PBI Team Meeting PBI Team Meeting

Sydney Sydney 20042004

Pictured from left to right standing G.Cassis, C.Weirauch, M.Schwartz, F.Konstantinov, H.Finley, D.Wyniger, S.Hewson-Smith, R.(T) Schuh.

Pictured from left to right kneeling T.Henry, D.Forero, M.Wall & A.Mututantri.

Also in attendance N.Tatarnic, G.Carter, M.Elliot & P.Flemons.

Field Field based based activitiesactivities

The Sunday before the meeting was due to commence, the team organized equipment for a field trip in the Royal National Park including killing jars (inset) at the Australian Museum.

PBI participants collected at the Royal National Park Sydney.

Gerry is pictured collecting insects on the “bacon & eggs” legume, a Dyllwinia sp. which serves as host to several PBI target organisms.

If you look really close you will see two mirids in the jar.

To the right of the slide we have a small sample of the host plant they were collected from.

Left: Toby examines a speciman of Xanthorrhoea to determine if Baclozygum depressum (Thaumastocoridae) is present.

Right: Toby & Fedor discuss what is known about the host plant Casuarina.

Fedor, Gerry & Dimitri are shown here discussing their insect catch.

Christiane & Denise examine their net for plant bugs.

Tom collected over a nearby stream.

Christiane beats a shrub in search of miridae.

Tom & Gerry record field trip information which included location and host data.

Often times the car is the best office for this kind of work.

Left: A species of Darwinia is host to a green orthotyline (yet to be described).

Right: A species of Restionaceae.

A detailed view of a papilionoid legume near Dyllwinia. Often a great host for plant bugs.

Left: Toby collects plant samples so that host information can be determined for the plant bugs collected.

Right: The genus Casuarina is a well know host of many species of plant bugs across the Australian continent.

The Post-Docs & PhD Candidates collate their field results at days end.

Museum based activities

Day one of the meeting at the Australian Museum. Gerry leads the team in a discussion of future field trips.

During the meeting, demonstrations, presentations and tasks were set with emphasis on the PBI team learning and sharing information/ knowledge.

Senior Scientist Michael Schwartz demonstrates the recognition of morphological characters useful for plant bug identification through the use of digital imaging technology.

In order to learn the techniques of genitalic dissection Michael & Dimitri spent much of their time at the microscope.

Anouk & Christiane used keys to perfect their knowledge of Heteroptera family classification.

…as did Nikolai Tatarnic.

Shown right: Michael & Tom assisted Dimitri with his query.

The meeting in Sydney was also a great opportunity for the Australian IT team to meet with PI Toby.

Many discussions and meetings were held to ensure the Locality database was on track. From left to right Michael Elliot, Toby, Gareth Carter & Gerry.

While at the Australian Museum Fedor took advantage of the opportunity to examine the extensive Heteroptera collections.

There were many opportunities during the week to discuss the project whether during the meeting or having a meal, as shown here in Chinatown.

At the conclusion of the meeting another fieldtrip was conducted to Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. This created a great sightseeing opportunity for many in the team who had never seen a Kookaburra or Wallaby before (shown far right).