AUSTRALIA—GERMANY WORKSHOP ON BIODIVERSITY

The Shine Dome, 13-17 March 2006

Imaging functional biodiversity: a distinctive opportunity for AUS-DE bilateral
collaboration in research
by Professor Barry Osmond, School of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology,
Australian National University

Terrestrial and most aquatic-marine biodiversity is sustained by diverse, functionally significant phenotypes in the plant kingdom, from algae to angiosperms. Biodiversity itself can be delineated in molecular through morphological and other attributes. Digital imaging technologies offer 256-scale resolution pixel-by-pixel of fundamental autotrophic and growth processes, from organelles to organisms. In future, these combined approaches will measure heterogeneity and give meaning to functional biodiversity in managed and natural ecosystems. The interdisciplinary requirements for progress will be illustrated by imaging of photo-protection mutant phenotypes of Arabidopsis, of heterogeneity in light-use efficiency and stress in tropical forest canopies, and of nutrient dynamics as a determinant of invasive species in ecosystems.