Australian Tropical Herbarium in Cairns, Queensland, Australia | technology & engineering

Australian Tropical Herbarium

Locality: Cairns, Queensland, Australia

Phone: +61 7 4232 1837

Address: James Cook University, McGregor Road 4878 Cairns, QLD, Australia

Website: http://www.ath.org.au

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24.01.2022 Exploring the Dark Matter of Biodiversity How important is it that we know whom we share our planet and even our bodies with? What is the catalogue of life and why is it important? Professor Darren Crayn, Director of the Australian Tropical Herbarium, explains why taxonomy is big science without the Hadron collider and why it is vital that we explore the dark matter of biodiversity.

24.01.2022 1 September is National Wattle Day. Acacia pycnantha, commonly known as Golden Wattle, is the national floral emblem of Australia. It was proclaimed as the national floral emblem in 1988 and four years later, in 1992, 1 September was formally declared National Wattle Day. Of the over 1270 species in the genus Acacia, Acacia purpureopetala is the only species to have consistently mauve-pink flowers.... The Purple Wattle (Acacia purpureopetala, Family Fabaceae) is a rare species of wattle known only from the Herberton region of north Queensland and notable for its mauve-pink flowers. In 2018 Gerry Turpin (of the Tropical Indigenous Ethnobotany Centre at the Australian Tropical Herbarium) and some traditional owners from the Mbabaram Land Managers group assisted botanists Andrew Ford and Paul Williams in a Purple Wattle survey near Watsonville and Irvinebank, Mbabaram country. The Mbabaram Land Managers are funded by Bush Heritage Australia.

24.01.2022 In a major new paper out today, Dr Ashley Field from the Australian Tropical Herbarium and Queensland Herbarium, has updated the classification of all Australian ferns and lycophytes. The new classification reflects that of the global Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group. The Australian fern and lycophyte flora comprises 2 classes, 14 orders, 32 families, 134 genera and 528 species and subspecies with the addition of 8 newly recorded and 6 newly recognised species since the publicati...on of the Flora of Australia fern volume in 1998. Overall, 208 species are endemic to Australia, with Queensland having the highest species diversity and endemism by state or territory, and Lord Howe Island having the highest concentration of species and endemics per unit area. The Australian fern and lycophyte flora shows diverse links with Africa, Asia and Oceania, with the largest overlaps being shared with Asia and Oceania. No genera of ferns and lycophytes are now considered to be wholly endemic to Australia. Photos by Ashley Field. Paper: https://www.publish.csiro.au/SB/SB18011# Request paper at: https://www.researchgate.net//338333256_Classification_and

23.01.2022 Excellent post about a wonderful result from a collaborative project between RBG Sydney and the ATHs Dr Ashley Field. This is part of a much larger project on the conservation of Australias tropical mountain flora.

23.01.2022 Winners are grinners! The Tropical Mountain Plant Science (TroMPS) collaboration, led by the ATH, has won the Wet Tropics Management Authority's prestigious Cassowary Award in the category Climate Change Leadership. TroMPS is working to secure the future of Australia’s climate-threatened tropical mountaintop plants by building a multi-strategy, ex-situ conservation reserve to ‘backup’ at-risk wild populations and support research, display and education. ... Project partners are undertaking novel research on seed banking strategies, measuring genetic diversity and testing plant tolerance of extreme climates to ensure that the reserve collections, distributed across multiple Botanic Gardens and Seed Banks along Australia’s east coast, are genetically and physiologically diverse, and climatically matched to wild habitat. Communicating science and conservation messages is achieved through an artist-in-residency, media and scholarly publications, and ultimately through in-gardens interpretive materials. Our collaborators include: Western Yalanji, Jabalbina Aboriginal Corporation, Australian National Botanic Gardens, Australian National Seed Bank, Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, PlantBank, Blue Mountains Botanic Garden, Australian Rhododendron Society Victoria Branch, Brisbane Botanic Gardens, Cairns Botanic Gardens, Mossman Botanic Gardens, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria Cranbourne, National Herbarium of Victoria, Wet Tropics Management Authority, Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, and Donna Davis (artist). The grinning winner in the photo is the project manager, Stuart Worboys, receiving this coveted award on behalf of all the partners, and our supporters (Ian Potter Foundation, The Geoff Ross Endowment, Threatened Species Initiative and the Wet Tropics Management Authority). Photo: Wet Tropics Images. A news report is here https://www.tropicnow.com.au//local-leaders-awarded-for-we

