ECOS Winter 1991

CSIRO'S SCIENCE-AND-THE-ENVIRONMENT MAGAZINE
No. 68 WINTER 1991

1
^^^^t
Registered by Australia Post Publication No. VBP 90 9878
CONTENTS
!COS
No. 68 WINTER 1991
3 Upf ront
Tasmania's ear on the sky
Foxes attacked
Pulp mill research
CSIRO goes to Hollywood
Message received
Letters
The goal: sustainable
development
6 How high could the sea
rise?
The sea will rise if the world keeps
warming the big question is:
by how much?
10 Quick, complete waste
destruction
'Plasma arcs', hotter than the
surface of the Sun, can be
harnessed to destroy hazardous
wastes as they are produced.
13 Methuselah of the deep
Orange roughy, a delicacy of the
deep with a remarkably long life
span, is under threat from
over-shing.
18 Tracking climate
change air under the
microscope
Precise measurements of the
composition of the atmosphere,
and of ancient tree rings, are
assisting climate-change
prediction.
Subscriptions
A subscription to Ecos costs only $18 for
one year or $34 for two years. Please send
your order and payment (made out to
Ecos) to: Ecos subscriptions, P.O. Box 225,
Dickson, A.C.T., 2602. Or you can phone us
with your subscription order, quoting your
Bankcard or Mastercard number; phone
(06) 276 6313.
25 Fungi to control pests
in the soil
Biological control of soil-dwelling
insect pests by specially selected
fungi is looking promising.
28 Plants in the sun
Scientists are examining how an
increase in harmful ultraviolet
radiation due to ozone depletion
may affect plant life.
31 Spectrum
Planning for future needs
An elusive vitamin under the
spotlight
Unwanted nitrates the
termite connection
36 No more 'bonsai'
banana trees?
A 2-mm-long wasp tackles the
banana aphid.
Ecos, CSIRO's science-and-the-environment
magazine, is published four times a year (in
February, May, August and November).
Editor: Robert Lehane
Staff Writers: Roger Beckmann and
Carson Creagh
Design:
Brian Gosnell
Typesetting: Francois Bertrand
Editorial
assistance: Yvonne Roberts
Correspondence should be addressed to:
The Editor, Ecos, P.O. Box 225, Dickson, A.C.T.
2602, Australia. Phone: (06) 276 6584. Telex:
62003. Fax: (06) 276 6641.
Material in Ecos may be reproduced;
acknowledgement of both CSIRO and Ecos
is requested.
Cover photo: Graeme Johnson
Printed for CSIRO, Limestone Avenue, Camp
bell, A.C.T., 2601, by A.E. Keating (Printing)
Pty Ltd, 299 Williamstown Road, Port
Melbourne, Vic. 3207.
ISSN 0311-4546
2 Ecos 68, Winter 1991
UPFRONT
Tasmania's ear on the sky
A glance at the weather map reveals
how important Antarctica and the
Southern Ocean are to Australia's
climate. Yet little is known about just
how they exert so much inuence on
our weather: hardly surprising, given
the storms and glacial cold that make
up so much of these regions' own
weather!
A new generation of
environment-monitoring Earth
resources satellites will be launched
this decade as the world urgently
seeks to add to its knowledge of
global environmental processes
and it just happens that Tasmania is
ideally situated to take advantage of
the stream of information they will
beam down to us.
Scheduled to be in operation by the
end of this year, the $2-3 million
Tasmanian Earth Resources Satellite
Station (TERSS) is a joint venture
between the CSIRO Division of
Oceanography and the University of
Tasmania.
Historically, satellites have
transmitted information at low
frequencies on the S-band, between
2-2 and 2-3 gigahertz (GHz). This has
Foxes attacked
The fearsome fox, an introduced pest,
has been and continues to be a
disaster for our small native
mammals, as well as a nuisance for
farmers.
Accordingly, the CSIRO Division of
Wildlife and Ecology has set up a
program to devise an efcient
method of control. With a grant of
$250 000 from the Commonwealth
government in 1990, and further
funding from the Australian National
Parks and Wildlife Service's
endangered species program, the
Division has brought together a team
of eight to target the fox.
The biologists' strategy centres on
rendering the pests sterile by using
their own immune systems to attack
their gametes (eggs and sperm). In
effect, the animals will be inoculated
against themselves. But rather than
injecting the animals, the researchers
hope to use a virus, to which genes
for proteins found on fox egg and
sperm will be added, to perform the
inoculation.
The plan calls for the release of the
modified virus specific to foxes
into the wild population. As it
spreads, causing disease but probably
made signal tracking relatively easy,
but it limited the amount of
information that could be transmitted.
The new Earth resources satellites will
transmit data at much higher rates on
the X-band, between 8 and 84 GHz,
and nations wishing to benet will
need ground stations capable of ne
tracking.
Australia already has one such
station, at Alice Springs (this station
receives information covering the
northern part of the continent, as well
as parts of the Indonesian archipelago
and the island of New Guinea), and
TERSS will permit coverage of
southern Australia, New Zealand and
Antarctica providing invaluable
insights into the forces that shape our
climate.
Building on satellite data-capture
technology developed at the CSIRO
Marine Laboratories in Hobart and at
the Division of Radiophysics in
Sydney, TERSS incorporates a high
degree of Australian technology. The
rst satellite to come 'on line' will be
the European Space Agency's ERS-1,
launched in April, and TERSS is
designed to receive data from planned
Japanese, Soviet and United States
satellites.
little mortality, it will also be quietly
inoculating the animals against their
own germ cells. The normal
immunological response against the
invading virus will also include the
production of antibiotics that attack
the fox-gamete proteins that it carries.
Thus the female foxes' antibodies
will attack their own ova, and males'
their own sperm. Another feature is
that the females' antibodies could also
attack the males' sperm. The results
should be painless sterility and
eventually a decline in the numbers
of this pest. We'll let you know the
results as the research unfolds.
Pulp mill research
The CSIRO is managing a $15-million
pulp mill environmental research
program on behalf of the federal
government. The program, funded
by the Commonwealth, States and
industry, will play a key role in
enhancing the existing standards and
assessment procedures for the
approval and operation of any new
bleached eucalypt kraft pulp mills in
Australia.
The 5-year National Pulp Mills
Research Program started in 1990
will investigate the technologies
used in the kraft chemical pulping
process, and evaluate the
environmental impact of bleached
eucalypt kraft mills. To keep
everyone up to date, an important
function will be communication with
the industry and public.
A variety of CSIRO Divisions will be
involved in the research, along with a
range of universities and other
research institutions. The Division of
Forest Products will examine the
composition of efuents, as well as
the pulping and bleaching technology
used in mills. The Division of
Chemicals and Polymers will assess
alternative means of making efuents
environmentally benign by adapting
some existing treatment strategies.
The Division of Oceanography,
using knowledge of currents and
water movements, will provide
advanced models to simulate the
dispersal of efuent, while the Centre
for Advanced Analytical Chemistry
in the Division of Fuel Technology
will research a bioassay system able
to detect contaminants in the
environment. And nally, CSIRO's
Biometrics Unit in Adelaide will work
on applying the mathematical
techniques of risk-assessment
developed originally for economic
and human health problems to the
environmental issues involved.
Ecos 68, Winter 1991 3
UPFRONT
Message received
The ingenious experiment that uses
sound to monitor the oceans'
temperature (see Ecos 66) has
reported its rst successful
transmissions.
An underwater transmitter near
Heard Island in the southern Indian
Ocean sends sound waves around the
globe, which are picked up at various
recording stations. Sound travels
faster in warmer water, and precise
measurements of the travel times
over several years will reveal whether
average ocean temperatures are rising.
Scientists stationed aboard two
research vessels made experimental
transmissions from the sea off Heard
Island this summer. These were
successfully received by a range of
listening stations in Bermuda, South
Africa, Canada, India, Oregon,
California, Christmas Island and
elsewhere. Noise travels faster in the
sea than in the air it took just
3 hours for the signal to reach
Bermuda.
The scientists carried out extensive
biological surveys before, during and
after the transmissions to see whether
these had any effect on nearby
whales, dolphins and seals. Happily,
the animals appeared to behave
normally during the transmissions
and the researchers observed no
adverse reactions.
The experiment, and the
trans-Pacic collaboration it
represents, looks set to continue.
Watch this space.
As we head into winter, Ecos
introduces its new look for the
nineties. Hope you like it.
You might not notice indeed, if the producers are successful,
you'll be too scared but the movie Arachnophobia includes
some eight-legged stars as all-Australian as Crocodile Dundee.
Mr Russell Moran of the CSIRO Division of Entomology
provided expert advice when the producers were looking for
spiders large and menacing enough to scuttle, lurk and
generally provide inspiration for leading actor Jeff Daniels's
fear of spiders. Keeping company in the movie with South
American bird-eating spiders is Delena cancerides, a common
and quite harmless Australian huntsman... and a species
regarded with affection by many householders.
However, the specimens of Delena featured in the movie
didn't come direct from Australia, since our laws forbid the
export of most kinds of wildlife. In fact, the spiders were
collected in New Zealand, where they arrived by accident. And
there's even greater irony in the situation: Australian redback
spiders (Latrodectus hasseltii) that apparently came to Australia
again, by accident late last century have since been
accidentally introduced into New Zealand... where they are
competing with the katipo, that country's native species of
Latrodectus.
Dr Hugh Tyndale-Biscoe of the
CSIRO Division of Wildlife and
Ecology comments: The behaviour of
the crows that Mr Campbell describes
is interesting.
In South America several predators
have developed similar strategies for
attacking toads by avoiding the
poison glands on the shoulders and
there have been observations similar
to those of Mr Campbell for some
Australian birds and mammals. In the
case of mammal predators the toads
are thrown on their backs and
attacked from the belly.
However, as well as the shoulder
glands, which secrete a strong poison,
the eggs contained in the ovaries of
females are also highly toxic and
must be avoided by predators.
In the Northern Territory
crocodiles have been observed eating
cane toads without ill effect. They use
a different strategy; they grasp the
toads in their jaws and shake them
vigorously before swallowing. The
inference is that in the process of
being shaken the toads eject most of
the poison from their shoulder
glands.
Other species such as goannas that
live in areas where toads occur avoid
them.
Write to Letters, Ecos, PO Box 225,
Dickson, ACT 2602.
Toad-eaters
I read with interest your Up Front
article 'Targeting toads'.
I live on an acreage block on the
northern outskirts of Brisbane. We
have quite a number of crows in the
area in fact they nest here.
I have observed, on a number of
occasions, crows feeding on the inside
of toads. They wrap their claws
around the neck of the toad, forcing it
to open its mouth, and then start
feeding.
I had found from time to time dead
toads in and around the yard and was
curious as to what was killing them. I
realise there are far more toads than
crows in our area, but I was pleased
to nd they had a natural predator.
J. Denis Campbell
Narangba, Qld
UPFRONT
The goal: sustainable development
If Australia is to maintain high
living standards and a growing
population without continuing
environmental damage, it needs ESD
ecologically sustainable
development. That's easily said, but
is ESD an achievable goal? A major
federal government project is
attempting to come to grips with the
complex issues involved, dene the
main areas needing action and
determine what that action should be.
Dr Roy Green, Director of the
CSIRO Institute of Natural Resources
and Environment, is a key player in
the exercise. As chair of the ESD
working groups on agriculture,
sheries and forestry, he takes
seriously the Prime Minister's
message that consensus among
working group members should not
be achieved at the cost of 'lowest
common denominator' conclusions
that would 'do little to progress a
move towards ecologically
sustainable development'.
Dr Green believes that the
recommendations from the nine ESD
working groups will play a big part
in shaping Australia's future. He
expects some will be fairly easy and
inexpensive to implement, but others
will involve major attitudinal change
and expense and require a possibly
unprecedented degree of local, State
and national co-operation.
Sustainable development has many
denitions. One of the most popular
comes from the World Commission
on Environment and Development's
report 'Our Common Future',
published in 1987, which denes it
simply as 'development that meets
the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs'.
According to our government's
discussion paper on ESD, 'the task
confronting us is to take better care of
the environment while ensuring
economic growth, both now and in
the future'.
Last year the nine working groups
began the job of identifying the main
issues, policy options and costs. Each
group has members drawn from the
Commonwealth and State
governments, industry, conservation
interests and unions, and focuses on
one of nine major industry sectors
agriculture, forestry, sheries, energy
production, manufacturing, mining,
transport, energy use and tourism.
Issues that extend across sectors, such
as climate change, 'biodiversity' and
public health, will be the subject of
an additional report.
Working to tight deadlines, the
groups have until July to produce
draft reports for circulation and
comment and then until October to
nalise them. Recommendations are
due to be discussed at a Premiers'
Conference in November, with
decisions following soon after.
How is it going? Very well, says Dr
Green. His three groups meet
monthly, usually spending one day in
discussions with people from the
industries concerned and another
preparing their report. To encourage
involvement in the consultation
program, they are holding meetings
around the country.
The groups have commissioned a
range of papers on issues and
strategies many from CSIRO
support teams set up to provide
technical input to each group. Dr
Green is heartened by the
co-operative attitudes and
willingness of the groups to explore
different points of view displayed so
far. Nevertheless, he expects some
'frank exchanges' within the working
groups before their reports are
nalised and envisages that some
recommendations may not be
unanimous, which is hardly
surprising, given the importance and
nature of some of the issues they have
to confront.
For example, the agriculture
working group, in coming to grips
with the massive problems of salinity,
erosion and acid soils, will have to
consider whether ecological
sustainability requires an end to
cropping in some areas and
reductions in stock numbers
possibly even complete destocking
in others.
