From our Director:
Welcome to the current edition of the ARC Training Centre for Forest Value Newsletter in 2023
In this edition, we talk with two of our newest PhD candidates, Nana Yaw Sarpong who started with the Centre at the end of 2022, and James Grimsdale who began in mid-2022. Nana’s project is investigating traits in Eucalyptus nitens that affect resistance to drought, frost and pests - stressors that are expected to increasingly impact forests under climate change. James is investigating the risks of mammal browsing within plantations to inform technological solutions with a view to making browsing monitoring more time and cost-efficient.
We also catch up with Centre graduate Dr Judith Nantongo and highlight a series of papers from her PhD on strategies for minimising bark stripping in Pinus radiata.
Lastly, we share some of our latest social shorts.
I hope you enjoy reading about the Centre’s research in this edition of the newsletter and I look forward to bringing you additional updates throughout the year.
Professor Julianne O’Reilly-Wapstra, Director ARC Training Centre for Forest Value
Keep up-to-date with Centre outputs and news via our website and follow us on Twitter.
~
Investigating solutions to the future forest estate
Ensuring a future forest estate under changing climates is essential and vulnerability assessments indicate that climate change may have large consequences for sections of the industry in the future.
New PhD Student Nana Yaw Sarpong’s project ‘Identification of elite Eucalyptus nitens genetic material and molecular markers for risk traits’ will investigate opportunities to utilise molecular information to complement tools in the breeding of material to minimise threats.
This project is co-supported by the Forest and Wood Products Australia (FWPA) forest grower members, the Commonwealth, and will be conducted with industry collaborator Forico. Nana commented,
With an undergraduate background in forestry and a master’s degree in environmental management with a focus on forestry, I was excited at the prospect of furthering my studies in Tasmania. A state with one of the most diverse forest estates in the world.
Nana will be working under the supervision of Dr Rebecca Jones, Prof René Vaillancourt and Prof Brad Potts.
The project aims to understand the genomic architecture of quantitative traits in E. nitens including traits affecting resistance to drought, frost and pests - stressors that are expected to increasingly impact forests under climate change. Nana commented that,
Having previously worked as a Research and Development Assistant in the forestry industry, I could better appreciate the importance of molecular markers to the future of tree breeding in the face of climate change.
Mammal browsing risks and scale to inform technological solutions
Browsing mammals substantially impact the forestry industry in Australia with costs associated with replanting, browsing mammal monitoring and control, and reduced timber quality amounting to millions of dollars lost annually across the country.
A project helmed by PhD candidate James (Jamie) Grimsdale and supervised by Prof Julianne O’Reilly-Wapstra, Dr Dean Williams, and Assoc Prof Geoff While is tackling the mammal browsing problem from multiple angles.
With co-funding from the Forest and Wood Products Australia (FWPA) forest grower members, the Commonwealth and support from industry partners Sustainable Timber Tasmania (STT) and Timberlands Pacific, the project aims to generate predictive models that will quantify the browsing risk to forestry coupes based on physical and environmental characteristics.
Jamie is working closely with Tasmanian technology company Indicium Dynamics to develop a novel remote sensor that can detect and identify browsing mammals and alert forest managers in real-time with a view to making browsing monitoring more time and cost-efficient.
A meta-analysis will also be conducted to review global research findings and identify the most effective non-lethal browsing mammal control methods. This meta-analysis will allow for the identification of optimal non-lethal mammal control techniques that are ready to be implemented or can form the basis of novel technologies. Jamie commented,
I am currently working on two fronts. I am generating a machine learning model to automatically identify the species of browsing mammal using training images supplied by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment. The model will be deployed on remote monitoring cameras in a pilot trial to assess how these novel devices perform compared to traditional camera traps.
I am also working on the meta-analysis, extracting data from published literature to find which mammal browsing controls are most effective in different scenarios.
A pending pilot trial will guide a broad monitoring trial assessing the capability of remote devices versus small browsing monitoring teams for detecting browsing damage across STT’s native regeneration estate.
Success in minimising bark stripping research
Pinus radiata is an important timber tree species which can be severely affected by bark stripping from browsers, causing wood rot, slow growth, poor timber quality, and in extreme cases the death of the tree.
This was the challenge faced by now Centre graduate Dr Judith Nantongo when she first began her PhD. Judith’s successful project, Linking genetics and chemistry to minimise bark stripping in Pinus radiata, saw the publication of several journal articles on the results of her study.
Together with Hancock Victoria Plantations, Timberlands Pacific and the Radiata Pine Breeding Company, Judith and her supervisory team, Prof Julianne O’Reilly-Wapstra and Prof Brad Potts, showed that families of radiata pine vary in their wallaby damage levels, ranging from very low to very high damage, suggesting the possibility of genetically selecting and growing only the “low damage” families.
