Academic News

Hannah Jaicks, Sarah Bernstein, and Laura Bergner at Chillagoe Balancing Rock

Week five of the dry semester 2007 began with, among other things, a forest types presentation, which included a botanical walk and ended with the forest research field exercise – a heavy schedule of forest management course material. The forest types presentations were both informative and entertaining. In groups of two or three the students researched a particular rainforest type found in the Wet Tropics and explained the structural features, distribution and habitat, and conservation status of those types. The entertainment came from the many different and creative ways that groups captivated their audience. These included props to represent leaf size classes or the distinctive leaves of the fan palm, a brief story of the feather palm forest told to the tune of a didgeridoo, or the “Mabi Type 5b Rap.”

The botanical walk, through these same Mabi forests, sadly brought no reprise of the aforementioned rap song but did serve to introduce students to a range of common tree species and reinforced plant identification lessons already learnt, such as: what is a pulvinus?; how do you tell simple from compound leaves?; and which tree has inner bark that smells like cucumber and leaves scented like freshly cut grass?

After this botanical “scratch, sniff, poke, and prod” exercise it was time to turn our attention to the forest research exercise, which examined patterns of weed invasion in a Mabi forest fragment. A solid day and a half was spent setting up transects into the fragment and estimating the cover-abundance of two major weeds (Lantana camara and Turbina corymbosa) at different distances into the forest. Canopy cover was measured using a densitometer and plant functional traits associated with growth rate (such as specific leaf area) were measured to help explain the patterns in weed distribution. This was followed by the creative side of scientific research, as students posed the questions on this broad topic that most interested them as a prelude to conducting statistical analyses and, later, report writing. But between now and then there is an Aboriginal festival to attend and a mid-semester break to be enjoyed, and, for me, a fiancé to wed! Dr. Tim Curran, Lecturer in Tropical Forest Management

Student Reflections

Chillagoe Smelter- photo by Cristin Weekley

Eileen Butterfield explores Chillagoe Cathedral Cave

The Chillagoe Experience
Escaping the scorching heat from outside,
Into the caves, deep in the earth, is where we'll hide.
Bright lights lead us through the winding paths,
Through small passages on hand and knees, we even see bats.
Well it's back to the campsite, it is getting late,
We'll eat, watch movies, and sing songs with our mates.
A rooster is crowing at the crack of dawn, waking us up before our rest is done.
It's a long day ahead, so pack up the tents to be on our way,
Balancing rock is the first stop today.
Slithering through the rocks and grass came to our surprise
An eastern brown, thankfully to none of our demise.
The rock stood leaning, balancing just right,
The sun shining down on us with all of its might.
Back to the vans, it's time to move on
We've been in this sweltering heat for too long.
A stop at the Mareeba golf course is required,
 To watch the kangaroo with her joey is desired.
Back at the center we reflect on our trip,
Of the mines and the caves and especially the dips.
A glimpse of the Outback, a change in our vibe.
Our Chillagoe experience will live on in our minds.
Kristin Wevill, California Polytechnic State University

Having been in Australia for over a month now, I had found myself getting into a routine and feeling like I had started to get a sense of what the country has to offer. After this weekend at the Girringun

Aboriginal Festival - photo by Sarah Bernstein

Cultural Festival, however, I realized that this place and its people are worth another look. When we went to the festival, I had the chance to stand front row as a group of indigenous individuals held a lantern parade and fire dance. I stood there next to the man responsible for keeping the beat of the music as everyone danced around the fire in the center of the sand pit, and I realized then what an exciting opportunity I was experiencing. I let myself fall into the rhythm of the music and was in awe throughout the entirety of the festivities. When the music ended, I started to look around at where I was, a small shore town set in the mountains, which turned out to have more to show me than I ever could have anticipated. Hannah Jaicks, Swarthmore College

The hills of the rainforest are alive with the sounds of birdcalls. Our morning starts with dreams of Star Wars as the chowchillas imitate laser guns. As we pass the fence post on the way to the center, the Victoria's rifle bird rasps, sounding remarkably like a ratchet. There has been

Ian, Cristina, and Carter doing the “cassowary dance”

much confusion between the laugh of Lucy and the laughing kookaburra. We recognize the yellow cheeks of the Lewin's honeyeater as it hops around on the picnic tables, stalking our food. Instead of listening to sweet tunes on long van rides, we fill our iPods with bird calls. Morning runs to clear our heads have instead become review sessions since the birds beat us out of bed. We thought it would end the day of our big bird quiz. Yet instead of forgetting about our feathery friends the minute it was over, we headed off to the annual crane count for the afternoon. Watching the sky for lovely triangles of cranes, we were kept company by the calls of gray headed robin and the brown cuckoo dove. Birds were even the inspiration for several dances performed by individual groups in our rendition of “So You Think You Can Dance.” The boys imitated the mating rituals of the Victoria's rifle bird and the interns showed us how to dance cassowary style. Our excitement about the first rainstorm was not shared by Steve, the sodden brush turkey. With about half of our program left, we hope to have many more adventures with our feathered friends! Lucy Hankinson, Sweet Briar College & Laura Bergner, Davidson College

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