Australia
The seventh international “Fascination of Plants Day” 2024 (FoPD 2024) will be launched by plant scientists across the world under the umbrella of the European Plant Science Organisation (EPSO).
The goal of this activity is to get as many people as possible around the world fascinated by plants and enthused about the importance of plant science for agriculture and sustainable production of nutritious food, as well as for horticulture, forestry and the production of plant-based non-food products such as paper, timber, chemicals, energy and pharmaceuticals. The role of plants in environmental conservation is also a key message.
Hear from invited speakers and Centre members on their research and discuss opportunities for collaboration. Topics will include genomic prediction for varied environments, phylogenetic comparative analysis, advanced water status measurements for field and lab, and how the Nagoya protocol affects plant research in Australia.
This free event will be held in person at The University of Queensland St Lucia, and online via Zoom.
Speakers include:
Dr Greg Rebetzke, CSIRO
Greg is a Chief Research Scientist at CSIRO Agriculture and Food, where he contributes to the understanding of genetic and physiological factors affecting water productivity and adapting to changing climates in rainfed winter cereals. His goal is then to deliver elite trait-containing germplasm, and improved phenotyping and genetic methods for trait enrichment in commercial breeding programs.
Professor Jacqueline Batley, University of Western Australia
Jacqui has expertise in the fields of plant molecular biology, genetics and genomics, gained from working in both industry and academia. Her research applies breakthrough biotechnological advances for canola crop improvement, through identification of genomic regions controlling traits, which are being translated to commercial outcomes. Her work had led to new canola cultivars, with enhanced productivity, profit, and yield stability through identification of genes linked to shatter tolerance, blackleg disease resistance and oil quality. She is currently focussing on blackleg resistance in the Brassicaceae and investigating evolution of resistance genes across the plant kingdom.
Professor Charlie Messina, University of Florida
Carlos (Charlie) Messina is a professor of predictive breeding in the Department of Horticultural Sciences. Charlie works with breeders to improve the nutritional value of Florida produce and to reimagine agriculture as a solution to climate change. He also specializes in developing AI for plant breeding, which he believes will enable society to harmonize crop improvement efforts for regenerative agricultural systems that improve human health, nutrient security and adaptation to climate change.
Professor Christine Beveridge, The University of Queensland
The focus of Christine’s research has been the role of plant hormones in regulating and coordinating plant development, particularly shoot architecture. She discovered the plant hormone strigolactone and that sugar signalling is a driver of shoot branching. More recently her focus has shifted to identifying how different genetic and physiological networks work together to control plant productivity. Christine is the Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Plant Success in Nature and Agriculture.
WEBINARS HOSTED BY COSTA GEORGIADIS
In the lead up to Botanic Gardens Day on 26 May, Botanic Gardens Australia and New Zealnd will hold four online webinars every Thursday evening in May at 7pm–8pm AEST, hosted by Costa Georgiadis, highlighting members and other experts, and their amazing knowledge.
To watch the webinars live, head to Costa’s Facebook, LinkedIn or YouTube pages at 7pm AEST (9pm NZST) on the dates below! They will also be recorded so don’t worry if you can’t make it on the night.
2 May: Science Saving Species, with Maurizio Rossetto (Botanic Gardens of Sydney), Emma Simpkins (Auckland Council) and Russell Larke (Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria).
9 May: Connecting to Country, with Renate Johnny (Alice Springs Desert Park), and Jade Smith, Blake Poletti and Amanda Shade (Kings Park & Botanic Garden).
16 May: Conservation Beyond the Garden Gate, with Emma Cutting (the Melbourne Pollination Corridor project) and Alex Wall (the VegeMap project).
23 May: The Role of Friends Groups in Botanic Gardens, with Tracey Whitby (President, Friends of Lismore Rainforest Botanic Gardens), John Bentley (President, Friends of Melton Botanic Gardens) and Viv Canham (President, Friends of Auckland Botanic Gardens).
Visit https://www.bganz.org.au/botanic-gardens-day-2024/ for more details.
Join us for a fascinating presentation from Dr Alex Wu, a crop modeller from The University of Queensland.
An increasing global food demand begs new strategy for crop yield improvement. Leaf CO2 assimilation is an important driver of crop growth and yield. However, the translation of leaf photosynthetic manipulation to crop yield performance is less straightforward. Yield is a complex emergent property driven by instantaneous leaf CO2 assimilation, summed over the whole canopy of the crop and across the entire crop life cycle, all interacting with environmental effects on growth and development of the crop. Here, I will present a ‘cross-scale’ crop modelling effort used to develop integrative leaf-to-field modelling tools, offering new predictive capabilities to aid photosynthesis and yield improvement. This: (i) enables in silico field testing of putative strategies for leaf photosynthetic manipulation in target population of environments; (ii) offers a platform for the dissection of crop growth components and identification of key photosynthetic properties for growth enhancement. The two-pronged, but complementary pathways are generating new information on the value proposition of photosynthetic manipulation and informing fundamental and applied research directions, helping to discover and support new strategies for crop yield improvement. Potential synergies with other crop research technologies are discussed.