Any such recommendation would
have major ramications involving
the livelihoods of the farmers
involved and of business people who
provide services to them, with
changes in rural life-style, not to
mention demands on government for
compensation.
Dr Green sees 'economic
instruments' (preferably incentives
rather than penalties) as an important
means of bringing about necessary
changes in agricultural land use. He
suggests that we need a tax regime
that rewards management strategies
that preserve the land: again, easily
said but hard to come to grips with in
practice.
For agriculture, at least the facts
about the state of the land and the
way it is used, which the working
group needs as a starting point, are
generally available. But for sheries
the information needed to set
sustainable catch limits on the size
of sh stocks, 'recruitment' rates and
so on is severely lacking. In
coming up with recommendations
aimed at ending Australia's sorry
sequence of collapses of over-exploited
sheries, the working group will be
looking for efcient ways to improve
the data-base and to implement
conservatively set catch quotas.
Despite the prominence of forests
in environmental controversy, Dr
Green suspects the forestry working
group will have less difculty than
the other two he chairs in setting a
course towards ecological
sustainability. He foresees short-term
problems in maintaining the forest
industries without adversely affecting
the native forests. In 20 or 30 years,
however, he expects plantations and
restricted areas of intensively
managed forest will provide most of
Australia's timber needs, dramatically
reducing the demand for logging in
other areas.
As a sign of the high priority it has
given the sustainable development
exercise, the government has
arranged monthly meetings between
the three group chairs and the
Ministers mainly concerned with the
issues under examination. (Professor
Stuart Harris of the Australian
National University heads the groups
on energy production, manufacturing
and mining and Professor David
Throsby of Macquarie University
those on transport, energy and
tourism.)
The reports of the nine working
groups will take a common approach
setting out 'where we are now' and
'where we need to be' to achieve
sustainability, comparing the two and
then providing conclusions and
recommendations. The tenth report
will deal with issues that span the
industry sectors. In its 80-100 pages,
each report will set out the key issues,
offer practical policy approaches and
identify as accurately as possible
what costs will have to be faced.
Predictions of sea-level rise
due to global warming range
from minor to catastrophic.
Oceanographers have now
delved into the complexities
of the problem and produced
some rmly based answers.
he average air tempera
ture at the surface of Earth
has risen this century, as
has the temperature of
ocean surface waters. Be
cause water expands as it
heats, a warmer ocean means higher
sea levels.
We cannot yet say denitely that
the temperature rises are due to the
greenhouse effect; the heating may be
part of a 'natural' variability over a
long time-scale that we have not yet
recognised in our short 100 years of
recording. However, assuming the
build-up of greenhouse gases is res
ponsible, and that the warming will
continue, as seems likely, scientists
and inhabitants of low-lying coast
al areas would like to know the
probable extent of future sea-level
rises.
But calculating that is no easy task.
Models used for the purpose have
tended to treat the ocean as passive,
stationary and one-dimensional. Scient
ists assumed that heat simply diffused
into the sea from the atmosphere.
Using basic physical laws, they would
then predict how much a known vol
ume of water would expand for a
given increase in temperature. But the
oceans are not one-dimensional, and
recent work by CSIRO oceano
graphers, taking into account a num
ber of subtle facets of the sea
including vast and complex ocean
currents suggests that the rise in
sea level may be less than some ear
lier estimates had predicted, although
still of concern.
The 'Villach Conference' on climate
change, held in 1986, produced widely
publicised gures for likely sea-level
rises of 20 cm and 1-4 m, corres
ponding to atmospheric temperature
increases of 1-5 and 4-5C respectively.
But Dr John Church, Dr Stuart God
frey, Dr David Jackett and Dr Trevor
McDougall, of the CSIRO Division of
Oceanography in Hobart, estimate
that the ocean warming resulting
from those temperature increases by
the year 2050 would raise the sea level
by between 10 cm and 40 cm.
That comparison does not tell the
complete story, as the CSIRO model
only takes into account the tem
perature effect on the oceans and their
consequent thermal expansion; it does
not consider changes in sea level
brought about by melting of ice
sheets and glaciers, and changes in
groundwater storage. When we
add on estimates of these from the
work of others, we arrive at gures
for total sea-level rises of 15 cm and 70
cm respectively.
HOW HIGH COULD
ut rst, how did the CSIRO
scientists arrive at their conclu
sions? It's certainly not easy try
ing to model accurately the enormous
complexities of the ever-changing
oceans, with their great volume,
massive currents and sensitivity to
the inuence of land masses and the
atmosphere. Indeed, nailing jelly to
the wall could be easier.
For example, consider how heat en
ters the ocean. Does it just 'diffuse'
from the warmer air vertically into the
water, and heat only the surface layer
of the sea? (Warm water is less dense
than cold, so it would not spread
downwards.) Conventional models of
sea-level rise have considered that
this is the only method, but measure
ments have shown that the rate of
heat transfer into the ocean by vertical
diffusion is far lower in practice than
the gures many modellers have
adopted.
To help visualise this diffusion of
heat, imagine placing one end of a
metal bar near a re. Eventually, the
other end will warm up. A similar
limited vertical diffusion of heat from
atmosphere to ocean was used in pre
vious models.
Much of the early work, for reasons
of simplicity, had to ignore the fact
that water in the oceans moves in
three dimensions. By movement, of
course, scientists don't mean waves,
which are too small individually to
consider, but rather movement of vast
volumes of water in huge currents. To
understand the importance of this, we
now need to consider another process
advection.
Imagine smoke rising from a chim
ney. On a still day it will slowly
spread out in all directions by means
of diffusion. With a strong directional
wind, however, it will all shift down
wind. This process is advection the
transport of prop
erties (notably heat
and salinity in the
ocean) by the move
ment of bodies of
air or water, rather
than by conduction
or diffusion.
Massive ocean
currents called gyres
do the moving. These
currents have far
more capacity to
store heat than does
the atmosphere. In
deed, just the top 3
m of the ocean con
tains more heat than
the whole of the at
mosphere.
he origin of gyres lies in the fact
that more heat from the Sun
reaches the Equator than the
Poles, and naturally heat tends to
move from the former to the latter.
Warm air rises at the Equator, and
draws in more air beneath it in the
form of winds (the 'Trade Winds')
that, together with other air move
ments, provide the main force driving
the ocean currents.
Water itself is heated at the Equator
and moves poleward, twisted by the
Earth's rotation and affected by the
The 3-D sea
Circumpolar
Currei
Antarctic
Convergence
THE SEA RISE?
How water masses
move and temperature
varies in the Southern
Ocean.
Oceanographer lowering a probe that
measures electrical conductivity,
temperature and pressure as it falls. Each
provides an ocean prole of salinity and
temperature; many such measurements are
needed to work out the complex pattern of
water movement in the ocean.
positions of the continents. The re
sultant broadly circular movements be
tween about 10 and 40 N and S are
clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere
and anticlockwise in the Southern.
They ow towards the east at mid lat
itudes, and back to the west in the
equatorial region. They then ow to
wards the Poles, along the eastern
sides of continents, as the well-known
warm currents the Gulf Stream, the
East Australia Current or the Kuroshio.
When two different masses of water
meet, one will move beneath the other,
depending on their relative densities,
in a process termed subduction. The
densities are determined by tem
perature and salinity.
The convergence of water of differ
ent densities from the Equator and the
Poles in the interior of the oceans caus
es continuous subduction. This means
that water moves vertically as well as
horizontally. Cold water from the Poles
travels at depth it is denser than
warm water until it emerges at the
surface in another part of the world in
the form of a cold current.
For example, in our own hemi
sphere, water from the Southern Ocean
sinks at the Antarctic convergence, at
about 60 S, when confronted with
warmer water from more northerly lat
itudes. It then ows northwards at a
depth of about 1000 m. It will still be
about 600 m deep just south of the
Equator and will then ow westwards
at this depth, rising slowly back to the
surface in the Southern Ocean.
Thus, ocean currents, in three di
mensions, form a giant 'conveyor belt',
distributing heat from the thin surface
layer into the interior of the oceans and
around the globe. (Don't be confused
by the idea of a 'cold' current distrib
uting heat; if the surface water at 60 S
were heated just a degree or two more
than usual, because of a warmer at
mosphere, then it would carry a large
quantity of extra heat into the ocean in
terior.)
Water may take decades to circulate
in these 3-D gyres in the top kilometre
of the ocean, and centuries in the deep
er water.
With the increased atmospheric
temperatures due to the greenhouse
effect, the oceans' conveyor belt will
carry more heat into the interior. This
subduction moves heat around far
more effectively than simple diffu
sion.
Because warm water expands more
than cold when it is heated, earlier
workers had presumed that the sea
level would rise unevenly around the
globe. However, Dr Church and his
team point out that the inequalities
cannot persist; winds will act to con
tinuously spread out the expansion,
and their model is the rst to consider
this. Of course, if global warming
changes the strength and distribution
of the winds as it may do then
this 'evening-out' process may not oc
cur, and the sea level could rise more
in some areas than others.
The ul t i mat e t est of any model
is how it ts reality. The CSIRO
scientists can't test their pre
dictions until the global temperature
has risen substantially, but they can
look at what has been happening in the
past and see how it squares with what
their model says should have hap
pened.
Measurements from around the
world during the last hundred years or
so have shown that the sea level has in
deed risen, probably by 10-20 cm.
Most estimates fall in the lower half of
this range. (The difference in estimates
depends partly on whether scientists
take into account the upward move
ment of the Earth's crust, which is 're
bounding' in slow motion after being
pressed down by the weight of glaciers
during the last Ice Age. The uneven
distribution of sea-level gauges around
the globe and inconsistent monitoring
further confuse the picture.)
Recent work has shown that the con
tribution to sea-level rise made by
melting around the edges of the ice
sheets in Antarctica and Greenland is
probably very small. Indeed, although
in some areas the ice is decreasing, in
other places ice sheets are actually
growing because of increased snowfall
brought about by greater evaporation
from the warmed oceans.
Using estimates of 0'4-0-6C for the
increase in average global temperature
from 1880 to 1980, the model put for
ward by Dr Church and his colleagues
Possible sea rise by 2050
extent of sea rise (cm)
!70
!60
I- 50
produces a gure for sea-level rise dur
ing the past century of about 7 cm. The
contribution from the melting of tem
perate glaciers is estimated to be 4-6
cm; added to Dr Church's value, this
gives a total of 11-6 cm in the range
of the measured reality. The fact that
these gures alone seem able to ac
count for a good proportion of the rise
lends support to the idea that the con
tribution of ice-melt in Greenland and
Antarctica has so far been small.
The CSIRO scientists have concentra
ted on thermal expansion in their work
on sea-level rise because they believe it
will be the biggest component at
least for the near future. To arrive at es
timates of total rises, they have used
gures from others' work for ice-
melting.
The chart shows two sets of gures
for three different temperature rises
that may occur between now and 2050.
One set of values represents the rise
brought about by thermal expansion
only; the other shows possible total g
ures, which include values for ice-melt.
Even the worst case where a 4-5 C
average global temperature increase
produces a total rise of 70 cm falls
short of most previous estimates. How
ever, as the scientists point out, the
upper extreme of their estimate is still
large enough to cause considerable
concern for many nations.
The variability in the gures now lies
less in our knowledge of the oceans'
thermal expansion than in the pre
dictions for global temperature rise,
and the extent of ice-melting. Of
course, estimating local changes in sea
Gary Critchley
level is a different matter; they also de
pend on local winds and geography,
and on changes in atmospheric pres
sure.
Whatever future awaits us, now that
the CSIRO oceanographers have in
troduced the complexities of ocean
behavi our i nt o t he debat e, t he
greenhouse-model-builders will be
incorporating the ndings to give
increasingly rened predictions, to en
able society to make more informed
decisions.
Roger Beckmann
Current s near Aust ral i a
1 - 5 3 4 - 5
atmospheric temperature increase (C)
! rises brought about by thermal expansion
" total rises (including ice-melt)
More about the topic
A model of sea level rise caused by
ocean t hermal expansi on. J. A.
Church, J.S. Godfrey, D.R. Jackett
and T.J. McDougall. Journal of Cli
mate, 1991,4, (in press).
A ^
South Equatorial Current
Current
South Equatorial
Current
^ Leeuwi n Cur r ent
West Austral i an ^Jk
nt
eddies
This view of the situation around Australia indicates the complexity of surface currents.
Hotter than the surface of the Sun, 'plasma arcs' work like lightning to
destroy hazardous wastes safely
;':*=
Ralph Judd
. / f t f ^
complete waste
destruction
Hl f - ^ l d
f t
If
jpj
CSIRO laboratory technician Mr Alan
Mundy prepares material for
pyrolysis by Plascon.
lchemists once sought
the secrets of the uni
verse through the trans
formation of the im
pure into the heavenly.
They l ooked on the
transmutation of base metal into gold
as a symbol of that transformation
and, incidentally, as a convenient way
of rewarding their patrons.
Since science has revealed the struc
ture of the universe (and the re
grettable impossibility of the trans
mutation of elements), alchemy has
become a symbol of magic rather than
reason.
Yet science can itself verge on the
magical. Imagine the satisfaction an al
chemist would feel if he were to be told
of an arc of pure energy, hotter than
the surface of the Sun, safely contained
and available at the ick of a switch to
blast the most horric poisons ever de
vised into benign atoms.
Plascon, the plasma converter (also
known as a plasma arc furnace) de
veloped by a research group led by Dr
Subramania Ramakrishnan, of the
CSIRO Division of Manufacturing Tech
nology, may be based on the same
principles as lightning or the arc weld
er, but it has a magical potential to de
stroy hazardous toxic wastes by break
ing them down into their constituent
elements and, because its high tem
perature prevents the formation of
large molecules characteristic of haz
ardous chemicals, virtually eliminating
the risk of 'leakage' of hazardous sub
stances.
