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Sharon
Robinson Research Area
Physiological techniques can help to answer many questions
in ecology, conservation biology and agriculture. These
research areas involve collaboration with colleagues
at Wollongong (weed
ecophysiology Kris French, Mangroves
and salt marshes Todd
Minchinton) and around Australia
(Phylloxera DPI Victoria and CSIRO Land and Water).
Weed ecophysiology
What are the mechanisms that allow Bitou Bush to
be such an aggressive weed in Coastal NSW?
See also
Kris
French research page
Mangroves and salt marshes
Why are Mangroves invading salt marshes?
(see also
Todd
Minchinton page)
Plants and disease
Early detection of Phylloxera infestation
in vines (with DPI Victoria and CSIRO Land and Water)
Grape phylloxera is a root-feeding pest of
viticultural industries. In Australia, phylloxera
infested
vineyards are subjected to quarantine restrictions
and early
detection remains vital for the timely implementation
of post-outbreak quarantine protocols.
Current
detection methods rely on time-consuming
ground surveying which
involves detailed examination of grapevine
(Vitis vinifera L.) root systems. Leaf
pigment composition
is often
a sensitive indicator of plant stress.
The increasing popularity of remote sensing systems,
which exploit
those changes in pigments observed
with plant
stress, offers a real possibility for
the development of
a phylloxera specific remote detection
system. (see Blanchfield
et al 2006).
Current students
Emelie Ens - PhD
Future opportunities for research
1. Early detection of Phylloxera infestation in
vines using remote sensing
2. Early detection of Phylloxera infestation in vines using chlorophyll fluorescence
and pigment composition
3. Does Bitou bush change alter nutrient cycling and light environment in
coastal sun dune environments?
4. Does disturbance enhance Mangrove invasion into salt marshes?
5. How will
climate change affect native - weed interactions?
Current publications
Blanchfield, A.L., Robinson, S.A., Renzullo, L.,
Powell, K.S. (2006) Can Leaf Pigment Composition
help us identify Grapevines infested with Phylloxera?
Functional Plant Biology 33 (in press).
Dunn, J.L., Turnbull, J.D., Robinson, S.A. (2004)
Comparison of solvent regimes for the extraction
of photosynthetic pigments from leaves of higher
plants. Functional Plant Biology 31: 195-202? Paper
in PDF (83k)
Robinson, S.A. (2001). Plant light stress. In Encyclopaedia
of Life Sciences. Nature Publishing Group, London.
London A1319 p5, (http://www.els.net/). pp5
Ruuska, S., von Caemmerer, S., Badger, M.R., Andrews,
T.J., Price, G.D., Robinson, S.A. (2000) Xanthophyll
cycle, light energy dissipation and electron transport
in transgenic tobaccos with reduced carbon assimilation
capacity. Australian Journal of Plant Physiology
27 289-300. (33%).
Fyfe, S.K., 2003. Spatial and temporal variation
in spectral reflectance: are seagrass species spectrally
distinct?, Limnology and Oceanography, Coastal Optics
Special Issue, 48(1 part 2):464-479.
Ressom, H., S. Fyfe, P. Natarajan, & S. Sriranganam,
2003. Monitoring seagrass health using neural networks,
Proceedings of the IEEE International Joint Conference
on Neural Networks, Portland, USA, July 20-24, 2003,
Vol 2, pp. 1019-1024.
Fyfe, S.K., & A.G. Dekker, 2001. Seagrass
species: are they spectrally distinct?, Proceedings
of the IEEE International Geosciences and Remote
Sensing Symposium, Sydney, July 2001, Vol VI: 2740-2742.
Poster
 Seagrass
Ocean Optics Poster (Pdf 291k)
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