Woodbooks

         In the quirky and beautiful Strahov Monastery museum in Prague, amongst an odd assortment of skins and shells, there was one cabinet that blew my breath away. It contained 68 books, but these were no ordinary tomes. They were woodbooks (Xyloteka in Czech, Holzbuch in German) made in 1825 by a monk. The books are made from two open topped wooden-boxes joined at the spine by hinges (sometimes sapwood is used for one half and heartwood for the other). The books are bound in bark; with the bark from the same tree as the wood and each book a different species. The name of the book is the species, printed on a small piece of leather on the spine, above a piece of decorative lichen. Inside each woodbook is a selection of more samples representative of the species: dried and pressed leaves, inflorescences, seeds, a stem cross-section and sometimes a young seedling. A small wooden panel in the spine holds a written botanical description. Together the series of volumes forms the most exquisite herbarium – made from the specimens themselves. A beautifully idea, crafted with great skill.
I saw another of these books at the Augustinian monastery in Brno. Incidentally this is where Gregor Mendel conducted is famous experiments on peas, investigating the inheritance of traits (something close to the heart of this lab!) and laying the foundations for the modern science of genetics.  The foundations of his glasshouse can still be seen in the grounds.

– Julia (back from holidays).

Woodbooks at the Strahov Monastery, Prague.

The remains of Mendel’s glasshouse at the Augustinian Monestery, Brno.

Reaching the canopy

I’m just back from a field trip to Girringun National Park.  We used a cherry picker in the field to access shoots high in the canopy! – Julia

The cherry picker allowed us to get to the canopies of trees 10-12m high.  There were many much higher.

Many plants were flowering including these every lasting daisies and Grevilleas and Melaleucas too.

A picture from the top – it doesn’t look that high, but it was a unique view of the savanna!

An emu running down the road. We also saw dingoes, butcher birds, the bower of a great bower bird, assassin bugs and clearwing butterflies!

Two postdoc positions advertised !

[THESE POSITIONS HAVE NOW BEEN FILLED…]

We are seeking two talented and highly motivated Postdoctoral Research Fellows to join our group. The “Research Fellow in Plant Functional Ecology” will investigate the interplay of key ecophysiological traits and biomass allometry in together determining growth outcomes, across seedlings, saplings and adult plants. The project includes a substantial field component. The “Research Fellow in in Data Analysis and Modelling” (joint-appointment with Prof. Colin Prentice, Biosphere and Climate Dynamics group) will focus on data compilation and statistical and graphical analysis of global plant trait datasets, as part of the ARC Discovery Project “Next-generation vegetation model based on functional traits” (CIs: Colin Prentice, Ian Wright).

Both positions are up to 2 years fixed-term with an attractive salary package, and will present opportunities to collaborate widely, both nationally and internationally. Closing date for applications is June 10^th. Further information can be found at: http://bio.mq.edu.au/~iwright/postdocinfo.htm

Congratulations Tiina!

Congratulations to Tiina Tosens, who has just  been awarded a PhD for her thesis “Anatomical influences on mesophyll conductance”.  Tiina was a co-tutelle student with the Estonian University of Life Sciences. A paper from her thesis is in press:

Tosens T, Niinemets Ü, Westoby M & Wright IJ. Anatomical basis of variation in mesophyll resistance in eastern Australian sclerophylls: news of a long and winding path. Journal of Experimental Botany, in press.

Back from the Field

PhD student, Marina Scalon, is just back from a field trip to South Australia:  Whyalla Conservation Park is located within the north-east Eyre Peninsula (South Australia). The climate is typically arid, with an annual average rainfall of 271 mm, long hot summers, short cold winters and a large diurnal temperature range contributing to high evaporation rates. The Western myall (Acacia papyrocarpa) is the predominant tree species with an under-storey of Bladder saltbush and Bluebush. Mistletoes are abundant in the area, which confers an ideal site to be sample! Five mistletoes species were sampled in the area and around Adelaide region: Amyema quandang,Amyema miraculosa, Amyema preissii, Amyema miquelii and Lysiana exocarpi in 9 different hosts.

Amyema mircaculosa flowers, Eyre Peninsula, South Australia

Marina measuring gas exchange, Eyre Peninsula, South Australia

Amyema miraculosa on Myoporum platycarpum, Eyre Peninsula, South Australia.

Atlas of Living Australia

Dr. Margaret Cawsey (CSIRO) and  Dr. John Tann (Australian Museum) gave a demonstration of the The Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) at Macquarie.  The ALA is a national initiative that combines existing information about Australian species from multiple databases.  A very useful resource!

http://www.ala.org.au/

Hendrik Poorter visits

Hendrik Poorter, visited Macquarie University recently.  He presented the findings from his Tansley Review paper: Biomass allocation to leaves, stems and roots: meta‐analyses of interspecific variation and environmental control [read it here], as well as working with Mark Westoby and Ian Wright on analyses of leaf trait – plant growth rate datasets.

Parasitology display

A Parasitology unit is taught by Dr Michelle Power at Macquarie Uni in Semester 3 (over the Australian Summer).  For the 2012 course I gave a lecture and ran a prac class on parasitic plants.  I set up a permanent display about mistletoes – with help from resident mistletoe specialist Marina Scalon of course!  The display includes pictures of mistletoes in the field and a number of haustoria (the modified root of the parasitic plant that attaches to the host). All of the mistletoes specimens were collected during Marina’s fieldwork in the savannah near Darwin.  Some of have been cut in half so that you can see the internal morphology of the haustoria – I think they are really rather lovely to look at! – Julia.

Mistletoe display in E8B set up for the Parasitology unit which runs over the summer semester. There are lots of other displays to see too!

A cross section of Amyema miquelii (mistletoe) attached to Eucalytpus miniata (host)

Decaisnina signet attached to Xanthostemon paradoxes with multiple attachment sites

A mistletoe attaches to its host through an haustorium, modified roots which penetrate the host’s tissue allows the parasite to extract nutrients.

A cross section of Dendrophthoe odontocalyx attached to Grevillia pteritifolia

Just published!

Just published! Some recent publication from members of The Wright Lab.

Falster DS, Reich PB, Ellsworth DS, Wright IJ, Westoby M, Oleksyn J, Lee TD (2012). Life-time leaf C gain and nutrient use efficiency increases with leaf life-span among 10 Australian woodland species. New Phytologist 193:409-419.

Swenson NG, Enquist BJ, Pither J, Kerkhoff AJ, Boyle B, Weiser MD, Elser JJ, Fagan WF, Forero-Montaña J, Fyllas N, Kraft NJB, Lake JK, Moles AT, Patiño S, Phillips OL, Price CA, Reich PB, Quesada CA, Stegen JC, Valencia R, Wright IJ, Wright SJ, Andelman S, Jørgensen PM, Lacher Jr TE, Monteagudo A, Núñez-Vargas MP, Vasquez-Martínez R, Nolting KM (2012). The biogeography and filtering of woody plant functional diversity in North and South America. Global Ecology & Biogeography, in press. DOI: 10.1111/j.1466-8238.2011.00727.x

Cooke, J. and Leishman, M.R. (2012) Trade-offs between foliar silicon and carbon-based defences: evidence from vegetation communities of contrasting soil types Oikos. [abstract/article] DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0706.2012.20057.x

Haldane Prize

Julia Cooke won the the British Ecological Society’s Haldane Young Investigator’s Prize for her paper Cooke J & Leishman MR (2011). Silicon concentration and leaf longevity: is silicon a player in the leaf dry mass spectrum? Functional Ecology 25:1181-1188. [download] or listen to a podcast here.