic plants more Dryad than Dracula
Parasitic plants, such as mistletoe, are not necessarily the ‘baddies’ that many seem to think they are, according to a ILWS researcher and leading ecologist A/Prof David Watson. - Yalmambirra: Indigenous academic, teacher, researcher. The journey is full of twists and turns for an Indigenous academic who began his academic studies on a dare.
- The Wonder of the Wanderers Wildlife ecologist Ms Kylie Eklom describes being caught in a massive dust storm during her most recent visit to Oolambeyan National Park in southern NSW to study the endangered bird, the Plains-wanderer as “really exciting - I'd never experienced anything like it before. My adrenalin was pumping.”
Published feature stories in 2008 :
- Saving the Southern Bell Frog Published in Australian Landcare magazine in December. The Southern Bell Frog has it's own brand of champions, doing their best to ensure the survival of this endangered species.
- Joy of chasing Plains-wanderers It's no wonder PhD student Kylie Ekolm amits to getting very excited every time she spots a Plains-wanderer. The birds are very few and far between. (Published in Australian Landcare magazine in December).
- Myth-buster takes to 'treechangers' Treechangers are not the mythical cash cows perpetuated by vested interests, but city dwellers looking for a less stressful life, according to a leading social researcher Dr Angela Ragusa from CSU.
- Regional Australia can further reduce carbon emissions Feature by CSU Media about ILWS adjunct Barney Foran and is his views about the carbon emissions trading scheme and regional Australia.
- Studies of the Forest Profile piece on ecologist A/Prof David Watson and his prhotographic exhibition 'Estudios del Bosque: Studies of the Forest' held at the Albury Library Museum
Published feature stories in 2007 :
- In Search of Sacred Tales ...profile piece on ILWS anthropologist Dr Jim Birckhead, an ILWS adjunct research fellow.
- Arrival of the Tree Changers ...Prof Allan Curtis and his views on the 'tree change' movement.
- Walking In The Steps of History... Phd student Robyn Whipp is retracing foresters' steps of 60 years ago.
- River Tender Program Evaluation...Jonathon Howard evalutes this successful program.
Published feature stories in 2006 :