Myrteae is the most species-rich tribe in the Myrtaceae family, represented by a range of socioeconomically and ecologically significant species. Many of these species, including commercially relevant ones, have become increasingly threatened in the wild, and now require conservation actions. Tissue culture presents an appropriate in vitro tool to facilitate medium-term and long-term wild germplasm conservation, as well as for commercial propagation to maintain desirable traits of commercial cultivars.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTraits with intuitive names, a clear scope and explicit description are essential for all trait databases. The lack of unified, comprehensive, and machine-readable plant trait definitions limits the utility of trait databases, including reanalysis of data from a single database, or analyses that integrate data across multiple databases. Both can only occur if researchers are confident the trait concepts are consistent within and across sources.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Myrtaceae is a very large and diverse family containing a number of economically and ecologically valuable species. In Australia, the family contains approximately 1700 species from 70 genera and is structurally and floristically dominant in many diverse ecosystems. In addition to threats from habitat fragmentation and increasing rates of natural disasters, infection by myrtle rust caused by is of significant concern to Australian Myrtaceae species.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Aims: Seed germination is strongly influenced by environmental temperatures. With global temperatures predicted to rise, the timing of germination for thousands of plant species could change, leading to potential decreases in fitness and ecosystem-wide impacts. The thermogradient plate (TGP) is a powerful but underutilized research tool that tests germination under a broad range of constant and alternating temperatures, giving researchers the ability to predict germination characteristics using current and future climates.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Pill testing is regarded as a controversial harm reduction intervention and provides an ideal case study for examining how policy change comes about. Two Australian jurisdictions were analysed to explore factors that may account for policy change by comparing the ACT which allowed a pill testing trial, and NSW where pill testing has not been permitted.
Methods: The analysis was conducted using the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF).