13th Conference on Australasian
Vertebrate Evolution Palaeontology and Systematics
Perth Cultural Centre
Perth 2011
Wednesday 27th April – Saturday 30th April
Third Circular and Call for Abstracts and Registration
Jointly Hosted by Curtin University, Western Australian Museum, Murdoch
University and University of Western Australia
You are invited to submit abstracts and register to attend the 13th CAVEPS, a biennial
meeting of vertebrate palaeontologists from Australia and around the world. Abstracts
can be submitted up to the 31st January 2011 for both poster and oral presentations
on the accompanying form. The conference will be held in the State Library, which is
located in the Cultural Centre of Perth. There are many accommodation options within
walking distance to the conference venue including backpackers, and moderately priced
motels up to 4 star hotels. A large number of restaurants and bars are located within 5
minutes walk of the conference venue.
Website
All circulars will be posted on the Curtin University Website:
http://wa-oigc.edu.au/conference.cfm
Symposia
1. Vertebrate Palaeontology of Australasia into the 21st Century
Fully subscribed
1. Erich Fitzgerald--Vertebrate Palaeontology of Australasia
2. Scott Hocknull--Mesozoic Terrestrial Vertebrates
3. Trevor Worthy--Palaeornithology in Australasia
4. Leah Schwartz--Cenozoic Mammals and their Ecosystems
5. Gilbert Price--Pleistocene and Holocene Extinctions
6. Kate Trinajstic--Exceptional Fossil Preservation and Imaging Technology
7. Stephen Wroe--Computational Biomechanics in Vertebrate Palaeontology
8. Larisa DeSantis--Revealing Palaeoecology Through Geochemistry and Microwear
9.Alistair Evans--Vertebrate Macroevolution: Insights from Palaeontology and
Developmental Biology
2. Vertebrate Functional morphology
This symposium will explore the relationship between vertebrate form and function, from
adaptive and evolutionary contexts. Topics will encompass the form of structural
elements; their relationship to one another and to the environment; the function and
mechanical relationships among structures; understanding how anatomical features work
to allow the organism to accomplish certain tasks; and changes in morphological features
over time.
3. Ancient Biomolecules
The core theme of this symposium is how interrogation of biomolecules can assist in the
interpretation of vertebrates and their ecosystems. Papers in this session will include
research using stable isotopes, ancient DNA and preserved amino acids. Presentations on
new methodologies are also welcome.
4. Extinction events throughout the history of Australasia and beyond
There have been five mass extinctions identified in Earth’s History with vertebrates being
variably affected by them. This symposium will look at the possible causes, rates and
patterns of extinction and survivorship across all the major extinction events that affected
vertebrate life.
Conference Programme*
Wednesday 27th April: Morning - Registration/ Vertebrate Palaeontology of Australasia
into the 21st Century
Afternoon- General sessions
Evening - Welcome Function
Thursday 28th April: Morning- Ancient Biomolecules
Afternoon- General sessions/Poster presentation
Evening – Public lecture hosted by Scitech
Friday 29th April:
Morning - Marine mammal diversity and adaptation
Afternoon- General sessions
Evening – Conference Dinner
Saturday 20th April: Morning - Extinction events throughout the history of Australasia
and beyond
Afternoon- General sessions
Sunday 1st May: Both field trips will leave from outside the Perth Cultural Centre.
Please note this is a draft programme and subject to change.
Social Events:
Wednesday 27th April: Welcome Function (included in registration): 3D visualisation of
fossils and planetarium display at Horizon WA Planetarium with pre-presentation drinks
Thursday 28th April: Public Lecture at Scitech West Perth and Meet the Scientist.
There will be two talks, one by Mike Archer and the second by Erich Fitzgerald.
Friday 29th April: Conference Dinner at Bluewater Bar and Grill overlooking the Swan
River.
Field Trips
Due to Easter and Anzac day both field trips will be run post conference.
Margaret River: 1st – 4th May:
Organised by Alexander Baynes
The post-conference excursion to Margaret River will visit the Lake Clifton living
stromatolite (thrombolite) reef, Mammoth Cave, Tunnel Cave, Tight Entrance Cave (for
those with caving experience only), Lake Cave, Devils Lair, Jewel Cave and Cape
Leeuwin. There will be one wine tasting at a vineyard each day. The excursion will
leave Perth on the morning of Sunday 1 May and return to Perth on the afternoon of
Wednesday 4 May 2011, in time for people to catch flights to the eastern states.
