The Hans Merensky Chair in Measuring and Modelling Eucalypt Growth & Wood Formation
Understanding growth in the world's most widely planted hardwoods
The EucXylo Phenomenological Trial: the end of our flagship experiment
Post authored by Ph.D. candidate Mpilo Khumalo Field data collection for the EucXylo Phenomenological trial, which has been the flagship for EucXylo during Phase 1 of the project, has come to an end. We have reached many incredible milestones with this study and the analysis…
Germinating seeds: This is how we do it!
Post authored by Dr Michelle Eckert When you think of planting seeds, the traditional way is to place the seeds directly into the soil. But with seeds of some species that germination process is not as successful as you want it to be. That is…
Dr Annemarie Eckes-Shephard visiting
Dr. Annemarie Eckes-Shephard, who is presently a post-doctoral fellow at Lund University, Sweden, is visiting with us at EucXylo. Annemarie previously finished her PhD at Cambridge University under Prof Andrew Friend. Annemarie’s work at Lund focuses on global vegetation responses to environmental change, using…
Dr Moller visits Mondi at Mountain Home, Hilton
Post authored by Dr Leandra Moller Dr Moller recently visited Mondi at Mountain Home, Hilton to quantify photosynthetic parameters of the Eucalyptus grandis common garden field trial. The natural distribution of Eucalyptus grandis ranges all the way from northern Queensland to southern New South Wales, Australia,…
Renewed use of newly upgraded microscope in capturing high quality images
Post authored by Lucy Nevhungwili The concept of performing good image analyses lies in capturing high quality images. To enable one to use image analysis software, such as ImageJ and QuPath, to identify and quantify different cell types, crisp and clear images are needed. Last…
Increasing access to tracheary elements for the study of wood developmental dynamics
Post authored by Ph.D. candidate Rafael Keret * This blog post is based off a recent publication by members of EucXylo and IPB. The reference and link to the publication can be found here: Keret, R., Hills, P. & Drew, D. The evolution of in…
Effects of a lucerne cover crop on the performance of eucalypts
Post authored by Jenna Roseveare Agroforestry systems provide the opportunity to diversify products, mitigate risks and contribute to biodiversity conservation. These are some of the main motivations for Jenna’s project. Eucalypts are generally fast growing, high nutrient demanding trees. This study will investigate the effects…
A new paper in Southern Forests
Post authored by Dr Letitia Schoeman Recently Brian Mandigora, a PhD candidate, published his first paper titled “Enhancing predictive precision of dominant height projection equations for eucalypts by incorporating rainfall and temperature terms” in the Southern Forests journal. Well done Brian! Short-rotation forest stands are sensitive…
Investigation of an alternative method of measuring the vibrations of plants, using a Laser Doppler Vibrometer
Post authored by Dr Letitia Schoeman Ms Frances Steyl, from the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering at Stellenbosch University, recently completed her Mechatronic Project 478 where she investigated an alternative method of plant vibration measurements. During drought conditions water loss through a plant’s stomata…
Letitia presents at conference in Germany
Post authored by Dr Letitia Schoeman Letitia Schoeman presented her X-ray CT research at the Fifth Xylem International Meeting (XIM5), held in Würzburg, Germany from the 19th to 21st of September 2022 (https://xim5.de/). She presented a poster (Figure 1) on her research entitled “Advanced imaging and…