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Head of School’s Report

Life is tough in the School’s Office, with the School Manager being on secondment. However, the School continues to travel well, despite the effects of the economic downturn, which meant a cut of 3% for all Schools. An 8% increase in undergraduate student numbers makes us look at a bright future. Numbers of journal publications in 2008 were, again, higher than in the preceding year.

In terms of numbers of publications and citations of our papers, UWA belongs to the top in plant sciences at UWA; a position we share with ANU. What sets us apart from ANU, however, is that plant research at UWA is not only strong in cutting-edge fundamental science, but also in strategic research that delivers outcomes for the industry and the wider community. This is a tradition we seek to uphold, in line with a strategy UWA is aiming for to belong to the top 50 in the world in 50 years time.

The School is actively seeking participation from Alumni and community members for their donations for research scholarships through the Kwongan Foundation and

through the UWA Office of Developmenthttp://www.plants.uwa.edu.au/foundation

School Manager’s Report

Renu has opted to go on a secondment to broaden her experience and skills as General Manager, International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research. In her absence Pandy du Preez has taken up the position in an acting capacity.

The annual Postgraduate Summer School at Rottnest was a huge success. For more information and photos taken while at the Summer School, go to: http://www.plants.uwa.edu.au/studentnet/rottnest

The 2008 review of the School’s research income indicates that $9.2 million has been received in external grants. This is higher than what we have ever secured before. Thank you to all the staff for the hard work and effort put in to achieve this. The School is going from strength to strength as a result of hard work and effort from all our staff.

January to March 2009

http://www.plants.uwa.edu.au/studentnet/rottnest

http://www.plants.uwa.edu.au/studentnet/rottnest

http://www.plants.uwa.edu.au/foundation



Upcoming Events

Plant Biology Seminar Series

http://www.plants.uwa.edu.au/page/13134

SYMPOSIUM: IMPACT OF BELOW-LABEL HERBICIDE RATES.

Justification & Objectives.There are various impacts of reduced herbicide rates with various viewpoints, both positive and negative on the matter. The label rate for the same weed species can vary significantly from country to country. Rate cutting below the label rate is practiced more in some regions than others. There are a number of viewpoints on the impact of reduced herbicide rates. There are clearly strong interactions of herbicide rate with crop competition etc which influence herbicide efficacy. There are short term economic benefits from cutting herbicide rate and there are potentially longer term costs (survivors delivering seed to the seedbank). There is published evidence that reducing herbicide rates below label rates can speed herbicide resistance evolution.

Target audience:This symposium is designed to be of relevance and interest to a majority of WSSA conference attendees. Interest should extend from those primarily interested in herbicide weed control through to those with interests in

resistance evolution and herbicide mode of action/biochemistry. Both industry and university based attendees will be interested in the symposium.

ProgramSymposium Organiser: Stephen Powles

Invited speakers:M.J. Christoffers - Genetic and evolutionary considerations of below-label herbicide rates.

R. Busi, S. Manalil, S.B. Powles - Use of below-label herbicide rates can lead to evolution of herbicide resistant weeds.

P. Doyle, M. Stypa - Below-label herbicide rates: An industry perspective.

J.T. O’Donovan, et al. - Crop production impacts of below-label herbicide rates.

B.G. Murray - Below-label herbicide rates the lesser of two evils: A western Canadian extension perspective.

T. Grimes - Below-label herbicide rates: A retailers perspective.

Other papers to be presented at the conference:Title of the Paper 1:Rapid herbicide resistance evolution in Lolium from recurrent selection at reduced rate of diclofop-methyl in a wheat crop (and lab). Manalil, Busi and Powles .


http://www.plants.uwa.edu.au/page/13134



Title of the Paper 2:Shifting herbicide sensitivity towards susceptibility through recurrent selection at low rate of diclofop-methyl in a susceptible Lolium rigidum population. Manalil, Busi and Powles.

