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From top to bottom:
Image 1. Professor Prof. José
Leonardo de Moraes Gonçalves of the University of São
Paulo explains soil profiles and nutrient re-cycling processes to
conference delegates on the mid-conference tour.
Image 2. The conference field trip took delegates to the site of an
experiment that was measuring water flow through a plantation
canopy and litter fall .
Image 3. At Varacel clonal plantation, harvesting, site preparation
and planting operations were demonstrated to conference
delegates.
Image 4. Site preparation: Ripping and initial discing of planting
lines.
Image 5. Planting is conducted efficiently using specialised
machinery.
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Several CRCF staff attended the recent IUFRO conference on
“Joining silvicultural and genetic strategies to minimize
Eucalyptus environmental stresses: from research to
practice” held in Porto Seguro, Brazil in November (visit
conference website).
Theme sessions at the Porto Seguro conference were: (1) Forest
Establishment and Regeneration; (2) Environmental stress (water,
cold and salt stresses); (3) Genetics; (4) Ecophysiology and
Hydrology; (5) Diseases and Pests; (6) Breeding; (7) Mixed
plantation and Agroforestry; (8) Wood Technology; (9)
Biotechnology; and (10) Social and environmental
responsibility.
Electronic copies of the proceedings of the conference and
presentations can be obtained from the conference
website.
Four CRCF scientists were invited speakers: David Forester, Brad
Potts, Phil Smethurst and Don White. CRCF Director, Gordon Duff
also attended the conference.
Brad (UTAS, CRCF project 4.2) overviewed the genetic research
undertaken by scientists at UTAS over the four years since the last
meeting, in a talk entitled “Advances in eucalypt genetics:
from genes to ecosystems“ (read more). In
addition, he co-authored a talk presented by Greg Dutkowski
entitled “Drought tolerant Eucalyptus globulus
provenances have thick bark, high basic density and grow poorly on
wet sites“.
Phil Smethurst (CSIRO/CRCF project 4.1) presented a talk entitled
“Site and stand management: theory and practice in Australian
plantation forests”; David Forrester (UMELB, CRCF Project 2.3
presented on “Quantifying the effects of species interactions
in mixed species plantations”; Don White (CSIRO, CRC projects
2.2 and 4.1) on “Drought responses of eucalypts in
plantations – from physiology to management”; Auro
Almeida (CRCF 4.6) presented a talk on “Quantifying water use
and biomass production by forest and pasture at plot- to
catchment-scales” and also chaired the last session on
“Social and environmental responsibility”.
Rod Griffin, who is a consultant and honorary research associate
at the School of Plant Science (UTAS), was also an invited
speaker and presented a talk entitled “Clonal Forestry
– is it always the best deployment option?”
The conference was part of a series of conferences hosted every
2-4 years by the IUFRO Working group 2.08.03 on the silviculture
and improvement of eucalypts. The CRC for Temperate Hardwood
Forestry hosted a meeting that was part of this series, in Hobart
in 1995 (read proceedings); subsequent meetings have
been held in Salvador in Brazil (1997), Valdivia in Chile (2001),
Aviera in Portugal (2004) and Durban in South Africa (2007 –
see conference website).
Most delegates attended the mid-conference field day.
Delegates visited a number of experimental sites where studies were
being conducted on nutrient recycling and soil/root dynamics
(images 1-2). They also visited plantations,
operations, pulp mill and a nursery operated by Varacel Company
(see images3-5), as well as the Atlantic Forest Reserve which is a
remnant of the Brazilian coastal tropical rainforest and now a
World Natural Heritage Site.
Biobuzz issue fifteen, December 2011