News
August 2024. Congratulations Dr. Thais Pfeilsticker who has graduated with her PhD!
March 2024. Brad Potts has been awarded the Bjarne K Dahl Medal for his contribution to eucalypt research. Congratulations, Brad!
March 2024. Nana Yaw Sarpong presented to Tree Breeding Australia Technical Meeting, Melbourne.
Feb 2024. Rebecca Jones presented the grant outcomes for “Survival of the drought tolerant: do eucalypts have the genetic potential to adapt to a hotter, drier Australia?” to the Board of Eucalypt Australia, Melbourne.
Feb 2024. Dean’s Summer Research Student Zander Field gave a fantastic final presentation “Predicting future dieback of Eucalyptus viminalis in response to changing climate conditions”
Nov. 2023. Peter Harrison presented an invited talk at the General Meeting of the north-west branch of the Tasmanian Beekeepers Association: “Vulnerability of Tasmania’s eucalypts to climate change”
Nov 2023. Nana Yaw Sarpong gave his PhD Introductory seminar: “Identification of elite Eucalyptus nitens genetic material” in the UTAS Biological Sciences Seminar Series.
Nov 2023. Jak Butler presented “Patterns of population differentiation and global co-ancestry in the Tasmanian alpine white gum complex” at the 7th Tasmanian Molecular Ecology Symposium.
Nov 2023. We have a new Dean’s Summer Research Student, Zander Field, who will be spending the summer working on our Eucalyptus viminalis project funded by Eucalypt Australia, supervised by Rebecca Jones and Peter Harrison.
Nov 2023. Congratulations to René Vaillancourt who has officially retired after 30+ years at UTAS. René can still be found supervising student projects, tagging along to every field trip possible and playing cards at morning tea.
Oct 2023. Rebecca Jones was interviewed for ABC TV/radio/online about our project to save an endangered eucalypt. See articles here and here.
Oct 2023. Rebecca Jones spoke at the Tasmanian Community Landcare Conference field trip at a field site on the east coast of Tasmania.
July 2023. The Eucalypt Genetics Group was well-represented at the XXIII International Congress of Genetics, Melbourne. Thais Pfeilsticker and Mariano Hernandez gave oral presentations, and Ellen Gunn, Jak Butler and Rebecca Jones attended and presented posters.
July 2023. Kasey Pham (graduate student in the Soltis lab, University of Florida) visited the group and presented a seminar at UTAS and an oral presentation at the XXIII International Congress of Genetics, Melbourne: “Functional or fluke? Genome-wide identification of introgressed genes in naturally occurring Eucalyptus hybrids”.
July 2023. Peter Harrison presented at the Sustainable Timber Tasmania Symposium: ‘Defining what is “on-site seed” for Eucalyptus obliqua’
June 2023. Nana Yaw Sarpong outlined his PhD project to the FWPA Forest and Wood Products Australia Growers Research Advisory Committee.
May 2023. Rebecca Jones joined PhD candidate Gabi Hartill on a sampling trip to the fabulous Currency Creek Arboretum
Dec 2022. Pam and Doug Soltis (University of Florida) visited Meehan Range E. cordata population, which is the field site for their PhD student Kasey Pham, accompanied by Dorothy Steane, Brad Potts and Rene Vaillancourt.
Dec 2022. Congratulations Peter, Julianne and Ellen who have received $54,405 from the Australian Flora Foundation for research on climate adaptation in eucalypts.
Nov 2022. Congratulations Erin Bok who won second prize in the ESA Student Poster competition: ‘Forty–spotted pardalotes and manna gum: joining the spots to save an Australian endangered bird species’
Nov 2022. Thais Pfeilsticker presented her final PhD seminar in the UTAS Biological Sciences Seminar Series.
Sept 2022. Rebecca Jones presented an invited talk “Insights into the dynamics of species range expansion by hybridisation in Tasmanian eucalypts” at ComBio22 Melbourne
Sept 2022. Peter Harrison gave an invited keynote presentation at 9th Forest Genetics and Breeding meeting, National Institute of Agricultural Technology, Chaco, Argentina. His talk was entitled “Using genetics to help manage climate change”.
Sept 2022. Rebecca Jones presented her work on eucalypts to the Australian Plant Society Hobart, Tasmania
Aug 2022. Peter Harrison presented an invited presentation “Managing climate change using genetics: what we do and don’t know” at Forest Practice Authority: Climate change and Tasmanian production forests workshop, where he also chaired discussion groups.
