Select Page
Project Update – Planting out

Project Update – Planting out

Nov 25, 2022 | News

This spring, partners in our collaborative project to secure Safe Custody for Native Guava received the first plants to add to their living collections. Five advanced Rhodomyrtus psidioides plants were sent from the Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan to Lismore Rainforest Botanic Garden (NSW), the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden Mount Tomah (NSW), the Australian National Botanic Garden (ACT), and Dandenong Ranges Botanic Garden (Victoria). Plants were also added to the existing collection of these species at the Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan.

Action to conserve Native Guava was rated as an emergency priority in the Myrtle Rust in Australia National Action Plan. Our current collaborative project helps meet the Germplasm Capture objective which is a very high priority in the NAP. This pilot project aims to show what is possible with collaborative action on germplasm capture. We also aim to understand the workflow and take any learnings into similar future ex situ conservation projects on emergency priority species.This project received grant funding from the Australian Government.

Image: Dr Zoe Knapp and Toby Golson with critically endangered Rhodomyrtus psidioides (Native Guava) planted at the Australian National Botanic Garden. Credit: Amelia Martyn Yenson.

ANPC Annual General Meeting

ANPC Annual General Meeting

Nov 25, 2022 | News

We held our Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 16 November 2022 over Zoom and in person at the Australian National Botanic Gardens. Our president, Tony Auld, presented his President’s Report which can be read here. We said thank you and farewell to our committee member Meredith Cosgrove who finished her term. We welcomed Leonie Monks to the ANPC Committee and welcomed back Linda Broadhurst, Andrew Fairney, Melissa Millar and Singarayer Florentine who re-nominated for another 2 years as Ordinary Members.

Dr Geoff Pegg, our guest speaker, gave an insightful talk on the results of the Fire and Rust project which looked at the impact of Myrtle rust on post fire regeneration. You can watch his presentation here. We also had time at the conclusion of the meeting to play the new film ‘Myrtle Rust – the silent killer’.

Safe custody for Native Guava – Project Update

Safe custody for Native Guava – Project Update

Oct 28, 2022 | News

Did you know that the Native Guava (Rhodomyrtus psidioides) plants in our current project have been studied by the ReCER team to understand their genetic diversity? This allows us to check whether the ex situ populations adequately capture the diversity present in the wild populations – and the good news is that they do! The same process will soon begin for germplasm sampled in QLD populations. Using genetic information also helps us send each partner garden a set of plants that is unrelated and genetically diverse, so these precious plants have a good chance of producing seeds, which can be collected for future research or management activities.

This project is supported by funding from the Australian Government.

Epiphytic orchid surveys

Epiphytic orchid surveys

Oct 28, 2022 | News

Thanks to funding from the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (SDZWA) Plant Conservation Team, the ANPC started surveying epiphytic orchids in north-eastern NSW in September. The Black Summer fires are thought to have hit many of these species (which occur on rocks and/or trees) particularly hard because they are killed by intense fire due to lack of both an underground dormant phase and a persistent seedbank from which to recover.

The surveys will document the impact of the fires, establish the geographic distribution and size of the remaining populations, and inform conservation assessment and threatened species listings. Eleven species have been selected, with the focus so far on Plectorrhiza purpurata, Sarcochilus aequalis and Tropilis angusta (syn. Dendrobium angustum). Although the North Coast and Northern Tablelands target areas are amazingly green following the last few years of abundant rain, the legacy of the Black Summer fires remains. A recently found population of Plectorrhiza purpurata was determined to be heavily impacted, with most host plants dead and all epiphytes on those plants killed.

Click here for more information on this SDZWA funded project

Image: Plectorrhiza purpurata growing in Cottan-Bimbang National Park. Credit: Lachlan Copeland