22.01.2022 A study of life in the clouds! Cloud immersion is a primary feature of Australia's tropical mountain cloud forests that is predicted to be impacted by climate c...hange. Dr Gemma Hoyle of the Australian National Botanic Gardens' National Seed Bank is conducting an exciting pilot study examining the effect of light quality on the germination of seeds collected from the cloud forests of the tropical mountaintops of Mt Bellenden-Ker and Mt Lewis, Far North Queensland -- as part of a rescue mission led by the Australian Tropical Herbarium to collect, propagate and safeguard up to 20 climate-threatened tropical mountaintop plant species to avert their extinction. She says that the quality of light, specifically the ratio of red to far-red light, might be a factor in the germination of seeds of cloud forests found on Australia's tropical mountaintops. Despite the link between light and clouds, little has been studied about the effect the quality of light has on these plants, or whether they require above average red to far-red light ratio for germination due to persistent cloud immersion. #scienceweek National Science Week National Science Week ACT #climate_threatened_flora #Cloud_Rainforests #WetTropicsWorldHeritageArea #Botanic_Gardens_Conservation #seedscience

22.01.2022 Hibbertia species (Family Dilleniaceae, commonly known as Guinea Flowers) of north Queensland are now easier to identify thanks to a new paper by Betsy Jackes in the journal North Queensland Naturalist. Betsy provides a key to the 30 species known from the region and includes many excellent photos https://www.nqnat.org/volume-49

21.01.2022 Dr Katharina Nargar from the Australian Tropical Herbarium will be speaking on the evolution of Australia’s orchid diversity this Wednesday at 6pm at the Cairns Botanic Gardens Cairns Visitor’s Centre for the Friends' Wednesday Night Talk. Please come along

21.01.2022 Two companion papers on the life and career of the 19th Century north Queensland plant collector John Dallachy have been published in the latest issue of Historical Records of Australian Science by John Leslie Dowe of the Australian Tropical Herbarium and Sara Maroske of Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. John Dallachy (1804-1871) was the most productive plant collector employed by Victorian Government Botanist Ferdinand Mueller, especially the years that Dallachy spent at Ro...ckingham Bay, Queensland, 1864-1871. After emigrating to Victoria in 1848, Dallachy was employed as a curator at Melbourne Botanic Gardens some three years before Mueller arrived from Adelaide to take on the position of government botanist. The first of the two papers deals with Dallachys early training as a horticulturist in England, his life and career in Melbourne, and the complex relationship that developed between him and Mueller. Family tragedy and alcoholism brought an abrupt end to his role at Melbourne Botanic Gardens but following Muellers intervention he was posted to Queensland to collect plants for Muellers herbarium in 1863. The second paper deals with Dallachys work at Rockingham Bay where he collected about 3500 specimens of which 400 represented type material for new species, most of which were described by Mueller. Details of his collection methodology, itinerary and interactions with fellow settlers and indigenous peoples at Rockingham Bay are examined in detail. These two papers, read together, provide a definitive account of one of the most productive plant collectors to have worked in tropical Queensland. Links to papers: 1. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR19012 2. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR19013

21.01.2022 New technologies are transforming the way we use and benefit from natural history collections.

20.01.2022 New Critically Endangered category under the Queensland Nature Conservation Act The Queensland Government has announced a new Regulation that affects plants that will come into effect from 22 August 2020. This Regulation under the Nature Conservation Act includes a new threat category, Critically Endangered / CR" introduced in order to bring Qld legislation in line with Federal and international (IUCN) threat status classifications. The CR category includes several species... from the Wet Tropics of north Queensland, including the previously presumed Extinct / X orchid Oberonia attenuata and fern Hymenophyllum whitei, re-discovered by Australian Tropical Herbarium staff and associates during field research projects. It also includes a number of newly described species (7), species previously in the Endangered category (1) which have either undergone or undergoing a massive decline (7), or would have belonged in CR if the category had existed in the previous Act (1). Others include Amblovenatum immersum, Amblovenatum tildeniae, Backhousia tetraptera, Eucryphia wilkiei, Garcinia russellii, Hollandaea porphyrocarpa, Phelgmariurus creber, Phlegmariurus dalhousieanus, Phlegmariurus squarrosus, Prostanthera albohirta, Prostanthera athertonia, Prostanthera mulliganensis, Prostanthera tozerana, Rhodamnia longisepala, Syzygium fratris, Zieria alata, and Zieria madida. https://www.qld.gov.au//plant/wildlife-permits/regulations https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au//pdf/asmade/sl-2020-0137

