Australian Journal of Botany

How do you age a tree that won't give up its rings? 🌳

Brigalow trees don't form annual rings — so researchers used radiocarbon dating to unlock their age. The result? These trees take ~150 years to mature, growing just 1.3 mm per year, informing the need for careful management.

📄 buff.ly/t4ZgpCA

And on Google Scholar scholar.google.co.uk/citations?us...

Aaron BRACE | Research Scientist - Ecosystem Genomics | Doctor of Philosophy | Research profile Aaron BRACE, Research Scientist - Ecosystem Genomics | Cited by 76 | | Read 8 publications | Contact Aaron BRACE

You can find out more about Aaron and his work over on Research Gate www.researchgate.net/profile/Aaro... 🧵

We asked what drives Aaron and his research: "Conservation rightfully focuses on the visible and beautiful above ground diversity, I’m here in the dirt looking for the fun-guys who you might not be able to see, but there are a lot of them, and they are putting in the hard work!" 🧵

"[We found that] even target specific herbicides can change the fungal community, possibly affecting the native plants we intend to conserve." 🧵

Aaron focused on "the herbicides commonly applied to control invasive grasses affected the oft-overlooked soil fungi of the Banksia woodlands in a glasshouse setting" as part of their PhD🧵

An enormous congratulations to Dr Aaron Brace, winner of our 2025 Best Student Paper Award! Available here ➡️ doi.org/10.1071/BT24... 🧵

Finally, standardised protocols for measuring reproductive plant traits! This handbook covers 58 traits across flowers, fruits, seeds & seedlings. Designed for global applicability across diverse ecosystems and enables large-scale research 🌼
📖 buff.ly/TcagpiT

The first known field photographs of the plant Ptilotus senarius. Top left is (a) Inflorescences and slender stems. Top right is (b), a close up of inflorescence showing one open flower. The bottom image, labelled (c) shows the plant's habitat. A caption invites us to read the open access article, titled 'Rediscovery of a presumed extinct plant species, Ptilotus senarius (Amaranthaceae), through iNaturalist', in Australian Journal of Botany. The photo is credited as being by Aaron Bean on iNaturalist.

A plant species presumed extinct in the wild has been rediscovered in northern Queensland, thanks to a sharp-eyed observer, a smartphone camera & the #CitizenScience platform @inaturalist.bsky.social.

#OpenAccess in @ausjbotany.bsky.social:

connectsci.au/bt/article/7...

#AusJBotany

Congratulations to Chieh Lin on winning the Best Student-authored Paper award for "A comprehensive functional trait database of seagrasses in tropical Queensland" 👏

Access the award-winning paper here: connectsci.au/bt/article/7...

A collage of portraits of young people who received prizes for best student paper or early career researcher in a CSIRO Publishing journal in 2025.

A year of outstanding, award-winning student research ✨

A number of our journals offer prizes for papers by students and early career researchers, and we're proud to have celebrated their successes throughout 2025.

Scroll on for their names and links to their research 🧵🧪

1/5

@zoexiro.bsky.social
@tomlebreton.bsky.social
@pattedplants.bsky.social
@jwmorganecology.bsky.social
@markooiecol.bsky.social
@shokoofehshamsi.bsky.social

It was a big week for team AJB at #ESA2025! From the @csiropublishing.bsky.social stall to dinner tables, Social Media Editors/Guest Editors/Co-Editors in Chief caught up with colleagues to discuss all things ecology and publishing 🌱

Journal manager Pat Hannah and six journal editorial board members sit at a long a restaurant table, smiling at the camera. From left to right: Tom Le Breton, Clare Vernon, Shokoofeh Shamsi, Zoe Xirocostas, Pat Hannah, John Morgan, and Mark Ooi.

📷 #ESA2025

6) Journal Manager Pat Hannah (@pattedplants.bsky.social) with @ausjbotany.bsky.social and @marinefreshwater.bsky.social editors.

L-R: Tom Le Breton, Clare Vernon, #MarineFreshwaterRes EiC Shokoofeh Shamsi, Zoe Xirocostas, Pat Hannah, and #AusJBotany EiCs John Morgan and Mark Ooi.

Sam Lloyd and Briana Melideo at the CSIRO Publishing stand, smiling and holding a copy of the picture book 'Alight'.

Journal manager Pat Hannah stands at the front of a room, speaking, with a presentation on screen next to him entitled 'Finding Agency in the Publishing Landscape'. Many people sit around a long table facing the front of the room, listening attentively.

Shokoofeh Shamsi and Briana Melideo stand together, smiling, in front of a banner showcasing CSIRO Publishing journals.

📷 #ESA2025

3) Sam Lloyd (Alight) & Books Publisher Briana Melideo

4) Journal Manager Pat Hannah (@pattedplants.bsky.social) leading his 'Everything You Need to Know About Publishing' workshop

5) Shokoofeh Shamsi, Editor-in-Chief of #MarineFreshwaterRes (@marinefreshwater.bsky.social), and Briana

Grace Heathcote and Briana Melideo at the CSIRO Publishing stand, smiling and holding a copy of the book 'Ecology Matters'.

