From: stephen.johnson@dpi.nsw.gov.au Sent: Monday, 13 July 2009 3:59 PM To: john.hosking@dpi.nsw.gov.au; sydney.lisle@dpi.nsw.gov.au; philip.blackmore@dpi.nsw.gov.au; rod.ensbey@dpi.nsw.gov.au; michael.michelmore@dpi.nsw.gov.au; peter.gray@dpi.nsw.gov.au; alan.maguire@dpi.nsw.gov.au; Frances Pike; Paula Bosse Subject: Fw: Collecting Arundo donax Hi Folks I refer you to an email that came my way below. If you, or council weeds officers are interested in finding out about where your Arundo donax may have come from (in a genetic sense) please refer to Chris Preston's email below. I would encourage you to send this email along to all you think may be interested. If you drive past a patch, it should really only take 5 minutes work - and another 5 minutes in the office. I will go for a drive in the next couple of weeks and get some out around Canonwindra (to those without a GPS, map coordinates can be got off Google Earth, or a map - my very old technology way). Samples around Sydney and the Hunter are particularly mentioned below. Thanks folks Stephen Dr Stephen Johnson Weed Ecologist Industry and Investment New South Wales (formerly New South Wales Department of Primary Industries) Locked Bag 21 ORANGE NSW 2800 (: 02 6391 3146 Mobile: 0418 415 821 7: 02 6391 3206 email: stephen.johnson@dpi.nsw.gov.au Street address: 161 Kite Street, ORANGE Justice - when you get what you deserve. Mercy – when you don’t get what you deserve Grace – when you get what you don’t deserve ----- Forwarded by Stephen Johnson/DPI/NSW on 13/07/2009 03:51 PM ----- "Virtue, John (DWLBC)" 10/07/2009 06:51 PM To "'Csurhes, Steve'" , "'stephen.johnson@dpi.nsw.gov.au'" cc Chris Preston , "Reynolds, Tim (DWLBC)" Subject FW: Collecting Arundo donax I'm wondering if you are both interested in the genetic relatedness of your Arundo donax plantings/infestations to other samples from Australia? Chris Preston at Adelaide Uni has had a postdoc looking at genetic variation in Arundo donax, with 180 samples from across SA, and a few interstate (e.g Kununarra, Sydney Botanic Gardens). Genetic variation has been so low as to conclude that all samples are clones bar the Sydney one, which would appear to be a separate introduction. The first conclusion is that this supports that there is no sexual reproduction going on in Australia (well SA at least). Secondly there is likely to be very few accessions of A. donax in Australia. Also of interest is that the samples are not genetically similar to those in USA (e.g. the problematic one in California, which is again a clone). This raises questions of whether we have "invasive" A. donax in Australia. It would be good to get a sample from various parts of regional Qld and NSW. I know it's a particular problem in the Hunter region and parts of Sydney. Was wondering if you could use your regional noxious weed contacts to get some samples taken and sent to Chris (with a GPS reading and locality ofcourse). John -----Original Message----- From: Christopher Preston [mailto:christopher.preston@adelaide.edu.au] Sent: Wednesday, 8 July 2009 11:51 AM To: Reynolds, Tim (DWLBC); jenna.malone@adelaide.edu.au; Virtue, John (DWLBC) Subject: Collecting Arundo donax My technique is to cut the top 10 cm of stem. Then trim the leaves leaving a piece about 15 cm long with leaf bases. This can be sealed in a zip-loc bag for transport and posting. Posting in Express bags would be good. I need GPS points for location. At a casual glance Arundo can be confused with Phragmites. Arundo is a much more robust species with thicker stems and is generally taller than 2 m. Phragmites has narrower and more tapering leaves. Plant photos are attached. Chris __________________________________________ Dr. Christopher Preston Associate Professor, Weed Management School of Agriculture, Food & Wine The University of Adelaide PMB 1 Glen Osmond SA 5064 AUSTRALIA Ph : +61 8 8303 7237 Fax : +61 8 8303 7109 e-mail: christopher.preston@adelaide.edu.au CRICOS Provider Number 00123M ----------------------------------------------------------- This email message is intended only for the addressee(s) and contains information which may be confidential and/or copyright. If you are not the intended recipient please do not read, save, forward, disclose, or copy the contents of this email. If this email has been sent to you in error, please notify the sender by reply email and delete this email and any copies or links to this email completely and immediately from your system. No representation is made that this email is free of viruses. Virus scanning is recommended and is the responsibility of the recipient. This message is intended for the addressee named and may contain confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete it and notify the sender. Views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender, and are not necessarily the views of their organisation.