Best of all, it is so efcient in design
that the whole apparatus, including
scrubbers and cooling systems, takes
up less space than a shipping container
and can be built into production lines.
It could become an integral part of
industries that need to dispose of dan
gerous wastes and, at a unit cost of less
than $2 million, represents an econom
ical solution to a problem of increasing
environmental, social and political con-
Plascon's 'heart' is surprisingly compact,
and its protective sheathing means little can
be seen of the arc itself, although it is hotter
than the surface of the Sun.
waste material
gas supply
An electric arc consists of plasma,
the 'fourth state' of matter an
ionised gas made up of mole
cules, atoms, ions and electrons that is
electrically neutral. If plasma is not to
discharge itself quickly (as plasma in
the form of lightning does), the supply
of free electrons must be maintained by
adding energy at a temperature of at
least 5000C.
This is best achieved by adding an
electric current, which means the plas
ma need not depend on oxygen; in
principle, any gas can be used, so that
plasma for waste destruction works by
pyrolysis (degradation by heat) rather
than incineration (degradation by ox
idation).
Toxic waste, in the form of gases,
liquids or even nely ground solids
mixed into a liquid, is fed under pres
sure into the core of an incandescent
arc between two copper electrodes,
using the same principle as the arc
welder but working at stupendous
temperatures 10 000 to 15 000, con
siderably hotter than the surface of the
Sun.
So much heat causes the molecules
of the material for disposal to dis
sociate into atoms that recombine as
safe, non-toxic compounds. In the case
of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs),
the hydrogen and chlorine recombine
to form hydrochloric acid that can be
used in industrial applications, while
99-9999999% of the toxic chemical is de
stroyed. Further, when combustion
takes place without oxygen, the con
stituents of the PCBs cannot recombine
to form dioxins.
Plascon had its beginnings in a col
laborative research venture, be
tween the Division and Siddons
Ramset Ltd, to investigate industrial
applications for electric arcs. That ven
ture has already resulted in the com
mercial release of the Synchropulse
CDT pulsed-arc welding machine (an
international success that has led to
other commercially signicant de-
Waste is fed under pressure into the core of
the incandescent arc, and converted into
simple, harmless molecules.
velopments), a number of innovative
ux cored welding wires, new arc
welding processes and the plasma
torch for bonding metallic and ceramic
coatings.
Plasma arc furnaces for disposal of
hazardous wastes have been mooted
for more than a decade, but attempts to
design commercial-scale apparatus
have in the past been frustrated by the
fact that the waste stream must be
directed accurately at the core of the
arc if complex toxic molecules are to be
destroyed completely. The stream of
cold waste also tends to cool the arc,
di spl aci ng the zone of maxi mum
temperature away from the core and
resulting in incomplete pyrolysis.
Dr Ramakrishnan's group has over
come those problems with a patented
electricity and for the gas used to carry
the waste into the arc.
Although the commercial-scale Plas
con unit uses 200 kW of power, smaller
units using as little as 20 kW
could be constructed for industries that
produce less waste. The maximum
practicable limit is unknown, but ac
cording to Dr Ramakrishnan it would
be more efcient and economical to
link a number of 200-kW furnaces in
parallel rather than construct a single,
much larger, unit.
He also stresses that Plascon is not
intended as an alternative to conven
tional high-temperature incinerators
(which operate at a fraction of plasma's
temperature). Instead, it represents an
invaluable addition to them.
Conventional high-temperature in-
system that feeds waste directly into
the arc and sets up a thermal process in
which heat is generated within the
waste much like a domestic micro
wave oven.
The swirling gas ow stabilises the
arc column to ensure even heat dis
tribution, and an external magnetic
eld interacts with the ionised gases to
maintain the arc in the correct shape,
maximising its effectiveness.
Dr Ramakrishnan and his research
group initially developed a 150-kW ex
perimental laboratory plasma torch,
testing it with safe chemicals such as al
cohol and isopropynol. They then built
a 50-kW protoype converter to dispose
of chlorophenols to simulate industrial
applications.
Plans are well advanced for a 200-
kW unit that will be able to dispose of
50 litres of waste per hour. They es
timate that, running 24 hours a day
(with a shutdown every 100 hours to
replace the electrodes), the 200-kW unit
will be able to dispose of a dozen 100-
litre drums of toxic waste every 24
hours for no more than a dollar a litre
and that most of that cost will be for
cinerators can dispose of large volumes
of waste, including contaminated soils,
organic compounds, pesticides, solids,
sludges even the containers used to
store toxic wastes but the fact that
their operating temperatures are too
low to prevent the recombination of
large molecules limits their use for dis
posing of toxic or hazardous wastes
(most of which are gases, liquids or sol
ids that can be ground and mixed with
liquids for treatment by Plascon).
Rotary-ki l n i nci nerators, for ex
ample, operate at temperatures of 650
to 1200C, with a 'residence time' the
time taken to destroy waste within the
incinerator up to several hours.
Fluidised-bed incinerators work more
quickly, but at similar temperatures
(750-1000); two-stage infrared in
ci nerators, desi gned pri mari l y for
PCBs, dioxins and contaminated soils,
have a total residence time of 10 to 180
minutes and operate at 1250C.
The major disadvantages of all con
ventional incinerators are the relatively
low temperatures at which they work,
allowing the possibility of producing
dioxins or other toxic chemicals even
after incineration, and long residence
times. The 'high-temperature' incinera
tor under investigation for Australia,
for example, operates at 1200C and
needs about 20 minutes' residence
which also means the incinerator takes
20 minutes to come to a complete stop
after it has been shut down.
In contrast, Plascon has a residence
time measured in milliseconds... and if
it has to be shut down, it will take only
milliseconds more to destroy the ma
terial (less than 1 cubic centimetre) al
ready in the system.
One of t he most compel l i ng ad
vantages of Plascon, for in
dustry and the environment
alike, is its small size; a 200-kW unit,
including power supply, scrubber and
gas supply, is no larger than the aver
age ofce. It can be installed in-line and
on-site, as part of a factory's pro
duction line, and waste can be de
stroyed as it is produced.
Some conventional incinerators can
be constructed at a transportable size,
but they have such low capacity and
such high energy requirements that
mobile systems are only marginally
economic. It is easier to transport waste
to a central incinerator and store it be
fore disposal, but this involves high
costs and hazards during both trans
port and storage. Full-sized Plascon
units, on the other hand, could easily
be moved by rail, truck, ship or air to
hazardous-waste storage sites.
The commercial-scale unit under
devel opment at t he Di vi si on of
Manufacturing Technology's Preston,
Melbourne, laboratories will be under
going on-line trials with a leading Aus
tralian chemical manufacturer within
12 months and will serve as a demons
tration model for the European, Scan
dinavian and United States rms that
have already approached Dr Rama
krishnan.
One company has expressed interest
in using Plascon to dispose of Ameri
can chemical weapons on Johnston
Atoll a task for which it is well suit
ed, not only because of its efciency in
destroying hazardous substances but
also because of its ease of trans
portation. Dr Ramakrishnan, however,
says he would prefer 'to demonstrate
the technology working in Australian
industry and use that as a launching
pad for exports.
'It is an excellent opportunity for us
to prove to the world that we can win
the race to i nstal on-si te waste-
elimination systems in our factories.'
Carson Creagh
Photo: Thor Carter
You wouldn't normally expect a piece of sh that you are eating to be older
than your most aged acquaintance, but, if the sh is orange roughy, it could
well be. Most of the sh we eat, like the other animals we use for food, have
life spans considerably less than ours. Orange roughy, the quaintly named
fish that has only recently arrived in our shops and restaurants where it
is often called deep-sea perch is a striking exception.
Although the sh as a species had been known for some time from its occurrence in
small numbers in the Northern Hemisphere (with the scientic name Hoplostethus
atlanticus), sufcient quantities to make it a commercial proposition were discovered only
about 10 years ago by New Zealanders, and shortly thereafter near Tasmania.
Australia's shing eet started taking the new sh in 1985, with a catch of 400 tonnes.
But then shermen found dense aggregations of roughy off Tasmania's north-western
coast, and elsewhere shortly afterwards, and catches rose to 4600 tonnes a year later.
They have been increasing ever since.
On e o f t h e r e a s o n s
that orange roughy's
potential remained
unknown for so long is that
it lives at great depth. Most
commercial shing takes
place on the continental
shelf in terms of nu
trients and biomass, the
richest part of the ocean
whi ch extends down to
about 200 m. But orange
roughy lives at a depth of
1000 m or more.
It differs from most com
mercial sh in other ways,
too. The rst facts that sci
entists need to know to ad
vise on effective manage
ment of a commercial sh
species include the animal's
life span and the age at
which it reaches sexual ma
turity. Usually, the otolith,
a small bone in the ear,
helps measure the aging
process. As with the trunk
of a tree, each year a new
'shell' of growth appears,
and slicing the bone and
counting the rings can give
a fair estimate of a sh's age
because, unlike mammals,
sh continue to grow throughout their
lives. (The technique is not foolproof,
as some years may see no growth ring
or rings may be added more often than
annually.)
Otol i th observati ons on orange
roughy gave scientists a number of
quite different results. Early estimates
for the age of sexual maturity ranged
from 5 to 12 years. However, other re
searchers studying very young sh
concluded that they grew only slowly
and estimated that 20 years would be
the age at maturity. A late maturing im
plies that a population can take a long
time to replace itself a vital con-
Orange roughy is caught off eastern and
southern Tasmania.
On board
weight of
a research vessel, a CSIRO scientist gathers data on size and
whole sh and various organs.
sideration if you want sh to be avail
able forever.
Because of the importance to the in
dustry of accurate age determinations,
Dr Gwen Fenton of the Zoology De
partment at the University of Tas
mania, in collaboration with Dr Steve
Short of the Australian Nuclear Science
and Technology Organisation, adopted
another technique. She measured the
ratio of isotopes of lead and radium in
otoliths.
The technique utilises the fact that an
isotope of radium occurring naturally
in small amounts in the environment is
incorporated into the otolith during its
Roughy sheries
mam orange
roughy shing
area
Maatsuykero
Island
growth. This radium-226,
with a half-life of 1600
years, decays slowly into
an isotope of lead (lead-
210), with a half-life of 22-3
years. The decay rates of
the two isotopes (which are
known) determine their ra
tio in the otolith. Meas
uring that ratio, therefore,
can tell us how much time
has passed since the ra
di um-226 was i ncorpo
rated.
Of course, like any other
technique, this one de
pends on certain assump
tions, such as that the ot
olith takes up radium at a
constant rate, and very lit
tle lead-210 at all. How
ever, it seems likely that
these assumptions are re
alistic. Dr Fenton's analy
ses showed that orange
roughy mature at about 32
years of age, when they are
about 32 cm in length.
Older sh, ranging in size
from 38 to 40 cm, were es
timated to be 77 years or
more. Of those she sam
pled, the oldest specimen
was about 149 years!
The shing industry didn't know
this, or much else, about orange
roughy when the rst catches were tak
en in Australian waters. New Zealand
boats had found sh spawning in large
aggregations, which made for good
and easy catches, but Australian boats,
although they had found some small
aggregations, did not nd the rst one
in our waters in which spawning was
occurring off St Helens on the east
ern coast of Tasmania until 1989.
Spawning aggregations are denser
than ordinary schools and are pre
dictable, as the sh spawn at almost
the same time every year,
presumably responding to
some cue in their environ
ment . But how heavi l y
could the St Helens ag
gregation be shed without
long-term damage to the
resource? What proportion
of the total biomass of sh
would the annual catch
r epr esent ? Coul d such
catches be sustained in
denitely?
To hel p nd out , Dr
Tony Smith and Dr Tony
Koslow, of the CSIRO Divi
sion of Fisheries in Hobart,
Orange roughy eggs.
carried out a survey of the sh off St
Helens in July 1990 during an annual
spawning aggregation. The shing
ground, centred around an underwater
'hill', had by this time been closed to
commercial shing.
Fisheries biologists have developed
various techniques to estimate the bio
mass of sh stocks, and as nobody
knew which would be most suitable
for assessing orange roughy spawning
aggregations because nobody had ever
tried to estimate this species' stocks, the
CSIRO team adopted several different
approaches.
One i nvol ved count i ng t he eggs
released. Using a plankton net
more than a metre in diameter,
lowered to a measured depth and then
hauled up vertically, the scientists were
able to measure the number of eggs in
a known volume of water. This was
also useful because for the rst time it
allowed larvae to be caught, and en
abled researchers to record stages in
the development of the egg. Of course,
relating this to sh numbers relies on
knowledge of the average egg pro
duction per sh, and of whether a sig
nicant proportion of eggs sink to the
bottom and escape measurement
factors that are not yet fully es
tablished.
The most effective tool was an acous
tic sounder, which sends out a sound
and detects anything that reects it.
Obviously the sea-bed does, but so too
do schools of sh and, with luck and
skill, scientists can distinguish their dif
ferent echoes from the bottom signal.
(The particular device used sent out a
split beam, producing a stereo effect to
improve detection.)
The problem lies in knowing wheth
er the 'marks' that register on the echo-
sounder's screen are orange roughy or
other species. (Fish do have various
'reectivities' but the differences are
rarely great enough to permit un
ambiguous identication of a species.)
To help solve this, the scientists low
ered a camera down through the acous
ti c marks, taki ng photographs at
known depths. They saw most orange
roughy at the bottom, whereas many
echoes had been above it. They then
put down trawling nets to depths close
to the sea-bed where marks had re
gistered. But the nets caught relatively
few orange roughy.