Title of Paper 3Response to selection with sub-lethal glyphosate doses in Lolium vs. Avena populations. Busi and Powles

News

Perth gets top marks from Indian students

WA is rapidly becoming an education destination of choice for Indian students, with enrolments in Perth institutions increasing sixfold in the past four years. There are more than 3000 Indian students enrolled in Perth institutions by the end of last year compared with about 500 in 2005. Of all our foreign postgraduate students, those from India are our largest contingent (10 PhD students).

The number of Indian students commencing new courses in Perth increased a staggering 211 per cent in the past year alone, rising from 977 in November 2007 to 3037 last year.

One of the reasons Indian students choose Perth is because it had good part-time employment.

The University of WA said its intake of Indian students had risen from just four in 2005 to 250 starting this year.

Professor Sharda stated that “UWA has a high scholastic profile in India due to a number of partial scholarship offerings,” “There is a large Indian community in Perth of about 30,000 Indian-origin families, with Indian restaurants and temples — and I believe this makes a difference.”

Warming to the West: Indian UWA plant biology postgraduate students Beena Anil,

left, and Parwinder Kaur in the UWA greenhouses

PhD students Parwinder Kaur and Beena Anil, both won scholarships to do plant science research at UWA. Ms Kaur, who has been in Perth for 2 years, turned down another scholarship in Queensland because she was more interested in the research project on offer at UWA.

“It’s been a wonderful experience so far,” she said. “The people are really friendly in Australia, especially in Perth.” Ms Anil, who arrived two months ago, said the informality of Perth was a culture shock.




“Back in India people are more reserved, here they are more outgoing,” she said.

Scientists in Schools Project

Dr Rowena Long, a UWA plant biologist based at the Botanic Parks and Gardens authority at Kings Park, has been partnered with St Emilie’s school in a joint venture, which involves Scientists in Schools. This provides a learning experience that allows scientists and schools to work together across Australia in flexible, professional partnerships. Recently Dr Long spent the morning with the Year 6/7 students. The students learnt about karrikinolide – a chemical recently discovered in smoke that is known to trigger seeds to germinate. The students examined one of Dr Long’s current experiments by investigating Petri dishes with wild turnip seeds.

Rowena said “I had a fantastic morning with the students, and can't wait to return in May when we will extract DNA from fruit together.” Meanwhile, she is helping with the school's application for a Community Environmental Grant to conserve and revegetate a section of remnant bushland in the school grounds.

Rowena Long with students from St Emilie’s

Awards

Plant Biology Student Shines Through The Smoke

Julie-Anne Riseborough is a shining example of the success enjoyed by our Honours students. Julie-Anne was hooked by the excitement of the research carried out at Kings Park to understand how the active compounds in smoke stimulate seed germination. She was awarded a scholarship to carry out research at King’s Park in the summer preceding her Honours year, then received a scholarship from the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology at UWA to carry out her Honours project in collaboration with the Centre.




Julie-Anne Riseborough and Dr David Nelson

Julie-Anne studied karrikins – a recently discovered family of compounds from smoke that stimulate seed germination. In collaboration with Research Associate Dr David Nelson, Julie-Anne found that Arabidopsis thaliana, a plant from the temperate northern hemisphere, responds to karrikins. This is an important discovery since it shows that plants from non-fire-prone environments respond to karrikins implying that karrikins have far greater importance than previously realised. The discovery also opens the way to use the genetic resources of Arabidopsis to discover how karrikins work at the molecular level. Julie-Anne went on to identify several classes of transcriptional patterns for a set of karrikin-regulated genes.

Julie-Anne is co-author of a paper in one of the world’s most highly-cited plant biology journal, Plant Physiology, and she is expected to be co-author of future papers. Her contribution is helping to firm

up UWA’s leading position in this exciting research field.

2008 Mike Carroll Travelling Fellowship Award

Congratulations to Annaliese Mason, for having been awarded the prestigious 2008 Mike Carroll Travelling Fellowship.

Annaliese will spend six weeks in France researching how to combat potential problems of abnormal chromosome associations in Super Brassica plants.

Announcing the winner at a ceremony at UWA's Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, Helen Carroll said the Fellowship honoured her deceased husband, former Director General of the WA Department of Agriculture, Dr Mike Carroll.

