Karen Retra is a ‘neighbourhood naturalist’. She encourages and observes native bees in her suburban garden and surrounds, taking photos and videos, and doing a lot of sitting around and watching! Karen says she is inspired by the diversity, roles and habits of the many, many species of beneficial insects that we often overlook. Karen is co-founder of the Wild Pollinator Count, a national citizen science project encouraging awareness of pollinator insects each spring and autumn (see h ps://wildpollinatorcount.com). After this talk, you may be inspired to join the count by watching a flowering forb for 10 minutes and reporting the insect visitors helping it set seed.

Dr Lydia Guja is Seed Conservation Biologist at the ANBG Seed Bank. Her staff profile (online) says: ‘With a focus on Australian native seeds Lydia investigates seed conservation biology, threatened species conservation, endangered species and communities, seed ecology, seed dispersal, seed physiology, ecophysiological germination thresholds, stress tolerance, and landscape restoration.’ That includes the effects of environmental stress on seed dispersal, germination, and establishment; and conserving Australia’s plant diversity, including rare and endangered species of the Australian Alps, ACT region and Commonwealth Terrestrial Parks, through ex situ conservation methods, namely seed banks and living plant collections; and much more.

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