Were all the marks other species
then? Some were, as the roughy are
hunters and feed off smaller sh. But
soon it became clear that, as the camera
on its mounting came within about 100
metres of a 'mark', whatever comprised
the mark started to disperse. To help
reveal the nature of the schooled sh,
the scientists placed the transducing
part of the echo-sounder near a mark
but at least 100 m away to avoid scat
tering the shy sh, and such closeness
enabled the acoustic system to resolve
individual sh as marks. Many of the
sh detected in this way were indeed
of orange roughy size, suggesting that
they did comprise many of the 'dis
appearing' marks.
Despite the 15 000 tonnes taken from
St Helens Hill by commercial boats be
fore that shery was closed, it's clear
that not everything around the area is
orange roughy. Hence, estimating the
biomass of the spawning aggregation
by echo-sounding is no easy task, and
the scientists are still analysing their
data, and preparing for further eld
work this year using the new CSIRO re
search vessel 'Southern Surveyor'. So
far, the best estimate of the biomass in
that area is 57 000 tonnes although
the egg-sampling technique suggested
The sh fetch high prices.
a greater abundance but Dr Koslow
stresses that the true gure could lie
between half and double this weight.
Orange roughy is now our largest
'sh crop', in terms of both
monetary value ($50 million in
1989) and tonnes netted. But for such
an important shery it has a woefully
small biological data-base. Dr Koslow,
in collaboration with Divisional col
league Dr Cathy Bulman, has recently
completed research on the diet of
roughy in south-eastern Australian wa
ters, in an attempt to make good some
of our ignorance of the basic biology of
this denizen of the deep.
Tasmanian Department of Sea Fisheries
The roughy's silver lining
As orange roughy catches have increased massively since 1985, so problems,
caused by not knowing what to do with so much sh, have started to emerge.
What we actually eat in the form of processed fillets constitutes only 30% of
the roughy catch. What can we do with the unwanted parts of millions of expensive
fish dump them? In 1989 in Tasmania, the dumping of waste from the processing
of orange roughy caused a public outcry, not least about the environmental prob
lems that it caused. But, according to CSIRO scientists, much of this waste could be
put to good use.
Dr Peter Nichols and Dr Jenny Skerratt, of the Division of Oceanography, and Dr
Nick Elliott of the Division of Fisheries conducted various chemical analyses of some
of the components of the head, swim bladder, frame and skin of roughies used for
lleting.
Orange roughy contains a lot of oil indeed oil comprises about 18% of the
sh's weight. Its swim bladder, which gives it buoyancy, is full of a wax ester,
whereas many sh have an air-lled bladder. In the tissues, these anomalously
active bottom-dwellers do not use triglycerides for their energy storage as do most
other vertebrates, but instead more wax esters. Although we cannot digest or ab
sorb these, too much wax can cause diarrhoea. However, we would need to have a
very large orange roughy binge to reach that stage!
More importantly, the wax component makes roughy oil a possible substitute for
sperm whale oil or jojoba oil. It could be used as an industrial lubricant or in the
tanning industry. The scientists believe it could be worth about $1 per kg. From a
10 000-tonne catch could come about 1800 tonnes of oil, representing a windfall of
$1 -8 million and far less environmental damage.
Fish oil has also been in the news for its importance in human nutrition. The
CSIRO scientists found that the useful fatty acids that we can get from sh (called
EPA and DHA) were present in much smaller amounts in the oil in the edible esh of
orange roughy compared with that of other commercial Australian sh. That is not to
deny that orange roughy is good for you and makes a delicious meal it simply
means that if you are in search of EPA for your heart's sake you won't nd much of it
there.
The detailed analysis of all the components of roughy 'grease' has enabled the
scientists to construct a chemical prole of the sh. Consequently, in future, sh-
waste pollution will be more readily tracked and easily identied as originating from
roughy. And this unusual sh will be giving us more than just its sweet esh.
Graeme Johnson
The intrepid researchers examined
the stomachs of nearly 7500 sh caught
in Australian waters in 1988/89 and
found that roughy, with their char
acteristically large mouths, enjoy a
good feed. The juveniles prefer crus
taceans, but switch to squid and other
sh as they get older and larger.
By careful deductions, based on ob
servations of stomach fullness and
records for catch-times, the scientists
concluded that the sh feed in the af
ternoon and into the rst half of the
night. From midnight to midday, they
eat a minimum. However, more than
half the stomachs examined contained
no food, and often those that did have
some contained only quite well-
digested material. This suggests that
the sh start digesting their meals rap
idly, emptying their stomachs quickly,
but then spend a longish period with
an empty stomach while intestinal di
gestion and absorption proceeds.
Calculations of the weight of food
consumed revealed another unusual
aspect of roughy. Biologists know that
deep-water sh have a low metabolic
rate often ten to a hundred times
less than that of surface species. This is
partly an adaptation to the fact that
food is harder to come by at depth, be
cause light for primary production is
non-existent.
Deep-dwelling sh generally stay
still, swimming slowly if at all, and do
little. By contrast, Dr Koslow and Dr
Bulman concluded from their dietary
analyses that orange roughy must have
a metabolic rate an order of magnitude
greater than other non-migrating sh
living at a similar depth. Recent work
by other biologists has suggested that
roughy, with their well-developed
musculature (which makes them good
to eat), live in areas with high currents
sweeping over the ocean bottom, and
have to exert themselves to maintain a
position against the current. Hence,
they cannot conserve energy by in
activity, like other deep-water sh.
On a proportional basis, they evi
dently need to eat more than other sh
of the deep; consequently abundant
& \
Scientist Jenny Skerratt extracts orange roughy oil.
What's where in the deep blue sea
top few tens of metres
athead
40-100 m
deep sea trevalla
100-600 m
500-700 m
500-800 m (occasionally near surface)
or ange r oughy 1000- 1200 m
The ocean depths 1 km or more down are home to orange roughy.
stocks of roughy can only occur where
prey is not limited. It also explains
their slow growth rate. If they live in a
zone that is relatively poor in food
compared with the top 200 m, yet are
also active, then they have little energy
left over for rapid growth. That is why
it takes them 20 years to reach a length
of just 30 cm.
Cl ear l y, such sl ow- gr owi ng sh
differ greatly from other species
caught for human food con
sumption. Knowledge of other sh
eries is inadequate when applied to
roughy. It's clear that the sh cannot
regenerate their stock as fast as other
commercially exploited species. Can
the roughy boom continue?
The opinion of the CSIRO scientists is
that it cannot. If we wish to have this
exceptionally valuable sh available to
earn export dollars years from now,
then we must reduce the quantity that
we are currently netting. Dr Smith be
lieves that, for the east coast Tasmanian
stock, the 'total allowable catch' must
be reduced from its current 12 000
tonnes (at which it was set without ac
curate knowledge of stock sizes) to no
more than 2700 tonnes. Even if this g
ure is wrong by a factor of two (which
it could be in either direction), clearly
we can't continue taking the sh at the
level that we have for the last few
years, which is bad news for the 54
roughy-shing boats operating in the
area.
Of course, orange roughy exists else
where in our territorial waters, in
cluding southern Tasmanian waters
and the Great Australian Bight. Sufce
it to say that only further research and
its careful application will enable us to
know how much roughy from other
sites constitutes a sustainable catch. We
should then be able to exploit this new
high-quality resource for a long time to
come.
Roger Beckmann
Age determination of orange roughy,
Hoplostethus atlanticus (Pisces, Tra-
chichthyidae) using 210Pb/226Ra dis-
equilibria. G.E. Fenton, S.A. Short
and D.A. Ritz. Marine Biology, 1991,
108 (in press).
St Helens roughy site 1990 season. J.
Lyle. Australian Fisheries, 1990, 49
(10), 27-8.
Biomass survey of orange roughy at St
Helens. A. Smith and A. Koslow.
Australian Fisheries, 1990, 49 (10), 29-
31.
High-tech measurements and ancient
tree rings and ice cores are
helping clarify climate-change
predictions
m
TRACKING CLIMATE
CHANGE AIR UNDER
THE MICROSCOPE
P o l i t i c i a n s a n d t r e a s u r e r s
aren't the only people wor
ried about balancing bud
gets: scientists studying the
greenhouse effect are put
ting increasing effort into
i nvesti gati ng the pattern of wi th
drawals from and deposits to the
global atmosphere trace-gas budget.
Without a better understanding of the
cycles involved, predicting future cli
mate change will remain an uncertain
exercise.
Researchers are striving to learn
more about how our atmosphere is
changing by upgrading conventional
approaches as in GASLAB, described
below and are also looking at less
conventional avenues such as tree
rings studies, which not only have
much to tell us about the past but also
provide hints of how the past affects
the present and the future.
Most trees lay down annual growth
rings, and for some species and in
some regions there's a clear relation
ship between climate and the width of
rings. Interest in tree-ring studies, as an
indicator of climate change, focuses on
trees whose rings are reliable indi
cators of annual growth: eucalypts in
arid Australia, for example, aren't suit
able because they produce growth
rings in response to rainfall more than
to seasonal changes in temperature.
The most suitable species for tree-
ri ng dat i ng (dendrochronol ogi cal )
studies are forest trees from temperate
and boreal (cold) regions, where low
winter temperatures ensure minimum
growth followed by strong summer
growth... and thus well-dened growth
A remote mountain lake in western Tasmania, site of recent tree-ring climate studies
on sub-alpine Huon pine.
rings. Temperate and boreal trees also
exhibit marked variation, or 'sensiti
vity', in ring widths from year to year,
so it is easier to recognise distinctive
ri ng wi dth patterns and common
'signatures' that, presumably, represent
a common response to climate change
(or dendroclimatology).
Measurement of ring widths among
a large number of trees in one area pro
vides a 'site chronology', a record of
ring behaviour that smooths out the
skewing effect of shading, nutrient
depletion or insect attack on individual
trees. However, the regional effects of
large-scale insect infestation, pollution,
changes in land-use or even variations
in owering and fruiting cycles are
harder to eliminate from calculations,
so researchers look for the right kinds
of trees (long-lived species with well-
dened annual-growth ring patterns)
in the right kinds of areas (where trees
experience some environmental stress)
to measure the impact of climate on
tree growth.
The trees of Tasmania's cool rain
forests may provide the best
opportunity yet to study past
climate change, since several species
suitable for ring-width dating grow
si de by si de t her e; Huon pi ne
(Lagarostrobus franklinii), King Billy
pine (Athrotaxis selaginoides), celery-top
pine (Phyllocladus aspleniifolius), pencil
pine (Athrotaxis cupressoides), a hybrid
King Billy-pencil pine (Athrotaxis laxi-
folia) and Dyselma archeri.
Not only do these species show dif
ferences in their responses to climate
change, allowing scientists to separate
physiological effects from climatic
ones, but they are also found in a
variety of environments, from low-
al ti tude hi gh-rai nfal l ri ver ats to
exposed sub-alpine plateaux. And, even
better, at least four of them live for
1000 years or more. Such long chrono
logies are very important: researchers
can trace the effects of age more easily
i n l ong-l i ved speci es, fol l ow sl ow
changes in the environment and assess
the impact of human inuence during
the past 100-200 years against a much
longer period of equilibrium.
Ice cores also provide records of past
climate change, but tree rings have the
advantage of being easier to collect and
can provide more accurately dated
information. Snow may take decades to
compress into ice, so the air (which sci
entists use to study changes in isotopes
* m. A .
over long periods) that is trapped by
this process may be many years
younger than the ice surrounding it,
while the cellulose in each tree ring
reects the composition of the atmo
sphere during the year in which it was
laid down.
And, because tree-ring material can
be dated to a particular year, clim-
atologists can study precisely periodic
phenomena such as the El Nino effect
over thousand-year time scales and
can compare tree-ring evidence for
even longer-period changes, such as
changes associated with ocean circula
tions, with data from other sources.
The study of Tasmanian tree rings,
as well as satisfying scientic interest
in ancient climates, also has much to
tell us about more immediate concerns,
such as the greenhouse effect.
Curiously, one of the most important
tools for examining recent changes in
the atmosphere is also used to look at
the distant past radiocarbon dating,
which measures the gradual decay of
the carbon-14 (14C) isotope.
An 8000-year-long continuous se
quence of tree rings and partially fossil
ised ('sub-fossil') logs in the Northern
Hemisphere has been used to calibrate
the radiocarbon 'calendar' that is
extrapolated to date organic material
formed over the past 40 000 years or so.
But the Southern Hemisphere has a
quite different history of climate and
carbon exchange between organic
material and the atmosphere, so the
discovery of 1000-year-old living
Tasmanian pines and of sub-fossil logs
up to 13 000 years old
offers an exciting
opportunity to verify
t h e N o r t h e r n
Hemisphere calendar
and to extend i t
beyond 8000 years to
the most recent ice
age, some 12 000
years ago a period
during which the
planet underwent rapid changes on a
scale similar to those threatening us
today.
T
asmanian tree-ring research has
involved CSIRO scientists on sev
eral occasions during the past
decade. Early Tasmanian exploratory
work was carried out by Dr John
Ogden of the Australian National
University and by Dr Don Adamson of
Macquarie University, with extensive
Southern Hemisphere tree-ring sam
pling by the late Dr Val LaMarche of
the University of Arizona Tree Ring
Research Laboratory in the 1970s.
Climatologist Dr Barrie Pittock of the
Division of Atmospheric Research
worked with Dr LaMarche in Tucson,
Arizona, to construct a chronology of
summer temperatures in Tasmania
since 1780, having discovered that
growth rings in several Tasmanian spe
cies of pine show a response to changes
in summer temperatures.