Aug 2022. Dr Peter Harrison attended ‘Alpine ash super seeds’, a workshop hosted by Greening Australia.
July 2022. Chris Furnace interviewed Rebecca Jones for A tree change for Morrisby’s gum in the magazine Forty South
April 2022. Peter Harrison presented “Provenancing using climate analogues: a program to guide climate adjusted provenancing” at ‘13th Australasian Plant Conservation Conference: Seeds to recovery’, Albury, New South Wales.
April 2022. Peter Harrison attended the Forty-spotted pardalote recovery plan workshop, and gave a talk sharing what we have learnt about E. viminalis to inform habitat restoration activities.
March 2022. Rebecca Jones spruiked her favourite eucalypt in the leadup to the vote for Eucalypt of the Year. Your Afternoons with Helen Shield (Local ABC radio)
Feb 2022. Rebecca Jones talks Tassie bluegums on Your Afternoons with Helen Shield (Local ABC radio)
Nov 2021. Congratulations to Thais Pfeilsticker who was awarded best student presentation at the 5th Tasmanian Molecular Ecology meeting.
Nov 2021. Thais Pfeilsticker presented “The rare Eucalyptus risdonii is expanding its range under climate change through hybridisation despite hybrid inferiority” at Australian Society of Plant Scientists conference.
Nov 2021. Last week Thais Pfeilsticker attended a workshop at the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens with local Council and the Tasmanian Land Conservancy: “Tree provenance selection for urban greenspaces”.
Nov 2021. Congratulations Nicola Potter who has handed in her Honours thesis: ‘Early age provenance performance and outcrossing rates of Eucalyptus viminalis’
Oct 2021. Peter Harrison presented “Survival of the drought tolerant” at Institute of Foresters Australia & Australian Forest Growers: Your forests, our future. Launceston, Tas.
Sept 2021. Erin Bok’s PhD research has been highlighted in a recent ABC News article.
Sept 2021. Peter Harrison was invited to speak to the Forest Practice Authority on “From detection to phenotyping: using remote sensing to inform forest restoration.”
June 2021. Congratulations Ellen Gunn who has handed in her Honours thesis ‘Uncovering signals of climate adaptation in Eucalyptus viminalis’.
May 2021. The Corymbia reference genome has been published, with Jak Butler, Jules Freeman, Brad Potts and René Vaillancourt involved in the collaboration.
November 2020. Rebecca Jones presented at two online-only conferences: ESA2020 and 4th Tasmanian Molecular Ecology Symposium. Peter Harrison also presented at ESA2020.
Feb 2020. Group members Dorothy Steane, Peter Harrison, Rebecca Jones, Brad Potts and René Vaillancourt along with Tim Brodribb (Brodribb lab UTAS) and Rebecca Jordan (CSIRO) awarded $446,000 from Eucalypt Australia for the project “Survival of the drought tolerant: do eucalypts have the genetic potential to adapt to a hotter, driver Australia?”
April 2019. Congratulations to Jakob Butler awarded the D.G. Catcheside Prize. The D.G. Catcheside Prize is awarded annually by the Genetic Society of AustralAsia. It recognizes the achievements of the top Australasian doctoral student in the field of Genetics. The prize will be awarded to one individual on an annual basis.
April 2019. Rebecca Jones presents “Eucalyptus research in a post-genome era.” at the National Convention of Churchill Fellows.
Feb 2019. The Eucalypt Group hosts an international conference Eucalypt genetics: fundamental and applied research in a post-genome era at UTAS. The conference brought together international and national researchers working on Eucalypt Genetics, hosting 120 delegates from 10 countries and 7 states and territories of Australia for talks, posters, social events and a field trip. See highlights here
Jules Freeman talks about genetic variation for susceptibility to myrtle rust in eucalypts in this podcast for RadioNZ’s science show ‘Our Changing World’ https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ourchangingworld/audio/2018667955/myrtle-rust-research
16-20th April 2018. Rebecca Jones and Conservation Volunteers Australia set up an experimental restoration planting of the critically endangered Eucalyptus morrisbyi
19th-23rd March 2018. In the leadup to National Eucalypt Day on Friday 23rd March, the Life Sciences foyer is filled with all-things-Eucalyptus from scientific posters, historical documents, wood products and weird gum nuts to food, beverages and medicinal products. At the Morris Miller library, historical specimens from the Herbarium are displayed alongside rarely seen illustrations from the University’s Rare Books Collection. On Friday 23rd March at 11am there will be tastings of eucalypt-smoked cheese and an exotic eucalypt liqueur from a Roman monastery. There will also be a demonstration of ecodyeing with Tasmanian eucalypts. At 12:30pm there will be a tour of notable eucalypts growing in the gardens of the UTAS campus, guided by Eucaflip authors Professor Brad Potts and Dr Rob Wiltshire. Meet at the Eucalyptus globulus var. “compacta” outside the tea room, near the picnic tables on the Herbarium roof.