Although these are the same sites that were visited on the 1997 post-CAVEPS excursion,
since then Gavin Prideaux has substantially advanced the understanding of the fossil
faunas from Tight Entrance Cave, the Devils Lair deposit has been redated, and two new
projects to reassess the human contribution to the Mammoth Cave bone deposit are under
way.
Costs
Transport: $135 per person, to be paid with registration, covers the cost of transport.
Accommodation: in both cases people are responsible for paying for their three night's
accommodation upon departure. Indicate which accommodation you prefer when
registering:
Backpackers: $29.00 per person per night, at the Inne Town Backpackers on Bussell
Highway (the main street) in Margaret River town. This will be booked by Alex Baynes
and
all
you
need
to
do
is
indicate
this
preference
when
registering.
Motel: Comfort Inn Grange on Farrelly motel, 10 minutes walk from the main street with
its restaurants and shops. $130 per night per standard room, single, double or twin share
occupancy, i.e. $65 per person for couples or twin share (special corporate rate). Rooms
with spas are available for a higher tariff. The rooms are spacious and quiet (see
www.grangeonfarrelly.com.au <http://www.grangeonfarrelly.com.au> ). Room tariffs do
not include the cost of breakfast or other meals. People are responsible for reserving their
own motel rooms directly: use 1800 650 100, free reservation line, and state that you are
part of the CAVEPS group booking to obtain the special room rate. If people want a twin
share but do not have someone in mind to share with, contact Alex Baynes
(alexbaynes@iprimus.com.au), giving name, gender [not always apparent from the
name], age, and palaeontological interests and Alex will try to pair compatible people. If
you have booked a room but have to cancel attendance at the conference and/or cannot
make the excursion, immediately contact Alex and the motel, or you may be charged a
forfeit tariff.
Carnarvon Basin 1st -10th May:
Guides Kate Trinajstic (Curtin University) and Mikael Siversson (WA Museum).
This 10 day excursion starts and ends in Perth. Travel will be by bus and 4WD vehicles
taking participants into some localities. The trip will cover around 2925km in total.
Accommodation will be a mixture of hotels and farm stay. All meals will be provided.
We will be visiting Ordovician and Cretaceous sites in Kalbarri, stromatolites at Shark
Bay, Devonian and Early Carboniferous sites around Carnarvon and finishing the trip at
Coral Bay where there is the option of snorkelling or glass bottom boat trips to examine a
modern reef environment.
Costs: $2500 per person this includes all travel, accommodation and meals.
ABSTRACT FORM
All abstracts for papers and posters should be emailed, either in the body of the
email as a text file or attached as a Microsoft Word document, to Kate Trinajstic
k.trinajstic@curtin.edu.au. Abstracts must be received by January 31st 2011
NAME OF PRESENTER
_____________________________________________________________________
AFFILIATION
_____________________________________________________________________
EMAIL ADDRESS
____________________________________________________________________
The attached abstract of presentation is intended for the:
General Session - Oral paper
Poster
Vertebrate Functional Morphology Symposium
Extinction Symposium
Ancient Biomolecule Symposium
The complete abstract and references must fit within 1 page.
Title: Arial 14 point
Address and text: Arial 10 point
Line drawings are permitted however they must fin within the 1 page limit. Sorry but we
cannot reproduce photos or colour illustrations.
Flood vs. Overgrill: aDNA sheds light on the demise of the Unicorn
(Unicornis bibilico)
Isaiah bin Amoz1, Pliny T. Elder2, and Henry Potter3
1Dept.
