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PUBLIC TALK: Vision Underwater: Beauty in The Eye of The Beholder

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Today's date is Thursday, March 28, 2024
Vision Underwater: Beauty in The Eye of The Beholder : SymbioticA Friday seminar Other events...
At least 540 million years ago, the first vertebrates appeared and survived in shallow, marine water bathed by sunlight with a spectral composition similar to the environmental conditions of the present day. Over this time, fishes have radiated into the largest vertebrate taxa and now occupy an incredible range of ecological niches. Our Neuroecology Group has traced the evolution of the vertebrate eye, the origins of colour vision and the environmental influences on spectral tuning, focussing on representatives of the earliest vertebrates. Today’s talk will examine a diverse range of visual specialisations for vision underwater. At the same time, the complexity, regularity and colourful inclusions of each of the components of the eye will be presented not only in the context of their structure and function but also for their inherent artistic beauty. In order to understand and appreciate life underwater, we must first put ourselves in the eyes of beholder.

Professor Shaun P. Collin is a world leader in comparative neurobiology. He completed his BSc (Hons) and MSc at The University of Melbourne and his PhD at The University of Queensland. Using a range of vertebrate models, he has investigated the sensory systems of lampreys, elasmobranchs, teleosts, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals from a diversity of environments in order to investigate broad concepts of plasticity and adaptation. Having spent time at a large number of Universities and research institutes around the world, Professor Collin is now a West Australian Premier's Fellow at the University of Western Australia and heads a large laboratory dedicated to neuroecology and behavior of a range of vertebrates with a particular focus on sharks. He has held many of the world’s most prestigious fellowships in places such as Scripps Institution of Oceanography in the US, the Marine Biology Laboratory in Woods Hole in the US, The University of Tuebingen in Germany, the University of Montreal in Canada, the University of Washington (Friday Harbor) in the US and The University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. Prof. Collin is the author of over 160 international scientific publications on sensory systems (vision, electroreception, lateral line, olfaction, gustation and audition) of primarily aquatic vertebrates including two books. As a Premier’s Fellow, he has introduced innovative technologies combined with both basic and applied research to trace the evolution of light detection and image formation in order to explore the impacts of light on biodiversity, sustainability of animals native to Western Australia and (animal and human) health. His research galvanises existing strengths in eco-physiology, neuroscience and marine science.
Location SymbioticA Room 228, Level 2, School of Anatomy and Human Biology, UWA.
Contact Chris Cobilis <[email protected]> : 64885583
Start Fri, 17 Jun 2011 15:30
End Fri, 17 Jun 2011 17:00
Submitted by Chris Cobilis <[email protected]>
Last Updated Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:27
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