10th Conference on
Australasian Vertebrate Evolution Palaeontology and Systematics
(CAVEPS)
and
Quaternary Extinctions Symposium
Naracoorte, South Australia, AUSTRALIA
March 29th to April 2nd 2005.
THIRD CIRCULAR AND CALL FOR PAPERS
BACKGROUND
The 10
th CAVEPS will be held at the
World Heritage listed Naracoorte Caves National Park and nearby
Naracoorte township, approximately 340 km SE of Adelaide (capital city of
South Australia), in the Limestone Coast region of South
Australia.
CAVEPS is a biennial meeting of Australasian vertebrate palaeontologists.
CAVEPS 2005 will consist of 3 days of general sessions including papers
on all aspects of vertebrate palaeontology, followed by a 2 day symposium
which will focus on Quaternary extinctions and dating applications.
Included in the general sessions will be a special session on cave
palaeontology which will be held in the historic Blanche Cave. In
addition to the main sessions, a student forum will be held where
students can present their project proposals or work in progress and
benefit from professional input.
The conference will be held during the AVCC (Australian Vice Chancellors
Commission) common vacation week and will begin on Tuesday
29
th of March (Monday
28
th is Easter Monday) and end on Saturday
2
nd of April.
Organisational progress
The organisation of the 2005 CAVEPS and Quaternary Extinctions
meeting is coming along very well with an overwhelming response to the
second circular. To date there have been over 140 positive indications of
attendance from Australasian and international scientists (representing
the United Kingdom, France, The United States of America, Slovak
Republic, Poland and Spain). We are particularly pleased to have received
pre-registrations from several prominent international Quaternary
extinction scientists and commitments from several eminent keynote
speakers. This symposium will be a key gathering for those interested in
the extinction ‘debate’. The cave palaeontology session has also been
extremely popular with noted researchers indicating attendance.
TENISON-WOODS Cave palaeontology session
The Naracoorte Caves National Park is a World Heritage listed fossil
site, so it is appropriate that a session deals specifically with cave
deposits. The final day of general sessions (Thursday
31
st March) will be a special session
focusing on cave palaeontology. It will explore the question - “What
contribution have cave sites made to our understanding of vertebrate
history”. Convening this session will be Professor Ernest Lundelius, Dr
Mike Augee, Dr Liz Reed and Mr Steven Bourne.
Contributions covering all aspects of cave palaeontology (eg. faunas,
geology, site studies, taphonomy, dating) are invited.
The session will be dedicated to Reverend Julian Tenison-Woods who
conducted the first palaeontological research at Naracoorte Caves during
the mid 19
th century. Tenison-Woods was an
extraordinary scholar and scientist. He published widely on topics
ranging from Tertiary invertebrates to Pleistocene cave deposits. In
1862, his book,
Geological Observations in South Australia,
Principally in the District Southeast of Adelaide was published in
London. It contained the first published description of the Naracoorte
Caves and the bone deposits contained within them. This session will be
held in the spacious Blanche Cave, the site of Tenison-Wood’s early
investigations.
QUATERNARY EXTINCTIONS SYMPOSIUM
A two day thematic symposium exploring Quaternary extinctions will
follow the general and cave sessions. Papers are invited for this
symposium which will cover a wide range of relevant topics including:
dating and extinction chronologies, causes and patterns of extinction,
significant site studies, background and review studies, island
extinctions and modern extinctions. Keynote speaker for the Extinction
symposium will be Professor Anthony Barnosky from the University of
California at Berkeley. Professor Barnosky and colleagues recently
published a review of Late Pleistocene extinctions in
Science
(306: 70-75).
It has been nearly eight years since the last Extinction symposium in
Australia and there has been a lot of new research since then. There has
been a high level of interest in the 2005 symposium with many eminent
international extinction scientists indicating they will attend. This
symposium will offer an excellent opportunity for those interested in
Quaternary extinctions to present their research and discuss issues with
the leaders in the field. The proceedings volume will include a thematic
series from the symposium providing a forum for delegates to publish
papers covering a range of extinction topics in a single
volume.
CALL FOR PAPERS
Papers are invited for CAVEPS 2005 and the Quaternary Extinctions
Symposium. Papers on any aspect of vertebrate palaeontology are welcome
for the general sessions eg. systematics and taxonomy, functional
morphology, evolution, palaeoecology, palaeobiogeography, chronology,
taphonomy, stratigraphy and sedimentology (of fossil sites), fossil
preparation, fossil site studies. Papers are also invited for the Cave
palaeontology session (see information elsewhere in this circular). The
first session of the opening day will cover fossil-based tourism,
education, fossil site management, preservation and interpretation;
papers are invited for this session.
Papers are invited for the Quaternary Extinctions symposium. This
symposium will cover a wide range of relevant topics including: dating
and extinction chronologies, causes and patterns of extinction,
significant site studies, background and reviews, island extinctions,
modern extinctions.
Students are strongly encouraged to participate and make presentations.
There will be student prizes for spoken papers and posters.
THIRD CIRCULAR
This posting provides only a brief summary of the latest circular.
For full details regarding CAVEPS 2005 and the Extinctions Symposium
please go to
http://www.environment.sa.gov.au/parks/naracoorte/events.html
where the complete third circular, registration form and other important documents are available for download. Due to the size of the files we have not attached them to this email, but if you are having trouble downloading them please contact the organisers.
Thank you
CAVEPS 2005, Naracoorte, South Australia.
Contact:
Liz Reed email: liz.reed@flinders.edu.au
or Steven Bourne email: Bourne.Steven@saugov.sa.gov.au
Formal postal address: CAVEPS 2005
c/- Naracoorte Caves National Park, PO Box 134, Naracoorte South Australia 5271, AUSTRALIA
Phone: +61 (08) 8762 3412