Species’ future in the spotlight

RESEARCHERS are coming together this week at the University of Tasmania to share knowledge on the use of genomic technologies to manage eucalypt forests in the face of climate change.

Professor Zander Myburg from the University of Pretoria in South Africa is the leader of the international consortium that sequenced the eucalypt genome and is a keynote speaker at the conference.

Prof Myburg said the genome technology is vital in breeding eucalypt species that will adapt to future environments.

“I think it’s going to be extremely important in Australia to maintain the diversity,” he said.

“Here [in Australia] I think it is really important for climate change, understanding how species are going to adapt to climate in the future.”

Advances in understanding the genes of the thousand eucalypt species is also allowing for management of native eucalypt forests and restoration of degraded areas.

The CSIRO’s Dr Rebecca Jordan said conserving eucalypts in the face of climate change is vital for Australian ecosystems. “In our forests and woodlands they’re one of our dominant species,” Dr Jordan said.

“What we’d really love to do is to be really enhancing resilience of our systems in changing conditions.”

The recent bushfires have given a taste of the damage climate change can have on the eucalypt forests.

Peter Volker, director of the Forest Practices Authority, said that the science is not yet ready for immediate application to such instances but “in the long term it’ll help us to understand how trees will adapt to their environment”.

The conference has brought together 120 national and international researchers.