This piece appears in the July 2023 edition of Science Victoria magazine. All issues can be read online for free at rsv.org.au/Science-Victoria. Embarking on a career in STEMM often involves dealing with uncertainties when it comes to progressing from education and training to professional employment and expertise. Even with training in one subject – whether […]

Over time, wattles have been used for a wealth of purposes such as a source of fuel, medicines, perfume, feed for animals, woodcrafts and in particular, food. It is the pods of these species that contain wattleseeds, a bush food that became a staple over 6,000 years ago as part of the traditional diet for many Indigenous peoples. Mostly found growing in the arid regions of Central Australia, Acacia victoriae, is the most common edible species.

Our climate is already changing. Under the Paris Agreement, Australia and the world’s great nations have committed to reducing global temperatures to a 1.5-2°C rise over pre-industrial levels. Should this exercise prove successful, a 2°C rise will still have far-reaching climate effects, with major implications for the State of Victoria. This panel of senior scientists were gathered together by the Governor of Victoria to showcase some of the work in climate adaptation produced in our state and, most importantly, share actions we could all take in our personal and professional lives to adapt to the “new normal.”

There were once Eucalypts in South America and New Zealand, and South American conifers in Australia. What’s the link?
Antarctica.
Once at the heart of the Gondwana supercontinent, it is unsurprising that Antarctica holds information on plant species that were once common throughout the Southern Hemisphere. First travelling to Antarctica in the summer of 1991-92, Professor Cantrill has since returned eight times to collect data, sometimes spending up to five months at a time out in the field away from shelter and wildlife. Today, the growth and variety of flora in Antarctica is limited, due to the sheer amount of ice cover and inhospitable conditions; however, Professor Cantrill has dug deeper into the past to uncover the southernmost continent’s fossil record, revealing a flourishing environment millions of years ago that supported diverse plant life.