The project further identified that bark sugars were a key driver to damage, where trees with more sugars in the bark were more appealing. Additionally, the project also identified that the presence of thick bark, needles on the stem, and the presence of specific compounds in the bark may deter the animals.
These deterrent traits were variable among families allowing for future breeding programs to target and enhance these traits through conventional selection or using molecular-based methods.
Judith is currently supporting research programs at the Uganda National Agriculture Research Organization (NARO)/National Forestry Resources Research Institute (NaFORRI), and at the international potato centre (CIP).
At CIP, I contribute to the sweet potato breeding program with the knowledge of genetics attained during my PhD.
~
The list of publications that resulted from Judith's research can be found under publications below.
Social Shorts
ARC Centre for Forest Value @arcforestvalue - 5th April
Two great images from PhD Student Alison Hayman! Alison is testing out some gear for photographing and detecting deer at different heights and light conditions.
ARC Centre for Forest Value @arcforestvalue - 3rd May
PhD Zoya Cheraghi has recently kicked off the behavioural economics aspect of her project at the shiny new Tasmanian Behavioural Lab (tas. be. lab) which opened in late Feb. Zoya’s project is looking at the adoption of co-operative agroforestry among smallholders in Tas.
ARC Centre for Forest Value @arcforestvalue - 19th April
Two dreamy shots from Bruny Island where PhD Student Ellen Gunn visited recently with one of her industry partners and supervisor Dr Peter Harrison. The site will be home to some long-term tree growth trials as well as habitat for the endangered swift parrot.
Recent research publications highlights
- Meridy Price, Peter Harrison, René Vaillancourt and Dorothy Steane published Landscape genomics reveals signals of climate adaptation and a cryptic lineage in Arthropodium fimbriatum (Conservation Genetics) in collaboration with Rebecca Jordan and Suzanne M. Prober.
- Travis Britton and Mark Hovenden published Quantifying neighbour effects on tree growth: Are common ‘competition’ indices biased? (Ecology) in collaboration with Shane Richards.
- Thais Pfeilsticker, Rebecca Jones, Dorothy Steane, René Vaillancourt and Brad Potts published Molecular insights into the dynamics of species invasion by hybridisation in Tasmanian eucalypts in Molecular Ecology.
- Mark Hunt published Landscape functional connectivity for butterflies under different scenarios of land-use, land-cover, and climate change in Australia (Biological Conservation) in collaboration with Vishesh Diengdoh, Stefania Ondei, Rahil Amin and Barry Brook.
Judith's Publications
- Nantongo, J.S., Potts, B.M., Klápště, J., Graham, N.J., Dungey, H.S., Fitzgerald, H. et al. 2022 Genomic selection for resistance to mammalian bark stripping and associated chemical compounds in radiata pine. G3 Genes|Genomes|Genetics, 12 (11).
- Nantongo, J.S., Potts, B.M., Frickey, T., Telfer, E., Dungey, H., Fitzgerald, H. et al. 2022 Analysis of the transcriptome of the needles and bark of Pinus radiata induced by bark stripping and methyl jasmonate. BMC Genomics, 23 (1), 52.
- Nantongo, J.S., Potts, B.M., Fitzgerald, H., Newman, J., Elms, S., Aurik, D. et al. 2020 Quantitative Genetic Variation in Bark Stripping of Pinus radiata. Forests, 11 (12), 1356.
- Nantongo, J.S., Potts, B.M., Davies, N.W., Fitzgerald, H., Rodemann, T. and O’Reilly-Wapstra, J.M. 2021 Additive genetic variation in Pinus radiata bark chemistry and the chemical traits associated with variation in mammalian bark stripping. Heredity, 127 (6), 498-509.
- Nantongo, J.S., Potts, B.M., Davies, N.W., Fitzgerald, H., Rodemann, T. and O’Reilly-Wapstra, J. 2022 Variation in constitutive and induced chemistry in the needles, bark and roots of young Pinus radiata trees. Trees, 36 (1), 341-359.
- Nantongo, J.S., Potts, B.M., Davies, N.W., Aurik, D., Elms, S., Fitzgerald, H. et al. 2022 Chemical Traits that Predict Susceptibility of Pinus radiata to Marsupial Bark Stripping. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 48 (1), 51-70.
- Nantongo, J.S., Potts, B., Rodemann, T., Fitzgerald, H., Davies, N. and O’Reilly-Wapstra, J. 2021 Developing near infrared spectroscopy models for predicting chemistry and responses to stress in Pinus radiata (D. Don). Journal of Near Infrared Spectroscopy, 29 (4), 245-256.
A list of all Centre publications can be viewed on the CFV website.
~
The ARC Training Centre for Forest Value (CFV) works collaboratively with stakeholders to conduct research of excellence to solve forestry, agroforestry, and forest restoration and conservation challenges.
The CFV is funded through granting schemes, industry, environmental and community stakeholders.