Key Information
When
24th April 2024
4pm - 5pm
Where
Crowther Lecture Theatre (A3.003) JCU Smithfield Nguma-bada campus, Smithfield, Cairns, QLD, 4878
Cost
Free
Audience
Current Students; Public and Community; Research and Industry
Contact
Anabel Belson | anabel.belson@jcu.edu.au
Professor Suzanne Hand presents exploring faunal response to past environmental change in the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, Queensland
The Riversleigh World Heritage Area (WHA) in Boodjamulla National Park, Waanyi country, northwestern Queensland was inscribed for its globally significant, rich fossil record that provides a picture of the key stages of evolution of Australia's mammals, including their response to climate change. At Riversleigh, numerous radiometrically- and biochronologically-dated vertebrate fossil deposits have sequentially accumulated over the last 25 million years, in temperate and later tropical conditions, at the leading edge of the Australian continent as it approached Asia. Riversleigh's limestone karst terrain has provided an environment ideal for preserving the fragile bones of abundant bats, a group representing 25% of Australia's modern land mammal fauna. The deep-time Riversleigh record indicates that individual bat families responded differently to changes in Australia's climate and environments. Understanding faunal response to past climate change has relevance for the Wet Tropics and Gondwana Rainforests WHAs which share many evolutionary and ecological sister taxa with Riversleigh's palaeocommunities.
Suzanne J. Hand FRZS, FRSN | Emeritus Professor, Earth and Sustainability Science Research Centre, UNSW Sydney, NSW, Australia
Prof. Sue Hand is an internationally recognised vertebrate palaeontologist researching the history of Australasia's unique mammals, the implications of continuing climatic change for forest and island faunas, and the history, global relationships and evolutionary ecology of bats. Hand's research has generated fundamental new understanding about the evolution of Australasia's mammals spanning the last 100 million years. She has authored over 200 scientific publications while supervising scores of postgraduate students.
Please visit here for more information on The Centre of Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science (TESS).