In 1979, Division of Atmospheric
Research scientist Dr Roger Francey
obtained a grant from the National
Energy Research Development and
Demonstration Council (NERDDC) to
investigate whether the isotopic com
position of cellulose in Tasmanian tree
rings could be used to chart changes in
atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2)
levels as a result of fossil fuel combus
tion. Since CO2 from the burning of
fossil fuels is depleted in 13C, and since
trees obtain all their CO2 from the
atmosphere, the tree rings should show
this change.
Dr Francey and his colleagues (in
cluding Mr Trevor Bird of the CSIRO
Division of Forestry, Dr Mike Barbetti
of the University of Sydney, Dr Gerald
Nanson of t he Uni ver si t y of
Wollongong, Dr Roger Gifford of the
CSIRO Division of Plant Industry and
Dr Graham Farquhar from the
Australian National University) con
ducted eld work at Stanley River in
north-western Tasmania each summer
from 1979 to 1982.
Dr Francey found that the stable iso
topes trapped in tree rings did not just
record the composition of atmospheric
C02, they also indicated that trees had
adjusted to increased levels of this gas
in the atmosphere. In fact, his results
suggested that trees increased their
assimilation of C02 by 10% between
1870 and 1970. At the same time, Dr
Barbetti began the huge task of con
structing a fossil tree-ring chronology
back to the most recent ice age.
In 1989 Mr Mike Peterson of the
Tasmanian Forestry Commission dis
covered stands of sub-alpine Huon
pine (this species was previously
thought to be restricted to river plains
and margins). These high-altitude trees
demonstrated a much more marked
sensitivity to temperature pre
sumably due to the harshness of their
mountain-top environment than the
Stanley River material.
Prompted by Trevor Bird, Dr Ed
Cook of the Lamont-Doherty Labora
tory for Climatic Research, New York,
spent 2 weeks in 1990 conducting den-
droclimatological studies of Tasmanian
Air sample n
Monthly samples of air
collected around the
world come to GASLAB
for analysis.
In 10 years
concentration (parts per trillion)
400-j
_ ^
, . - "
-
,--'*'CFC-12
300-
200-
^ ^ - ^ ^ - ^ C F C - 11
100-
year
"
9 7 8 8 0 8 2 8 4 8 6 8 8
Concititrations of the chlorouorocarbons
CFC-11 and CFC-12 rose by about 5% per
year in the 1980s. Measurements are from
Tasmania's Cape Grim 'baseline'
monitoring station.
tree-ring samples: Dr Cook returned to
Tasmania last summer and, assisted by
Mr Bird, Mike Peterson, Mike Barbetti
and Roger Francey (with logistical sup
port from the Tasmanian Forestry
Commission, CSIRO, the Hydro-Electric
Commission and Tasminco), collected
living tree cores and sub-fossil wood.
Among the striking results of his pre
liminary study of sub-alpine material is
that ring widths are larger today than
at any time in the past 1000 years, most
likely as a result of the greenhouse
effect. This nding is consistent with
Dr Francey's earlier observations.
Tasmania's pines are providing an
opportunity to tackle two of the most
vexing questions in the whole mystery
of the global carbon balance the
response of vegetation to changing
atmospheric composition over long
periods and the stability of ocean air-
sea exchange over centuries.
Despite its association with such
volatile phenomena as re and
rust, oxygen is a remarkably
stable element so stable, in fact, that
the oxygen isotopes trapped by grow
ing Tasmanian pines 1000 years ago
represent a 'time capsule' replete with
information about the climate of that
era. Scientists studying global climate
change can compare this information
with similar time capsules of oxygen
from the ice of Greenland, Scandinavia,
North America and Antarctica, and
with samples of air from these and
other locations. They need such a
broad range of collection sites because
land masses and oceans and hence
biomass are so unevenly distributed.
The bulk of humanity lives in the
Northern Hemisphere, which is where
most greenhouse gases are emitted; but
the great oceans of the Southern
Hemisphere also drive climate change.
Researchers have therefore set up a
world-wide sampling network to trace
the paths of atmospheric gases through
time and space, in an effort to learn
more about the forces that shape the
world's climate.
For measuring greenhouse and
ozone-depleting gases, GASLAB (Global
Atmospheric Sampling LABoratory) is
the newest 'star' on the world stage. It
was ofcially opened by CSIRO Chief
Executive Dr John Stocker late last year
at t he Di vi si on of At mospher i c
Research's Aspendale headquarters,
Melbourne. This major laboratory facil
ity is devoted to the most precise and
efcient measurement of atmospheric
gases whose names have become
household terms as concern for the
health of Earth and its atmosphere has
grown.
Its leadership in the measurement of
greenhouse-effect and stratospheric
ozone-depleting gases stems from the
combination of the state-of-the-art spe
cially modied instruments for all of
the major gas 'species' involved that
have been installed.
The Finnigan-MAT252 stable iso
tope ratio mass spectrometer was
released in Germany last year, and
GASLAB houses only the second such
instrument manufactured. Its specica
tions exceed those of any previous,
similar instrument: GASLAB's MAT252
has an attachment especially modied
by Dr Francey that enables the auto
matic extraction and analysis of CO2 in
air, making it the most powerful faci
lity for atmospheric CO2 isotope stud
ies in the world. It will be further
enhanced this year, in association with
scientists in New Zealand, to permit
precise measurement of the stable iso
topes of methane (CH4) and carbon
monoxide (CO) in air.
A Carle S-Series gas chroma-
tograph (GC) is optimised for the high-
precision determination of atmospheric
methane concentrations; a second
(borrowed) Carle GC is currently
optimised for the analysis of CO2 in
very small samples, such as those
obtained from ice cores.
A trace-analytical GC analyses
carbon monoxide and hydrogen (H2)
concentrations in air. While neither
species plays a direct role in the green
house effect or in stratospheric ozone
depletion, CO is an important pre
cursor for CO2 in tropical regions; and
bot h CO and H2 ar e i nt i mat el y
involved in the chemistry of the atmo
sphere and help determine the destruc
tion rates of other, important gases
such as CH4.
A Shimadzu GC measures nitrous
oxide (N2O), which is responsible for
about 3% of greenhouse warming; this
instrument was specially modied by
an American colleague, Dr Jim Elkins,
to optimise its efciency and precision
f or cl ean ai r measur ement s. A
Shimadzu dual-column GC (also mod
ied by Dr Elkins) measures the
chlorouorocarbons CFC-11, CFC-12,
CFC-113 and other halocarbons, chlo
roform, methyl chloroform and carbon
tetrachloride. These are greenhouse
gases, but they also include the main
culprits in the destruction of strato
spheric ozone.
A further GASLAB feature involves
the development of automated, multi-
sampl e carousel s. Dat a f rom al l
Antarctic ice-core measurements show how concentrations of the two
main contributors to greenhouse warming have shot up this century.
Methane levels have risen by more than 100% since the increase
began, and carbon dioxide levels by about 25%.
From the ice record
carbon dioxide
(parts per million by volume)
340
320-
300-
280
260
methane
(parts per billion by volume)
'1600
1600 1700 1800
1900 year
600
instruments are stored in a centralised
computer, which also controls mea
surement sequences, makes decisions
on data quality and assists with pro
cessing and analysis.
The Di vi si on has appoi nt ed Dr
Paul Steele to play a central role
in the upgrading of GASLAB's
instruments and the use of its facilities
to unravel many of the trace-gas uncer
tainties that hamper accurate forecasts
of future atmospheri c condi ti ons.
Following groundwork by Dr Paul
Fraser of the Division of Atmospheric
Research, Australian-born Dr Steele
established, developed and operated
the United States National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration CH4-
monitoring network.
How does GASLAB use this formid
able array of instruments? Division of
Dr Colin Allison with GASLAB's new
high-precision mass spectrometer, used to
study isotopes of greenhouse gases.
Atmospheric Research scientists have
two basic strategies to put the labor
atory's facilities to the best possible
use.
The rst involves collecting a series
of precise and comprehensive 'snap
shots' of the world's atmosphere, with
the aim of understanding in detail the
sources, sinks and exchange mechan-
g isms of its principal gases. In particu-
s lar, the accurate denition of regular
I daily, seasonal and 4- to 5-year (El
Nino) variations will help determine
net exchanges of gases forced, for
exampl e, by t emper at ur e and/ or
biology, or by ocean mixing. In the
future they will extend this sort of
'biogeochemical' modelling approach
to decades as records accumulate.
The second measurement strategy
involves (usually less-precise) infor
mation that spans much longer periods
from decades to millennia by
examination of 'archived' air or clues in
preserved material such as ice cores,
tree rings and so on. Identifying the
impact of human activity and pre
dicting future levels of key gases are
easier if measurements cover hundreds
of years or more, making the enhanced
sensitivity of GASLAB's instruments
'Defrosting' the climate of the past from Antarctic ice
Polar ice sheets provide a natural archive of past atmospheric
records; they sample the global 'background' atmosphere
unperturbed by cities or forests. A range of information is
recorded together in the same medium ancient air in the bub
bles, temperature-related isotopes in the ice and trace
substances that relate to atmospheric circulation, volcanic erup
tions, nuclear weapons 'events' and solar activity and, of
course, ice cores can be dated from such information. Natural
ice is generally a good storage material for gas species, in
some cases even better than man-made containers.
Law Dome, 100 km from Australia's Casey Station, is an
ideal site for collecting ice cores. Its simple ow pattern and
relatively high annual snowfall allow ice layers to build up undis
turbed and unmelted for most of its 1200-m thickness. Ice cores
with excellent age resolution can be drilled, from recent times
(containing air from the 1970s, which can be compared with
measurements from baseline stations in other locations) back to
pre-industrial times and even to the last ice age, about 12 000
years ago.
To obtain core samples from depths of less than 500 metres,
AAD glaciologists use thermal drills. An electrically heated metal
head melts its way through the ice at about 2 m per hour, taking
cores 100-200 mm in diameter in sections about 2 m long.
Below 500 m the borehole closes during drilling if not lled
with a uid, because of the overburden pressure of the ice.
Glaciologists use mechanical drills consisting of a motor-driven
rotary cutting head at the end of the drill, itself suspended on a
cable some kilometres long (monitoring the borehole's distortion
itself provides information on the ow dynamics of the Antarctic
ice sheet, which in some locations is more than 4 km thick). The
glaciologists conduct initial core analysis and sampling at the
drill site, then package and ship the remainder of the cores to
Australia in refrigerated containers.
Back in Melbourne, aad glaciologists determine the ice chro
nology by counting annual layers: these are seldom visible, but
are revealed by analysis of species that vary seasonally, such
as the isotopic concentration of 180 (which is temperature-
dependent) or hydrogen peroxide (produced in the atmosphere
by sunlight). They then check this kind of dating by identifying
signals in trace substances that are attributed to specic events
for example, the sulfuric acid peak from the eruption of
Tambora, Indonesia, in 1815 A.D.
The air enclosed in bubbles, however, is younger than the
surrounding ice. Snow only becomes dense enough to seal air
into bubbles at depths of 70 m or so: but Law Dome accu
mulates snow quickly enough in some places, the equivalent
of 1 -2 m of water each year to enclose air that can be dated
to within several years, an obvious advantage for studies of the
atmosphere over the past century or two.
At the Division of Atmospheric Research, researchers extract
air from the ice at icelab, where they place carefully prepared
samples (cooled to -80 to reduce the water vapour pressure
and to make the ice more brittle) in a crushing ask. They evac
uate the ask and crush the ice, which contains about 120 mL
of air per kilogram, then vacuum-dry the liberated air and con
dense it in traps at -269 before taking the traps to GASLAB and
measuring the gases mentioned above.
The results show that signicant changes have occurred in
many trace gases. Prior to 1800 A.D., CO2 concentrations
appear to have uctuated around an average of about 285
parts per million (p.p.m.), but have since increased to 345
p.p.m. a rise closely associated with the CO2 released from
fossil-fuel consumption. Methane concentrations began to rise
about 50 years earlier than CO2, possibly due to agriculture,
and have since doubled. Nitrous oxide has increased by about
8%, mostly during this century.
Australian Antarctic Division
A glaciologist retrieves an
ice core from a depth of
300 m in Law Dome,
Antarctica. Air extracted
from the ice at ICELAB is
measured in GASLAB to
study past changes in the
composition of the
atmosphere.
even more relevant: the MAT252
system, for example, requires air sam
ples less than 1 /500th as large as used
by the Division's previous instruments.
Ei t her way, GASLAB has par
ticularly good access to samples
for both kinds of measurement. In
1984, with funding from NERDDC,
Division scientists Roger Francey, Paul
Fraser and Dr Graeme Pearman set up
a pilot global network of six stations
focusing primarily on the isotopes of
C02, but also providing GC analyses of
C02, CH4, CO and, on occasions, CFCs.
The program's results were so valuable
that it was continued and expanded to
the present world-wide network (see
the map on page 20).
Monthly samples of clean air in 5-L
glass asks come to Aspendale from
the Arctic (Alert, Canada, and Point
Barrow on Alaska's northern coast),
North America (Fraserdale, Canada;
Cheeka Peak, Washington; and Niwot
Ridge, Colorado); Asia (the province of
Gujerat, in north-western India); the
Pacic (Mauna Loa, at 4169 m Hawaii's
second-highest peak; and Samoa);
Australia (Darwin-Jabiru; the Great
Barrier Reef; Cape Grim, Tas.; and
aircraft sample-collection over Bass
Strait and the Great Australian Bight
by commercial Australian Airlines
ights and by CSIRO aircraft); New
Zealand (aircraft sample-collection by
that country's Meteorological Service);
and Antarctica.
