The vibrant Marine Botany group was part of the Botany Department while I was at the University of Queensland, but went into the Centre for Marine Studies after I left. The Botany Department has disappeared and the Centre for Marine Studies has morphed into something quite different, but the spirit of Marine Botany lives on. The Marine Botany crowd has dispersed throughout the world, and throughout Australia, but there are a significant number of Marbots still in Brisbane.

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The appeal of iconic creatures has long been used to generate support in the conservation movement. Whales and dolphins in the sea and pandas, gorillas and other apes on land have been and still are conservation icons. WWF still uses the panda in their logo, for example. Icons like birds, particularly raptors, are fairly global. Other icons are rather regional, like Komodo dragons in Indonesia or lemurs in Madagascar.

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The Integration and Application Network recently conducted an international collaboration with people from different organizations and locations in order to develop conceptual diagrams to be used in a booklet on Ecosystem Based Management ( Taking Steps toward Marine and Coastal Ecosystem-Based Management ). The project was supported by the United Nations Environment Programme and we had a short timeline to develop conceptual diagrams before it went to print.

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As the Integration and Application Network continues to add symbols to its growing symbol library and associated image library, it is with the idea that we are organically growing a global symbol language. These symbols can be combined in order to construct conceptual diagrams (or 'thought drawings'), in which the essential attributes of an issue are graphically depicted. At this point, it is worth asking what it means to be 'global'.

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The gold standard for scientific publication is known as 'peer review'. This refers to the established practice of sending manuscripts to appropriate experts who critically review the data, the analysis of the data, the conclusions drawn from the results and even the style and manner of communicating the findings.

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In order to guide people interested in creating a conceptual diagram, a worksheet has been developed by the Integration and Application Network. This worksheet is designed to aid in the assembly of relevant information needed for drafting a new conceptual diagram. The worksheet helps hone the message, prioritize the features and processes being depicted, and avoid false starts.

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Reef Catchments in Mackay, working with a range of partners, has produced a superb set of 'dashboard books' designed to ride around on the dashboards in volunteer rural fire brigade trucks or landholder trucks (utes) and provide easily accessible fire management information. Andrew Houley with Reef Catchments, a self-avowed firebug, produced these high quality books, which employ excellent science communication techniques.

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Based on a passage from the Bible in the book of Ecclesiastes, Bob Seeger combined words and music for the song "Turn, Turn, Turn", which was popularized by the musical group the Byrds.

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I was asked by Prof. Stuart Phinn from the University of Queensland to give a keynote lecture at the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) Symposium 2011 in Melbourne, Victoria. There were approximately 100 scientists and resource managers at the symposium held at a conference center near the University of Melbourne. The other keynote speaker was Dr. Steve Kelling from Cornell University.

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As part of the Healthy Waterways Alliance launch in Mackay, Queensland, a science newsletter was drafted as part of a Science Communication Workshop.

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