151 Golden Years Celebration: Bones from the Bush and Beach - Dinosaurs of Australia
From Stephanie Davison
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From Stephanie Davison
Federation University celebrates 151 years of continuous
learning, teaching and research in Geosciences with a series of public
presentations exploring historical, archaeological, economic and social
influences associated with mining in central Victoria.
Bones from the Bush
and Beach - Dinosaurs of Australia, Dr Stephen Poropat, Federation University
Abstract: New Australian dinosaur discoveries are continually being made in western Queensland and coastal Victoria and Stephen is part of the chase to understand who they were and how they lived. Stephen outlines how he and other scientists use fossilised bones, footprints, geology, maths and biology to identify dinosaurs, describe their behaviour and reconstruct the complex long-lost ecosystems in which they lived. His talk focuses on a recent excavation where long-necked plant-eating dinosaurs lived alongside their meat-eating cousins, early crocodiles, turtles, and fish with lungs.
Biography: Stephen is a palaeontologist specialising in Australian dinosaurs. His work is focused on rich 96-million-year-old fossil beds of western Queensland where he and his colleagues have uncovered and identified several new species unique to Australia. He considers questions around their lifestyle, environment and death to understand the impact of changing climate on their evolution.
Stephen is a research associate at the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum, adjunct researcher at Swinburne University and currently studying science teaching at Federation University.