18.01.2022 A new Zieria discovered in north Queensland! A new species of shrub, Zieria fordii (family Rutaceae) has been discovered on Mt Emerald on the Herberton Range, near Tolga, inland from Cairns in north Queensland. Marco Duretto from the National Herbarium of New South Wales became aware of this new species during a visit to the Australian Tropical Herbarium when he noticed these unusual specimens in our collection that had been identified as Zieria cytisoides. Marco named Zieri...a fordii after Andrew Ford (CSIRO Atherton) whose keen botanical eye, broad knowledge and excellent and numerous herbarium collections have added significantly to our knowledge of the Queensland flora. Zieria fordii is only known from a single population of about 300 plants. https://openjournals.library.sydney.edu.au//art/view/13458 See more

18.01.2022 A great blog post featuring our Collections Manager Frank Zich, celebrating diversity! https://blog.csiro.au/frank-zich-plant-sex-diversity/

18.01.2022 Carbon storage and vulnerability of mangrove and salt marsh communities on Cape York Peninsula Eda Addicott and Peter Bannink (ATH and QLD Herbarium) along with co-authors Susan Laurance (JCU) and Simon Thompson (QPWS) have just had a paper The intertidal plant communities in north-eastern Australia, their carbon stores and vulnerability to extreme climate events published in the journal Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/aqc....3376. They used standardized, state-wide quantitative classification methods to identify five mangrove forest and three saltmarsh communities along 2,604 km2 of the coastline of Cape York Peninsula. Using published data, the Regional Ecosystem mapping of Queensland and GIS analyses, they estimated the Carbon stored in the intertidal communities was equivalent to 493.47 Tg of CO2, valued at AU$6.8 billion on the Australian carbon market in December 2018 and the annual Carbon sequestration potential was valued between AU$8.9 - $17 million. Comparatively, the rainforests and the Eucalyptus tetrodonta woodlands of the region stored about an equivalent amount of Carbon with three times the area, and 1.5 times the Carbon with 16 times the area respectively. Approximately 360 ha of mangrove forest was estimated lost due to dieback during the 2015-16 El Nino event, with three types of mangrove forest as potentially vulnerable to these climate events. The study highlights the national and global significance of these intertidal systems and the findings need to be incorporated in future conservation and development planning of northern Australia.

18.01.2022 Toxic fungus recorded in Australia for the first time by the ATHs Matt Barrett.

18.01.2022 Join this free online webinar to hear Katharina and other researchers present on the theme 'Understanding the evolution of Australia's biodiversity'. 4th Nov, 1pm to 2pm AEDT. Register at the link in the ALA post...

17.01.2022 An unusual health and safety risk found in the refence herbarium collection at the Daintree Rainforest Observatory

16.01.2022 New ‘Critically Endangered’ category under the Queensland Nature Conservation Act The Queensland Government has announced a new Regulation that affects plants that will come into effect from 22 August 2020. This Regulation under the Nature Conservation Act includes a new threat category, Critically Endangered / CR" introduced in order to bring Qld legislation in line with Federal and international (IUCN) threat status classifications. The CR category includes several species... from the Wet Tropics of north Queensland, including the previously presumed Extinct / X orchid Oberonia attenuata and fern Hymenophyllum whitei, re-discovered by Australian Tropical Herbarium staff and associates during field research projects. It also includes a number of newly described species (7), species previously in the Endangered category (1) which have either undergone or undergoing a massive decline (7), or would have belonged in CR if the category had existed in the previous Act (1). Others include Amblovenatum immersum, Amblovenatum tildeniae, Backhousia tetraptera, Eucryphia wilkiei, Garcinia russellii, Hollandaea porphyrocarpa, Phelgmariurus creber, Phlegmariurus dalhousieanus, Phlegmariurus squarrosus, Prostanthera albohirta, Prostanthera athertonia, Prostanthera mulliganensis, Prostanthera tozerana, Rhodamnia longisepala, Syzygium fratris, Zieria alata, and Zieria madida. https://www.qld.gov.au//plant/wildlife-permits/regulations https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au//pdf/asmade/sl-2020-0137

