Author Archives: Jürgen

Adelaide Fungal Study Group

Adelaide Fungal Study Group logoThe Adelaide Fungal Study Group (AFSG) is convened by State Herbarium Hon. Associate Pam Catcheside. The group is open to anyone interested in the scientific study of fungi. It is a Club of the Field Naturalists Society of South Australia. Members of AFSG must also be members of the Field Naturalists Society of S.A. (membership $35.00 p.a., concession $25.00 p.a.). Additional membership fee for the Group is $5 p.a.

Meetings of the Adelaide Fungal Study Group take place on varying Tuesdays of the month in the State Herbarium of South Australia, Hackney Road, Adelaide, 7.30pm.

Extra meetings & forays (collecting trips) may be arranged, and changes will be made, to take advantage of fungal fruiting times and good fungal sites. There will be no excursions from November to March inclusive. At meetings held during the fungal season, collections made during the previous weekend’s foray will be examined, described and identifications made.

3 fungi image

The first meeting for this year is scheduled for Tue., 8 Mar. 2016, 7:30-9:00pm.

Agenda

  • 7:30-8:00 Ratification of programme for 2016.
  • 8:00-8:10 Thelma Bridle. Orchid mycorrhizas.
  • 8:10-8:20  Samra Qaraghuli. Screening macrofungi for inhibitors of biofilm formation by Staphylococcus aureus.
  • 8:20-8:30 Tara Garrard. Nematophagous fungi.
  • 8:30-8:40  Rose Dow. Fungi in soils; ‘Nature’s Recyclers’. A poster for Arbury Park Outdoor School.
  • 8:40-8:50  Sarah Harvey. Summer projects at the State Herbarium of SA.
  • 8:50-9:00 Pam Catcheside. Rare and under-collected small, black discomycetes.

New members interested in the group’s activities should contact Pam Catcheside (pam.catcheside@sa.gov.au) for more information.

Summer scholarships

Summer scholarship students Sarah Harvey & Jessica Burdon

Aside from managing a collection of over one million specimens and providing botanical expertise, the State Herbarium of South Australia seeks to inspire new generations of botanists to pursue a career in that field. For a select number of university undergraduates, the Herbarium provides opportunities to gain first-hand experience in the Herbarium’s work, whether it be in specimen curation or taxonomic research. The Herbarium has been doing this through a program of summer scholarships where some of the most promising students are offered the opportunity to enhance their skills and knowledge and gain first-hand career experience. Two students, Jessica Burdon and Sarah Harvey from the University of Adelaide School of Biological Sciences, were offered this opportunity over the summer break.

Jessica had already commenced volunteering with the Herbarium to assist with a project to photograph exemplar specimens of the South Australian vascular flora. These high resolution images will support electronic flora descriptions and other applications enhancing the availability of knowledge of the State’s flora.

Fresh Carpobrotus specimen photographed before drying

During her internship, she has also been involved with the Carpobrotus project currently being run by Herbarium staff. This project, being carried out in collaboration with the Adelaide and Mt Lofty Ranges Natural Resource Management Region and Birdlife Australia is conducting surveys and research into the level of invasion of a weedy hybrid of the coastal succulent plant pigface. Her work has included supporting the curation of incoming specimens and extraction of seeds for investigation and cultivation. Jessica will also learn techniques for seed photography, microscopy and data capture associated with the use of taxonomic information, and how to apply all this knowledge to on the ground decision making and management.

Sarah has been involved with the Adelaide Fungal Studies Group, organised by Honorary Research Associate Pam Catcheside. Her internship roles have included two main projects. The first is assisting Technical Officer Carolyn Ricci with a problem involving the group of red algae that contain carageenans, compounds highly valued, for example, for use as thickening agents in ice-creams. The dried specimens of this group gradually break down owing to specific chemical processes which occur after preservation. As a result the specimen sheets have been discovered to degrade in such a way that they ‘melt’ forming an unstable mess and emitting a sulphurous compound that degrades the plant and paper and most things in contact with it. The work in handling these specimens involves initially making high quality photographs of the specimens and then beginning some curatorial ‘rescue’ activities. The images of what remains of the current specimens will act as a record of the specimen before they completely self-destruct. These images will able to be incorporated into the specimen record in the new Herbarium data system, which is currently being developed.

Two specimens of ‘melting algae’. The left specimen is deteriorated black on both ends, with a red intact section between. The right specimen is badly damaged, even though it was collected relatively recently, in 1971.

SEM image of pollen of Sphaerocarpos

Sarah’s second project has been to assist Senior Botanist Graham Bell with a small project documenting the occurrence and taxonomy of an introduced liverwort, Sphaerocarpos, in South Australia. Whilst the presence of this liverwort in Australia was officially published in 1980, little work on its distribution has been undertaken and very few specimens are held in Australian herbaria. Graham first found the species in the State in 1989 and has since collected a number of specimens, amongst which he has identified a second species, not yet recorded for Australia. As the species can only be separated accurately by examination of the spores, slides of spores have been prepared from all specimens and these have are being examined by light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to verify surface features.

