Clive and Claire are field ecologists that have have been focusing on plant diversity as a guide to overall ecosystem health. 

Flying Duck Orchid (Caleana major). Photo by Clive Chesson. 

In this episode Kristen Messenger from Bugs n Slugs reveals some of the bizarre ways that invertebrates reproduce, from beetles with chastity belts to snail love darts. This episode is recommended for mature audiences :) 

Photo by Egor Kamelev from Pexels

This is our first episode for 2020 and was recorded as fires ravished the country. Over 18 million acres have been burnt including thousands of homes and buildings and we saw the loss of over one billion animals. We talk about a range of subjects with Wayne ranging from climate science to wildlife conservation during this confronting and emotional time. 

Dianne Pearson is a zookeeper and animal rescuer specialising in native mammals. We caught up with Dianne after she returned from working with Tree Kangaroos at the Tree Roo Rescue and Conservation Centre in Far North Queensland. 

Dr Erinn Fagan-Jeffries is a researcher studying parasitoid wasps with a passion for communicating about biodiversity, insects and species discovery.

Rex Neindorf is the owner/director of the Alice Springs Reptile Centre which he opened in 2000. Rex chats with us about some of the awesome reptiles he gets to work with as well as sharing much of what he has learnt in growing his facility to become the successful business it is today.  

Dr Tim Jessop is an ecologist with Deakin University and is a scientific adviser for the Komodo Survival Program.

Click here to check out and to support the awesome work the Komodo Survival Program do :)

Scott Pullyblank is a knowledgeable and passionate science communicator, specialising in conservation and biology and is currently the Curator of Life Sciences at the Alice Springs Desert Park. 

Thorny Devil, photo courtesy of C.Margetts Photography

Richard Gibson is the Head of Life Sciences at Auckland Zoo and has managed zoo reptile departments all over the world. We caught up with Richard at the Large Varanid Workshop (October 2019) in Alice Springs where he gave two presentations, one on Komodo Dragon husbandry and the other on parthenogenesis, which he co-discovered in Komodo Dragons. 

In this episode the always inspiring Sophie Thomson gives us advice about creating habitat friendly gardens for any situation. Sophie is a gardening consultant, writer as well as a presenter for ABC TV's Gardening Australia. Sophie lives at Sophie’s Patch, a three acre garden that produces organically grown food as well as locally indigenous plant species for wildlife habitat.