Many plant species are unable to, or have mechanisms which protect against, mating with close relatives. However, when plant populations become very small or fragmented, and the genetic pool of potential mates reduces, these mechanisms can result in sterile populations. Sterility in plants means that they have limited or no seed production.
The TRE team are currently investigating the causes of sterility in a range of threatened plant species. One is Haloragodendron lucasii or “Hal”, which known only from Sydney’s eastern suburbs, and despite many decades of concerted conservation efforts, has never been known to produce seeds. By identifying the potential causes of sterility, the team can inform conservation actions, such as genetic rescue using hand pollination, translocations to genetically mix populations, or in the case of Hal, help develop a living collection.
These projects occur in collaboration with the Botanic Gardens of Sydney, NSW Saving our Species program (NSW DCCEEW), NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service and Ku ring gai Council.
Conserving remote and cliff line species
Understanding and assessing distribution of and threats to remote or hard-to-access plant species is a particular challenge, as specific climbing and ropes access skills are required to survey, monitor and collect plant material.
Remote or hard to access plant species present a unique conservation challenge. Partnering with the outdoor adventure community, as well as researchers and horticulturalists, this project will assess the gaps in knowledge about hard to access species distribution as well as utilize the climbing communities citizen science expertise to survey collect and conserve some of Australia’s most charismatic remote plants.
Project lead: Mira Jordan (PhD candidate). Supervised by Mark Ooi, Will Cornwell, Chantelle Doyle, Jason Bragg
This project is truly cross disciplinary, combining quantitative analysis of plant distribution records and qualitative data collated from interviews conducted with the outdoor adventure community, researchers and horticulturalists. Mira is recording gaps in knowledge, as well as documenting the conservation challenges of plant species which occur in remote or difficult-to-access locations. We are utilising many methods of data collection and analysis including interviews, citizen science expertise, genetic sequencing and ex situ propagation to understand the threats, as well as conservation needs of remote plant species.
This project is in collaboration with the Botanic Gardens of Sydney.
