UNSW Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences

UNSW academics recognised in prestigious national teaching awards Three teachers from the Business, Science and Arts Design and Architecture faculties were awarded citations for outstanding contributions to student learning.

Well done to Terry Ord who just received a Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning at the 2025 Australian Awards for University Teaching www.unsw.edu.au/newsroom/new...

What lies beneath: tapping into Australia’s hidden waters It runs from our taps, keeps crops alive and rivers flowing – yet no one knows exactly how much groundwater we have, or how often it’s renewed. UNSW researchers are venturing underground to find out.

news.unsw.edu.au/en/what-lies...

The blind spot that’s making our beaches less safe The presence of lifeguards and lifesavers on our beaches is not keeping pace with increasing visitation numbers.

www.smh.com.au/national/nsw...

Biologists and boaties team up to save Sydney's seagrass A centuries-old nautical technique is being redesigned within a small Sydney cove in a bid to save a tiny remnant population of a dying species.

www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02...

Boats wreak hidden havoc on the harbour. Now the damage is being undone In “a major success for the city”, seagrass has been replanted for the first time underneath new environmentally friendly boat moorings.

Our work with @sims-australia.bsky.social to restore Sydney Harbour www.smh.com.au/environment/...

YouTube video by UNSW Science Light pollution and the marine world

Light pollution is an underappreciated and growing threat to marine #biodiversity. It already affects ~22% of global coastlines and can reach the seafloor.

This video, made with #UNSW, #ADSA, and #DCCEEW, highlights why marine #lightpollution matters 🌊🌐🧪

#ALAN 💡

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rtd7...

Yes, feral cats and foxes really have driven many Australian mammals to extinction Decades of evidence link foxes and feral cats with extinctions of Australian mammals. Claims these introduced predators aren’t responsible don’t stack up.

theconversation.com/yes-feral-ca...

Teaching animal behaviour? Curious about the animal world? BEES' own Terry Ord has a new graphic text to explain the weird and wonderful behaviour of animals all around us. Get your copy at www.amazon.com.au/Understandin...

No longer extinct, just critically endangered Citizen science platforms including iNaturalist are leading to major new discoveries and are becoming crucial to the work of scientists. How do we make them even better?

"Engaging landholders with science and the natural world and getting them more passionate about diversity makes them far more likely to be invested in protecting that diversity," said @thebeachcomber.bsky.social, lead author of paper.

Via @unswbees.bsky.social:
www.unsw.edu.au/newsroom/new...

No longer extinct, just critically endangered Citizen science platforms including iNaturalist are leading to major new discoveries and are becoming crucial to the work of scientists. How do we make them even better?

www.unsw.edu.au/newsroom/new...

Diversity, history and overlooked beauty: The fight to revive Sydney’s forgotten second harbour Despite the ravages of industry and urban development, Botany Bay has retained pockets of surprising beauty with biodiversity to rival Sydney Harbour. Now a revival is under way, as an Indigenous-led ...

www.smh.com.au/interactive/...

Meteorology and Climate of the Southern Hemisphere | Cambridge University Press & Assessment

Exciting news 🎉 Our CCRC scientist Andréa Taschetto and team have just released “Meteorology and Climate of the Southern Hemisphere” book, an updated edition of David Karoly’s 1998 monograph, published by Cambridge University Press. +
Available at lnkd.in/g4SFsM9k

www.cambridge.org/au/universit...

We’ve partnered with DP World to create port infrastructure that benefits both people and nature. Living Ports @JebelAli has 1,000+ panels, the largest Living Seawall in the world!

Study shows droughts lasting longer across Australia UNSW research shows droughts are lasting longer in Australia, particularly in regions where most people live.

If you're interested in drought and AI, our PhD student Matt Grant and researcher Dr Sanaa Hobeichi have been featured in this UNSW Newsroom! It shows Australian droughts are lasting longer (especially SE & SW), with AI ++

www.unsw.edu.au/newsroom/new...

#Drought #ClimateChange #AI #UNSWResearch

Parenthood vs longevity: lives of zoo animals reveal inner workings of ageing Drawing on data from more than 100 mammal species, an international team of researchers examined the trade-off between living a long life and having babies.

www.unsw.edu.au/newsroom/new...

Eminent Ecologist 2025: Angela Moles | Lessons in starting out as an ecologist British Ecological Society · Episode

🌱Angela also sat down with our Executive Editor Richard Bardgett to talk about how she went from seed science to applied ecology, and falling into a career in academia

🎧Listen to the podcast here: buff.ly/2augoKE

🏆We are pleased to announce that our Eminent Ecologist for 2025 is Angela Moles!

