School of Life Sciences
Department of Environmental Management & Ecology
Albury-Wodonga campus biodiversity research team goes into high gear
Media release April 2008
With the employment of a Technical Officer, a biodiversity research team will formally begin a three year research project on Australian mayflies and other aquatic macroinvertebrates.
Lead by Dr Phil Suter, Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Environmental Management and Ecology at Albury-Wodonga campus, the team will be using advanced research technologies, including DNA sequencing, to assist with species identification and description.
“We need to know more about our freshwater insects, as mayflies and other aquatic macroinvertebrates are key indicators of aquatic health, particularly in relation to monitoring river systems such as the Murray-Darling”, stated Dr Suter.
Dr Suter said the collaborative research into the taxonomy of mayflies would assist in the detection of even subtle changes in water health affected by water management practices, environmental flow variations and other factors attributable to climate change.
Funded by a $600,000 Commonwealth Environmental Research Facilities (CERF) grant for the National Taxonomy Hub, the project involves CSIRO, the Australian National University, the University of Adelaide and the South Australian Museum.
“Apart from the expected improvements in knowledge, this project will also result in web-based identification tools being developed and made available to all aquatic researchers,” Dr Suter says. “As a start to this process, a taxonomic workshop will be held in February 2009 at the Albury-Wodonga campus to disseminate our findings to Australian freshwater biologists.
“The knowledge and tools will also be more accessible for Government agencies, Catchment Management Authorities, Landcare branches, WaterWatch groups and interested landholders.”
Dr Jeff Webb, an expert in mayfly taxonomy with extensive research experience in Canada and the USA, has been appointed as a Postdoctorate Research Fellow.
“My role in this project is to develop ways for people to identify mayflies and make the information widely available through online media, such as interactive identification keys, distribution databases, and gene sequences. I will use a combination of DNA barcoding, where a short section of DNA is found that uniquely identifies a species, and anatomical characters,” said Dr Webb.
Technical Officer, Stephen Moore, will provide technical and laboratory support, both in the field and on-campus. John Hawking is also involved, working on the Australian aquatic caterpillars for his PhD.
“Jeff, John and I have already undertaken a series of field trips that have thrown up some interesting results, including at least five new species and probably a new genus of mayflies. This will be confirmed by further DNA analysis that will begin the long process of developing a comprehensive and useful taxonomic “bible” for mayflies and other aquatic macroinvertebrates,” stated Dr Suter.
For further information on the project, please contact Dr Suter on (02) 6024 9889.
Further media releases.
|
