Although ecologists believe that vertebrate herbivores must select a diet that allows them to meet their nutritional requirements, while avoiding intoxication by plant secondary metabolites, this is remarkably difficult to show. A long series of field and laboratory experiments means that we have a good understanding of the factors that affect feeding by leaf-eating marsupials. This knowledge a...

Exploring the spatial distribution of variation in plant secondary metabolites is critical for understanding the evolutionary ecology of biochemical diversity in wild organisms. In the present study, concentrations of foliar sideroxylonal, an important and highly heritable defense chemical of Eucalyptus melliodora, displayed strong, fine-scale spatial autocorrelation. The spatial patterns obser...

A flock of Little Corellas Cacatua sanguinea deposited six large American Sweetgum (Liquidambar) Liquidambar styraciflua fruit and three Mediterranean Cypress Cupressus sempervirens cones under the canopy a Yellow Box Eucalyptus melliodora in suburban backyard Albury, New South Wales. Subsequent searches encountered four further Boxes with evidence pruning by Corellas. This is first record actu...

Phenotypic mosaic trees offer an ideal system for studying differential gene expression. We have investigated two mosaic eucalypt trees from two closely related species (Eucalyptus melliodora and E. sideroxylon), which each support two types of leaves: one part of the canopy is resistant to insect herbivory and the remaining leaves are susceptible. Driving this ecological distinction are differ...

Marker-based methods for estimating heritability and genetic correlation in the wild have attracted interest because traditional methods may be impractical or introduce bias via G x E effects, mating system variation, and sampling effects. However, they have not been widely used, especially in plants. A regression-based approach, which uses a continuous measure of genetic relatedness, promises ...

A promising approach in dealing with the detrimental effects of climate change on vegetation is to introduce pre-adapted genotypes into restoration programmes. Bush Heritage’s Victorian reserves have experienced eucalypt dieback probably due intense drought and heat shock linked change. Planned revegetation Nardoo Hills reserve provided an opportunity establish test potential for new climate-ma...

Various viewpoints were proposed to explain the causes of recent years’ severe drought occurred in Yunnan and Guizhou, China. In general there are two parties of viewpoints, the Eucalyptus cause and climate change cause. I think Yunnan-Guizhou drought has been mainly caused by abnormal climate change. Eucalyptus was not significant in the formation of Yunnan-Guizhou drought. However, the forest...