Recipients are chosen on their academic abilities, relevance of studies to an important area of Australian broadacre agriculture, their potential to benefit from the experience and their enthusiasm to impart the findings of their travels to the scientific, farming and wider community on their return to WA.




From Left are Helen Carroll, Annaliese Mason, Professor Graeme Martin & Professor Tony

O'Donnell.

Maurice O’Shea Award

The wine industry’s most prestigious prize, the McWilliam’s Maurice O’Shea Award, has been won by the distinguished Western Australian agronomist John Gladstones. The award recognises Gladstones’ pioneering research over the past five decades.

While working at UWA in the 60’s Gladstones wrote two research papers that indicated the suitability of the Margaret River area for growing grapes. This led to the establishment of the Margaret River region as a wine-producing district.

His ‘Viticulture and Environment’ – a study of the effects of environment on grape growing and wine qualities, was enthusiastically received in Australia, the US and in South America, especially because of the new ground it broke. It is particularly pleasing to Gladstones that

most of the predictions he made in the book have since been confirmed.

Other Award Winners

Sudheesh Manalil won two separate awards. The first being a University’s Research Travel Award of $1750, as well as a School of Plant Biology Award of $500.

Roberto Busi won a GRDC's Travel Award of $4630.

Both Roberto Busi and Sudheesh Manalil used their awards to attend the Weed Science Society of America 2009 Meeting, in Orlando, Florida on February 9-12th, 2009.

A special symposium within the main conference has been organised by Professor Stephen Powles.

Venue at Orlando, Florida where Sudheesh Manalil and Dr. Roberto Busi attended a

conference in first week of February




Foteini Hassiotou has won the Grieve Travel Award for 2008.

Jillian Ooi was awarded the Best 1st

Year Presentation at the Rottnest Summer School 2009.

Dr Michael Considine has been awarded a 2009 Researcher Exchange Programme Award to visit Professor Christine Foyer at Newcastle University, UK to conduct research on antioxidant and defence metabolism in plant tissues, particularly fruit. The collaboration is expected to grow, with a PhD student of Dr Considine’s expected to spend time with Prof. Foyer as well.

New Staff Joining Plant Biology

Dr Todd Gaines: A recent addition to Plant Biology - WAHRI is, postdoc Todd Gaines. Todd comes to us from Colorado State University (CSU) where he won the Outstanding Graduate Student Award at the 49th annual Weed Science Society of America.

Todd received his bachelor's degree in Soil and Crop Science in 2004 and his Master's degree in Plant Breeding and Genetics in 2006, both at CSU. He also served as a student liaison on the board of directors for the Western Society of Weed Science.

Todd says that his work has begun a new understanding of herbicide resistance and that people are interested because there hasn't been this kind of molecular work in

weed science so far. His work opens doors for molecular weed science.

Welcome to Prof Richard Hobbs and his group; Dr Lori Lach, Dr Kellie Maher, Dr Susan Yates, Dr Viki Cramer and Dr Rachel Standish who have joined us from Murdoch University. Dr Mike Craig is also part of the team but will be remaining at Murdoch University.

The following PhD Candidates are also with the group: Cristina Ramalho, Kimberley Nihill, Peter Grose, Gary McMahon as well as MSc Candidates; Sutomo and Lauren Hallett. The group will soon be joined by another MSc Candidate, Juan GaribelloThe group’s main research interests include:

restoration ecology,

old-field restoration, plant ecology and ecophysiology,

landscape ecology and restoration, nature conservation, and

ecological restoration in social-ecological systems.

Dr Ricarda Jost has come to us from the Australian National University for a 3-year appointment on an ARC-Linkage project. Her research focuses on Phytophthora cinnamomi, the most important threat to our biodiversity.

Lisa Mayer has joined the WAHRI team

Jason Fellman has joined Pauline Grierson’s group as a Research




Associate and will be working on riparian biogeochemistry in arid environments.

Daniel Smale has made the move to Australia from the UK taking up the position of Research Associate in Marine Science /Climate Change.

Matthew Willis has commenced as a Research Officer with Dr Louise Barton. He will be working on identifying and managing water repellency in turfgrass grown on sandy soils.