17th January 2018. Tanya Bailey presented a talk “Establishing resilient ecological restoration in the face of future climate uncertainty” at the Australian Native Plants Society Biennial Conference, Wrest Point Casino Hobart 2018
8th December 2017. Eucalypt taxonomist Dr Dean Nicolle visited the group.
5-6th December 2017. Jules Freeman presented a talk, at the Myrtle Rust Environmental Impacts Workshop in Canberra, titled ‘Eucalypts: susceptibility and resistance’.
28th – 30th November 2017. Brad Potts, René Vaillancourt and PhD students Henry Nicholas and Manuel Rocha attended the technical meeting of the Southern Tree Breeding Association in Melbourne. Brad, Henry and Manuel gave talks.
29 November 2017. Rebecca Jones presented a talk at the meeting of Tasmanian Molecular Ecologists, IMAS, Hobart.
12-14, September 2017. Peter Harrison, Tom Baker and Zara Marais presented talks at the 3rd conference on “ Restoring Forests: regeneration and Ecosystem Function for the Future” in Lund, Sweden
4-8th Sept 2017. Peter Harrison visited Prof. Tom Whitham at the Marriam-Powell Centre for Environmental Research at the Northern Arizona University. He presented a talk to his research group as well as visited field sites which were part of the Southwest Experimental Garden Array (http://www.sega.nau.edu/)
28 August 2017 – Peter Harrison presented two talks entitled “Climate adaptation and provenance choice for ecological restoration: insights from Eucalyptus” and “Is local best? A 60 year review of provenance trials in Australia” at the 2017 Ecological Society for Restoration VII World Conference on Ecological Restoration held in Iguassu, Brazil.
21 August 2017 – Brad Potts presented a talk entitled “Landscape scale restoration planting in the Tasmanian Midlands” at the Forest Practices Authority 2017 Research update meeting in Hobart.
20-21 July 2017 – Peter Harrison and Tanya Bailey attended “National Guidelines for Experimental Restoration Plantings” workshop at CSIRO Black Mountain Science & Innovation Park, Canberra.
11 May 2017 Brad Potts attended the Conservation Landholders Tasmania’s forum on “Climate change and conservation properties”, in Campbell Town, Tasmania and presented a talk co-authored by Peter Harrison and others on “Modelling the impact of climate change on species distribution”.
13 April 2017 we will be saying farewell to Dr John Senior (who just completed his PhD) and John will be telling us what he will be doing in his postdoc position in Sweden.
6 April 2017 – Dorothy Steane present an invited seminar titled Using genomics to increase resilience of forest tree plantings at the School of Biological Sciences of Monash University.
23 March 2017 – NATIONAL EUCALYPT DAY. The School of Biological Sciences, the ARC Training Centre for Forest Value and the Morris Miller Library are teaming up with the State Library of Tasmania and the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens to celebrate Australia’s iconic eucalypts. Make some time to wander up to the foyer of the Life Sciences Building where you will find a vibrant display of all-things-Eucalyptus, from scientific posters, historical documents, wood products and weird gum nuts to medicinal products and exotic beverages. Visit the Morris Miller Library to see historical specimens from the Tasmanian Herbarium displayed alongside rarely seen illustrations from the University of Tasmania’s Rare Books Collection. At the UTAS Inveresk campus, a display of local Eucalyptus species, seedlings and eucalypt timber products of all kinds will adorn the foyer of the School of Architecture and Design. The Royal Tasmanian Botanic Gardens will be taking a guided tour of the many special Tasmanian Eucalyptus species that are growing in the gardens. The Hobart branch of the State Library of Tasmania is giving visitors a rare glimpse the 1788 publication in which the genus Eucalyptus was first described.