As well, the CSIRO research vessel
Frankl i n and Austral i an Antarcti c
Division (AAD) re-supply ships collect
samples at sea; AAD also supports reg-
Dr Roger Francey with cylinders of air
collected at Cape Grim, Tasmania, since
1978, which have been 'archived' for future
analysis.
ular sampling at Macquarie Island and
at Mawson Station. Recently, German
scientists have provided Northern
Hemisphere stratospheric samples from
high-altitude balloon ights launched
from Sweden.
The 'anchor' of the sample network is
the Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution
Station in north-western Tasmania.
Operated by the Bureau of Meteoro
logy in co-operation with the Division
of Atmospheric Research, Cape Grim is
closely integrated with GASLAB.
For examining change over longer
periods, GASLAB is focusing on
archived samples held in stainless
steel cylinders and on Antarctic ice
cores wi t h unparal l el ed t i me re
solution. With considerable foresight,
almost 20 years ago Paul Fraser ini
tiated a program to store Cape Grim air
'for a rainy day'. In anticipation of
changing atmospheric composition and
improved instrumentation (now pro
vi ded by GASLAB) , syst emat i c
Trevor Bird (left) and Dr Ed Cook remove core samples from re-killed Huon pines.
collections of air one to four times a
year began at Cape Grim in 1978,
under conditions of strong south
westerly Southern Ocean winds.
Air is collected in oxygen tanks
made of stainless steel (from World
War II aircraft) and in specially pre
pared aluminium gas cylinders. These
are all but submerged in a container of
liquid nitrogen, which lowers the inter
nal temperature of the asks to about
-180 and creates a partial vacuum.
When the top of the ask is opened, air
rushes in (with the help of a small
pump) and liquees. On thawing, the
cylinder pressure reaches a level of
about 30 atmospheres.
As well as collecting atmospheric gas
samples at Mawson and the South
Pole, AAD also provides Antarctic ice
cores for GASLAB analysis. Air is
removed from bubbles within the cores
by I CELAB (I ce Core Ext ract i on
LABoratory), an annexe to GASLAB.
As part of the Division's ICELAB
initiative, Mr David Etheridge was
recruited from AAD to design and
implement improved methods for air
extraction from ice cores and to play a
central role in collaborative ice core
studies.
Ice cores from polar ice sheets and
glaciers provide layers of atmospheric
and climatic information up to thou
sands of years old... layers that in
many ways resemble the growth rings
of trees. Field teams from AAD collect
cores from Law Dome, Antarctica, and
transport them to cold storage in
Melbourne, where annual layers are
dated and past temperatures are cal
culated from the relative numbers of
lsO isotopes in each sample (see the
box on page 22).
For measurement of trace gases, ice
core sampl es are crushed under
vacuum and the air released from the
bubbles is collected in traps immersed
in liquid helium at -260. These traps
are transported to GASLAB, where ana
lysts check for a range of gas species, in
particular for C02, CH4, N20 and halo-
carbons by gas chromatography, and
for CO2 and CH4 carbon isotopes by
mass spectrometry. Graeme Pearman is
developing a new instrument to meas
ure the very small decrease in oxygen
expected to accompany fossil-fuel
combustion, while Mr Ian Galbally is
designing an O3 detector to look for
possible changes in tropospheric chem
istry over the industrial period.
The GASLAB-ICELAB complex, which
represents the integration and sub
stantial upgrading of several relatively
independent research efforts, was
The gases gaslab measures
OXYGEN (02)
Photosynthesis and respiration, the key processes of life, keep oxygen the
second-most abundant gas in the atmosphere circulating. As human populations
have expanded, the combustion of fuels and the destruction of forests have not only
increased carbon dioxide levels, but may also have caused a very small but poten
tially measurable depletion of atmospheric oxygen.
Because 02 is essentially insoluble in the oceans (unlike C02), the effects of the
human impact on global 02 should be reected directly in atmospheric measure
ments. A small-volume, high-precision oxygen analyser will measure historical
changes in atmospheric 02 using air trapped in Antarctic ice, while GASLAB's
MAT252 mass spectrometer traces changes in isotope ratios.
CARBON DIOXIDE (C02)
Levels of atmospheric C02 have risen by about 25% since 1800 due largely to the
burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, agriculture and cement production. C02 is the
main contributor to enhanced greenhouse warming. The GASLAB Carle gas chro-
matograph provides precise measurements of it from samples as small as 10 mL.
The scientists hope their research will add to our knowledge of the roles of oceans
and plants in absorbing excess C02.
NITROUS OXIDE (N20)
N20 contributes about 3% of the enhanced greenhouse warming and atmospheric
levels have risen since the industrial revolution by about 9%. Sources of atmo
spheric N20 include the oceans, soil disturbance, biomass burning, fertilisers and
fossil fuel combustion. Since N20 and C02 have the same molecular mass and are
not distinguished by the mass spectrometer, GASLAB uses N20 data to correct iso-
topic measurements of C02 in air samples. N20 levels are measured by the gas
chromatograph.
METHANE (CH4), CARBON MONOXIDE (CO) AND HYDROGEN (H2)
Levels of CH4, the second-largest contributor to the greenhouse effect, have risen
by some 125% since 1800, mainly as a result of fossil-fuel combustion, biomass
burning and emissions from livestock, rice elds and landlls. Changes jn CO and
H2 (as well as CH4) reect atmospheric levels of hydroxyl radical (OH ), a major
'scavenger' of atmospheric pollutants. Motor vehicles are an important source of the
increase in CO levels, which, like CH4, are measured by gas chromatograph.
CHLOROFLUOROCARBONS
Chlorouorocarbons (CFCs) have contributed an estimated 11% of the enhanced
greenhouse warming since their wide-scale use began in the 1950s, and are the
most rapidly increasing greenhouse gases (around 5% per year). The chlorine from
CFCs is also suspected of being the major contributor to depletion of the ozone
layer in the stratosphere, especially over Antarctica; GASLAB uses a dual-column
gas chromatograph to measure CFCs.
David Whillas
conceived and implemented by Roger
Francey as leader of the 'radiatively
active gases' projects of the Division's
Global Atmospheric Change Program.
In many ways, GASLAB is a tribute to
Division Assistant Chief and program
leader Graeme Pearman, who mar
shalled the public and political
awareness that precipitated support for
the laboratory's creation.
Seeding grants from the Depart
ment of Arts, Sport, the Environment,
Tourism and Territories' Climate
Change Initiative and a CSIRO major
equipment-upgrade initiative enabled
the setting up of GASLAB; support
came from NERDDC (a part of the
federal Department of Primary Indus
tries and Energy) and other govern
ment and commercial organisations
with an interest in atmospheric
research.
Carson Creagh
Tasmanian tree rings: a treasure trove
for globally signicant palaeo-
environment reconstructions? R.
Francey. Climate Change Newsletter, 2
(2), 1990.
Greenhouse studies: assessing uncer
tainties versus debunking hype. I. G.
Enting. Australian Physicist, 1990, 27
(8), 167-70.
'GASLAB: Global Atmospheric Sampl
ing.' P. Holper. (CSIRO Division of
Atmospheric Research: Melbourne
1990.)
ICELAB: Ice Core Extraction.' P. Hol
per. (CSIRO Division of Atmospheric
Research: Melbourne 1990.)
King Billy pines and the world's carbon
dioxide. Ecos No. 12,1977, 24-26.
What air bubbles trapped in Antarctic
ice tell us. Ecos No. 47,1986,23-26.
A sh-eye view of the
Cape Grim station.
5
PESTS IN
THE SOIL
'Myco-insecticides' are
showing promise as a clean
replacement for chemicals in
some pest control
applications
ou can't miss insect pests
that nibble the leaves of
trees and crops, causing
destruction in farms, gar
dens and city parks. Less
obviously, though, pests
in the soil can quietly gnaw away at
roots, seriously weakening a plant both
nutritionally and structurally.
The larvae of scarab beetles are
prime examples of soil-dwelling insect
pests in Australia. (In addition, some
adults in this family can cause prob
lems by their leaf-eating.) Peanuts,
potatoes and sugar-cane all suffer from
various species of scarab larvae, also
called white grubs. The larva of the
soldier y attacks sugar
cane roots too.
The problem is not trivial. ^
Losses from larvae of scar- ij
abs and soldier y and the cost
of insecticides used to control
them add up to more than $5 million
every year. Losses of peanut crops
come to about $2 million a year. As
well as these crop pests, other grubs
attack the roots of pasture grasses, and
the termites found in many areas of the
country can target the wood in our
houses.
All such pests are good candidates
for biological control by means of fungi
that are adapted to live in the soil, an
environment with a constant high
humidity which the target insects
also need. Several fungi in our soils
already attack these insects; the rst
step on the road towards devising an
effective biological control agent, there
fore, involves selecting for the most
deadly.
Once that is done, and we can grow
and apply the chosen fungus, we have
the beginnings of a 'myco-insecticide'.
Why bother? Until recently, farmers
controlled soil pests by means of chem
ical insecticides: unfortunately, these
lasted a long time and, because they
were applied to soil, tended to nd
t hei r way i nt o gr oundwat er.
Consequently, many of the formula
tions used being based on the
infamous organochlorines were
banned for use in this fashion in 1987.
Since then, one of the main control
methods has been an organophosphate
insecticide, in the form of slow-release
granules. But this is expensive, it is not
at its most effective in clay soils, the
larvae may become resistant and oppo
sition to any chemical methods of pest
control on food crops is growing in the
community and government.
So Dr Richard Milner and his team at
the CSIRO Division of Entomology are
busily researching myco-insecticides
for insect soil pests and, with the col
laboration of the Bureau of Sugar
Experimental Stations, have already
come up with a possible answer to the
infestations that plague the sugar-cane
elds of northern Queensland.
I n Australia, three species of the soil
fungus Metarhizium are known to
occur. These can infect and kill a
wide range of insects. The fungi pro
duce millions of tiny green spores
called conidia. In the soil, these attach
to the insects' bodies, where they
germinate, producing a 'holdfast' and
a tube that, by secretion of the right
enzymes and mechanical pressure,
can penetrate directly through the hard
insect cuticle. Hyphae fungal
branches or tubes spread out inside
the host, some free-oating in the uid
of the body cavity, absorbing nutrients
and growing. Eventually, their sheer
mass kills the insect, which has
become a rm shell stuffed full of a
fungal mat (mycelium).
After the host's death, the fungus
grows out through the cuticle as a
white mycelium. Eventually it pro
duces a mass of green conidia at its
surface, and these disperse away from
the rotting corpse, staying dormant (for
years in the right conditions) as they
await contact with another insect.
The conidia can be eaten, and usu
ally pass through the gut of both
suitable hosts and other creatures
unharmed and without germinating.
This helps in their dispersal. However,
infection around the mouthparts of
insects, onto which conidia acquired
during feeding can stick, does occur.
The fungus grows quite readily in
the laboratory, feeding on nutrients in
agar, but in Nature it appears not to
live that way for example, on de-
Portrait of a pest: a scanning electron micrograph of a scarab larva.
Microscopy Centre, CSIRO Division of Entomology
The effect of the fungus on a scarab grub
before (top) and after (lower), dead and
covered with a coat of grey conidia that will
spread the fungus.
caying vegetation or animal matter
but rather requires a living insect,
which it must then kill in order to pro
duce its conidia. It is thus a pathogen
(disease-causer), and not a saprophyte
able to live on scavenged nutrients
from the remains of living things in the
environment as are so many other
soil fungi.
Needless to say, soil-dwelling insects
have spent millions of years in the
company of such fungi, and they have
ways of ghting back. For example,
some insects may produce enzymes
(phenoloxidases) that interfere with the
ability of the fungus to manufacture its
cell walls and hence grow. The con
centration of these enzymes in the
haemolymph (blood) of the insect
increases after a conidium has germi
nated but before the complete penetra
tion of the germ tube through the
cuticle. Evidently, some signal 'warns'
the insect that an invasion is in
progress.
But, of course, the battle can escalate.
Some strains of fungi can produce sub
st ances, t ermed dest ruxi ns, t hat
somehow interfere with the production
of, or render ineffective, the insects'
defensive enzymes. Quite possibly fur
ther details of each side's armoury
remain to be discovered, but the point
is that various degrees of effectiveness
exist, depending on the strain of
fungus and the type of insect.
Insect pathologists have known for
many years that one species of
Metarhizium would be very effective
as a control agent namely M. anisop-
liae. By taking samples from soil
around the country and from many dif
ferent infected insects, Dr Milner and
his colleagues have found that the spe
cies varies considerably in Nature. It's
no good, therefore, just gathering the
fungus, identifying it, applying it and
then hoping for the best. The road to
success is paved by the artful selection
of the right strains of M. anisopliae.
And strains must not only kill effec
t i vel y, t hey must al so be easi l y
cultivated, produce large numbers of
conidia and be able to persist in the
soil.
Of the three main sources of strains
the existing culture collections of
laboratories around the world, the soil
and infected insects in the field the
last has provided those most useful
against pest insects. Surprisingly, strains
from the soil are often ineffective, per
haps because t hey are speci c
pathogens of other soil-dwellers, or
possibly because some are genuinely
saprophytic, a feeding strategy that has
been described in other parts of the
world.
Dr Milner and his team have col
lected and tested more than 100
isolates (fungal cultures) from infected
This close-up shows how the fungal hyphae (threads) grow out through gaps in the insect
cuticle.
larvae or soil beneath sugar-cane. They
were looking for a strain that had a
high 'kill rate', that produced conidia in
large numbers and that survived well
in the soil conditions prevailing in the
area in which it would be used.
