Safeguarding Australia

Dr John Bingham is a veterinary scientist based at CSIRO’s Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL) in Geelong, Victoria. He has more than 12 years experience studying the zoonotic viral disease, rabies.

This article from Farming Ahead contains four stories on improved sugarcane, a virtual farm tool, canola pests and ‘biological machinery’. (1 page)

A fire requires air, heat and fuel to grow. To control the fire, at least one of them must be removed.

The stem girdler, Oncideres rhodisticta was investigated as a potential biocontrol agent for mesquite, but was not released in Australia as it proved difficult to culture in the lab and preliminary data suggested it might not be sufficiently host-specific.

Dr Louise Thatcher is investigating the genetic and biochemical mechanisms of defence against diseases such as Fusarium.

This article from Farming Ahead contains four stories on increasing the range of durum wheat varieties, a joint venture to improve cotton varieties, how the sex life of silverleaf whiteflies affects their invasiveness and developing biofuels. (1 page)

Mr Gordon McLachlan supports soil physics research in the laboratory and the field with expertise in soil sampling, soil field measurement and instrumentation, and measurement of soil physical characteristics in the laboratory.

Rabbits continue to be a serious problem in Australia, and are estimated to cost agricultural industries around A$200 million each year as well as causing severe environmental damage. (5:32)

CSIRO has been collaborating with the sheep and wool industry to develop genetic alternatives to mulesing.

Stress, Strain, and Productivity in Men Suppressing Wildland Fires with Hand Tools examines the stresses firefighters experience, their physiological and subjective responses and their work behaviour and productivity.

This information sheet discusses research on the role of native vegetation as a source of beneficial insects leading to improved pest management strategies for cotton and grain growers. (2 pages)

A sap-sucking psyllid is being used in conjunction with other agents to help control Scotch broom in Australia.

This one-page poster discusses the results of seed longevity experiments for nodding thistle and the consequences for managing this weed in south-eastern Australia.

Domestic sheep common to farms around Australia have come along way from their wild relatives and ancestors. Over many years of domestication, sheep have been bred for their commercially important traits by selectively breeding through trial and error, something that is about to change thanks to a new genomic tool. (3:29)

Scientists from CSIRO and the University of Melbourne in Australia, and the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, are on the brink of a discovery which will facilitate the development of new, safe, more sustainable ways of controlling the world’s worst agricultural insect pest – the moth, Helicoverpa armigera.

CSIRO scientists, as part of the Australian Bushfire CRC, are investigating the effectiveness of aerial suppression of bushfires. The project will provide information needed to shape national aerial firefighting strategies.

CSIRO scientists have played a key role in discovering that bats are the likely host of a new virus, and Dr Linfa Wang from CSIRO’s Australian Animal Health Laboratory discusses, in this seven-minute podcast,  the Melaka virus and its effect on humans. (6:55)

A CSIRO scientist is a step closer to solving the mystery of how insect pests survive in low oxygen environments such as grain silos and how to reduce multi-million dollar reliance on toxic fumigants to kills such pests.

Mr Kevin Hennessy, Principal Researcher, explains why farmers and the Government have reacted with alarm to a collaborative report indicating that hot periods and low rainfall years that have occurred every 20 years, may become much more frequent. (5:36)

Detective-like research has revealed that Australian weedy lantana is likely to have originated from the Caribbean and Venezuela and not, as it was believed, from Brazil and Mexico where many of its bio-control agents have been sourced from, raising the prospect of finding more effective agents than those that have been released in the past.

The Centre for Environment and Life Sciences draws together the capabilities of seven CSIRO research areas to provide solutions to environmental management problems and to improve the health of Australians.

This article from Farming Ahead contains four stories on the biodiversity threat from invasive alien species, a new Water Footprint Network to manage freshwater supplies, the Atlas of Living Australia and a new Australian Fellow of the Royal Society. (1 page)

Research at CSIRO’s European Laboratory is focused on biological control and precautionary biosecurity research.  

In the search for effective, broad-spectrum resistance to aphids in a range of legume crops, CSIRO researchers are trying to isolate major aphid resistance genes and identify the key genes that are activated when the plant recognises an aphid attack.

CSIRO’s grassland and forest fire danger and spread meters are now available as a computer program.