Overview
Topic status: We're looking for students to study this topic.
Presence of exotic (non-native) plants with aggressive demographic traits (such as, high fecundity, high survival and short generation time, presence of clonality) poses serious threats to natural ecosystems. The invasive liana, cat's claw creeper Macfadyena unguis-cati (Bignoniaceae), is a major environmental weed in coastal and sub-coastal Queensland, where it poses a significant threat to biodiversity in riparian and rainforest communities. There appear to be two different morphological forms of cat's claw creeper. Previous work has indicated that cat's claw creeper may be polyembryonic (producing multiple embryos from a single seed) but this has not been verified. The aim of this project is to document and quantify differences between the short pod and long pod varieties of cat's claw creeper by addressing the following questions:
- Does polyembryony occur in cat's claw creeper?
- Does the frequency of polyembryony and number of embryos differ between the two varieties?
- Do the rates of seed germination differ between the two varieties?
This project will enable a student to develop essential techniques and skills in plant anatomy, such as use of scanning electron microscopes (SEM), microtomy, general histology and preparation of specimens.
- Study level
- Honours
- Supervisors
- QUT External Dr Kunjithapatham Dhileepan (Alan Fletcher Research Station, DEEDI)
- Organisational unit
Science and Engineering Faculty
- Research area
- Contact
- Please contact the supervisor.
Dr Tanya Scharaschkin
