The Hans Merensky Chair in Measuring and Modelling Eucalypt Growth & Wood Formation
Understanding growth in the world's most widely planted hardwoods
EucXylo proud of its graduating students!
We are very proud to announce the graduation of two EucXylo students. First, Rafael Keret, now Dr. Keret, who received his Ph.D. in March 2024! The purpose of his research was to investigate how the wood anatomy of Eucalyptus grandis is influenced by water…
Another day at the office?
Dr Michelle Eckert and the team establishing the Hans Merensky IMPACT Open-Air Laboratory had a rather unwelcome visitor at lunch time today… This puff adder slithered out of the site where the guys had been working, and onto the road near to where they…
Phase 2 has officially kicked off!
The second phase of EucXylo, which will run from 2024 – 2028 has been officially approved by the Board of Trustees of the Hans Merensky Legacy Foundation. With strong funding for the support of new students and post-docs, and the implementation of the new…
Seeking post-docs and students
We’re actively seeking one new post-doc and at least one new PhD student to join our team in 2024! For more information, click here.
New paper in Plant Science
Congratulations to PhD candidate Raf Keret and all the co-authors of the new paper we just got published in Plant Science. Entitled “An open-source machine-learning approach for obtaining high-quality quantitative wood anatomy data from E. grandis and P. radiata xylem“, the paper describes a…
East African visitors to EucXylo
Recently, EucXylo hosted a group of visitors from Gatsby Africa (Kenya) and Sokoine University of Agriculture (Tanzania). The teams were in Stellenbosch mainly working with Prof. Brand Wessels on a broader project, but were eager to learn more about EucXylo and opportunities for future…
Intensive Monitoring of Planted And Competing Trees (IMPACT)
Post authored by Dr Michelle Eckert We’re entering an exciting new phase, where EucXylo, in collaboration with Lourensford Wine Estate, will be establishing a new, state-of-the-art, long-term research facility to intensively monitor the growth of eucalypts when planted at different levels of competition. Intensive Monitoring…
Our 2023 annual research day a great success!
On 3 October we held our annual research day, attended by members of the Hans Merensky Legacy Foundation (HMLF) board. It was held, as in previous years, as the lovely STIAS conference venue in Stellenbosch. Along with the HMLF board, a number of guests…
Attending the 6th Q-NET workshop
Post authored by Dr Letitia Schoeman EucXylo members recently attended the sixth virtual workshop hosted by Q-NET – a rapidly-growing network aimed at providing better understanding of Quantitative Wood Anatomy (QWA) in various contexts. EucXylo is a frequent participant in the network using Quantitative Wood Anatomy…
A new paper in IAWA Journal
Post authored by Dr Letitia Schoeman Recently Dr Letitia Schoeman, a postdoctoral research fellow at EucXylo, published a research paper titled “Advanced imaging and quantification of the cambium and developing xylem in eucalypts using X-ray micro- and nano-computed tomography” in the IAWA Journal. In recent years,…