This week, Bron and Fam go beachcombing…
• We continue our chat with Dave Donnelly (Killer Whales Australia, Dolphin Research Institute), live on location for the ORRCA whale census day. We’ll find out what ORRCA is all about, and pick up where we left off last week about the start of the whale watching season, and some interesting research Dave’s been doing into Bubble Net feeding.
• Then we cross to Jacqui Younger - it’s D-day for the Spider Crabs of Melbourne – everything is set – the water temp, the full moon… so where are they? Are we actually looking at winter with no spider crab aggregation? Has this happened before? What might it mean for their future numbers? Should we be alarmed?
• Last Monday 21 June marked winter solstice – the shortest day of the year. It’s a particularly significant turning point in the calendar for the wonderful people maintaining our Antarctic research bases at Casey, Davis and Mawson stations. We’ll cross live to Casey Station, Antarctica to talk with our Antarctic correspondent Cliff Davis about midwinter and what it means for the ‘winterers’ at Casey, and the celebrations over the past week. We’re very excited to also meet Casey’s Senior Field Training Officer Maddie Ovens about her role there over winter, and a mind-blowing initiation she took part in during the week.
• Mal Webb and Kylie Morrigan stop by (virtually!) for a live performance (always a treat and we can’t wait!)
• And Fam brings us some news of the conservation status of the Great Barrier Reef following some announcements this week by the IUCN.
What a show! More packed in than a hermit crab. Sorry Radiotherapists, we might have to nick your hour!