Our 2016 joint symposium with Eucalypt Australia addressed the evolution, diversity and conservation of eucalypt species and the future of Australian forests, woodlands and other eucalypt biota. Terrific video summaries of our 2016 symposium presentations are now available here for viewing.
Led by microbiologist Dr Gregory Crocetti and visual artist Briony Barr from the Scale Free Network, our young scientists were given a lively, interactive introduction to the ecology of microscopic life.
Matthew Flinders’ most obvious claim to fame is that he captained the Investigator, the first ship to circumnavigate Australia, charting the sections of the coast which were unknown to Europeans.
A breakthrough in disease prediction saved canola farmers on Eyre Peninsula, South Australia, at least $18 million in 2012. The major threat to canola, Australia’s third most valuable grain crop, is a fungal disease named blackleg, which causes cankers at the base of the canola stem. Over the last decade, a team led by Professor Barbara Howlett, School of Botany, the University of Melbourne, and funded by Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC), has used traditional and molecular genetic techniques to monitor blackleg resistance of canola varieties sown across Australia. Professor Howlett’s scientific research underpins advice to farmers on best management practices to minimise losses in crop yield due to blackleg infections.