Dr James Bennett has moved from Victoria to begin at UWA as a Research Associate (National Plant Biosecurity CRC Modeller). The position James has taken up is a collaborative project between DAFWA, CSIRO & UWA CRC.

New Postgraduate Students Joining Plant Biology

SurnameFirst

Name Type Supervisor

Stingemore Jessica PhD S. Krauss

Sutomo MSc R. Hobbs

Swella George PhD K. Flower

Ramalho Cristina PhD R. Hobbs

Nihill Kimberley PhD R. Hobbs

Nikabadi Shahab Grad Dip P. Finnegan

Mohring Margaret PhD G. Kendrick

Mubarek Aidilla PhD M. Considine

Hoath Daniel PhD J. Plummer

Hallett Lauren MSc R. Hobbs

Takahira Junko MSc W. Cowling

Erickson Todd PhD K. Dixon

Menz Myles PhD K. Dixon

Ford Ben PhD E. Harvey

Annissa Annissa PhD W. Cowling

Alamri Saud PhD T. Colmer

Arpiwi Ni Luh PhD J. Plummer

People Leaving Plant BiologyAriti Melissa

Byrne Oonagh

Minkey David

Li Caixia

Walsh Michael

Height Kaitlyn

Bednarek Lidia

Visitors to the School

Title First Name Surname Institute

Prof Jörg Bohlmann University of British Columbia, Canada

Prof Quintino Araujo Ministry for Science & Technology, Brazil

Miss Yiming Guo

Visiting MSc student Huazhong Agricultural University, China

Miss Ana-Luiza MulerState University of Campinas, Cidade Universitarea, Brazil

Prof Jianming YangZhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China




Professor Jörg Bohlmann of the University of British Columbia visited the School in April 2009, invited by Prof. Julie Plummer and Dr Chris Jones. Jörg is a Distinguished University Scholar at UBC and has published extensively in the field of forestry, plant physiology and natural products chemistry. He was a keynote speaker at the AFG Conference in April, and presented a seminar to the School on his recent research into conifer defence mechanisms.

The principal focus of this research program is to better understand herbicide resistance dynamic subsequent to the use of sub-lethal herbicide rates.

Staff/Student Travel

FREEZING IN ANTARCTIC

Adelie Penguin Rookery

Greg Cawthray sent us an insight into life at Davis, mixing both work and recreation. Greg has found the landscape absolutely amazing. He has been to Adelie penguin rookeries right at the time they were having chicks, elephant seal wallows where they come

ashore for their yearly molt, the actual Antarctic plateau and the ice free area known as the Vestfold Hills all of which were on his tourist agenda.

Greg celebrated Australia Day with a swim in the bay at Davis with the water a brisk 0.3 degrees and air temp less than 1 degree, followed by a cricket game that was interrupted twice by penguins invading the pitch area.

Greg found his time in Davis to be a fascinating and wonderful experience, challenging but very rewarding.

Davis Station

Greg has experienced Davis being a rocky outcrop over the summer months with the warmest day being a staggering 11.5 degrees (the hottest day in 5 years), but generally the temperature ranges between 0-3 degrees which he says doesn’t actually feel too cold unless a reasonable breeze is blowing. Greg endured his first blizzard at Davis for this year with winds reaching 110 km/h.

Greg returned to UWA in the beginning of May.




SAAB Conference

Mariana Cruz Campos, Dr Stuart Pearse and Prof. Hans Lambers attended the 35th

annual conference of the South African Association of Botanists (SAAB) and International Workshop on “Phosphate as a Limiting Resource” hosted by Stellenbosch University. The workshop was organised by A/Prof. Mike Cramer from University of Cape Town, a previous visitor to Plant Biology who spent a sabbatical with us back in 2003.

Hans Lambers and Mike Cramer digging up some trouble… or possibly cluster roots

A fantastic time was had by all those participating in the conference and especially the workshop, a highlight being a two day trip investigating the local flora found in the Fynbos and Karoo biomes throughout the Western Cape region. The evening of the trip was spent sampling wonderful South African wines with beef cooked over an open fire whilst staying in chalets at a camping ground.