Prof Stephen van Leeuwen, Saskia Gerhardy and Dr Heather Neilly sit at a black table holding up copies of the book Ecology Matters, which they each contributed to. Behind them stand ESA President Dr Perpetua (Pep) Turner, the book's author Grace Heathcote, and Book Publisher Briana Melideo.

We had a great time at #ESA2025!

We loved chatting with everyone & catching up with our authors, contributors and journal editors!

📷
1) Grace Heathcote (Ecology Matters) & Books Publisher Briana Melideo

2) Perpetua Turner, Grace & Briana, with Stephen van Leeuwen, Saskia Gerhardy & Heather Neilly

In short: connectsci.au brings a new look and features, but with the same high standards and publication ethics.

Browse Australian Journal of Botany: connectsci.au/bt 🌿

Powered by @csiropublishing.bsky.social, connectsci.au prioritises accessibility, discoverability & functionality incl:
- better search filtering across article types & subjects
- journal article split screen view
- nuanced email notification options, inc. saved search alerts: connectsci.au/sign-in

Today @csiropublishing.bsky.social launched ConnectSci, a new global destination for trusted science content, hosting our journal, eBooks and a science news service.

You can now find Australian Journal of Botany here: connectsci.au/bt

So, what's new for readers and authors?

If you're considering submitting your plant science research with us, these numbers might be useful for your decision-making process 🤔

At the Australian Journal of Botany, we had:
- 52 days to first decision
- 46% acceptance rate
- 153K downloads in 2024

More metrics in the image below 📊⤵️

Evaluation of biodiversity and conservation status of endemic and rare plant species of an endemism hotspot in Iran Context This study focuses on the Lalehzar and Hezar Mountains within the Yazd-Kerman Endemism Hotspot in Iran, part of the Irano-Turanian region, which includes five of the world’s 34 endemism…

A new survey of flora in the Yazd-Kerman Endemism Hotspot has revealed more than 300 species - and more than 60 threatened species - call the Lalehzar and Hezar Mountains of Iran home

Landscape-wide modelling of canopy tree crowns and heights using LiDAR: a case study in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales, Australia Context Understanding the extant structure of forests reveals important insights into their ecological condition, age, biodiversity and related ecosystem services. Advances in LiDAR and computational…

#openaccess New #LiDAR methods are revealing the influence of land use change and climate change on forest height, as Patrick Norman and colleagues write

🌱 New research from The Australian PlantBank reveals how 4 threatened Australian Grevillea species respond to temperature changes. Good news, 3 species show resilience to future warming, but G. iaspicula prefers cooler conditions & may struggle with climate change.

Read more 🔗 buff.ly/b4pbbgv

A dense, intricate cluster of golden-brown roots and rootlets from the grasstree Kingia australis, displayed against a white background. The cluster shows a complex branching structure with a main parent root extending horizontally, from which hundreds of fine secondary roots and rootlets emerge in all directions, creating a dense, bushy appearance. Photo credit: Byron Lamont. The text on the image reads: "An eroding riverbank exposed the hidden root systems of the grasstree, Kingia australis."

Riverbank erosion in SW Australia exposed previously undocumented root clusters in Kingia australis. Research by Lamont et al. suggests these novel 'kingioid roots' enhance water and nutrient uptake rather than storage, linking with seasonal root-cluster types🫚

Paper here 🔗 buff.ly/Hi3BxLE

The "living fossil" Wollemi pine🌲can self-fertilise! New research from #CharlesSturtUni shows this critically endangered conifer produces viable seeds without cross-pollination - which helps explain their low genetic diversity in natural systems 🧬

Open access paper 🔗 buff.ly/l3yG5Rt

Trajectories of ecology past and future Ecosystems have many different processes going on. Researchers need to select and simplify, and so development of ecology as a discipline has involved finding different possible ways to select and…

A new journal category: Reflections. We're inviting reviews authored by research field leaders to reflect on a topic of their choosing, exploring the history of and provide context for the current state of our discipline. Our first guest is Prof. Mark Westoby #openaccess

Control of African lovegrass by flupropanate in a flora conservation context Context Managing widespread invasive plants to support biodiversity conservation is a significant challenge that requires weed control methods that have lesser impacts on co-occurring native species…

African lovegrass (Eragrostis curvula) is a fast growing, aggressive invasive species in Australia & North America. Early trials to control this agressive invader in the biodiversity hotspot of SW Australia are promising, writes Carl R. Gosper & colleagues #openaccess OA 🔗➡️

Traits such as spines & water storage vessels allow #cacti to thrive in #aridecosystems. These traits are also useful indicators of #ecosystemintegrity. Paredes Cubas & colleagues from @universidadjaen explore 12 standardised measures of functional traits in #Cactaceae 🌵🔗https://buff.ly/Rc1J5K4

A HIDDEN SABOTEUR: Pilostyles hamiltoniorum is a parasitic plant that lives INSIDE its host, only revealing itself through tiny flowers on the stems.
New research shows this endoparasite slashes flower production by 52% in its host plants, despite being almost invisible!
OA paper ➡️ buff.ly/gArS9tO

Are you eligible for APC-free #OpenAccess? 🌱

Researchers from institutions with agreements in place between their library and CSIRO Publishing can publish #OA in our journal without needing to pay Article Processing Charges (APCs).

Find your institution:
www.publish.csiro.au/journals/ope...