Comparative Ecology Group is the name of Mark Westoby's lab at Macquarie University

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you is a transverse section of a Eucalyptus largiflorens leaf!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows how, on average, seed mass decreases by two orders of magnitude as you move from the equator towards the poles!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows a dancing ecologist!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows the lodicules, and pollen on the stigmas of a dissected floret of Triodia scariosa (Poaceae)! Note that the anthers have been removed...

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you is a silhouette of Brachychiton populneus (Sterculiaceae) leaves!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you is the internal anatomy of a Cyathochaetes diandra (Cyperales) leaf. Check out those sclerenchyma strands!!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you is the root structure of an Acacia elata seedling!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you is the internal anatomy of a Eucalyptus dumosa leaf!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows geographic variation in juvenile Eucalyptus diversifolia leaves across southern Australia (annual rainfall decreases from east to west)!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you is a silhouette of Lomatia silaifolia (Proteaceae) leaves!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you is a cross-section of the main vascular bundle of Melaleuca uncinata (Myrtaceae)!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you is a cluster of Eucalyptus diversifolia subsp hesperia fruit!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen for you shows a patch of mallee vegetation near Yathong in western New South Wales!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen for you shows one of our field sites in Kuringai National Park, near Sydney!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen for you shows one of our field sites in Round Hill Nature Reserve (western New South Wales)!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen for you shows one of our field sites in Kuringai National Park, near Sydney!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows a patch of Eucalyptus pauciflora (Snow Gum) in the Victorian high country!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows the seed of Sclerolaena calcarata (Chenopodiaceae) !

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows the fruit of Synoum glandulosum (Rutaceae)!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows the seed of Rutidosis helichrysoides (Asteraceae)!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows a sunrise with Triodia schinzii (Poaceae) -- that's the time of day when anthesis occurs!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows the seed of Picris hieracioides (Asteraceae)!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows the seed of Monachather paradoxa (Poaceae)!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows the seed of Lepidosperma urophorum (Cyperaceae)!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows the seed of Hypochaeris radicata (Asteraceae)!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows the flower of the beautiful Grevillea speciosa (Proteaceae)!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows the fruit of Cochlospermum ?fraseri (Bixaceae)!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows the seed of Carthamus lanatus (Asteraceae)!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows the flowers of Boronia pinnata (Rutaceae)!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows the seed of Calotis hispidula (Asteraceae)!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows the seed of Baeckea ramosissima (Myrtaceae)!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows the seed of Acacia implexa (Mimosaceae)!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows the seed of an unknown Acacia species

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows the seed of Acacia tetragonophylla (Mimosaceae)

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows the seed of Bracteantha bracteata (Asteraceae)

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows data for 3 sites around Sydney, demonstrating that larger leaved species take longer to expand their leaves than smaller leaved species (and thus may be vulnerable to herbivory for longer).

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows the beach at Blanket Bay (Otways National Park), in Victoria.

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows the lipids in the anther loculus, from a dissected 0.3 mm bud of wild type Arabidopsis thaliana (stained with auromine O)!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows DAPI stained anther lobe nuclei in a male sterile mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows the Flinders Ranges in South Australia!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows Kata Tjuta, in the Northern Territory!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows a patch of Callitris woodland in western New South Wales!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows a force x displacement graph generated by cutting an adult leaf of Corymbia gummifera with our 'Leaf Fracture Toughness Tester'. The central peak is from the midrib, the large peaks at either end from the leaf margins !

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows a force x displacement graph generated by cutting an adult leaf of Hakea dactyloides with our 'Leaf Fracture Toughness Tester'. The series of major peaks corresponds to the parallel venation in this species !

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows a patch of Tasmanian Nothofagus rainforest!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows a Panamanian Arsenura moth!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows some daisy pollen magnified 4200 times under a Scanning Electron Microscope!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows a Javanese leaf insect !

