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Department of BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

 

Plant Research at Macquarie University

Research ranges across the plant biology disciplines with a large number of undergraduate classes, Honours projects, postgraduate students and funded research projects basing their activities in this facility. Flexible approaches to plant biology research and training are made possible through a range of facilities that offer different levels of environmental control. For example, the elevated carbon dioxide facilities are used for both short-term studies (growth chambers) and long-term studies on ecosystems and trees in glasshouses.

 rhododendron
A wide selection of techniques in use include gas exchange equipment, C:N analysis, digitising architecture, sap flow an cell biology. Brian Atwell has experiments in the area of plant physiology, molecular biology and metabolism. He has particular interests in seed, root and coleoptile biology, and the effects of elevated carbon dioxide on wood growth in eucalypts. These form part of collaborations with CSIRO, the CRC for Grain Foods (with Tom Roberts and Robert Willows) and international climate change groups (e.g. CRC for Greenhouse Accounting). Canopy architecture and plant hydraulics are a particular focus of this work. Mutants of Arabidopsis, tomato and barley are routinely used in the plant growth facilities (with Tom Roberts). Flinders
Ecology is represented by the Climate Change Ecology Group (http://bio.mq.edu.au/research/groups/piccel/) of Lesley Hughes who is investigating aspects of global climate change, including the impact of elevated CO2 and temperature on herbivory by insects, and the ecology of sclerophyllous vegetation. Mark Westoby's Comparative Ecology Group (http://www.bio.mq.edu.au/ecology) carries out research on many aspects of plant evolution, particularly in field environments. gum sapling