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Dr Karen Barry is a forest
health scientist and lecturer in plant pathology at the University
of Tasmania (School of Agricultural Science). Karen has
worked in forest health research for over 10 years, having begun
her PhD at the University of Tasmania in 1997. Her main areas of
research have included plant-fungal interactions of wood decay in
plantation temperate eucalypts and tropical acacia, specialising in
identification of antimicrobial polyphenols. More recently as an
ARC Research Fellow, she has become experienced in spectral
characterisation of stress in eucalypts, which is requisite
knoweldge before remote sensing can be effectively used to detect
stress in plantations. This involves linking leaf pigments and
physiological indicators to spectral indices and then scaling up to
the crown and stands level. Several of these studies have been
completed using the Pittwater study site. Now within the CRC for
Forestry Project 1.2 ("Managing and sustaining") Karen is
investigating the growth response of eucalypts to biotic damage and
linking growth modelling to remote sensing. |
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Dr Michael
Battaglia (CSIRO Forest
Biosciences) uses his knowledge of forest behaviour to develop
hypotheses and process-based models as a way of ensuring that the
benefits from forests are sustained for the environment, economy
and society. Current research projects include: developing
silvicultural decision support tools for plantation management;
modelling the effect of environment and silviculture on wood
properties; modelling climate change impacts of
forest function; developing decision support systems to predict the
risk of, and rotation length impact of, forest health matters. |
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Dr Geoff Downes is the Leader of
the Material Knowledge group within the CSIRO Forest
Biosciences Wood Quality Unit. Geoff has worked with CSIRO
since 1992 within the SilviScan development group with a specific
interest in short-term climate effects on wood formation and
properties. His main areas of research are centred on causes of
wood property variation and how forests and trees can be
effectively assessed for wood quality. This has involved
high-resolution environmental and tree growth monitoring, matched
to high-resolution measurement of wood variability. These
data sets have been used to generate physiological relationships
and models of cambial activity. Geoff has a PhD in wood structure
and tree growth and has previously worked with the University of
Melbourne. He has also worked at University of Aberdeen,
Scotland studying ectomycorrhizal ultrastructure using TEM. Current
research also includes fundamental causes of resin pocket formation
in radiata pine and field-based prediction of kraft pulp yield in
plantation eucalypts using NIR. Geoff leads project 2.4 of the CRC
for Forestry. |
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Since graduating with a PhD in
Agricultural Science in 2003, Dr Alieta Eyles (University of
Tasmania) has completed two post-docs; a year at the Tasmanian
Institute of Agricultural Research on common scab disease in
potato and then just over two years at Ohio State University (USA).
She was involved in number of projects related to chemical ecology
and one of her major projects examined the cross-effects of
systemic induced resistance in Austrian pine (Pinus nigra)
between a fungal pathogen and an insect pest. In February, 2007,
Alieta started a postdoctoral fellowship with Drs Caroline Mohammed
and Libby Pinkard. She has been investigating the role of abiotic
stresses on physiological responses to pest attack and fertiliser
application and induced resistance to pests at the Pittwater
plantation. As a side project, she has also been examining the role
of stem respiration in response to artificial defoliation in
one-year-old E. globulus trees. |
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Malcolm Hall (CSIRO Forest
Biosciences) is a senior research technician and
brings many years of technical experience to the project having
been with CSIRO since 1975. Malcolm's background is in forest
pathology, having previously been involved in research of fungal
diseases caused by Armillaria and Chalara
australis. He has had a long involvement in the research of
defect and decay in regrowth and plantation eucalypts as a result
of thinning damage, pruning and fungal diseases. He has also worked
on ectomycorrhizal fungi and Mycosphaerella leaf spot. His
experience in laboratory-based work and the design, establishment
and maintenance of field trials allows Malcolm to provide
invaluable technical expertise to the project where he manages the
young Pittwater plantation. |
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Associate Professor Caroline
Mohammed is leader of the Managing and Sustaining (Project 1.2) of
the CRC for Forestry. She has pioneered research into the
interactions of fungal pathogens and insect pests with woody plant
hosts especially the use of multidisciplinary approaches, involving
geneticists, remote sensing specialists, physiologists, growth
modellers and ecologists such as the team at Pittwater, to develop
strategies for the sustainable management of production forest
within the landscape. Caroline has held a joint position
between CSIRO Forest
Biosciences and the University of
Tasmania since 1995, initially focusing on pathology but
then adopting a more generic approach to the management of biotic
stress (whatever the agent involved) by investigating the
physiological processes of damage. |
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Dr Tony O'Grady (University of
Tasmania) is an ecophysiologist with interests focused on
understanding the fluxes of carbon and water in forests. He gained
a PhD in 2000 from the Northern Territory University. His
thesis focused on understanding spatial and temporal patterns of
water use in the tropical savannas of northern Australia. He came
to Tasmania in 2002 and has been heavily involved in research at
the Pittwater site since then. Tony has a diverse range of research
interests and is involved in projects around the country focusing
on understanding the hydraulic constraints on plant water use,
identifying and quantifying ecosystem dependence on groundwater,
the constraints on productivity of arid ecosystems, processes
driving the development of stand structure and size class
distributions and forest productivity, specifically understanding
the overstory/understory interactions in forest systems. |
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Dr Libby Pinkard (CSIRO Forest
Biosciences) heads the research being undertaken
at the young Pittwater plantation. She specialises in the
physiological basis for plant performance, form and function and
the expression of this knowledge in understanding the consequences
on productivity of forest health issues such as leaf disease and
insect defoliation. She draws on her expertise in whole plant
physiology; physiology of host/pathogen interactions; modelling
host responses to stress and modelling potential distribution of
pests using CLIMEX for her current areas of research, that include
climate change impacts on forest function, host/pest interactions
and potential pest distributions, the role of abiotic stresses in
host responses to pest attack and physiological responses to pest
attack.
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Audrey Quentin (University of
Tasmania) graduated with Honours in Agricultural Science at the
School of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences (ESITPA) in
Rouen, Normandy (France), and started her PhD project with the
Forest Health Group of the CRC for Forestry in 2006. Her studies
involve looking at plant responses to pest attack, because the
impact of defoliation by herbivores is a major factor in economic
viability of eucalypt forestry in Tasmania, particularly
Eucalyptus globulus Labill. Audreys main objective is to
improve the capacity to model host responses to pest attack, by
linking host physiological processes to resource availability. |
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Dale Worledge is a senior research technician
with CSIRO
Forest Biosciences. Dale has worked with the CSIRO since 1992.
His main areas of research are centred on tree physiology and
hydrology, electronic environmental monitoring and plantation
management. Dale has a Diploma of Applied Science in analytical
chemistry and has previously worked with the Cascade Brewery
(industrial chemistry and QA), CSIRO Entomology and the Department
of Primary Industries and Water. Dale was responsible for
coordinating the establishment of the Pittwater plantation,
infrastructure installation and is also heavily involved in the
ongoing management of the facility.
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