The rst test of a fungal isolate was
to roll pest larvae in vast numbers of
dry conidia not quite the way in
which an infection would take hold in
the eld, but it nevertheless gave an
idea which were good killers. Only
those that killed all larvae in less than 2
weeks passed this rst hurdle, and
were put to a second test.
For the next test, the team put
conidia in water at doses of either
100 million or 1 million per mL, and
dipped larvae into the water. Good iso
lates would kill all larvae within 2
weeks at the higher dose of conidia,
and at least half at the lower one.
The nal test came closest to mod
elling soil conditions. The scientists
added conidia to the soil at known
doses, either by mixing them in evenly
or by putting conidia-coated rice grains
into the soil. For a strain to be effective
the lethal concentration required to kill
half the insect larvae (the LC50) had
to be less than 100 000 conidia per
gram of soil. The best strains achieved
50% kills with only 10 000 or even 1000
per gram. But because infection takes
place much more slowly in soil, the
destruction of half of the pests would
often take up to 7 weeks to occur.
This exhaustive selection process n
ally yielded three strains highly patho-
Left. A grub emerging from a destroyed
peanut.
genie for sugar-cane scarab pests. Of
course, the effectiveness of a myco-
insecticide depends on other factors
too. Apart from an assumed high
humidity without which the larval
pests themselves would not be present
the most important is temperature.
Most strains of M. anisopliae grew
well between 20 and 30 C. (However,
they can survive short periods at much
higher temperatures about 40 C
as found in soil.) The three most effec
tive ones were well adapted to the
temperature prole of the soil in the
Queensland sugar-cane elds. Other
isolates of the fungus from Victoria
and Tasmania can infect and kill a
pest at temperatures below 10 C, and
are therefore being investigated as con
trol agents for a temperate-pasture
pest.
Other factors that can impinge on the
success of the fungus include soil pH,
organic matter, other microbes and sat
urat i on wi t h wat er. Coni di a can
germinate over the pH range of most
soils, but too much water excludes
oxygen and thereby prevents sporula-
tion (the formation of conidia) in
infected dead insects. However, peri
ods of such severe waterlogging are
likely to be brief. Dr Milner's eld
observations and laboratory studies
suggested that organic matter in the
soil favoured the development of the
fungal disease in insects.
The age of the insect host also plays
an important part in determining the
effectiveness of the fungus. Biologists
in the eld have observed that the nal
larval stage is the most often infected,
partly because it is the most mobile
and the longest-lasting stage and there
fore stands the greatest chance of
encountering conidia. The pupae and
adults are rarely infected, and the eggs
even less often.
Dr Milner has found that most
strains of M. anisopliae are very specic
to particular insect hosts. This is ideal
for a myco-insecticide, as it means that
benecial insects will not be harmed.
However, it has the drawback that
John Roger
where a complex of pest species exists,
as with sugar-cane, then it may be nec
essary to use more than one strain to
bring about full protection.
Wor k i ng i n c ol l abor at i on wi t h
the Bureau of Sugar Experi
mental Stations, Dr Milner
and his team have conducted numer
ous eld experiments with a range of
f ungal st rai ns on cane crops i n
Queensland. Conidia don't move down
into the soil very effectively, so the best
strategy to get the desired fungus in
place is to add it when the crop is
planted. The scientists have discovered
that the conidia survive best when
coated onto an inert carrier substance.
In the case of crops like sugar-cane,
the pests in the soil take at least a year
after planting to build up to a sizeable
population. Thus the fungus, applied
during planting, must remain as viable
conidia in the soil for 12 months or
more. Dr Milner's latest ndings sug
gest that this is not a problem.
Accordingly, commercialisation of
the effective strains is proceeding
apace. The Division of Entomology has
granted Incitec Pty Ltd the licence for
the strains developed for sugar-cane
pests. The company will work on how
to produce the conidia in commercial
quantities as well as the marketing of
the myco-insecticide.
Readers may wonder whether a
possible 'insect in the ointment' in this
control strategy is the development of
resistance to the fungus. Of course,
some degree of resistance is likely to
develop eventually but, unlike the
case with chemical insecticides, the
control agent will itself be able to
change, and if it does not do so fast
enough then new strains can be
selected.
Moreover, chemical insecticides usu
ally have a very narrow target often
just one enzyme in the pest. For
resi stance to appear ' al l ' that i s
required (although it may take dec
ades) is a suitable mutation to the
affected enzyme that renders it able to
Below: Dr Richard Milner exposing scarab
grubs (white) in the soil at the base of
sugar-cane plants.
operate despite the presence of the
chemical. Combating the process of
fungal infection, by contrast, involves
the operation of many biochemical
pathways and the participation of dif
ferent cell types. As a result, resistance
would probably take longer to evolve
and would be less effective, mimicking
the state in Nature where, over time,
neither the pathogen nor the host spe
cies achieves a total victory.
Meanwhile Dr Milner, in collabora
tion with Divisional colleague Dr Tony
Watson, is turning his attention to the
control of termites. As these are social
insects vast numbers living together
in mounds, with a surprising ability to
sacrice individuals in order to combat
threats to the society as a whole they
raise rather different problems. How
ever, rst results have suggested that
the right strain of M. anisopliae would
do the trick, provided we adopt the
right strategy. But that's another story...
Roger Beckmann
The selection of strains of Metarhizium
anisopliae for control of Australian
sugar-cane white grubs. R.J. Mil
ner. In "The Use of Pathogens in
Scarab Pest Management', ed. T.A.
Jackson and T.R. Glare. (Intercept
Publishers: Andover, U.K., 1991, in
press.)
Ecological considerations on the use of
Metarhizium for control of soil-
dwelling insect pests. R.J. Milner.
Proceedings of Soil-Invertebrate
Workshops, Indooroopilly, Qld, 11-12
April 1989, ed. L.N. Robinson and
P.G. Allsopp, 1989,10-13.
Recent progress with Metarhizium ani
sopliae for pest control in Australia.
R.J. Milner. Proceedings of 1st Asia/
Pacic Conference of Entomology,
Chiang Mai, November 1989 (in
press).
PLANTS IN THE SUN
An increase in ultraviolet exposure due to ozone depletion in the stratosphere
would be bad news for us. Research is now showing that plants, including crop
species, are also at risk.
A l t h o u g h n o t t o p o n t h e
list of our national wor
ries, the possibility of
plants getting sunburn
i s starti ng to cause
concer n. The Sun' s
ultraviolet light, which can burn or tan
us, can also affect plants. If there's
more of it around, as a result of the
depletion of the ozone in the strato
sphere, will plants be worse off?
The high energy of ultraviolet light
(UV) can disrupt some of the complex
chemicals of life, including the nucleic
acids that comprise genes. The thin
ning of the ozone layer above the Poles
in winter allows more ultraviolet radia
tion to reach the surface of Earth. The
most damaging type is UV-C, but even
with ozone thinning almost none of
this penetrates to the ground; still
harmful, although slightly less so, is
UV-B, and it is the increased penetra
tion of our atmospheric shield by
radiation in this waveband that is the
most worrying.
At the moment, dramatic changes in
ozone concentration are conned to the
atmosphere far above the Poles, for rea
s o n s c o n n e c t e d wi t h t h e l o w
temperatures attained there during
winter. However, ozone-poor strato
spheric air may occasionally detach
from the Poles and reach temperate lat
itudes during the late spring.
As the concentration of chloro
uorocarbons (CFCs) around the
world continues to rise, an increased
loss at the Poles may cause a general
dilution effect in the ozone layer of the
entire planet, making increased UV
light at ground level a regular fact of
life. As a rule of thumb, a 1 % reduction
in stratospheric ozone means a 2%
increase in the UV-B at the surface.
Since 1980, Australia has seen a
decrease in the ozone above us ranging
from about 2% in Darwin to about 5%
in Hobart, meaning that UV-B levels
have increased by up to 10% in some
places at certain times.
The medical profession has already
told us what this means to humans,
and the news isn't good. It's worth
nding out how plants will be affected,
particularly the handful of species vital
as food crops. This is what Dr Jan
Anderson, Dr Fred Chow and their
team at the CSIRO Division of Plant
Industry have been doing.
To begin with, the scientists carried
out a series of small-scale preliminary
screening experiments to test the
response of seven crop species to extra
UV-B exposure peas, beans, sor
ghum, spinach, barley, wheat and
maize. Of these, sorghum, wheat and
peas proved sensitive; but pea plants
suffered the most, and therefore Dr
Anderson and her team chose them for
further study. They wanted to nd out
what exactly the ultraviolet light was
damaging, and how it had its effects.
They used levels of UV-B far higher
than those that occur naturally, or
woul d ever be l i kel y to occur i n
Australian latitudes in the foreseeable
future.
The major reason was to ensure that
the effects of UV-B stood out clearly; in
the eld, 'real' environments have a
range of ever-changing and uncon
trollable stresses that impinge on plant
heal t h si mul t aneousl y and woul d
thereby confuse any assessment of UV
damage. For example, under natural
conditions plants receive the greatest
amount of UV-B during the middle of
the day, when they would be coping
with higher air temperature, maximum
evaporation of water and greatest light
intensity.
Up to a certain point, the higher the
total brightness of light, the less effect
the ultraviolet component has. This
seems to be because plants have mech
ani sms f or repai ri ng UV-i nduced
damage, and these operate better in
brighter light.
Dr Anderson and her col l eagues
grew pea seedlings in the labor
atory with 12 hours of light per
day, supplemented with UV-B 17 days
after sowing. As a control, an equal
number of seedlings received the same
total amount of light, but with no ultra
violet component.
A week after starting the UV supple
mentation, the scientists sampled
leaves and ran a range of detailed tests
on their biochemistry, concentrating
especially on the process of photosyn
thesis. As if acquiring a suntan, the
leaves of the irradiated plants had
bronzed; after the experiment nished
some of these plants were returned to
normal light, where they recovered
and produced new green shoots.
Analysis revealed that, inside the
leaves, chlorophyll the green pig
ment essential for photosynthesis
had declined. During the 8-day test
period the UV-B-treated plants lost
more than 55% of the total chlorophyll
in their leaves, whereas the controls
increased theirs by about 12%, in line
with normal growth.
Higher plants have two types of
chlorophyll, termed a and b. The 'sun
tanned' leaves mainly lost chloro
phyll a. Although some chlorophyll b
disappeared too, it didn't start to
decline until the fourth day after treat
ment. The correct ratio of chlorophyll a
to b is important for the healthy func
tioning of leaves; in the treated plants
the gure changed drastically, imply
ing to plant physiologists that the peas
were experiencing severe stress. (For
example, changes to the ratio occur
after treatment with some herbicides.)
The scientists noted another dra
matic change. The most important
enzyme for photosynthesis colloqui
ally called rubisco is responsible for
picking up carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere and attaching it to a mol
ecule within leaf cells. As C02 (despite
the greenhouse effect) is still present in
Fi l teri ng effect of atmosphere
strength of ultraviolet radiation (energy per unit area)
change in spectrum
of surface sunlight
with ozone
depletion
250 270
total sunlight
sunlight reaching
surface (averaged)
330
wavelength (nm)
3 5 0 3 7 0
UV-C UV-B UV-A
Because of selective
absorption by the
atmosphere, sunlight
reaching the surface is
depleted marginally in
UV-A and substantially
in UV-B. Radiation in
the most dangerous part
of the ultraviolet
spectrum, UV-C, is
completely blocked.
Ozone loss will allow
more UV-B radiation to
penetrate the
atmosphere.
very low concentrations, rubisco has a
hard job, and therefore exists in large
quantities. It is, in fact, the most abun
dant protein in the world.
But after 8 days of supplementary
UV-B, the pea leaves' rubisco had
declined to a mere 28% of that of the
controls'. This means that photosyn
thesis was devastated by a two-pronged
attack. Its energy collection, based on
chl orophyl l harvesti ng photons of
light, was sharply cut back; and the
actual work of carbon xation (incor
porating carbon from the atmosphere
into the foodstuff sugar), which this
energy powers, declined independent
ly because of the destruction of the
chief enzyme involved.
The quantities of a number of other
proteins important in photosynthesis
also decreased, but for unknown rea
sons some r emai ned r el at i vel y
unaffected. Knowing exactly how UV-
B 'knocked out' these vital components
is part of Dr Anderson's continuing
investigation. Ultraviolet radiation can
physically disrupt large complex mol
ecules like proteins, but her latest
ndings suggest that the radiation was
actually affecting the expression of the
genes that code for the manufacture of
the proteins, in addition to hitting the
molecules directly.
However it may happen, the curtail
ment of photosynthetic capacity and
efciency can devastate any plant and,
if maintained for long enough, inev
itably leads to death. It seems certain
that the photosynthetic mechanism is a
major target of UV-B irradiation, and
damage to this would directly cause
stunted growth and reduced yields.
However, plants are more than just
photosynthetic apparatus. Even within
the leaves, other pigments are present,
such as the red and yellow carotenoids
and avonoids. (These are partly
responsible for the colours of autumn
leaves, and become visible after the
l eaves' abundant chl orophyl l has
broken down prior to shedding.)
Dr Anderson's research showed that
carotenoids also declined in the irradi
ated plants, to about half the level
found in the control plants by the end
of the 8-day experimental period. But,
inrriguingly, the latest ndings indicate
that the avonoid pigments increase in
response to the ultraviolet light. It so
happens that avonoids are quite effec
tive absorbers of UV. Could it be that
these pigments are therefore produced
in response to UV exposure as a delibe
rate protective mechanism, in the same
way that light-coloured people produce
dark UV-absorbing melanin in their skins
when exposed to ultraviolet radiation?
