Southwestern Australia has a unique natural heritage. Our ecosystems contain many complex interactions between plants, animals and fungi. Prof. Lamont will outline examples of these interactions such as occur with the Albany pitcher plant, orchid mimicry, the woylie, and black cockatoos. He will explain how these cycles form an essential part of the environment that we all love and depend on. Content has been tailored for senior high school students and above.

Byron is Distinguished Professor Emeritus in Plant Ecology, at Curtin University. His expertise is adaptations of Mediterranean floras to fire, poor soils, drought, herbivores and pollinators. Byron has published 420 papers since 1972, currently cited 35,000 times. He became a Member of the Order of Australia for services to botany in 2010. Since retirement in 2010, Byron has published 115 papers, and a book on the SW Australian flora (Groom and Lamont 2015, de Gruyter Open). Byron is a regular speaker and excursion leader for naturalist and mature-age learning groups and occasional international conferences.