8th Annual Steve Irwin Memorial Lecture
Event Details
Event Contact
Event Description
- Full Description:
- The 8th Annual Steve Irwin Memorial Lecture is proudly presented by The University of Queensland and Australia Zoo.
This lecture recognises the legacy of Steve Irwin and highlights the work of enthusiastic and outstanding conservationists. The 2017 speaker is Dr Brad Norman, Director of ECOCEAN Inc, the not-for-profit group dedicated to whale shark conservation.
2017 lecture: How do citizens contribute to conservation science?
Working on the biggest fish in the sea has its challenges. The sheer size of the world’s oceans, combined with the fact that whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) can dive to depths below 1000m, means monitoring is difficult. New challenges demand new strategies.
“Citizen Science” is the practice of recruiting members of the general public to collect data for scientific research. Over the last decade, there has been an explosion in the number of studies using Citizen Science, which is now making a huge impact in the fields of biology, ecology and conservation science.
In the 1990’s, a pioneering project to study the whale sharks at Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia was set up. The ECOCEAN (renamed Wildbook) photo-identification database for whale sharks is now a global phenomenon with almost 37,000 reported sightings of whale sharks from citizen scientists in over 50 countries. It has become the primary monitoring tool for researchers and management agencies around the world.
ECOCEAN is now engaging the next generation of citizen scientists by involving school students in an innovative whale shark satellite tracking program.
Join Dr Brad Norman as he shares stories from his 20+ years of working with citizens to protect the endangered whale shark.
This is a free event. Please register to secure your seat - http://www.science.uq.edu.au/steve-irwin-memorial-lecture-2017
Directions to UQ
Event Tools
Share This Event
Print
Email
Share
Rate This Event
Tweet This Event
Calendar Tools
Featured Calendars
Subscribe via RSS