Ref ID: 10202
Ref Type: Journal
Authors: Potts, B. M. and Reid, J. B.
Pub Date: 2003
Journal Name: Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania
Volume: 137
Issue:
Start Page: 21
End Page: 37
ISBN/ISSN:
Keywords: clinal/description/discovery/DNA/domestication/early/endemic/establishment/eucalypt/Eucalyptus/Eucalyptus obliqua/Eucalyptus/Eucalyptus/evolution/experiment/France/garden/gene/Genera/genetic/globulus/hardwood/history/island/la/molecular/natural/new/quantitative/region/research/science/scientist/selection/sequence/species/stage/study/Tasmania/Tasmania/Tasmania/technique/temperate/tree/University of Tasmania/variation
Abstract: While representing only 29 of the more than 700 eucalypt species, the eucalypts on the island of Tasmania have a unique place in the history and scientific discovery of this iconic genus. Eucalypts first entered written history when Abel Tasman discovered Tasmania in 1642 and the type specimen for the genus is Eucalyptus obliqua Hérit, collected from Bruny Island in 1777 during Cook's third voyage. The discovery of some of the endemic taxa was linked with key events in world history through the French expedition searching for La Pérouse in 1772-3, and the return of the type specimens to France for description by their collector can only be described as miraculous. It was not until nearly half a century later that British botanists contributed to the discovery of the Tasmanian eucalypts with colonial collectors sending specimens to Kew Gardens, before Australian-based botanist completed the pioneering stages of botanical discovery in the early 1900's. It was Tasmanian-based botanists who led experiment approaches to understanding their evolution, ensuring a place for the island's eucalypts in 20th Century Science. The first major study of eucalypt chromosomes and cell division was undertaken with the Tasmanian eucalypts in the 1930's. The post war decade saw the establishment of many of the lines of scientific enquiry pursued today, through the research of pioneering Tasmanian scientists such as Newton Barber and the recently deceased Bill Jackson, both of whom served as Professor of Botany at the University of Tasmania. Their studies of the roles of natural selection and hybridization in the evolution of tree genera led to outstanding work on the nature and origins of clinal variation. Detailed quantitative genetic studies, especially on E. globulus, the Tasmanian floral emblem, are a case study for domestication in the genus. E. globulus was the species by which the most of the world first knew eucalypts and it is now the most widely planted hardwood species in temperate regions of the world. The first eucalypt gene sequence and study of DNA variation published were done with Tasmanian species and molecular techniques have allowed many of the questions posed by the early work of Jackson and Barber to be addressed. However, just as old questions are answered, new questions arise as genomic studies on this unique Australian genus open a new era of scientific discovery.
Notes: Entered by Brad Potts (17/04/2003)
Reprint: Not in File
Program: SPF Genetic Improvement
Project: A1
Deliverable:
Confidentiality: Public
Availability: Authors
Report: Annual Report 2003/4
Type: Article