Religious Communication, Old Testament University Press, Jerusalem, Judea
History Research Unit, Naval Academy of Misenum, 33 Avenue Pompeii, Misenum
80045, Italy
3Dept. for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, Ministry of Magic, 35 The Strand,
London WC2R 2HP, United Kingdom
2Natural
The unicorn, a now extinct member of the Equidae characterised by a prominent protuberance
(sometimes termed ‘horn’) located in the center of the forehead, was once widespread across
Eurasia. Although mentioned in at least 8 confirmed occurrences in primary Judeo-Christianic
literature, vigorous debate continues as to why, and when, it became extinct. The two principal
competing hypotheses that have been the subject of most serious scholarship are (i) the
‘Overgrill’ scenario, in which the population was driven to extinction through the long term overzealous sacrificing of, and feasting on, young unicorns, and (ii) the ‘Flood’ scenario, in which
unicorns persisted until as late as the Great Flood of 2438 B.C. The recent development of
enhanced aDNA extraction techniques, and analytical tools that allow testing of evolutionary
hypotheses and changes in population size from such data, have set the stage to challenge this
question. We report the results of analysis using aDNA recovered from a dataset of 43 b.p. of
mtDNA sequence extracted from 13 unicorn horns, dated using the Ussher system to between 9
a.m. on October 23rd, 4004 and 2438 (B.C.). The data indicates that the effective population size
of the unicorn remained relatively stable over approximately the first 1,516 years, 68 days and 15
hours (± 6 days), until experiencing a massive and catastrophic crash to extinction at
approximately 2438 B.C. (±40 days and nights). In contrast to the expected outcome of the
‘Overgrill’ hypotheses, in which the population would experience a gradual decline through time,
the analytical power afforded from the unprecedented size of this dataset, enables us to
conclusively accept the ‘Flood’ hypothesis .
References
LONG, J.A., TrINAJSTIC, K., YOUNG G.C., & SENDEN, T. 2008. Live birth in the Devonain. Nature 453, 650652.
TRINAJSTIC,
K. Marshall, C., LONG, J. & BIFIELD, K., 2007. Exceptional preservation of nerve and muscle
tissues in Devonian placoderm fish and their phylogenetic implications. Biology Letters 3, 197-200
Preferred session: Palaeoecology
Registration Form
General details:
Title:____Name: ______________________________________________________________
Affiliation: ___________________________________________________________________
Postal address:_________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
Email address:________________________________
Telephone:____________________________Mobile:__________________________________
Fax:_________________________________________________________________________
Do you have any special dietary requirements (please specify):
_____________________________________________________________________________
Accompanying guest: Title:____Name: ____________________________________________
Contact details if different from above
CONFERENCE FEES
Category
Closing date 28.02.2011 Late fees
Regular
AUD$180.00
Day Registration
AUD $75.00
* Student
AUD$55.00
+$20.00
Accompanying Guest
AUD$80.00
+$20.00
Margaret River Field trip
Carnarvon Basin Field trip
Conference dinner
+$20.00
See above
AUD$2500.00
AUD$50.00
Total
* Please forward a copy of a valid student card or letter from supervisor with
registration.
____________________________________________________________________________
PAYMENT
Fees can be paid via two methods:
-Cheques to be made out to Curtin University and sent to Dr Kate Trinajstic Chemistry
Dept Building 500 Room 3202 GPO Box U1987 Perth WA 6845 Please include a hard
copy of the Registration Form with the cheque.
Credit card Payments :
Visa
Mastercard
Card Number
Expiry date
Card holder name
Singanture
Email to K.Trinajstic@curtin.edu.au or Mail as above
Presentation details: Please send this form by 31st January 2011 to Kate Trinajstic
K.Trinajstic@curtin.edu.au in body of text or as an attachment.
Deadline for abstracts is 31st January 2011.
All talks are 15 minutes + 5 minutes questions
I would like to present a spoken paper at CAVEPS 2009 –General Session ___________
Author/s: _____________________________________________________________________
Title: ________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
I would like to present a spoken paper at CAVEPS 2011
Vertebrate Functional Morphology Symposium
Extinction events throughout the history of Australasia and beyond Symposium:
Ancient Biomolecules
Symposia Title:______________________________________________________________
Author/s: _____________________________________________________________________
Title: ________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
I would like to present a poster/s at CAVEPS 2009
Author/s: _____________________________________________________________________
Title 1: _______________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
Title 2: _______________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
Presentation requirements: Powerpoint*________________
Other ________________
*Please note: Powerpoint is the preferred presentation form and we will operate all papers from
one central computer. Please have your presentation on CD Rom or USB memory stick for
downloading to this machine. We will be using a Window based PC. If you use Macintosh,
please format your presentation appropriately.