Past Events

7th Annual Geoff Baylis Lecture. Sex in the bush: what are our native woody plants up to?

A talk by Dr Brian Molloy, Research Associate, Landcare Research, Lincoln. For the past 35 years Dr Molloy has been associated with the restoration and management of Riccarton Bush in Christchurch City and has observed the reproductive behaviour and recruitment of native woody seed plants there. He argues there is strong presumptive evidence that many woody species in Riccarton Bush are facultative apomicts whose progeny now dominate the understorey and ground layer. These observations will be discussed with emphasis on species and disturbance events in Riccarton Bush and he will briefly review examples of these and other species elsewhere in the NZ Botanical Region. NOTE SPECIAL VENUE: Castle 1 Lecture Theatre, University of Otago. Nibbles and drinks will be available in the Castle Concourse from 5.10 pm.

Department of Botany 4th year students research seminars, session 2.

Two seminars by Department of Botany research students:

12:00 noon: The diet of feral pigs in the local Otago area by James Ung;

12:20 pm: Is frost tolerance restricting invaders? Invasive plants in the alpine region by Lorna Little.

Note Special venue At the Union Street Lecture Theatre (upstairs, corner of Union and Great King Streets).

Department of Botany 4th year students research seminars, session 1.

Three seminars by Department of Botany research students:

12:00 noon: A vegetation pattern of an Empodisma/Sphagnum bog in eastern Otago, New Zealand by Cailin Roe;

12:20 pm: Desiccation tolerance in mosses: A comparison of habitat distributions and their physiological responses by Sam Weatherall;

12:40 pm Killing gorse in three easy steps by Christina Lister.

Note Special venue At the Union Street Lecture Theatre (upstairs, corner of Union and Great King Streets).

Field trip to Bull Creek and Coastline

Southern rata dominated forest extends down lower Bull Creek to its small attractive estuary. We'll investigate the forest by way of a walking track that follows the creek up to a small waterfall before exploring the coastline strand and turf communities. Depart Botany car park at 9 am returning mid-afternoon.

Astrobiology

Prof John A Raven, University of Dundee, Scotland and John Smaillie Tennant Lecturer at University of Otago for 2008. Note special venue: Archway 4 Lecture Theatre, cnr Union Place East and Leith Walk, Otago University.

POSTPONED - Canadian Arctic

THIS TALK HAS BEEN POSTPONED. A NEW DATE WILL BE ADDED SHORTLY. A talk by Audrey Eagle. A surprising variety of plants are in flower in the areas surrounding Bathurst Inlet during the short Arctic Summer. Photographs of these together with some reference to geological features, animals and Inuit culture will be shown by Audrey Eagle. At the Zoology Benham Building, 346 Great King Street, behind the Zoology car park by the Captain Cook Hotel. Use the main entrance of the Benham Building to get in and go to the Benham Seminar Room, Rm. 215, 2nd floor. Please be prompt as we have to hold the door open.

Sequencing the seas.

Prof John A Raven, University of Dundee, Scotland and John Smaillie Tennant Lecturer at University of Otago for 2008. Note special venue: Union Street Lecture Theatre.

Field trip to flax collection, Dunedin Botanic Garden.

This trip has been rescheduled for this Saturday 2 August - meet 10am. Reasonable weather is required - if in doubt on the day contact Debra Carr 021 239 3045. Debra Carr from Clothing & Textile Science, University of Otago and Rua McCallum (Ngai Tahu) will introduce the Rene Weaving Collection and the 'Dunedin Cultivars' which have whitau (fibre) as good as the best in the Rene Collection. The Dunedin Cultivars were donated to the Garden in the early 1900s by Matthews, a Dunedin horticulturist. Debra & Rua will teach how to care for and clean harakeke according to traditional methods and demonstrate how whitau is extracted. Bring a sharp knife that has not been used for food, gardening gloves, boots, packed lunch and warm clothing. SPECIAL NOTE: Meet in the carpark next to the Polytechnic Centre, Botanic Garden, on Lovelock Avenue. If in doubt contact Debra Carr 021 239 3045.

Cyanobacteria: how these resilient 'blue-green algae' adapt to diverse environments

Botany Department - Special Guest Lecture. A talk by Dr Tina Summerfield, Department of Biochemistry, University of Otago. Union Street Lecture Theatre.

Potassium and stress plants

Botany Department - Special Guest Lecture. A talk by Dr Tracey Cuin, School of Agricultural Science, University of Tasmania. Union Street Lecture Theatre.

Tales of transposition and transcription: The pathway to purple grapes

Botany Department - Special Guest Lecture. A talk by Dr Molly Cadle-Davidson, Grape Genetics Research Unit, USA Dept of Agriculture - Agriculture Research Service. Union Street Lecture Theatre.

Flora of the Forties and Fifties: Subantarctic Plants.

An illustrated talk by Lorna Little. Lorna voyaged with Heritage expeditions to the Subantarctic Islands in February this year, coming across many interesting plants, only some of which were recognisable. This talk portrays some of the fascinating flora that can be found in these, technically, South Pacific islands. It will begin, like her trip, with the plants on the furtherest island, Campbell Island. Auckland and Enderby Islands will follow, finishing up with a sampling of the the flora of the Snares Islands. At the Zoology Benham Building, 346 Great King Street, behind the Zoology car park by the Captain Cook Hotel. Use the main entrance of the Benham Building to get in and go to the Benham Seminar Room, Rm. 215, 2nd floor. Please be prompt as we have to hold the door open.

Field trip to Varleys Hill

The QEII covenant at Varleys Hill on the Otago Peninsula includes a small salt meadow, lowland broadleaf forest, large areas of kanuka, and a hill top shrubland. Since farm stock were excluded 15 years ago, the broadleaf understory has recovered rapidly and a variety of ferns are present under the kanuka canopy. Moira Parker will show us around the covenant and we may also visit a second nearby covenant.

The expanding range of Undaria in Southern New Zealand

A talk by Dr Lisa Russell. Very few studies have addressed how the invasive kelp Undaria pinnatifida spreads beyond initial founding populations in harbours. Our surveys of the southern coastline of the South Island demonstrate that contrary to common belief, Undaria is capable of invading native kelp communities on wave exposed coastlines. Results from these surveys and potential impacts will be discussed. At the Zoology Benham Building, 346 Great King Street, behind the Zoology car park by the Captain Cook Hotel. Use the main entrance of the Benham Building to get in and go to the Benham Seminar Room, Rm. 215, 2nd floor. Please be prompt as we have to hold the door open.

Field trip to Tavora Reserve, North Otago

Tavora is a coastal reserve near Palmerston managed by the Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust. The Trust has done extensive riparian planting and has also transformed the previously marram covered dunes into a showcase of pingao with many associated threatened species including shore spurge, Cooks scurvy grass and sand tussock. The reserve also has natural populations of the uncommon Aciphylla subflabellata, Lepidium tenuicaule, and Tupeia antarctica mistletoe hemi-parasitic on ribbonwood trees. Well do an easy walking circuit of the reserve that takes in all the highlights.