Seeing through the lens of a biologist

It’s the early hours of the morning and PhD student Lisa Fontana is preparing for the day ahead. She needs to be in the field and ready to go before dawn, when her subjects wake up. 

Lisa works with Australia's iconic Sulphur-crested cockatoos, spending seven out of seven days with the birds exploring the behavioural innovations that have allowed them to flourish in our cities. From the beaches of Bondi to our campus in Canberra, these birds are everywhere. 

"As researchers, we are really privileged to spend a lot of time in close contact with these birds. All the members in our lab have a picture with a cockatoo on their shoulder; you really get to know them," Lisa says.  

Her research group, led by Professor Lucy Aplin at the Australian National University, studies cognition and social behaviour. Compared to other parrots around the world, these birds are skilled adapters and have thrived in the cities we've built.  

The question is how, and why these parrots but not others? 

The team hopes to uncover the answer using the puzzle boxes they place where cockatoos play and roost. The birds learn how to solve the puzzles to access a reward and teach others the same techniques, called social learning.  

To explore innovation, Lisa changes the boxes and observes how the birds figure it out.  

The end goal is conservation through better urban accessibility for birds, and the public is enthusiastically helping. 

A photo of one of her subjects, a cockatoo named Picasso helping with data collection, earned Lisa the People's Choice Award in the recent photography competition held by the Ecology and Evolution Division of the ANU Research School of Biology.  

For Lisa, photography is about living the moment and sharing the story of her work.  

"As a researcher, I've noticed that having the right pictures makes a huge difference in delivering information," she explains.  

"Science influences my photography, and photography then influences my science by giving me appealing images and pictures for the public. The attention of the public is key for spreading the word about our work." 

Visual communication beyond graphs and diagrams is becoming increasingly important in science. In a post-COVID world of false facts, researchers are constantly searching for ways to make accurate information land with audiences.  

Animation, shared experiences, storytelling, social media and visuals have all emerged as effective tools to build trust, engage and encourage audiences to learn and get involved with science. 

And scientists themselves are noticing the power of imagery in their own work. 

First place winner and PhD student Kushini Kalupahana said science has influenced her photography by allowing her to see "so much more than just a pretty bird." Being a scientist helps her to see the features, behaviours and quirks that make each animal unique. 

"A photo can show you things about your subject you never noticed before. It's also such a great way to get your work and your message out to the public and catch people's attention," she explains.  

Kushini snapped her first-place photo while patiently looking for thornbill nests at the Australian National Botanic Gardens in Canberra. Noticing some movement among nearby yellow blossoms, a flock of silvereyes in the perfect evening light were perched on a branch for close-ups. 

Fellow PhD student Brendah Nyagah snapped her second-place photo helping Kushini with a thornbill on the same field trips in the Gardens, the fine pattern details of the breast feathers of the little bird catching her eye. 

"Grab your camera or phone wherever you go out, you might end up capturing a once in a lifetime moment," Brendah said. 

"I hope people look at it and realise just how amazing a tiny, ten-gram bird can be, even one that’s commonly found in our own backyards. And I hope it makes them want to pay a bit more attention to what's around them and appreciate nature a little more," Kushini added. 

Third-place winner Ivan Neo also hopes to inspire the public and grab their attention. Picking up his first camera at age 12, he now takes photos of everything he encounters from diving and fishing to his research on the pollinators of an endangered underground orchid.  

The scuttle fly pollinators lead the PhD student to the hidden orchids as they bloom over a tiny eight-week window each year.  

His experience in photography helps with describing and classifying animals from a taxonomy perspective, and with communicating the importance of science. 

"I want to use my research to highlight how useful etymology is as a discipline for conservation initiatives. Most projects are focused on very charismatic species, big things like tigers and elephants that easily incite emotion in people. A less glamorous style of conservation is protecting tiny insects - majority of biomass on this planet," he explains. 

"Using science and photography together to show that protecting these insects can conserve other things, like the orchids, is an excellent way to help people see why they are so important." 

Ivan's winning image of an endangered Murray Crayfish holds a special place for him. The female was carrying a precious load of eggs under its tail - a lucky find showing that conservation efforts are working in the ACT. 

Researchers are noticing that giving the public access beyond articles and being able to see what's going on can help them engage with science on a more personal level, with behavioural ecology emerging as an ideal area for scientific storytelling driven by narratives and anthropomorphism. 

"I've shifted towards trying to represent more animal behaviour or ecology in my photos. Not just having it be a nice picture of an animal being an animal, but rather trying to highlight something that it does or something about the place it's in," explains postdoctoral fellow James Klarevas-Irby on how behavioural ecology has influenced his photography. 

Building on this, citizen science centred on ecology continues to grow as a powerful way to involve the public in scientific research out in the natural world. 

"My team encourages people to participate in projects like Big City Birds, take their own photos and be a part of the research," said honours student Lee DeSouza. 

"It really helps disentangle science from being this big, scary thing that is inaccessible to something that everyone can enjoy."