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Friday Night Meetings 2019
Meetings are held at 8.00 p.m. on the second Friday of the month at:
Willow Park Community Centre, 25 Edgeworth David Avenue, Hornsby, NSW.
Plant sales from 7.45 p.m.
Upcoming meetings
8 November 2019
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Speaker
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Robin Buchanan
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Topic
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"Restoring Natural Areas."
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Background
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Bush regenerators; Just weeders or ecosystem managers? A look at the importance of bushcare for the management of urban bushland.
Robin Buchanan has written two books on bush regeneration; Bush Regeneration, Recovering Australian Landscapes and Restoring Natural Areas in Australia. She taught bush regeneration as well as conservation and land management at Ryde TAFE for over 20 years. She is a local resident and a passionate advocate for our local bushland.
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13 December: Christmas Party at the Ku-ring-gai Wildflower Garden
Past meetings for 2019
8 February 2019
Speaker
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Kathy Potter, FATS |
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"Frogs and the plants they like."
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Background
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Kathy Potter from the Frog and Tadpole Study Group (FATS) will share her extensive knowledge of frogs, tadpoles and frog ponds. Kathy will bring some live frogs for you to see.
The FATS Study Group of New South Wales is dedicated to community awareness and conservation of frogs and conducts various activities to assist frogs. If you want to know more about frogging, the Australian Museum's Frog ID citizen science project and get up close to live frogs, then come along to our meeting and find out how to :
* identify different kinds of frogs in your area
* make your backyard frog friendly
* build a frog pond and attract frogs to move in
* keep a frog pond clean and avoid breeding mosquitoes.
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8 March 2019
Speaker
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Jayden Walsh |
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"Flora and Fauna of Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park.'
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Background
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Jayden Walsh will give an insightful presentation on the Fauna and it's connections to the Flora of Ku-ring-gai Chase NP. Come along to learn about rare and infrequently sighted wildlife that calls our backyard home and how it utilises the unique flora of Sandstone escarpments."
Jayden has been studying the wildlife in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park since he was a high school student and has done several presentations for "Wildthings”.
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12 April 2019
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Linda Groom
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"Save Kosci Walk"
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| Background |
In November-December 2018, five people walked 560 kilometres from Sydney to the summit of Kosciuszko. On the way they were joined by hundreds of supporters, some strong-legged, some simply determined. Why bother?
The walk sought stronger action from the NSW government to reduce damage caused by feral animals, particularly wild horses, in Kosciuszko National Park. Wild horses are recognized by the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage as threats to at least 9 plant species, including 2 orchids, as well as to sphagnum bogs.
The talk gives a brief introduction to these species and the mechanisms by which wild horses pose a threat to them, then describes the protest walk and the public reactions to the walk. The issue of horses in national parks remains a controversial issue, but the presenter sees some hope that it can be resolved by emphasizing the positive – in this case the beauty of national parks – and by raising awareness of the environmental impacts of the horses.
Presenter
Linda Groom’s most recent volunteer position was Convenor of Save Kosci Inc. She was formerly Curator of Pictures at the National Library, Convenor of the National Photography Festival, past-President of the Canberra Bushwalking Club and president of a number of national professional organisations. She has no botanical qualifications
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10 May 2019
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Speaker
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John Whale, APS Scholarship Recipient
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Topic
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"Genetic Variation in Red Gum Species"
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Background
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The details will be available soon
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14 June 2019
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Speaker
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Wendy Grimm, APS member
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Topic
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"Native Pollinators"
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Background
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Photo: Chloropid fly on flower of Corunastylis fimbriata.
What motivates insects to visit plants? How do plants deceive insects into providing pollination services?
These questions have tied Wendy’s interest in Australian native plants to her passion for capturing images of small, mostly inconspicuous insects. She will talk about insect pollinator relationships in several well-known plant families
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12 July 2019
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Speaker
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Jacob Sife, Natural Areas Program Leader, Ku-ring-gai Council
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Topic
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‘Collaborating for conservation in Ku-ring-gai’
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Background
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Ku-ring-gai is known as a biodiversity hotspot and a refuge for many species of flora and fauna struggling to survive in the highly urbanised Sydney basin. Ku-ring-gai Council manage numerous native and threatened species, populations and ecological communities in an effort to protect, conserve and enhance our biodiversity. Critical to the success of conservation programs are the collaborations formed with community and Government bodies. In this talk, Jacob will look at the conservation programs in Ku-ring-gai, particularly those which have received funding through the State Government’s Saving our Species or Ku-ring-gai Council’s Environment Levy, he will share data on outcomes and the most up to date monitoring on some of our most endangered species, including the critically endangered Hibbertia spanantha. The details will be available soon
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2 August 2019
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Ron Gornall, APS Member.
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Topic
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" An Interactive plant ID session"
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Background
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 Long time APS member Ron Gornall will lead an Interactive Plant
Identification session. Members are encouraged to bring in plants they need identifying or help with growing tips.
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13 September 2019
Speaker
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Susan Everingham, APS Scholarship Recipient
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Topic
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" Changes in Sydney Flowering Times"
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Background
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 Flowering phenology (time of flowering events) relies heavily on cues from environmental conditions, particularly temperature. Studies have shown that for many plants species, flowering dates are occurring earlier in the season due to increases in atmospheric temperature because of anthropogenic climate change. My study aims to investigate existing flowering time changes across the Sydney region. I have used an old data set of flowering time collected by Price in 1963, combined with a resampling of a subset of plant species flowering time during 2018-2019 to determine if Sydney flora is flowering earlier in the season as time progresses.
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11 October 2019
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Speakers
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Sue Bowen and Margaret Hamilton, APS Members
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Topic
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" Propagation Demonstration"
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Background
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 Dr Sue Bowen (President) and Margaret Hamilton (Propagation team leader) will lead a practical workshop on propagating native plants from cuttings and seeds. Attendees are asked to bring their own, labelled plant material and seeds to the workshop. The plant material is to be non-flowering, firm, new-growth and is to be placed in damp, plastic bags. Participants will learn how to prepare and pot-up cuttings and seeds to take home to grow and/or donate to the propagation team.
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