Category: Biodiversity

5 minutes with, Biodiversity, Marine Environments, Museum of Tropical Queensland, Research

5 minutes with Sue-Ann Watson, Senior Curator Marine Invertebrates

Sue-Ann is Senior Curator, Marine Invertebrates at the Queensland Museum Network, based at the Museum of Tropical Queensland campus in Townsville. Her position is co-appointed with the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University. What is your favourite specimen in the collection and why? At Museum of Tropical Queensland we have a very large giant clam shell. This … Continue reading 5 minutes with Sue-Ann Watson, Senior Curator Marine Invertebrates

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Biodiversity, Mammals & Birds

Have you seen Bruce the Brolga?

Standing at up to a 1.3 metres tall, with a wingspan of up to 2.4 metres, brolgas have featured on the Queensland coat of arms since 1977 and were formally declared as the state emblem of Queensland in 1986. Despite its emblematic status in Queensland, this beautiful bird can be easy to overlook as it spends much of its time quietly searching for food in … Continue reading Have you seen Bruce the Brolga?

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Biodiversity, Queensland Museum

Museum Honorary in top 10 commemorated scientists in the world

Queensland Museum Honorary Researcher of insects/invertebrates Geoff Monteith has been hailed as one of the world’s top 10 most commemorated scientists based on the number of species named in their honour. Dr Monteith, former Senior Curator of Entomology at Queensland Museum joins the ranks alongside celebrated historical figures in science including Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace. The list was compiled by Stephen Heard, a … Continue reading Museum Honorary in top 10 commemorated scientists in the world

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Biodiversity

Biodiversity Month Recap

As #BiodiversityMonth comes to end for 2020, we’re recapping what is biodiversity, why it’s important, how you can help us protect it for our future and our role as a museum in protecting biodiversity.  Watch the 4 part video series below with curators and collection managers from our biodiversity team. What is Biodiversity with Dr Marissa McNamara, Collection Manager of Crustaceans Watch the full video … Continue reading Biodiversity Month Recap

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Biodiversity

Daintree Canopy Crane at JCU’s DRO and Cairns Birdwing Butterfly Mating Dance

by Geoff Thompson, Queensland Museum, Collection Imager In August last year, I was a very lucky to be invited to present at Les Walking’s Daintree 2019 Photography Workshop. The workshop was photographic heaven, held at James Cook University’s Daintree Research Observatory (DRO). One morning I took the opportunity to shoot from the canopy crane situated in the adjacent tropical rainforest. This was an astounding experience, … Continue reading Daintree Canopy Crane at JCU’s DRO and Cairns Birdwing Butterfly Mating Dance

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Biodiversity

Living Fossils: Nautiluses

Living nautiluses are the survivors of a large group of shelled molluscs that first appeared in the seas long before the age of dinosaurs, perhaps as far back as 500 million years ago.  For this reason and the fact that they show many primitive features, they are today considered ‘living fossils’. Nautilus pompilius. Images by Schmidt Ocean Institute. Nautiluses are related to molluscs such as … Continue reading Living Fossils: Nautiluses

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Biodiversity, Collection Management, Museum of Tropical Queensland

It’s a whale of a tale

In 1982, a dwarf minke whale was discovered swimming in a small ocean lagoon on Hook Reef in the Whitsundays. At the time, the story of the whale made headlines and recently as Collections Manager at Museum of Tropical Queensland, I provided a recount of the whale’s story. If you missed The Saga of the Minke Whale on Hook Reef you can watch it on … Continue reading It’s a whale of a tale

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Biodiversity

Queensland’s biodiversity

Queensland has Australia’s greatest biodiversity, characterised especially by some iconic ecosystems recognised internationally as World Heritage Areas and defined by their living and fossil biodiversity. Queensland has 19 of Australia’s 80 terrestrial bioregions, 17 of the 60 marine bioregions, and 5 of the 13 world heritage-listed sites (comprising 36 million hectares). These include the rainforests of the Wet Tropics, coral reefs of the Great Barrier … Continue reading Queensland’s biodiversity

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