15.01.2022 HybPhaser, a new technique for identifying hybrids Hybrids contain genetic material from divergent species, which presents major problems for phylogenetic analyses. The workflow HybPhaser was developed by Lars Nauheimer from the ATH to assess and disentangle the conflicting information in order to generate more robust phylogenies that can reveal the parents of the hybrid. In the video below, Lars explains the concepts behind the workflow HybPhaser for the detection and phasi...ng of hybrids in target capture datasets. A hands-on workshop as part of the ASBS conference will explain the workflow in further detail and demonstrate the application. Recording of the presentation: https://youtu.be/japXwTAhA5U Link to the presentation slides: https://tinyurl.com/hybphaser-slides

15.01.2022 Early bird registration is closing on Sunday 30 May for the virtual conference of the Australasian Systematic Botany Society, register and submit your presentation abstract soon

14.01.2022 A new paper by our PhD student Lizzie Joyce... Documenting Earth’s biodiversity is critical for understanding and conserving it. However, the question of how many species of plants are in Southeast Asia, and where they occur has long remained unanswered. In a joined project between researchers at the Australian Tropical Herbarium, the University of Western Australia and Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Joyce et al. 2020 has produced the first preliminary checklist of flora for t...he region encompassing Sunda, Sahul and Wallacea. The list of vascular plants was compiled from 24 flora volumes, online databases and unpublished plot data, and each species is coded by country, island and continental shelf. From this list, we were able to show that the region comprises 60,415 species in 5,135 genera and 363 families of vascular plants; this confirms that species richness of Southeast Asia is comparable to that of the Neotropics! It is our hope that with further collaboration with regional and group experts the list can be continually updated and improvements made. Nevertheless, this checklist provides a novel, baseline dataset that will hopefully prove useful for researchers studying the flora of this biogeographically important region of very high global biodiversity. Link to the article: https://bdj.pensoft.net/article/51094/ Joyce E, Thiele K, Slik F, Crayn D (2020) Checklist of the vascular flora of the Sunda-Sahul Convergence Zone. Biodiversity Data Journal 8, e51094. doi:10.3897/BDJ.8.e51094.

14.01.2022 Dr Katharina Nargar from the Australian Tropical Herbarium is presenting on Australias Orchid Diversity, Threats and Conservation at the next JCU TESS seminar, this Wednesday at 4pm in the Cairns Institute at JCU Smithfield

12.01.2022 Congratulations to our PhD student Lizzy Joyce, who has just been awarded the Best Student Paper prize (2018) by the journal Australian Systematic Botany. Full details of the announcement - http://www.publish.csiro.au/sb/forauthors/awardsandprizes The paper has been made open access (free to download), so please check it out - http://www.publish.csiro.au/SB/fulltext/SB18028 ... Well done Lizzy, and well deserved!

12.01.2022 Poison Fire Coral fungus was recently found in Far North Queensland so weve developed an identification guide to distinguish it from similar-looking species. One of worlds deadliest fungi, the Poison Fire Coral (Trichoderma cornu-damae, also known as Podostroma cornu-damae and Hypocrea grossa), has been found in Far North Queensland for the first time, previously known from Japan, Korea, India, and China. Dr Matt Barrett from the Australian Tropical Herbarium confirmed the ...identity of the Poison Fire Coral fungus after local photographer Ray Palmer discovered it in a rainforest in Cairns. A second population has since been located in the Daintree National Park. Poison Fire Coral fungus is believed to be native to the area, and is a classic example of how many fungi remain to be discovered in tropical Australia. The bright red Poison Fire Coral fruit bodies were found on tree roots and soil. Dr Barrett warned people to resist the urge to pick up the eye-catching fungus, as it is possible that toxins can be absorbed through the skin. However the real danger comes if it is ingested. Several fatalities have been documented in Japan and Korea where people have brewed and drunk a tea with Poison Fire Coral, having confused it for the edible Ganoderma (Lingzhi or Reishi) or Cordyceps (vegetable caterpillar), which are used in traditional medicines. If eaten, it causes a horrifying array of symptoms: initially stomach pain, vomiting, diarrhea, fever and numbness, followed over hours or days by delamination of skin on face, hands and feet, and shrinking of the brain, which, in turn, causes altered perception, motion difficulties and speech impediments. If left untreated, death can occur from multiple organ failure or brain nerve dysfunction. Contact for a pdf version: Dr Matt Barrett E: [email protected]

