There were no consistent differences in the floristic composition of the regenerating understorey vegetation, up to age ten years, that could be attributed to differences in the silvicultural systems. However, forests with a wet sclerophyll understorey responded to harvesting and burning disturbances very differently from forests with a rainforest understorey.

Monttea aphylla produces oil, is self-incompatible and relies on three bee species (Apidae), two generalist (Centris brethesi and Mesonychium jenseni) and one specialist (C. vardyorum). C. vardyorum collects oil and was the main pollinator. M. aphylla shows different reproductive biology along its distributional range, increasing its specialization to the south.

Occupancy models are assumed to be indicative of habitant quality and are often used as surrogate abundance models.This was tested by creating occupancy and abundance models for two Xanthorrhoea species. One species exhibited no correlation between occupancy and abundance, indicating the need for species specific validation of surrogate models.

Effect of NaCl on survival, morphology, chlorophyll and phenolic content of two moss – Bryum argenteum Hedw. and Atrichum undulatum (Hedw.) P. Beauv., and three fern species – Asplenium viride Britton, Ceterach officinarum DC, and Phyllitis scolopendrium (L.) Newman was explored. Possible role of phenolics in salt tolerance was discussed.

The effects of climatic change and relative sea level rise on southeast Tasmanian coastal saltmarshes were expressed in changes to vegetation communities in marshes and in the extent of the marshes. These changes indicate that saltmarshes are highly susceptible to current environmental changes.

The development of polyembryony is a common reproductive strategy in conifers. The aim of this study is to determine patterns of polyembryony and survival frequency in Araucaria angustifolia. We demonstrate that A. angustifolia presents both polyzygotic and cleavage polyembryony, and that survival of multiple embryos is a rare event.

The genetic control of flowering time has been well studied in annual plants such as Arabidopsis, but in trees the process is less understood. In this study we isolate the E. globulus homologues of two important flowering genes and show that expression of FT in leaves, measured over a 2-year period, is associated with the annual transition from vegetative to reproductive growth (i.e. flower bud initiation) rather than anthesis time. This is the first study of seasonal expression of flowering time genes in Eucalyptus.

Genetic diversity and spatial genetic structure of fragmented Allocasuarina verticillata populations were assessed to improve seed collection and deployment practices. Genetic diversity was lower in small populations while a lack of strong population structure suggestions seed can be collection from a broader spatial scale than currently undertaken.

The role and relationship between hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) reduction and the inhibition of abscisic acid (ABA)-induced stomatal closure by ethylene were studied. Our results showed that ethylene probably induces H₂O₂ removal and reduces H₂O₂ levels in Vicia faba guard cells, and finally inhibits stomatal closure induced by ABA.