Both students have been working with a high degree of professionalism and skill and have been a welcome addition to the summer work of the Herbarium.

State Herbarium open days 2016

History festival bannerAs in previous years, the State Herbarium of South Australia will be open to the public on the weekend of 7 & 8 May 2016 as part of the South Australia’s History Festival.

The heritage-listed 1909 Tram Barn A was once part of a complex housing the Adelaide tram fleet.  Now the State Herbarium, it houses over one million plant specimens instead. See some of the first plants collected in the state on Matthew Flinders’ voyage and learn how all these dried specimens are critical to the effective preservation of living plants.

Read more about Tram Barn A (1.15mb pdf), the State Herbarium (733kb pdf) and the over one million plant specimens (561kb pdf) in booklets published by the institution.

Guided walking tours will be available on both 7 & 8 May at 11am & 1pm (duration 45-60 min, max. 15 persons per tour).

Bookings are essential.

Please subscribe to the State Herbarium’s blog to find out more about its activites, events and publications.

Plant of the month: Feb. 2016

The State Herbarium has chosen Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehnh. (river red gum), as Plant of the Month for February 2016. It is an iconic tree across South Australia and in the Murray River National Park, this month’s Park of the Month.

River red gums at Katarapko Island, Murray River National Park. Photo: Peter Canty.

Eucalyptus camaldulensis has one of the widest natural distributions for an Australian tree, and is one of the most commonly cultivated eucalypts around the world. Accordingly this wide distribution has produced much variation, and seven subspecies are now recognised, E. camaldulensis subsp. camaldulensis occurs along the Murray River.

The habitat of E. camaldulensis is typically along watercourses and floodplains, however the species also occurs on hills in the Mt Lofty Ranges. Its tolerance to flooding is in part due to its massive size and its ability to grow roots quickly and produce adventitious roots on submerged stems. One study has shown that 9 month old cloned plantlets could produce more than 8 km of roots. Its seed floats for some time and is released predominantly during flooding months.

Spirit of endurance NSW Natl Gallery 499x425

“Spirit of endurance”, Harold Cazneaux well-known photograph of a river red gum near Wilpena Pound, Flinders Ranges. Art Gallery of NSW.

The trees ability to attain massive sizes with hollows makes it an important habitat for many animals (regent parrots, bats, possums, goannas) and insects (49 species have been recorded from a E. camaldulensis forest canopy on the river). Submerged roots and branches are important to many fish like the murray cod. Many intimate fungal associations also exist, one example being the basidiomycetous yeast Cryptococcus gattii. This is released from the tree during flowering and has resulted in the deaths of immune suppressed people (pdf) in Australia and around the world where E. camaldulensis grows, the spores being transported to other countries with the seed.

The age of large trees is difficult to ascertain in part due to the natural hollow formation, some authors indicate ages from 500 to 1000 years. The long history of human use of the tree is still very evident from all the Aboriginal Nations along the river, with many canoe and shield trees found on living and dead trees of considerable age. More recent use has seen the wood used for heavy construction, railway sleepers, furniture and firewood. Honey and a good source of pollen for bees is also significant.

Canoeing under river red gums along Katarapko Creek, Murray River National Park. Photo: Juergen Kellermann.

The name relates to the cultivation of the type specimen at Camaldoli near Naples in Italy in 1832. However study of the type indicated that it was another eucalypt, possibly quite unrelated. An earlier used name, E. rostrata Schltdl., was invalid, while a name given by Mueller, E. longirostris F.Muell. ex Miq., was valid. Because the name E. camaldulensis is so widely used around the world, Brooker & Orchard (2008) applied to conserve the name and select a new holotype. This was successful and a Dean Nicolle collection from Currency Creek was selected. The full discussion of this fascinating typification can be found in a paper by McDonald et al. (2009).

Feel free to contact the State Herbarium’s expert on the eucalypt family Myrtaceae, Martin O’Leary (martin.oleary@sa.gov.au), for specific references or more information.

Further reading can be found at:

 

Congratulations!

Richard Tretheway (NRM Board President), Bev and Dean Overton, Damian Miley (DEWNR) (Photo: KI NRM)

What do an adventure tourism operator, a boutique winery and long-time Kangaroo Island residents Bev and Dean Overton have in common? They have all been recognised Kangaroo Island high achievers, for their outstanding efforts in conserving and raising awareness of KI’s natural environment at the Local Achievers Natural Resource Management Board Awards ceremony held on Australia Day.

The award categories included a special Lifetime NRM Achievement Award, which acknowledged Bev and Dean’s contribution to environmental projects in the KI community for more than 35  years. In particular, they have been recognised because they were:

Bev and Dean Overton in their natural habitat (Photo: KI NRM)

In addition, Bev and Dean have been indefatigable contributors to the State Herbarium of South Australia, collecting plant specimens from the island for more than 30 years. They are listed as main or associate collectors on over 4000 herbarium specimens. Bev’s first specimen lodged at AD was collected at Kingscote in Nov. 1983. Both are also long-time friends of many staff and Hon. Associates of the State Herbarium. They have helped with fieldwork on Kangaroo Island, assisted and collaborated in many projects.

Thank you!