11.01.2022 The dazzling spectacle of Australia's orchids. The Wilderness Journal spoke with Dr Katharina Nargar, research scientist at the Australian Tropical Herbarium, about the wonderful world of orchids. Read the interview here: https://journal.wilderness.org.au/issue-005/index.html

11.01.2022 Orchid Key back online. The online identification system for Australian Tropical Rainforest Orchids had a technical glitch a few weeks ago and went down, but weve got it going again. Please update your internet browser bookmarks as the URL has changed. Also note that the nomenclature and other content has not been updated since 2010. http://www.canbr.gov.au//k/rfkorchids/Media/Html/index.htm

10.01.2022 A study of life in the clouds! Cloud immersion is a primary feature of Australias tropical mountain cloud forests that is predicted to be impacted by climate c...hange. Dr Gemma Hoyle of the Australian National Botanic Gardens National Seed Bank is conducting an exciting pilot study examining the effect of light quality on the germination of seeds collected from the cloud forests of the tropical mountaintops of Mt Bellenden-Ker and Mt Lewis, Far North Queensland -- as part of a rescue mission led by the Australian Tropical Herbarium to collect, propagate and safeguard up to 20 climate-threatened tropical mountaintop plant species to avert their extinction. She says that the quality of light, specifically the ratio of red to far-red light, might be a factor in the germination of seeds of cloud forests found on Australias tropical mountaintops. Despite the link between light and clouds, little has been studied about the effect the quality of light has on these plants, or whether they require above average red to far-red light ratio for germination due to persistent cloud immersion. #scienceweek National Science Week National Science Week ACT #climate_threatened_flora #Cloud_Rainforests #WetTropicsWorldHeritageArea #Botanic_Gardens_Conservation #seedscience

09.01.2022 A new paper by our PhD student Lizzie Joyce... Documenting Earths biodiversity is critical for understanding and conserving it. However, the question of how many species of plants are in Southeast Asia, and where they occur has long remained unanswered. In a joined project between researchers at the Australian Tropical Herbarium, the University of Western Australia and Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Joyce et al. 2020 has produced the first preliminary checklist of flora for t...he region encompassing Sunda, Sahul and Wallacea. The list of vascular plants was compiled from 24 flora volumes, online databases and unpublished plot data, and each species is coded by country, island and continental shelf. From this list, we were able to show that the region comprises 60,415 species in 5,135 genera and 363 families of vascular plants; this confirms that species richness of Southeast Asia is comparable to that of the Neotropics! It is our hope that with further collaboration with regional and group experts the list can be continually updated and improvements made. Nevertheless, this checklist provides a novel, baseline dataset that will hopefully prove useful for researchers studying the flora of this biogeographically important region of very high global biodiversity. Link to the article: https://bdj.pensoft.net/article/51094/ Joyce E, Thiele K, Slik F, Crayn D (2020) Checklist of the vascular flora of the Sunda-Sahul Convergence Zone. Biodiversity Data Journal 8, e51094. doi:10.3897/BDJ.8.e51094.

08.01.2022 How do you identify plants in the astonishingly diverse rainforests of tropical Australia? Stuart Worboys of the Australian Tropical Herbarium has developed two in-depth videos to teach people how to do just that, and demonstrates the identification system 'Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants' that includes 2762 species. The videos demonstrate using Version 7; Version 8 looks a little different but works the same way... Video Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqNCFhN...20cw Video Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI8AVJxuleM The key: https://apps.lucidcentral.org/rainfor/text/intro/index.html See more

07.01.2022 What an awesome opportunity for someone to join us at the Australian Tropical Herbarium and James Cook University...

