I work on a variety of subjects but much of my career so far has revolved around mangroves, especially in China and Florida but continuing here. Sadly my efforts at ANU have been set back a bit, firstly by the major hailstorm that smashed the glasshouses and by the COVID-19 outbreak which has closed the university for several months.
As mangroves are quite slow growing, I’ve been working on other projects while I wait for them to reach a suitable size to begin measurement. In the meantime I’ve been examining the question of whether xylem water becomes isotopically enriched going up the trunk or stem of a plant, and if it does why that happens. So far I have destructively sampled eucalypts, acacia, sunflower and various others and analysed hundreds of samples of the water in the bark and wood separately. This is has led to the development of a complex mathematical model describing isotopic enrichment of water in stems. We are progressing to publication of that work.
In 2022 I have moved to the group of Dr Marilyn Ball where I continue working on mangroves and related subjects.