Stuart Pearse & SAAB President Karen Esler.

Hans gave an invited plenary presentation, which was well received, as was Stuart’s presentation; he received the First Prize for Best Oral Presentation by a Young Botanist (under 30 yrs). Thanks go to the conference organisers and especially Michael Cramer for organising the workshop!

Month Name Destination

January Colmer, Tim India

Kendrick, Gary USA

Yan, Guijun Brisbane

Pearse, Stuart South Africa

Lambers, Hans South Africa

Grierson, Pauline Santa Barbara

Mariana Cruz Campos

Brazil

February Colmer, Tim Adelaide

Hobbs, Richard Canberra

Busi, Roberto Los Angeles

Sivasithamparam, Adelaide




Kirshnapillai

Grierson, Pauline Hobart

Mason, Annaliese France

Colmer, Tim Sydney

Ganesalingam, Aanandini

Sydney

Hobbs, Richard NewZealand

Cowling, Wallace Melbourne

March Barbetti, Martin Melbourne

Hassiotou, Foteini Canberra

Chen, Weihua Adelaide

Colmer, Tim Adelaide

Rich, Sarah Denmark

Powles, Stephen Canberra

Research

Review of Desi Chickpea Project

There was a final review of two of the Council of Grain Growers Association Ltd (COGGO) chickpea projects recently at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) - Patancheru. The review team included: Mr Geoff Smith and Mr Mike Perry, both from COGGO; Prof. Doug McEachern, Prof. KDM Siddique and Prof Tim Colmer from The University of Western Australia (UWA); Dr Mark Sweetingham, Dr Tanveer Khan both from the Department of Agriculture and Food WA (DAFWA); Prof Tim Flowers, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK; Dr JS Sandhu of the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) and

the ICRISAT research team for the two projects.

The projects reviewed were:

1. ‘Accelerated Genetic Improvement of Desi Chickpea’, and

2. ‘Improvement of Salinity and Boron Toxicity Tolerance in Chickpea’.

The review team were impressed with the progress made in the two projects ranking the 1st project as “Outstanding” and commended the team for its project outputs, which exceeded targets. They were also commended for their communication and comprehensive reporting. The team were given a positive indication for the second phase of the project, subject to approval from its board of management.

The 2nd project has attracted an ARC Linkage grant to continue its research into salinity tolerance. The salinity-tolerant lines identified in this project are now being used in the first project. The review team visited experiments in the field, greenhouse and the controlled-environment facilities.

The aim of the desi chickpea breeding project is to develop chickpea breeding lines with cold tolerance, early maturity, improved seed traits and resistance to major diseases. ICRISAT developed and provided over 2000 breeding lines to WA over the past 4 years. The importance of these two projects for the WA chickpea industry was emphasised in the opening remarks of Prof. Doug




McEachern. Prof. Siddique and Dr CLL Gowda told of the milestones and outcomes of both projects.

Prof. Doug McEachern and Prof. Kadambot Siddique from UWA stated that UWA highly values its collaboration with ICRISAT and that that UWA is eager to expand it to other areas of research of mutual interest with that of ICRISAT. UWA has recently announced 50 scholarships for Indian students for studies at UWA and is currently looking for potential students.

The outcomes of these projects will greatly benefit farmers in developing countries as well as our own WA farmers.

The review team visits the experiments in the greenhouse.

INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR PLANT BREEDING EDUCATION AND

RESEARCH (ICPBER)

The International Centre for Plant Breeding Education and Research (ICPBER) of the University of Western

Australia (UWA) was launched in August 2008 by the Honourable Kim Chance, Minister of Western Australia for Agriculture and Food.

ICPBER provides much needed integrated expertise in genetics, biotechnology and plant breeding to help provide the next generation of professional plant breeders for Australia, the Asia Pacific region, and the Indian Ocean rim. The new centre will offer a four-year undergraduate degree in agricultural science, with a component of genetics and breeding. Both degrees include training in crop agronomy, plant physiology, biometrics and related disciplines.

It also offers post-graduate study in genetics and plant breeding, as well as in-service training for practising plant breeders or seeds industry personnel.