07.01.2022 Giant eucalypts globally unique fireadapted rainforest trees? Tree species exceeding 70 m in height are rare globally and the eucalypts (Eucalyptus spp.) of southern and eastern Australia are amongst the tallest flowering plants. Giant eucalypts cooccur with rainforest trees in eastern Australia, creating unique vegetation communities comprising firedependent trees above fireintolerant rainforest. David Tng completed his PhD studies on the tropical sclerophyll-rainfo...rest ecotone and these wonderful giant eucalypts while at the University of Tasmania, and had field sites around the Wet Tropics of north Queensland. David and colleagues suggest probable drivers of eucalypt gigantism are intense competition between seedlings and juveniles following severe fires and again later among adult trees, and that gigantism was made possible by a general capacity of eucalypts for hyperemergence. They also argue that, because giant eucalypts occur in rainforest climates and share traits with rainforest pioneers, they should be regarded as longlived rainforest pioneers, albeit with a particular dependence on fire for regeneration. These unique ecosystems are of high conservation value, following substantial clearing and logging over 150 years. Some of Davids papers and articles: https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com//j.1469-8137.2012.0435 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles//fpls.2014.00527/full https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article https://davidtng.wordpress.com//giants-that-return-to-the/

07.01.2022 Native wisterias in Australia undergo some taxonomic name changes. Wendy Cooper (research associate of the Australian Tropical Herbarium) has named a new genus and species in the pea family (Fabaceae) for Australia, Ibatiria furfuracea. Ibatiria is named in honour of the artist William T. Cooper (19342015), the late husband of the author Wendy Cooper. Iba Tiri is the water spirit of the Huli tribe in New Guinea and is represented at ceremonies with the plumes of the ribbon...-tailed bird of paradise, Astrapia mayeri Stonor, a favourite bird of Bills. Iba Tiri is also a joker and trickster and because of this, Bill was likened to Iba Tiri by a long-time friend and filmmaker David Parer. Ibatiria, the plant, is also a trickster with fruit that is atypical for a legume. Morphological characteristics and a molecular phylogeny supported the establishment the new genus for this species, which had previously been thought to be a new species of Callerya. The same paper reviews Austrocallerya, a recently named genus in the pea family (Fabaceae) for three species previously placed in Callerya, which are commonly called native wisteria. The three species occur from north Queensland to northern New South Wales and one (A. australis) also occurs in New Guinea and New Caledonia. These large vines put on spectacular displays during flowering, much like the exotic wisteria. Photographs here show the two species of Austrocallerya found in north Queensland (A. australis and A. pilipes) and Ibatiria furfuracea. Two recent papers have dealt the Austrocallerya in Australia: 1. Austrocallerya in Compton: https://phytokeys.pensoft.net/article/34877/ 2. Ibatiria, Austrocallerya and Pongamia in Cooper: https://www.publish.csiro.au/SB/SB18039

06.01.2022 Dr Katharina Nargar of the Australian Tropical Herbarium and Dr Alexander Schmidt-Lebuhn of the Australian National Herbarium on sequencing the genomes of Australian plants https://ecos.csiro.au/sequencing-australian-plants-genomes/

05.01.2022 Congratulations to Donna Davis, artist-in-residence on the ATHs tropical montane plant conservation project, on her extraordinary art installation now exhibiting in the Queensland State Archives in Brisbane. This is a fantastic outcome of our art-science collaboration! Donna Davis

03.01.2022 Specimens are increasingly used in ways that influence our ability to steward future biodiversity. As we enter the Anthropocene, herbaria have likewise entered... a new era with enhanced scientific, educational, and societal relevance. From https://academic.oup.com//doi/10.1093/biosci/biz094/5556012

03.01.2022 Keynote speakers for the ASBS 2021 conference are going to present on an exciting and broad range of topics. Check out the website for registration and more details as the full program of speakers develops

03.01.2022 Unraveling the secrets of orchid biology Orchids display an exceptional diversity and possess unique traits, including complex flower structures and highly specialised interactions with pollinators and fungi. Rapid advances in genomics and developmental biology offer new and exciting insights into the secrets of orchid biology. A new special issue in Frontiers in Plant Science issue compiled by Jen-Tsun Chen (National University of Kaohsiung, Taiwan) and Katharina Nargar (Aus...tralian Tropical Herbarium), now provides a snapshot of this rapidly developing field of research, with contributions in orchid reproductive development, evolution, biotechnology, and photosynthesis. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2020.01013 Link to Research Topic: https://www.frontiersin.org//orchid-genomics-and-developme Photo caption: Intriguing orchid flowers of Robiquetia wasselii. Photo: T. Linderhaus

03.01.2022 Today is National Eucalypt day and also marks the release of the fourth edition of EUCLID Eucalypts of Australia the foremost eucalypt identification and botanical guide. Follow the link for more information...

