To further develop rural and regional Australia through challenging, learning and growing our leadership skills.

This Technical Guideline Update restates the ecological values associated with wood in streams (upland and lowland), with additional emphasis on associated floodplains and wetlands. These areas are the primary source of the timber that finds its way into streams, and have biological communities that also benefit from the presence of wood. The Technical Guideline Update also provides additional information that will assist those who seek to reinstate wood as part of rehabilitation efforts aimed at improving the ecological health of river systems. These new insights have been collated from recent management experience and ongoing research on the role of wood in the ecology and geomorphology of streams, particularly in south eastern Australia.

Cotton fibres are single epidermal cells developed from the ovule. While a number of genes expressed exclusively in cotton fibre development have been isolated, the genes responsible for differentiation of fibre cells have not yet been identified (Basra, 1999). Arabidopsis leaf trichomes could potentially serve as a model for investigating the genetic mechanism controlling cotton fibre differentiation, as the two developmental processes have several features in common. Arabidopsis trichome development is well characterised both genetically and molecularly, and provides an excellent model for plant cell differentiation for several reasons (Marks et al. , 1991). These reasons include ease of observation, relative simplicity of the developmental process, and viabillty of plants with mutant trichomes. One gene shown to be required for Arabidopsis trichome initiation is TRANSPARENT TESTA GLABRAl (TTGl) (Koornneef, 1981). This gene has recently been cloned and shown to encode a 341 amino acid protein with four WD40 repeats (Walker et al. , 1999). The TTGl locus regulates several pathways in Arabidopsis (in addition to leaf trichome formation), including anthocyanin pigmentation, root hair formation, and seed coat mucilage production. Due to the role played byTTGI Arabidopsis trichome initiation, it was thought homologues of TTGl might exist in cotton to control fibre initiation. Four putative TTGl homologues have been isolated from cotton, designated TTG(1),TTG(11), TTGOPl and pTTG(c)E2 (Orford, unpublished).

These proceedings represent the outcomes of one of Australia's most successful R&D programs in natural resources management - minimisation of the impact of pesticides on the riverine environment. Conducted over a period of four years, the program focussed on irrigated cotton in NSW and Queensland as a model for other industries that use pesticides. The reasons for choosing cotton were several: it is the highest agricultural user of pesticides, it has been subject to ongoing criticism by environmental groups, it is an expanding industry with a bright commercial future in Australia, and it was prepared to take on board the research required to address the perceived problems and moreover adopt the outcomes.

The Box-Ironbark ecosystem in northern Victoria has been substantially cleared, and is not well represented in conservation reserves. Programs conducted by various agencies and community groups targeting private land remnants have been based on voluntary participation and education, and have not been successful in attracting large numbers landholders with Box-Ironbark remnants or large areas of remnant. Many areas of quality remnant of this ecosystem are thought to exist on private land, however, little is known of these remnants, the perceptions of these remnants by landholders, and how they may be managed. This project was developed to gather information on all of these questions, to identify the various landholder groups within the Box-Ironbark region, and how the conservation management of remnants on private land may be enhanced in the future by this knowledge.

The National Eutrophication Management Program (NEMP) and Environment Australia convened a workshop to develop a coherent overview of the sources and transport of diffuse phosphorus in Australian catchments based on the latest knowledge. The Land and Water Resources Research and Development Corporation (LWRRDC) and the Murray-Darling Basin Commission (MDBC) jointly fund NEMP. A select group of scientists attended the workshop and developed a coherent statement about phosphorus sources and transport in Australian catchments. The group did not extend this statement to include recommended management practices. This paper reports the findings from the workshop.

This study indicates the relative significance of issues associated with landscape health and biodiversity status for each subregion of Australia's bioregions. It shows the geographic distribution of these issues, and their relative magnitude, and provides a broad indication of the scale of the challenges Australia faces in maintaining or restoring landscape health.

Annual report 1999 2000 for Land & Water Resources Research and Development Corporation

Land and Water Australia Annual Report 2001_2002

Report and feedback on project progress from peers and relevant industry groups. Critical feedback from industry experts and set up collaboration with other R&D institutes and instrument manufacturers.Involved was 1. Attended and presented CRDC/Cognis sponsored work on 'Lubricants in Ginning' at Beltwide Cotton Quality Measurements Conference in Atlanta GA (January 8-12, 2002) and visited research colleagues at USDA SRRC, KES Analysis and Cotton Technology International.

2. Attended and presented CRDC sponsored Polarised Light Microscopy work at ITMF Working Group Meetings prior to Bremen International Cotton Conference (March ll-14 2002).