RSSA May 2025 Meeting and Scientific Presentation

The Royal Society of South Australia is pleased to invite you to its May meeting and scientific presentation, so please join us for a night of adventure and discovery.

For our May scientific presentation, we are very happy to have Associate Professor S. Topa Petit (University of South Australia) joining us as our guest speaker. With a presentation titled “The adventurous discovery of a new bat pollination system” we will be leaving Australia for the night to hear about the discovery of a new pollination system in Fiji.

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The adventurous discovery of a new bat pollination system

Abstract: This is the tale of adventurers who travelled to Fiji for research and inadvertently discovered the most extraordinary bat pollination system in the history of pollination. A tree in the Dilleniaceae, a family known to produce no nectar and be pollinated by bees, depends entirely on bats and excludes other pollinators with its special flowers.  But is it the only one in the world?  We will retrace the steps of the valiant researchers and link botanical clues to the resolution of this international mystery.

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The event will begin at 6:00 pm with nibbles, refreshments and opportunities for pre-meeting discussions and networking. A small donation to the RSSA is greatly appreciated to partake in this and support the continued provision of these pre-meeting treats.

This event will be held in-person in the Royal Society rooms, but we will simultaneously live-stream the meeting via Zoom for those not able to attend on the night.

To attend either in person, or online, you must register here. The zoom link will be sent to you on registration. Please feel free to share this event with your institution or networks.

If in-person tickets are sold out, please be aware that we are unable to admit more people than our room capacity. If online tickets are sold out, please contact admin@rssa.org.au and we can supply the zoom link to you.

For more information on the location of the RSSA rooms, please visit https://www.rssa.org.au/contact/