Seminar with Prof. Robert R. Junker and Prof. Ian Woodrow

Microbes modulate the realized niches of plants by Professor Robert R. Junker

Robert R. Junker is Professor for Evolutionary Ecology of Plants at Philipps-University Marburg and University Salzburg. He is working on plant-animal-microorganism interactions, community ecology, and chemical ecology.

Seminar abstract: Understanding the causes and consequences of coexistence and thus biodiversity is one of the most fundamental endeavors of ecology, which has been addressed by studying species’ requirements and impacts – conceptualized as their Grinnellian and Eltonian niches. However, the impact of microorganisms in modulating plants’ realized niches remains largely unknown. 
I will give three examples where bacteria (may) change the requirement or impact niche of plants with consequences for multidiversity patterns, ecosystem functions or interactions with pollinators. These findings will be discussed in the light of niche theory.

A case study of important plant-animal interactions in the Australian wet tropics by Professor Ian Woodrow

Professor Ian Woodrow is a plant biologist who has held positions at a number of Institutions, including the Technical University of Berlin, the University of Münster, the Australian National University, the Carnegie Institution at Stanford University, and the James Cook University. He currently works at the University of Melbourne where he has served as Head of the School of Botany and is currently Head of the School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences. Ian’s research focusses on plant natural product metabolism and, through collaborations with a number of companies, the development of commercial production systems for biologically active natural products.

Seminar abstract: The rare and endangered sub-canopy tree Ryparosa kurrangii has a number of traits that mediate interactions with rainforest fauna. It is highly cyanogenic, with immature fruit having amongst the highest levels of cyanogenic glycosides ever recorded, it has multiple types of ant-attracting food bodies on both stems and leaves, and it is cauliflorous, presenting its colourful fruit on the main trunk up to three metres from the ground. This pattern of fruit presentation appears to be geared to seed dispersal by the southern cassowary (Casuarius casuarius), a large flightless bird which is the only animal in the Australian tropical rainforest capable of long-distance seed dispersal. Such dispersal is a key driver of tree diversity in the rainforest. This seminar will highlight the unique properties of Ryparosa kurrangii and examine the consequences for forest diversity of human effects on the population of seeds dispersing frugivores such as the southern cassowary.   

Everybody is welcome

Elizabeth Neilson