1. Securing pollinator futures through the lens of ecology and evolution

Rachael Dudaniec, Macquarie University
Carmen da Silva, Macquarie University

Pollinators sustain biodiversity and food systems yet face interacting threats from habitat loss, pesticides, pathogens, invasive competitors, and climate change. The future of pollinators and the services they provide is therefore at risk and requires greater understanding of the ecological and evolutionary processes that are relevant for pollinators. This symposium integrates ecological and evolutionary theory with both conservation and agricultural practice to identify strategies that safeguard pollinator diversity and pollination services across landscapes. The symposium proposes to integrate three general themes: (1) community and landscape ecology — drivers of wild pollinator diversity, network stability, and habitat connectivity across natural and managed lands; (2) evolutionary responses and adaptive capacity — phenological shifts, gene flow, and adaptation in natural and agroecosystems; (3) multi stressor dynamics — how pesticides, disease, nutrition, and land use change interact to affect both wild and managed pollinators. This symposium synthesizes ecological and evolutionary perspectives to reveal mechanisms shaping pollinator resilience and to inform durable strategies to conserve and manage pollinators. The research presented in this symposium will be relevant for developing multi-disciplinary solutions that benefit pollinator biodiversity and their ecosystem and agricultural services

3. Managing pest and public health risks associated with urban mosquito populations

Cameron Webb, University of Sydney & NSW Health Pathology

Mosquitoes associated with urban environments in Australia pose pest and public health concerns. Urban landscapes are changing under the influence of direct and indirect climate drivers and human activity bringing new opportunities for mosquitoes and challenges to their management. Human population growth, increasingly dense urbanization, water sensitive urban design, wildlife conservation, and international travel all bring new dimensions to mosquito and mosquito-borne disease risk and response strategies. While local authorities are responding to new threats, such as the spread of Japanese encephalitis virus, through research, risk assessment, and operational responses, there is also a growing appreciation of the role of the assistance provided by citizen scientists.Presenters included in this proposed symposia, representing both research institutions and public health authorities, will outline unique ways in which mosquito populations in urban and peri-urban environments are managed through strategic surveillance and control programs. This includes mosquitoes known to be vectors of a range of arboviruses, bacterial pathogens, or are exotic species of public health concern.

5. Omics of pollinating & venomous insects

Sally Potter, Macquarie University
Juanita Rodriguez, Australian National Insect Collection (ANIC), CSIRO
Simon Tierney, Macquarie University
Aude TouSe, Bioplatforms Australia Ltd

Recent initiatives to broaden our understanding of the molecular and functional evolution of Australian insects have focussed on species that provide beneficial pollination services or produce venoms and toxins. Research eSorts focus on the accrual of so-called ‘Omics’ data (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, phylogenomics) which take advantage of progressive high throughput sequencing technology to achieve whole genome sequencing (WGS) coverage of organismal DNA and RNA. Both of these themes are enthusiastically supported by Bioplatforms Australia via the ‘Australian Venom Innovation and Discovery Initiative’ and the ‘Integrated Pest Management Omics Initiative’. Entomologists pursuing independent research themes are using identical methods to collate raw genetic data, but are free to pursue alternate bioinformatic analytical paths to assemble and annotate reference genomes, transcriptomes, proteomes, parse population genetics and infer phylogenetic relationships. Hence, our symposium provides a timely opportunity to build community amongst Australian-based researchers, who are at similar stages of project progression, in order to share and troubleshoot analytical skill sets. 

6. Neuroethology in insects and spiders

Vanessa Penna Gonçalves, Macquarie University

Animals integrate information across senses to perceive their environment and guide behaviour. This symposium will bring together work on brain morphology, allometry studies, and neurophysiology to understand how animals integrate sensory information to solve real-world problems.

7. Short-range endemism in Australian invertebrates: Patterns, problems, and conservation imperatives

Heloise Gibb, Deakin University, University of NSW
Nick Porch, Deakin University
Nathan Butterworth, Deakin University

Short-range endemic (SRE) invertebrates comprise the majority of Australia's invertebrate diversity, yet remain the most vulnerable and poorly understood fauna. Characterised by naturally restricted distributions typically less than 10,000 km², these species represent irreplaceable evolutionary lineages found nowhere else on Earth and their small ranges make them disproportionately susceptible to extinction from habitat loss and climate change. This symposium will bring together researchers working across a diverse range of taxa to explore the patterns, drivers, and conservation imperatives for Australia's short-range endemic invertebrates. Presentations will highlight how molecular approaches are uncovering 'hidden endemism' - where single morphospecies often comprise multiple genetically distinct SRE lineages with unique conservation requirements and significant implications for biodiversity assessment and management. The symposium will also address the scale-dependency of SRE: At what spatial scales do SRE patterns emerge? How can we detect and delimit SRE species in poorly studied taxa? What landscape features predict SRE hotspots? Studies spanning terrestrial and aquatic systems – from myriapods, to crustaceans, arachnids, and hexapods – will showcase current research advancing our knowledge of SRE patterns and processes. As pressures intensify on Australia's biodiversity hotspots, understanding SRE patterns and cryptic diversity becomes increasingly important. This symposium will synthesise current knowledge, identify research gaps, and foster collaborative approaches to advance our understanding of and ability to conserve Australia's irreplaceable short-range endemic invertebrate fauna.

8. Insect microbes - from beneficial symbiosis to pathogenesis

Emily Remnant, University of Sydney
Markus Riegler, Western Sydney University

Insects are hosts to a diverse range of viral, bacterial and fungal inhabitants which span the spectrum from beneficial commensals to disease-causing pathogens. Microbial interactions with an insect host can be essential for viability or reproduction, such as beneficial symbionts that support diverse nutritional requirements or provide defence against other pathogens. Alternatively, harmful microbes can manipulate insect host behaviour and reproduction, and in some cases lead to disease, death and pandemics. With the widespread adoption of next generation sequencing techniques including metagenomics and metatranscriptomics, the complex microbial world of insects is being brought to light, including the discovery of novel viruses, co-evolutionary dynamics of hosts and microbes, and evidence for horizontal gene transfer of genetic material from microbes into host genomes.This symposium will invite speakers working on all aspects of insect microbes – the good, the bad and the utterly fascinating.

9. From acceptance to integration: reframing entomophagy as a socially embedded food practice

Daniel White, University of Technology, Sydney

This symposium will bring together interdisciplinary contributions that move beyond acceptance-focused models to examine:

• cultural norms, routines, and social transmission underpinning sustained consumption
  
• sensory and experiential drivers (e.g., taste) within ongoing dietary practice
  
• limitations of intention- and willingness-based frameworks
  
• structural influences such as access, food security, and knowledge continuity
  
• implications for intervention design, policy, and market development
  

Potential contributors could include researchers working across consumer behaviour, sensory science, and applied entomology. For example, this could align with work by researchers in the Australian space focusing on insect consumption and behaviour (e.g., groups around food acceptance and human–insect interaction), and those working on the sensory and applied aspects of edible insects.