✨Angela has collected a few of her favourite Journal of Ecology papers together here: buff.ly/86uQ6v5

Driving discovery: UNSW receives $70m for two Centres of Excellence Two new national research centres will unite leading experts to tackle challenges in ocean sustainability and quantum computing – areas critical to Australia’s future prosperity.

Excited to be the new home for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Our Future Oceans, led by @profmattengland.bsky.social here at UNSW Science www.unsw.edu.au/newsroom/new...

When Does Rainfall Become Recharge? - Eos Counting drips in caves is helping to reveal how much precipitation is needed to start refilling underground aquifers.

Measuring rainfall recharge thresholds allows researchers to assess how much rainfall is needed to recharge groundwater and when this recharge occurs, write @andy-baker.bsky.social + colleagues at CSIRO, UNSW, @flindersuniversity.bsky.social, & @deakinuniversity.bsky.social

eos.org/science-upda...

Repetition and order of exposure to salinization and nutrient enrichment drive freshwater microbial community responses Biological systems face multiple stressors that impact biodiversity and ecosystem functions, with complex interactions that vary spatially and temporally leading to unpredictable outcomes. In freshwa...

New paper alert!! Repetition and order of exposure to salinization and nutrient enrichment drive freshwater microbial community responses, led by PhD student Rose Fuggle with supervisors Mariana Mayer Pinto, Miguel Matias and Ziggy Marzinelli. 🧪🌐🦠

Read here: doi.org/10.1002/ecy....

#microbes

'Unusually active': Ten giant hail warnings for SEQ this storm season The region has been hit by another round of storms which brought large and even giant hailstones. Is this the new normal?

Queensland’s had a rough run of storms with giant hail recently - I talked with ABC news about them. www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...

‘Taking back the desert’: can Australia’s small marsupials learn how to live alongside their predator, the feral cat? Scientists excited by progress in bold project to see if native species can train themselves to survive alongside cats

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Impacts of colonisation on dingoes are ‘written in their bones’, new research finds

Just like everyone and everything else that was already in Australia when the First Fleet arrived in 1788, dingoes had to adapt to their new reality.

Cover Stories: Dr. Russell Bonduriansky In this week’s blog post, Dr. Russell Bonduriansky, professor at University of New South Wales, discusses the story behind the cover for 2016’s Volume 30, Issue 10 of Functional Ecology. Russ…

📖Cover Stories!📖

📙Dr. Russell Bonduriansky discusses the story behind the cover of Volume 30, Issue 10, published in 2016!

📸Russell shares his memories of capturing neriid flies in combat and how, thanks to a chance encounter on a walk with his son, he came to study them🪰

buff.ly/7PmIZKW

🧪🌍

An interview by a river bank

Researchers being filmed in a cave

An interview on a floodplain

Research and filming crew in a cave

It's a wrap on our Wellington Caves fieldwork and filming about groundwater recharge. I have some superstar UNSW colleagues, happy to film and be filmed. Looking forward to see how all this looks. Thanks to @marilumelozurita.bsky.social and the
@unswbees.bsky.social team

Hunters or collectors? New evidence challenges claim Australia’s First Peoples sent large animals extinct Australia doesn’t have any ‘kill sites’. In fact, there’s no hard evidence people hunted the megafauna.

theconversation.com/hunters-or-c...

'Localised extinction' risk for seagrass in Botany Bay It is estimated half of the local seagrass habitat in Gamay (Botany Bay) has already been lost. Researchers and Aboriginal rangers are replanting seagrass fragments and using biochar to restore the ar...

Our work with the Gamay Rangers to restore the environmental and cultural values of seagrass in Gamay - Botany Bay www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...

New research from UNSW and the University of Tasmania reveals how predator size and diversity influence urchin predation on New South Wales reefs. Large male blue gropers were responsible for three-quarters of all urchin attacks. Learn more: greatsouthernreef.com/urchin-preda...

Air temperatures over Antarctica have soared 35ºC above average. What does this unusual event mean for Australia? The stratospheric polar vortex high above Antarctica has rapidly heated up. These sudden bursts of heat can bring rapid weather changes in Australia

CCRC Senior Research Fellow @drjucker.bsky.social explains in this Conversation article what is happening above Antarctica right now, and how it might impact us: theconversation.com/air-temperat...
@unswbees.bsky.social

Breaking the ice: why study Antarctica? From unique wildlife to resilient microbes, world-changing climate dynamics to untapped biotechnological potential – four UNSW scientists outline what makes Antarctica a laboratory like no other.

UNSW scientists outline what makes Antarctica a laboratory like no other news.unsw.edu.au/en/breaking-...