Academic staff

Dr Charles Warren

Charlie Warren is leader of the group. He has a bachelors degree from the University of Tasmania, a PhD from the University of Western Australia and has recently obtained formal qualifications in university teaching and supervision of graduate students. Charlie has worked in Canada and France and maintains active overeas research links (e.g. with France).

Charlie's main research interests are:

• Diffusion of CO₂ within leaves
• Photosynthesis and the C cycle
• The ecosystem N cycle and N uptake by plants
• Plant responses to temporally variable water and nutrients

Charlie is willing to take on keen PhD and honours students. He will entertain any project that fits within his area of expertise and can be accommodated by the School’s facilities. Interested students should approach Charlie with details of undergraduate grades and areas of interest.

Postgraduate & honours students

Sabine Posch: light use and antioxidative defence in Pinus radiata

Currently I am working on a part time basis as I spend the rest of my time looking after my little one.

Since October 2003, I have been enrolled as a PhD student at the Institute for Plant Sciences, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, Austria, with the major part of my work done at the School of Forest and Ecosystem Science, University of Melbourne, Australia.

The main focus of my work is on the ecophysiology of light use and antioxidative defence in Pinus radiata. I seek to identify (1) how light use and antioxidant defence are affected by forestry management measures like fertiliser application and thinning and (2) differences in light use and antioxidant defence among genotypes. I am addressing these questions from a biochemical, physiological and whole-plant scale.

Funding for my work is provided by a DOC scholarship from the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austria, and by a Förderungsstipendium and an Ida Pfeiffer-Scholarship from the Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, Austria.

The supervisors accompanying me through this journey are:
Charles Warren (see above), Mark Adams (UNSW), Helmut Guttenberger (Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz)

Emma Paulding: Uptake of inorganic and organic N by Eucalyptus species

Traditional research into nitrogen uptake by terrestrial plants has assumed that nitrate and ammonium are the sole nitrogenous compounds available to plants. The ability for plants to by-pass the bottleneck imposed by mineralisation and take up small organic compounds such as amino acids has only recently gained scientific credibility. Studies of ecosystem nitrogen cycling in south-eastern Australia have concentrated only on inorganic nitrogen leaving the role of organic nitrogen as largely unknown.

I am examining the uptake of different nitrogen forms by three species of mature Eucalyptus growing in the Wombat State Forest, near Daylesford (Victoria, Australia). Dual labeled glycine (2-¹³C₂¹⁵N-glycine) is being used to determine whether glycine can be taken up intact, or is mineralised prior to uptake. This study is asking three main questions: 1) can all three species take up glycine intact? 2) Are the relative proportions of soil nitrogen (amino acid N, ammonium and nitrate) proportional to the uptake of these compounds? 3) Do these three co-occurring species take up different forms of N so as to avoid competing for N?

Emma is based at the the School of Forest and Ecosystem Science, University of Melbourne, Australia. She is supervised by: Charles Warren (see above), and Alan Baker (Botany, University of Melbourne)

Technical staff

Captain Eppi

Captain Eppi has recently joined the lab as a research assistant. He has a keen interest in the ecophysiology of plants and was awarded first class honours for his thesis "Measuring hydraulic properties of xylem via the centrifugal technique". Eppi is using his time as a research assistant to decide whether he should pursue a PhD.

The Captain is indispensable because he is working on a large number of projects and methods. First up he will be extracting ¹⁵N-labelled proteins from leaves of spinach. The _¹⁵N-labelled proteins will be used to "feed" to other plants. Eppi will extract proteins with molecular weight cut-off filters and our new refrigerated centrifuge. Once this task is finished Captain Eppi will be spending a lot of time preparing and centrifuging extracts of plant material. These extracts will be used for measuring primary metabolites.

Captain Eppi has many interests outside of the laboratory. Acacia and Casuarina are his two favourite genera and he spends much of his spare time nurturing his garden of Acacia and Casuarina.

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