Academic News
With the semester drawing to a close, students have been finishing up their Directed Research reports and presenting the results of their research. This semester the standard of oral presentations was exceptionally high and it was difficult to choose which ones to present at our end-of-semester community presentation evening.

On presentation night, five students presented to the crowd of 60 students, staff and community members gathered at the Lake Eacham Hotel. Kristin Wevill presented her work on the invasive weed Lantana camara and its effects on fire risk at 40 mile scrub, a threatened vine scrub community. In contrast to Kristin's "hot" topic, Eric Braden spoke on resistance and resilience of rainforest seedlings to a severe frost event in a Tablelands restoration site. Yes, we do sometimes get frost in the tropics! Lucy Hankinson then introduced the audience to a proposal for a new corridor to link two fragments of endangered Mabi 5b forest and discussed some of the costs and benefits perceived by farmers of involvement in such a project. Lucy and Jess Wong, who worked together on the project, fielded several questions from the audience about the potential corridor.

During a break for refreshments, students and staff mingled with community members in attendance. Several students were reunited with their homestay hosts and several landholders, members of TREAT (Trees for the Evelyn and Atherton Tablelands), and representatives of the Mabi Forest Recovery Team and Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service were present. The break also offered an opportunity for visitors to view student's Directed Research posters which were on display. Like the oral presentations, the posters this semester were also excellent and staff decided to display all of them at the community night.

The evening finished on a theatrical note with Brian Quarrier and Ben Goldfarb presenting the results of their microbat research. Ecological research can sometimes bring us apparently conflicting results and this is what happened in Brian and Ben's research. Brian aimed to predict habitat use of a bat too small to track based on the relationship between wing morphology and behavior noted in other species. Ben's aim was also to predict this species' habitat use - but based on the relationship between echolocation calls and behavior. Their conclusions differed with one predicting the bat should be clutter tolerant (i.e. use structurally complex strata of the forest more so than open areas) and the other predicting the species would be clutter intolerant! Brian and Ben used this apparent impasse to good effect, hamming up their differences for the audience and illustrating some of the complexities and realities of scientific research while they did so. They ended their talks by offering some possible explanations for their different conclusions, restoring the audience's faith in the scientific method somewhat and allowing the two to part on civil terms!

I received many complimentary remarks from community members about the student's presentations and how much they had enjoyed the evening. Our group can be very proud of their research this semester.
Amanda Freeman, Center Director

Student Reflections

For the past month we have found ourselves immersed in the most intense research project of our lives, so a getaway was a welcome break. Davies Creek was our great escape. Five of us took a hike up the creek to see the 75 meter waterfall. To get there, we hopped rocks scorching from the sun for an hour and a half. Sunscreen applied and bathing suit clad, we explored the creek. We waded through shallow pools and climbed up tree roots. When we finally saw the falls, we knew we had arrived at our destination. Our breath was suspended by the beauty of water cascading off a giant cliff down to the clear pool below. A leisurely hour was spent swimming beneath the mighty waterfall, feeling the water push us. We spent time napping on the rocks, being sung to sleep by the sound of the thundering falls surrounding us. On the way back, we stopped at a smaller waterfall that turned out to be a splendid water slide that made me feel like a kid again. I was so overcome by the beauty of the entire day that I rode all the way home, wincing from sunburn, but still smiling.
Jade Rutledge, Austin College

Our time here is coming to a close and the phrases “One more week” or “I can't believe we're leaving soon” bring cries of anguish and a memorable sigh. Many of us are starting to look around at our surroundings all over again and memorize the sights and sounds of the rainforest. This place has become a home away from home for us and it will be bittersweet when we leave. We have officially finished our Directed Research papers, posters, and presentations. After hours slaving away over a paper, practicing dozens of times for a presentation, and finally throwing together a poster last minute, we can take a deep breath and celebrate. Our last days here will consist of a mystery tour, some severe cleaning, packing, and finally saying goodbye to a place we've all grown to love.
Julianne Pierson, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire

After a semester of learning all about why and how to restore the rainforest, we finally had a chance to try our hands at restoration at a tree-planting event at Bonadio's farm last Saturday. The farm abuts a Mabi rainforest remnant, making restoration on this property especially important since Mabi now covers only two percent of its original extent. Over the past few years, the Bonadios have gradually restored areas of their property and have made up for the lost farming profit through ecotourism. On Saturday, we were planting in an abandoned cornfield adjacent to another young restoration plot. We mingled with volunteers from the community as we spread out across the field to help. The rich basaltic soil was soft in our fingers as we filled in the holes around the tree seedlings and patted down the top. It felt satisfying to work with our hands after two weeks of intensive paper writing and presentations, and to finally get to turn all our knowledge about rainforest restoration into action!
Kate Wyman, Wellesley College

A whole week of Directed Research write-up time and our eyes were practically bleeding from staring at computer screens. At a mention of getting out and camping for the weekend, a small group of us jumped at the opportunity. We piled in the van and breathed a collective sigh of relief as the stress of papers, posters, and presentations drifted away with each passing kilometer. Upon clambering out of the van into a dry sclerophyll forest we were boundless explorers once again, scrambling over termite mounds, catching tree frogs, and sliding down natural rock waterslides. Hours later, our curiosity satisfied, we baked ourselves on sun warmed rocks and watched the sunset over the rock strewn valley.

Later that night, after gorging ourselves on Australian barbie and green citrus ants, we enjoyed a couple games of mafia before heading out spotlighting in the nearby rainforest. Amid tree frog and Boyd's forest dragon catching, we were lucky enough to catch the eye-shine of multiple lemuroid ringtail possums, including one with a baby clinging to its back. Afterwards, we stumbled back to the campsite to beds under the stars, content with a day well spent away from the stresses of Directed Research write-ups.
Laura Street, Gonzaga University

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