PlantChat Webinar Series

Wednesday, 17 July 2024 / 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm

Large quantities of diverse native seeds are required to scale up global restoration efforts. However, it remains unclear for many ecosystems how the diversity of available seed in commercial stocks reflects the composition of the ecosystems where vegetation is being remade. This talk will explore existing shortfalls in the diversity of seed presently available for use in restoration across Australia and identifies gaps in the seed supply chain. Additionally, we will cover methods for optimising species diversity despite these constraints. We hope this talk sparks improved collaborations between stakeholders involved in nature repair across Australia to strengthen the seed supply chain and work together to repair diverse vegetation.

Presented by Dr Samantha Andres, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University​

Sam is an ecologist with a broad interest in the conservation, restoration and management of natural ecosystems. Sam’s work involves using ecological theories to approach applied problems in ecology with an aim to generate knowledge that can be directly applied to policy and practice. Sam also has a deep interest towards including societal and cultural values in conserving and restoring ecosystems. While her research spans a variety of ecosystems, Sam tends to focus on themes which include species traits, functional diversity, community assembly, global change, disturbance biology, fire ecology, and plant soil interactions. With a focus sustainability, Sam works to ensure that ecological conservation and restoration efforts are guided by sound science and holistic principles, fostering a harmonious relationship between nature and society. You can read more about Sam’s research here.

Wednesday, 18 September 2024 / 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm AEST

The Myrtle Rust pathogen is causing serious decline in 40 to 50 species. It is not treatable in the wild at any practical scale. Survival and recovery of many of these species is likely to depend entirely on screening for rust tolerance traits, and breeding these back into wild types for re-introduction. Breeding for disease resistance is standard practice in agriculture, but is relatively new in plant conservation; nevertheless, successful overseas precedents exist. The process will require significant investment, organised meta-collections, and large standing arrays of live plants for screening trials. To compound the problem, many affected species have seeds that are either known or thought to be unsuited for orthodox storage conditions, or are short-lived, so seed production areas are also needed. These requirements for an effective Myrtle Rust response come on top of growing demands on botanic gardens for many other conservation commitments – for more orthodox translocations, and for climate change response. Existing seed and tissue banks, and regional and metropolitan botanic gardens, are already all playing a role in this new challenge for plant conservation, but a qualitative growth of facilities and workforce transcending existing institutions is needed. Adjusting our thinking and planning to this need, and finding adequate and sustained resources, is a greater challenge than the technical problems.

Presented by Bob Makinson, Australian Network for Plant Conservation

Bob Makinson is a plant taxonomist and conservation botanist. When the plant disease Myrtle Rust was first detected in Australia in 2010, Bob was President of the Australian Network for Plant Conservation (ANPC). Little information and expertise on this pathogen was easily available to the conservation and land management sectors, where the pathogen would have severe effects. He began building bridges to knowledge-holders in the forest health and plant pathology sectors where most of the knowledge resided. By mid-2011 he had designed and launched a series of awareness and training workshops on Myrtle Rust for the environmental sector, eventually delivering 40 nationwide in formats ranging from one-day to seminar, with an accompanying manual on myrtle rust recognition, risk assessment and management. These workshops helped transfer specialist knowledge into the wider conservation arena. Bob wrote a comprehensive review of the environmental effects of myrtle rust in Australia in 2018, with funding from the Australian Government’s National Environmental Science Program and the Plant Biosecurity Cooperative Research Centre, accompanied by a National Action Plan for Myrtle Rust (2018, 2020) – all these are available here. Alongside this, and working closely with State government agencies, he participated in the endless task of securing piecemeal short-term funding and stitching it into the beginnings of a coherent long-term program for some of the worst-affected species. An extended phase of ex situ conservation is a key part of this process, and (along with other conservation demands on ex situ institutions) is already testing our national capacity. In 2022 Bob received a Commonwealth Australian Biosecurity Award in the Environmental Biosecurity category.