The Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) will have its 3rd Annual National Symposium at the National Wine Centre, Adelaide, on 28-29 March.
The University of Adelaide is a founding partner in TERN, and two key research facilities are based at the University.
TERN relies on hi-tech equipment in the field and sophisticated data collection and sharing to provide the best, most up-to-date information to environmental scientists about the current state of Australia’s ecological diversity.
Using the resources and expertise provided by TERN, scientists will be able to tackle some of the big issues for the nation’s ecology, such as:
- How Australia’s ecosystems change over time;
- What is the current health of some of Australia’s key ecosystems;
- How introduced plant and animal species affect native species;
- How the spatial distribution of Australian plant and animal species change, and how some become extinct.
The University of Adelaide hosts two of the eight key facilities for the TERN project:
- Eco-informatics – a new, national web-based system of ecological knowledge and observations. This information is available for the benefit of researchers, planners and policy-makers right across Australia.
- Multi Scale Plot Network – a facility coordinating the collection and archiving of scientific measurements and observations. This is key to developing a detailed understanding of Australia’s biodiversity and how our ecosystem works
One of the highlights of the symposium will be a keynote address by Dr Steve Morton, CSIRO Fellow and Chair of the Board of the Environment Institute.
More details about the Symposium and a full program can be ound on the TERN website.
It is a privilege for any learning institution to have the honor of hosting the TERN symposium and am quite sure that University of Adelaide is looking forward to the event. This is a good opportunity for students learning at this university to interact with some of the leading scholars in the world as well as have the chance to exchanging informative knowledge. Students that will be participating in the symposium should consider themselves quite fortunate to be a part of such an event.