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows some Cephalofovea clandestina (Peripatus) 'velvet worms' (Class Onychophora)!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows a Peripatus 'velvet worm' (Class Onychophora)!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows a Peripatus 'velvet worm' (Class Onychophora) about to attack!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows a viviparous Peripatus 'velvet worm' (Class Onychophora) with newborn babes!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows an extremely large example of a common Australian herbivore, the Red Kangaroo!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows how the yellow, senescent leaves can be easily distinguished from the live leaves on Cassinia laevis (Asteraceae). 50% of leaf N is withdrawn before the leaves are shed, but up to 80% of leaf P is withdrawn!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows some Eucalytpus diversifolia resprouting after fire, on the Yorke Peninsula, S.A. !

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows Epping Forest in Queensland, which is last remaining habitat for the Northern hairy-nosed wombat (Lasiorhinus krefftii), of which there are only about 65 left!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows Eriostemon australasius (Rutaceae)! Vital statistics: SLA 5.6 mm2/mg, leaf N 1.4%, leaf P 0.04%, Amax 57 nmol/g/s, Rd 6.9 nmol/g/s, average leaf lifespan 1.2 yr!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows Eriostemon difformis (Rutaceae)! Vital statistics: SLA 4.1 mm2/mg, leaf N 1.5%, leaf P 0.09%, Amax 39 nmol/g/s, Rd 9.9 nmol/g/s, average leaf lifespan 2.0 yr!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows an Erigeron daisy!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows a Flax Lily in New Zealand!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows Grevillea buxifolia (Proteaceae)! Vital statistics: SLA 7.0 mm2/mg, leaf N 0.7%, leaf P 0.05%, Amax 59 nmol/g/s, Rd 11 nmol/g/s, average leaf lifespan 1.5yr!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows Helichrysum apiculatum (Asteraceae)! Vital statistics: SLA 26 mm2/mg, leaf N 2.7%, leaf P 0.3%, Amax 261 nmol/g/s, Rd 36 nmol/g/s !

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows the wonderful object d'art the Giant Lobster (or is that a crayfish?) in Kingston, South Australia!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows Angophora hispida (Myrtaceae)!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows some dew-laden seed heads on an arid zone daisy!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows Petrophile pulchella (Proteaceae)!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows Lake Pinaroo, in far NW New South Wales, Australia!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows Lake Pinaroo, in far NW New South Wales, Australia!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows a Sleepy Lizard who's not asleep at all!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows Rhagodia spinescens, resprouting after being clipped 0.5cm above ground (left and centre) but not after burning (right)!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows Eremophila longifolia, resprouting after being clipped 0.5cm above ground!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows Panicum queenslandicum, resprouting after being clipped 0.5cm above ground!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows Grevillea anethifolia, resprouting after being clipped 0.5cm above ground!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows some beautiful rain forest in Tasmania!

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows new growth on a Banksia oblongifolia (Proteaceae) individual (left) and a digital reconstruction of a (different) B. oblongifolia individual in the Floradig software used for 'digitising' plants (right).

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows the striking architecture of Pultenaea stipularis (Fabaceae).

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows a 180 degree hemispherical photograph used to characterise the light environment above a study plant at Kuringai Chase National Park, Sydney.

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows a digital reconstruction of a Boronia pinnata (Rutaceae) individual, as seen from above, in Yplant.

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows a digital reconstruction of a Breynia oblongifolia (Euphorbiaceae) individual, as seen from above, in Yplant.

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows digital reconstructions of Hakea dactyolides (Proteaceae) and Phyllota phylicoides (Fabaceae) individuals in the Yplant simulation software.

And the RANDOM* picture we have chosen just for you shows 15 m grass trees (Richea pandanifolia, Epacridaceae), near Cradle Mountain, Tasmania.

Current Research Activities Info for prospective postgrad students Lab Publications Lab group photo Useful & interesting links The Clever Plant (poem) ARC-NZ Research Network for Vegetation Function

Current lab members: Mark Westoby, Barbara Rice, Ian Wright, Daniel Falster, Fiona Scarff, Amy Zanne, Ross Peacock, Marisa Nordenstahl.

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*Your 'random' picture was actually chosen according to your research interests, eye colour and birthweight.
This page is maintained by Ian Wright. Last updated April 2006