2 March 2017 – Euc group meeting at 11:15 am, in Room 227. Jak Butler who went to “PAG” in January, and Akira Weller-Wong and Co. who went to the “Restoration Conference” at UNE, Armidale a few weeks ago will describe their experience.
17 February 2017 – Dorothy Steane and Brad Potts were awarded a small grant from the Dahl Trust ($15,000) in February 2017. The grant will contribute to research that aims to develop methods of using rapid genomic screening to assist with selection of seed for climate-resilient ecological restoration plantings.
17 February 2017 – Tanya Bailey present a seminar entitled “Maintenance, repairs and insurance: ecological restoration in the Tasmanian Midlands and beyond” to the School of Biological Sciences, Utas.
17 February 2017 – Brad Potts was invited to speak at the VICNATURE 2050 workshop on “Building “climate future plots: designing trials to usefully inform management”. Arthur Rylah Research Institute, Heidelberg Victoria.
5 -9 February 2017 – ARC Centre for Forest Value Postdoctoral fellow Dr Tanya Bailey and students Stuart MacDonald, Claire Ranyard, Nicolo Camarretta, Yolanda Hanusch and Akira Weller-Wong attended the “Restore Regenerate Revegetate” conference at the University of New England, Armidale NSW. Tanya gave an oral presentation “Is local best? Testing forest tree provenancing strategies using field trials embedded in restoration plantings in Tasmania” in the seed genetics and management symposium and Stuart Macdonald presented a talk on “Recalcitrant soil C:N ratios, alternate states persist in woodland restoration” in the Soils and Restoration symposium. Posters by Claire, Nicolo, Yolanda and Akira outlining their projects were well received .
PhD student Jakob Butler attended the 2017 Plant and Animal Genome Conference in San Diego, California, USA in Jan 2017 and presented a poster entitled “ Comparative analysis of the terpene synthase gene family between Eucalyptus and Corymbia”
22 December 2016 – Our Dean’s Summer Research students, Radhika Mani and Sambavi Singarasa, will give a presentation that is the final requirement for their summer scholarship.
8 December 2016 – John Senior presents “Plant-soil interactions: a phylogenetic perspective from eucalypts” at the Eucalypt Genetics / Forest Value group meeting.
16-18 November 2016 – Dorothy Steane, Rebecca Jones and Jakob Butler present at Phylomania 2016 in Hobart.
10 November 2016 – Richard Kerr (PlantPlan Genetics) presents “Single-step genomic selection in Australian forest tree improvement programs” at the Eucalypt Genetics / Forest Value group meeting.
27 October 2016 – Jakob Butler presents “Comparative analysis of the terpene synthase gene family in different eucalypt lineages” at the Eucalypt Genetics / Forest Value group meeting.
23-26 October 2016 – Tanya Bailey presents at the Australian Forest Growers National Conference in Launceston.
13 October 2016 – Tanya Bailey presents “Establishing resilient ecological restoration in the face of future climate uncertainty” at the Eucalypt Genetics / Forest Value group meeting.
Several new eucalypt genetics PhD projects have been listed at http://www.utas.edu.au/research/degrees/available-phd-projects
6-7 October 2016 – Honours students Jess Newman and Hans Ammitzboll present their final Honours seminars in the School of Biological Sciences seminar series.
30 September 2016 – Kay Hodgins (Monash University) visits the group and gives a seminar: “The genomic basis of adaptation in conifers”
16 September 2016 – Akira Weller-Wong introduces his Honours project in the School of Biological Sciences seminar series: “Seed selection for resilient restoration plantings of Eucalyptus”
9 September 2016 – Rebecca Jones presents “A robust phylogeny of a globally significant Eucalyptus lineage” in the School of Biological Sciences seminar series.
1 September 2016 – Nathan Kotlarewski presents “New Product Development in the Timber Industry” at the Eucalypt Genetics / Forest Value group meeting.
18 August 2016 – Matt Larcombe (University of Otago) presents “Species distribution models and the phylogeography of niche space in conifers” at the Eucalypt Genetics / Forest Value group meeting.