ICPBER Objectives

• To educate tomorrow’s plant breeders for Australia, the Asia-Pacific region, and Indian Ocean Rim countries based on the core principles of genetics and supporting disciplines for plant breeding.

• To provide opportunities for in-service training for those in the plant breeding profession.

• To promote international and national collaboration in plant breeding through the exchange of students and researchers.




Overall, we aim to produce “Professional Plant Breeders for Tomorrow”.

One of the aims of ICPBER is to get plant breeders and plant breeding educators talking to one another. ICPBER welcomes comments from you, and in particular, suggestions for collaborations. The Centre’s email address is [email protected]; all ideas will be considered.

CAVERNOUS SECRETS

Dr Tim Bleby, a UWA Research Associate recently got a mention in a news article in SCIENCE (VOL 322, 12-Dec-08) in regards to his work with Dr Rob Jackson at various Texas cave sites. Tim worked with Jackson, studying root water uptake in juniper, and found that water is delivered from one part of the tree to another to equalise water distribution. This, therefore, gives such plants, which have multilevel root systems, a distinct advantage over shallow-rooted grasses. Tim stated that “when the surface is dry, they use deep roots; when it rains, they switch over to shallow roots.”

Tim plans to visit the caves of the Leeuwin-Naturaliste Ridge in our south west to monitor the deep roots of WA’s karri and tuart trees. His aim is to learn more about the role of tall, deep-rooted trees in the water cycle and understand how the tall trees might react to water shortages brought about by climate change in the southwest of WA.

He plans on visiting a series of caves near Yanchep as well as Margaret River.

Tim has in the past studied the evergreen oak trees on a cattle ranch near Austin, Texas, using a cave system contending with Mexican free-tail bats, toxic fungus from their droppings, cold underground streams, ticks, spiders and rattlesnakes.

Dr Tim Bleby in a Texas cave.

Tim said that a 20-m tall tree would have a 20-m deep root system. A good way to understand the roots was to monitor them in action, using ready-made underground access points - caves, to do so.

Part of his research into root systems involves placing heat sensors on the roots to measure the sap flow and the amount of water taken up by the trees.

Tim stated: “They appear to adjust their root anatomy depending on depth which permits them to transport water over long distances and against gravity with remarkable efficiency. Deep roots are poorly understood and notoriously difficult to work with, but I hope to show that they


mailto:[email protected]



are just as important as aboveground stems and leaves for regulating how much water tall trees such as karri and tuart are able to use”.

“In WA, we have ecologically important and globally significant tall forest and woodland species facing threats from groundwater loss, changes to fire regimes and declining winter rainfall.”

Kwongan FoundationThe Kwongan Foundation for the Conservation of Australian Native Plants was established in March 2006.

The objectives are to:

* implement the gathering and sharing of knowledge about our unique flora

* enable planning on a long-term basis for conservation of these plant species

* attract world-class researchers to WA

* facilitate conservation objectives of the community, industry and Government

* help provide a secure basis for the State's tourist industry

* discover many valuable compounds for medicine and industry

* involve community groups helping with this challenge

Upcoming Event

Biodiversity in the wheatbelt: where do we go?

Seminar and field trip12-13 Sept 2009The Foundation provides essential income to support promising young researchers in this urgent field of community need. This cannot be achieved without your valuable support. All donations make a measurable difference. Please consider a contribution (tax deductible) to the Foundation. All donations of $5000 and above will entitle you to become a Patron of the Kwongan Foundation.

For more information please contact Prof. Hans Lambers [email protected]

Contact InformationPlease email articles for the next E-Bulletin to the Plant Biology Administrative [email protected]

PLEASE LET US KNOW ANY CHANGES TO YOUR ADDRESS OR EMAIL DETAILSDo you have something interesting to share? Please let us know.

If you would like further information on any of the articles, please contact the Plant Biology Administrative Assistant [email protected] or phone 6488 2206.






Alumni

All Alumni are invited to share their success stories with Plant Biology Staff and Students. Please email information to [email protected] look forward to hearing from our Alumni!



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