02.01.2022 Last month, postdoctoral researcher Rachael Fowler returned from a three week field trip collecting species of Eucalyptus and Corymbia from far north Queensland.... Rach was lucky to make it out of Victoria before lockdown and with assistance from the Australian Tropical Herbarium staff was able to access a vehicle and equipment for a 3500km round trip. With invaluable field assistance from ecologist Don Franklin, Rach travelled west from Cairns to Normanton, then up Cape York. Collections from this trip will be contributing to a large collaborative project studying the biogeography and taxonomy of northern Australian eucalypts in the monsoon tropics and arid zone, funded by Eucalypt Australia, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria and The University of Melbourne Botany Foundation. See more

02.01.2022 PhD, Masters and Honours opportunities in plant biosecurity are available now! The Australian Tropical Herbarium is starting a new research group in plant biosecurity and the newly appointed researchers, Daniel Montesinos and Matt Barrett, are accepting candidatures for PhD, Masters and Honours candidates to study the ecology, evolution, and biogeography of invasive plants. The research would involve field, lab, and greenhouse work, and will offer the opportunity to learn a d...iverse array of technical skills including population and community ecology, reproductive biology, physiology, cytogenetics, genetics, or statistics. Potential study systems include sicklepod (Senna obtusifolia), crowsfoot (Eleusine indica), or gamba grass (Andropogon gayanus), but are open to other scientifically important systems, including fungi. The research project will involve collaboration with international scientists from around the world and is expected to produce original scientific results which will lead to advances in theoretical ecology as well as improved management of plant invasions. Please be aware of the upcoming deadline for JCUs Postgraduate Research Scholarships on September 30, 2019. Candidatures need to be readied weeks before that deadline. https://www.jcu.edu.au//candidates/postgraduate-research-s Please contact Daniel Montesinos or Matt Barrett at E2.204, E2.203 or e-mail [email protected] and [email protected]. Informal inquiries are welcome and encouraged.

02.01.2022 Weed life - why some plants turn bad... Daniel Montesinos has just published a paper which may help to explain why only a small proportion of introduced species become invasive (weedy). Escape from the soil pathogens that plague them in their native regions can be important for the success of many invasives in new environments, but we dont really know if the soil biota is important for other introduced species which are not so successful. To try to understand this, Daniel gr...ew three closely related Centaurea species (knapweeds, starthistles) in soils from their native Spain and from California where they have been introduced. The invasive yellow starthistle (C. solstitialis) grew reasonably well in native Spanish soils but grew much larger in soils from California, suggesting that pathogens and other soil enemies in soils from the native range keep them in check. In contrast, the two non-invasive Centaurea species grew the same on all soils. These results highlight the importance of soil pathogens for invasive success, and help to explain why some introduced species are more successful than others in the regions they invade. Two of these species are also present in Australia, and similar soil-feedback processes are likely occur in this country. See more

01.01.2022 A new edition of the "Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants identification system has now been released online and for the first time features mobile apps. https://keys.lucidcentral.org//australian-tropical-rainfo/ Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants (the Rain Forest Key, or RFK) is the foremost identification and botanical guide to rainforest plants of northern Australia. It has reached a new milestone with the release of the 8th edition and for the first time is avai...lable as an Android and iOS mobile application for $20. The app can be used online from a mobile device, but also provides the option to fully download the system for use in the field without an internet connection. The RFK provides descriptions of 2762 species of plants, over 14,000 images to assist identification and an interactive identification key using LucidTM software. As far as this key is concerned, rainforest encompasses a wide variety of closed forest types in the higher rainfall areas of northern Australia. It does not include eucalypt forests or all mangrove forests. The following commonly used terms are encompassed in our broad rainforest category: Monsoon Forest, Softwood Scrub, Vine Thicket, Gallery Forest, Scrub, Jungle and Vine Forest. Direct link: https://apps.lucidcentral.org/rainforest/