16 August 2016 – Congratulations to Dr Mario Vega who received his PhD in the UTAS graduation ceremonies this week.
4 August 2016 – Workshop: “Making sure less garbage goes in to your analysis, so less garbage comes out” at the Eucalypt Genetics / Forest Value group meeting, presented by Greg Dutkowski (PlantPlan Genetics).
21 July 2016 – Workshop: “How to peer review scientific papers” at the Eucalypt Genetics / Forest Value group meeting.
19-20 July 2016 – Jules Freeman attends the workshop “Approaches for selection in eucalypts using genomic data” and the symposium “Forest industry preparedness for climate change: opportunities from genetics and genomics” organised by CSIRO in Canberra.
7 July 2016 – Rebecca Jones presents “A robust phylogeny of a globally significant Eucalyptus lineage” at the Eucalypt Genetics / Forest Value group meeting.
30 May to 3 June, 2016 – Dorothy Steane attends IUFRO Genomics and Forest Tree Genetics Conference in Arcachon, France
12 May 2016 – Dorothy Steane presents ‘Using genomic information to increase resilience of re-afforestation’ at the Eucalypt Genetics / Forest Value group meeting.
29 April 2016 – Mario Vega presents his final PhD seminar entitled ‘Characterisation of Eucalyptus nitens plantations for veneer production’ to the School of Biological Sciences (LTH2).
21 April 2016 – Mario Vega will present his PhD research “Characterisation of Eucalyptus nitens plantations for veneer production” at the next Eucalypt Genetics / Forest Value group meeting.
6-8 April 2016 – Brad Potts, Dorothy Steane and Peter Harrison attend “Restoring Australia’s future: a synthesis of Australian provenance trials in a climate change context” workshop at the University of Adelaide.
31 Mar 2016 – Assoc Prof Barbara Holland (School of Physical Sciences, Discipline of Mathematics) presents “A simulation-based attempt to measure the importance of hybridisation” at the Eucalypt Genetics / Forest Value group meeting.
23 Mar 2016 – the group celebrates National Eucalypt Day with a eucalypt-themed display in our foyer, and tastings of the famous Eucalyptus liqueur made by the Trappist monks of the Tre Fontane Abbey in Rome (Eucalittino delle Tre Fontane)
22 Mar 2016 – Jak Butler attends the Corymbia Genome Workshop at UQ in Brisbane. Jules Freeman, Brad Potts and René Vaillancourt participate via Skype.
18 Mar 2016 – Brad Potts, Tanya Bailey and Rebecca Jones attend the Bjarne K Dahl Trust / Royal Society of Victoria Symposium “Conserving eucalypts: the why and the how” in Melbourne. Members of the group coauthored two talks and three posters at the event.
14-18 Mar 2016 – Jak Butler has prepared two posters for the Forest Genetics for Productivity Conference in Rotorua, New Zealand titled: 1) Symptomless and hypersensitive resistance of Eucalyptus globulus to the rust pathogen Puccinia psidii; and 2) Structural differences between the genomes of the major eucalypt lineages.
02 March 2016 – Hans Ammitzboll and Jess Newman will practice their Introductory Honours Seminars at the Eucalypt Genetics / Forest Value group meeting.
18 February 2016 – Guest speaker at Eucalypt Genetics / Forest Value group meeting: Sylvain Delzon (INRA, University of Bordeaux, France) – phenological adaptive responses of oak and beech to altitudinal gradients.
9-12 Feb 2016 – Dr Dorothy Steane and PhD student Peter Harrison will attend the “Species on the Move” conference in Hobart.
04 Feb 2016 – First Eucalypt Genetics / Forest Value group meeting for 2016
28 Jan 2016 – Official opening of the ARC Training Centre for Forest Value. (https://www.greeningaustralia.org.au/news/transforming-forest-value-in-tasmania)
26-27 Nov 2015 – Brad Potts and René Vaillancourt attended the technical committee meeting of the Southern Tree Breeding Association in Melbourne.
20 Nov 2015 – Brad Potts spoke at the CSIRO-IFA workshop on “Creating our future: Facilitating innovation in the forest sector”
13 Nov 2015 – Jak Butler presented his PhD Confirmation Seminar “Genomic studies in Eucalyptus and Corymbia”.
30 Oct 2015 – Brad Potts was awarded an ARC Discovery grant titled “Genetics of species divergence and hybridisation in Eucalyptus” for 2016-18.