The world’s favourite tree The world loves our eucalypts. Now Eucalyptus had become the world’s favourite tree for farming and today in Melbourne its genome is revealed at the International Botanical Congress. Other stories today include: a series of talks on how plants will respond to climate change; more on the future of wine and…
The world’s most farmed tree has had its genome read, opening the way to new breeding, biofuel, and conservation opportunities. The genome of one of Australia’s biggest Eucalyptus trees, the Flooded Gum or Eucalyptus grandis, has now been mapped, allowing scientists and conservationists an insight into the secrets of an important piece of Australiana.
Posted on behalf of CSIRO CSIRO scientists are investigating the potentially damaging effects climate change will have on Australia’s agricultural crops and native plants as carbon dioxide concentrations, temperatures and rainfall patterns change. “We’re facing an urgent need to develop new crop varieties for anticipated conditions in 20 to 50 years,” said a team leader…
A plant name dispute that has bubbled away for a decade has finally been resolved at the XVIII International Botanical Congress in Melbourne. The species concerned are the acacias, which until now has included the Australian wattles and the thorn trees of the Serengeti—both highly recognisable and iconic groups of plants.
Key decisions of the Nomenclature Section of the XVIII IBC Written by Nicholas Turland The Nomenclature Section met for five days, 18–22 July 2011, to discuss proposals to amend the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature. The more significant changes to the Code are outlined below and will be put to Congress for ratification on Saturday.
Climate change is already changing the environment of the established “terroirs” of Australian wines, such as the Coonawarra and the Barossa Valley, says Prof Snow Barlow of the University of Melbourne. But it won’t be the end of winemaking as we know it. Our wines will just evolve.
The world cannot rely solely on high tech, genetic modification to generate the extra food needed to satisfy a human population projected to peak at about 9.5 billion later this century, according to keynote speakers at the XVIII International Botanical Congress being held in Melbourne this week.
Botanical illustration incorporates an extraordinary range of plant representations from flower paintings to finely detailed drawings of plants used for botanical purposes. As an artform it is often based in science and as a scientific document it is often viewed as an artwork.
Issued by CSIRO Ref 11/81 With the world’s population set to reach 8.9 billion by 2050, CSIRO scientists are hunting down and exploiting a number of wheat’s key genetic traits in a bid to substantially boost its grain yield.
Issued by CSIRO Ref 11/78 Relocating species threatened by climate change is a radical and hotly debated strategy for maintaining biodiversity. In a paper published today in the journal Nature Climate Change, researchers from CSIRO, University of Queensland and United States Geological Survey present a pragmatic decision framework for determining when, if ever, to move species…