Ecological restoration of plant-pollinator interactions has received surprisingly little attention, despite animal-mediated pollination underpinning reproduction of the majority of higher plants. Here, we offer a conceptual and practical framework for the ecological restoration of pollination mutualisms. Through the use of targeted restoration plantings to attract and sustain pollinators and in...

INTRODUCTION The American mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum L.; Berberidaceae) is a rhizomatous perennial species found throughout eastern North America. The species has received attention recently due to pharmaceutical compounds found in its leaves. Podophyllotoxin, along with α-peltatin, and β-peltatin, are aryltetralin lignans known to have biological activity such as anti-cancer, anti-fungal, ...

Individual-based modelling and analysis of forest experiments has been made more accessible to researchers with the advent of modelling environments like Simile from Simulistics.com. Individual-based analyses of tree growth data offer insights not possible with plot-based analyses, especially when the original experimental design has been compromised by mortality or other unforeseen events. The...

China is the world’s biggest producer, followed by Japan and Korea while Italy is the main European producer (70 000 tonnes in 1993). The Australian persimmon industry has a farm-gate value of between $9 million and $10 million, with 280 producers (2000). Annual production is 2100 tonnes from approximately 300 000 trees. Most plantings (65%) consist of young trees less than six years old; more ...

Since 1968, three spontaneous 4x melons (Cucumis melo L.) plants were discovered in our field or greenhouse plantings. Two were found in the cultivar Planters Jumbo and one in the virescent marker C879-52. Each of these 4x plants had rounded cotyledons, shorter internodes, thicker stems and leaves, more hairs, and smaller fruits, with larger stem and blossom scars, than their 2x counterparts. A...

In this paper we document the role of Phormium tenax as a nurse plant in unimproved pasture. We show that for our study area the regeneration of woody species was limited solely to P. tenax clumps with 22 native and one introduced regenerating woody species present. The number of woody species and of individual woody plants regenerating within P. tenax is not correlated with distance from the e...

Human-induced dryland and irrigation salinity are major forms of land degradation in rural areas, particularly in southern Australia. Salinity is also impacting significantly on the historic environment that identifies Australia’s country towns from the suburbia of larger cities. Historic buildings, formal private gardens and street plantings are affected and are at risk. Many plants, especiall...