BEHIND THE SCENES
GONE
NEW DISCOVERIES AWAIT BIODIVERSITY SCIENTISTS IN THE REMOTE, INHOSPITABLE NORTH OF AUSTRALIA, WRITES MALACOLOGIST ANDERS HALLAN.
troppo!
The vast, remote expanses of Australia’s tropical north have conjured up images of the unknown and unexplored for me ever since I arrived here from Norway in 2002. Some might argue that hardly anywhere is unexplored in this day and age, but there is indeed a lot to be discovered still, particularly at the microscopic level – and especially about the numerous, tiny and inconspicuous snails that dwell in the mangroves lining the northern coasts. SNAIL HUNT
My postdoctoral fellowship at the Australian Museum (funded by ABRS, the Australian Biological Resources Study) answered this ‘call of the north’ with two field trips during the dry season in 2013 – one to the Top End and Kimberley, and the other to Cape York. Equipped with a four-wheel-drive, swags, satellite phone, maps and of course plenty of collecting gear, my colleagues (Ashley Miskelly, Francesco Criscione and Frank Köhler)
Explore 36(1) Autumn/Winter 2014
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