Research Symposium

[platy]

What a hectic weekend!

PINP put on a 2 day symposium, day 1 being done through Twitter and day 2 comprising of face to face presentations.
It was really great, and rather inspiring, to hear all the research that has been and is being done at Phillip Island. Including a few projects I've been a part of.

A lot of people turned up for the symposium, people from the board, people who work for government environmental departments, researchers, rangers, students, general public.

The Twitter conference seems to be a great way to reach a wider audience and a lot of scientists, and other groups, appear to be holding conferences this way.
It reached over 98,000 people across Australia, New Zealand, North and South America, Europe and Asia.
Presentations covered a range of topics including penguins, shearwaters, swamp wallabies, kangaroos, feral cats, toxins in penguins, problems of artificial lights, ravens, platypus, education, zoos, and so much more.

You can follow and read about all the research from the 2 days on Twitter under #pisci1 **scroll to the very, very bottom for the start of the tweets to read in order**
or follow the link https://twitter.com/hashtag/pisci1?f=twe...sh&lang=en

If you have any questions I'll do my best to answer!

[Catherine]

Thank-you for posting this. It is going to take some time to go through it. I would never have thought of a Twitter Symposium. The format seems to work very well. Of course everyone is focused on the research. What I have looked at so far is impressive.

Will I recognize the parts you were involved with when I get to them? You did talk to us and show pictures, but there is a lot of material here.
I am going to do some more reading. I will comment more when I have taken in enough of the event.

I am impressed by the amount of research and the way it is presented.

Did they come to any conclusions or come up with actions that should be taken?

[platy]

Thanks so much for reading it Catherine!

A lot of the research presented is still ongoing, and as we all know research tends to create more questions than it answers!
What is found through the research can then be used to propose management strategies and help protect those important marine areas.
It's also developing the use of new technology such as using drones to check seal colonies, it's a less invasive way to count seal pups during the season. The drones fly over and take photos which are then pieced together to create an entire image, which they're looking at putting on to Zooniverse to get the public to help count seal pups.

Artificial light has been a big problem for shearwaters and also penguins. To help combat this there are areas using more red lights, as seabirds are more sensitive to the usual blue and white lights. Around the penguin colony after a certain time lights are turned off altogether. These actions are trying to be encouraged around important wildlife areas and towns/cities, but things take time.

[Tobi]

This is so good, platy. Amazing research with such a wide reach, to all kinds of people. Twitter is wonderful for that kind of connection.
I read some already....and will read the rest later when I have more time to read!

It is great to be involved in such a project.

[platy]

Thanks for reading Tobi!

[Catherine]

We both have only had time to read part of it because there is so much material. I will keep reading.

That is interesting about the lights. I use special night bulbs for some of my reptiles who need the heat all night. You can't leave lights on all the time without consequences. Our light pollution really can have a negative effect on a lot of wildlife. I am glad they are responding to the problem.

Finally a good use for drones. They would be able to go places where humans would be serious intruders if we could even get there at all. This is using modern technology for a good purpose. I am sure there are people out there who would love to count seal pups.

It is so good that you are involved in this and can then bring it to us. You are giving us a real opportunity.