DEEP PhD student Tessa Smith presents her first seminar
Last week DEEP PhD student Tessa Smith presented her introductory seminar to the biological sciences staff and students of the School of Natural Sciences via zoom.
Her project, titled "Spatial patterns in beetle forest communities: past, present and future" which is supervised by Prof Barry Brook, Prof Christopher Johnson and Dr Nicholas Porch (Deakin University) investigates spatial patterns of leaf-litter beetle assemblages in Tasmanian wet forests and rain forests.
Tessa will investigate current distributions of assemblages, and future distributions under anthropocentric climate change. She will also investigate the influence of past climates on select beetle species, and how the distribution of invertebrate communities and plant/mammal communities compares to land management.
During spring, summer and autumn of 2020-2021 Tessa will be collecting beetles from leaf litter around Tasmania. She is very excited to see what rare and unique species she will find below the surface!