The recognition of UV-B as a plant
stress is relatively new. Bio
logists need to do a lot more
research before they can denitely say
what effect erosion of the ozone layer
may have on the planet's vegetation.
Already they have conrmed the enor
mous variability in the tolerance of
different plants.
But the fact that most experimental
work has used unrealistically high
levels of UV-B, and applied it continu
ously for 12-hour periods rather than
simulating the increase and decrease
that take place during a real day, does
not mean that the ndings are purely
theoretical. Scientists overseas have
recently found a common weed that is
so inhibited by any level of UV-B that,
even under natural conditions, it must
suffer continuous low levels of ultra
violet-light-induced stress.
It may well be that, like so much else,
UV stress interacts with other stresses,
perhaps becoming more damaging if a
plant is already suffering from, for
example, drought or salinity. The
'plant-fertilising effect' (see Ecos 57)
the enhanced growth caused by an
increased concentration of carbon diox
ide in the atmosphere may change if
a plant is stressed by extra UV-B; Dr
Anderson hopes to study this inter
action in the future.
Impact of UV-B and UV-C
relative absorption of ultraviolet radiation
! ! ! H
Proteins and nucleic acids, molecules vital
to life, absorb radiation in the UV-B and
UV-C bands. That is why this type of
ultraviolet radiation is most damaging to
living things.
The bronzing effect of UV-B shows up
clearly in the leaves on the left, which have
had supplementary UV exposure for 20
days. Those on the right are the same age
but received no extra UV.
Research overseas has suggested
that forests may be quite vulnerable.
Because of their long life-spans, trees
tolerant of current UV-B levels may
live to experience much higher ones in
future, with cumulative effects over the
years. Three out of ten conifers tested
in the United States showed reduced
heights as seedlings when exposed to
UV-B.
As we increase our knowledge of
how UV-B causes its damage and of
the extent of variations in sensitivity to
it, we can start the long process of nd
ing varieties that are more tolerant. To
date, most study of the impact of UV-B
has taken place in the Northern
Hemisphere. As Australian conditions
and some of our non-crop plants are
quite different, further work is needed
here too.
Roger Beckmann
Effects of supplementary ultraviolet-B
radiation on photosynthesis in
Pisum sativum. A. Strid, W.S. Chow
and J.M. Anderson. Biochimica et
Biophysica Acta, 1990,1020, 260-8.
At sea
We're beginning to nd out some of the effects of increased UV-B on terrestrial
plants, but what about plants that live in the oceans?
The bulk of the sea's plants are tiny single-celled phytoplankton. (Seaweeds,
although some can be large and spectacular, are generally conned close to land
and don't have a combined biomass nearly as great as phytoplankton.) Most of the
phytoplankton live in the top 100 metres of the oceans and use sunlight to power
their photosynthesis, by which, like land plants, they incorporate atmospheric carbon
dioxide in this case dissolved in water into foodstuffs for the cells' growth.
Dr John Kirk of the csiro Division of Plant Industry is an expert on the penetra
tion of light into water. He points out that phytoplankton photosynthesis is already
inhibited by the bright sunlight in the top few metres of the sea, and that the
component of the light most responsible for this inhibition is the ultraviolet. So what
are the implications for oceanic photosynthesis and everything that ultimately
depends on it such as all commercial fisheries of a possible increase in UV-B
brought about by thinning of the ozone layer?
Experiments carried out by scientists in California suggest that, for every 1% loss
of ozone, inhibition of photosynthesis in phytoplankton will only increase by about
one-tenth of 1%. So, the reassuring news is that likely UV-B increases will really
have very small direct effects on carbon xation.
However, Dr Kirk points out that UV-B affects DNA, and he quotes calculations
by the same American researchers showing that the percentage increase in DNA
damage is likely to be 2^4 times the percentage change in the ozone layer. As
DNA is copied during cell division, it could be that the efcient reproduction of phyto
plankton will suffer. This may then, secondarily, lead to a drop in the level of photo
synthesis in the oceans.
As most life in the sea depends ultimately on phytoplankton the 'grass of the
sea' the result could be a fall in the productivity of the oceans, reflected in dimin
ishing sh stocks. (This ignores any possible additional detrimental effects of UV-B
directly on the tiny larvae of many sh, which drift near the surface.)
The other major concern relates to the greenhouse effect. The phytoplankton of
the ocean remove carbon dioxide (the principal greenhouse gas) and convert it to
organic material at the rate of about 30-50 gigatonnes of carbon per year. (A giga-
tonne is one billion tonnes.) Not all of this is permanently removed from the
atmosphere; much is released quite quickly back again as C02 when phytoplankton
respire or decompose, or are eaten by the small zooplankton (and they in turn by
other creatures further up the food chain) that consume and respire their carbon.
However, about 5 gigatonnes per year are effectively removed. Individual phyto
plankton cells are too light to fall, but they may sometimes aggregate into heavier
clumps of dead cells. A rain of organic material, in the form of dead phytoplankton
and zooplankton faecal pellets, eventually reaches the deep sea, where they are
effectively sequestered. Thus, with the help of animals small and large, phytoplank
ton act as a type of solar-powered biological pump, withdrawing carbon dioxide from
the atmosphere and transferring it to accumulate in the lower depths of the ocean.
The astute reader may well ask why all atmospheric carbon dioxide has not there
fore been removed entirely over the aeons. The reason is that the oceanic 'sink'
appears to be approximately balanced by injections of C02 into the air from vol
canoes and outgassing through Earth's crust.
Controversy exists about the extent to which oceans have taken up more C02 in
recent times to offset some of the extra that fossil-fuel burning and other human
activity keep adding each year. However, what is certain is that we don't want the
sea to take less carbon, and so exacerbate the problem.
A mixture of
phytoplankton the
'grass' of the sea. Like
land plants, these cells, in
their millions, take up
carbon dioxide and
incorporate it into organic
material.
Planning for
future needs
In comparison with other
developed countries, Australia
has a moderately high
population growth rate
about 1-6%. But if we remove
the contribution made by adult
immigration, something
approaching zero population
growth results, as evidenced
by a steady birth rate despite a
net increase in population.
However, considerable
variation occurs between and
within States; we need to
consider both the population
changes inspired by
immigrants from overseas and
those that result from
movement between States:
New South Wales and Victoria,
for example, receive the major
share of incoming overseas
immigrants, but become the
greatest net losers due to
migration interstate.
Australia's population is also
growing older and family sizes
are decreasing, both of which
affect mobility patterns
between city and country, and
interstate. All of these factors
have wide-ranging
implications for the kinds of
services the community needs
and the distribution of those
services, now and in the future.
The increase in the average age of our population, for
example, means greater community need for hospital
services, aged-care and recreational facilities and public
transportation. There is also evidence of different sectors of
the population moving in different directions, with the poor
and elderly tending to move to low-cost rural locations and
professionals concentrating in more expensive locations
that offer more diverse opportunities. This information, as
well as the ability to forecast regional populations, is vital to
federal and State government planners who until now
have relied mainly on census data and simple projections of
trends.
Since the mid 1980s the Planning and Management
Program at the CSIRO Division of Building, Construction
and Engineering in Melbourne has been providing
computer planning-information packages to all levels of
government and to authorities such as Telecom.
In 1990, the Commonwealth Department of Industry,
Technology and Commerce and the Indicative Planning
Council brought together a multi-disciplinary team
co-ordinated by Division researcher Dr Joe Hood and
HOSPIM illustrates the average distance travelled by obstetrics
patients for hospital treatment in Sydney (top) and the number
of hospital 'separations' (patients registered as they leave
hospital) in Sydney per 1000 of population.
including spatial modellers,
geographers, economists and
computer scientists from
CSIRO, Monash University
and the National Institute of
Economic and Industry
Research for a major
project called 'The
Determinants of Internal and
Interstate Migration within
Australia'.
About $50 000 was
allocated to the
implementation of a
population-forecasting
package known as TEMPO
(Technique for Evaluation of
Mobility of Populations),
developed by CSIRO
researchers Dr John Roy and
Mr Miles Anderson.
They designed TEMPO to
provide predictions of future
regional population
distributions and their
composition for developers,
retailers, housing authorities,
construction rms and
private- and public-sector
infrastructure-planners.
The package divides the
population according to
criteria such as age, categories
of skills, household
composition, income, job
status (employed or
unemployed) and housing
status (owner-occupier or
tenant). Projections can be
made from alternative
scenarios for economic growth, disposable income,
unemployment, housing costs and overseas immigration
policy. For example, possible changes in the total
immigrant quota and the proportions from refugee,
family-reunion and skills-based categories are fed into
TEMPO, which then models a future population distribution
reecting different patterns of competition for housing and
jobs between internal migrants and new distributions of
overseas immigrants.
Alternatively, TEMPO can examine the effects of different
housing price movements between Sydney, Melbourne and
Brisbane, including identifying future supply bottlenecks.
'The results of the model will be information that is useful,
comprehensive, easily manipulated and interpreted', says
Dr Roy. It became available from the Division on a
consulting basis from April.
A further development by Dr Roy and Mr Anderson is
HOSPIM (Hospital Patient Spatial Impact Model), a
hospital-planning package that allows planners to
experiment interactively on screen with different
strategies for hospital-related health care delivery. It
assesses the impact of these strategies on community
standards of care, as well as the impact of changes in the
composition of communities on the viability of hospitals in
particular locations. Some original 'seeding' funding was
provided by the federal Department of Health, with the
Australian Institute of Health providing assistance in
organising seminars for all States.
A joint venture between Cliff Consultants, Sydney, and
CSIRO is currently applying HOSPIM in New South Wales
and Tasmania, with the rst applications occurring in
co-operation with the New South Wales Health Department
and Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney. A second joint
venture for South Australia and Victoria was recently
signed with Dr van Konkelenberg of Fresbout Ltd,
Adelaide. Authorities in New Zealand, Boston, Brisbane
and Perth have also expressed interest.
Expected uses for HOSPIM include: examining
co-ordination between the public and private hospital
systems; allocating high-technology tertiary treatment
equipment and staff; planning for different levels of
dependency in aged-care facilities, from retirement villages
to nursing homes; assessing changes in the mixture of
specialties in particular hospitals to cope better with the
changing demographic structure of hospitals' catchment
populations; and guiding the allocation of resources to
hospitals within individual regions.
The software's performance indicators relate, on the
demand side, to the efciency and equity of access to
appropriate levels of care within both urban and rural areas
and, on the supply side, to so-called throughput efciency
(optimising factors such as average length of stay and bed
occupancy rate) and levels of utilisation of hospital
capacity. If the number of admissions for a particular
specialty say, thoracic surgery decreases over time at
one hospital, HOSPIM can minimise wastage of beds and
staff resources by identifying other specialties with
increasing demand in that hospital's catchment area.
Carson Creagh
TEMPO forecasts population shifts. Focus (CSIRO Division
of Building, Construction and Engineering), Spring 1990.
'HOSPIM Computer User Manual.' J. R. Roy and M.
Anderson. (CSIRO: Melbourne 1990.)
An elusive vitamin under the spotlight
We all know that we need an adequate supply of vitamins
for good health. Indeed, a vitamin is dened as an organic
substance that our bodies cannot make but that is necessary
for health. But one vitamin, E as even its name seems to
suggest frequently ranks lower in scientific and public
awareness than its alphabetically senior cousins.
As recently as a decade ago some nutrition textbooks had
a question-mark over its precise function in the human body,
describing it as 'a vitamin without a disease'. Experiments
had shown that in rats a shortfall could lead to infertility,
and so for a while the vitamin was quite incorrectly
connected in the public mind with sexual potency!
While scientists dismiss the aphrodisiacal claims for
vitamin E, an improved understanding of its varied
benecial effects is developing. The various forms of
vitamin E, or tocopherol, are now known to be antioxidants;
that is, they prevent oxidation (the removal of electrons),
which can damage a range of important biological
compounds. We live in, and indeed depend upon, what
Where to nd your vitamin E:
vegetable oils, although the potency of the vitamin
is lost with heating, especially frying
cereals particularly the germ of whole grains
nuts and seeds
fruits and vegetables
The most concentrated natural sources of the vitamin
are almost anything oily of plant origin. However, a
responsible diet involves minimising fat consumption,
so fruit and vegetables (although not rich sources per
se) will, if eaten in abundance, provide vitamin E in a
'healthy' package without the worry of high calories
and fat intake.
chemists regard as a mildly reactive and corrosive gas
oxygen.
Although oxygen does contribute, being capable of
removing electrons, we experience much more oxidation
from the short-lived 'free radicals' formed in many of the
reactions inside our cells. Proteins, fats and DNA are all
susceptible to their destructive impact.
Of course, living things have evolved defence
mechanisms to cope with oxidative damage; the
longer-lived the organism is, the more elaborate its free
radical defences have to be. Enzymes can repair some
damaged molecules, but antioxidants constitute the rst
line of defence, and that's where vitamin E comes in.
Along with vitamin A, the carotenoids, vitamin C and
elements such as zinc and selenium when they are
incorporated into biologically active molecules, vitamin E is
oxidised by free radicals, thereby acting as a shield to help
protect important molecules of the cell. It follows, in theory,
that the lower the concentration of antioxidants becomes,
the more the free radicals will damage our cells. Over
decades, the effects of the continuous free radical assault
may accumulate, and contribute to the aging process.
Damage to DNA by free radicals may be a factor in the
onset of cancer; in cardiovascular disease (heart attack and
stroke), the walls of arteries carrying as they do
oxygen-rich blood may eventually suffer as damage to
individual cells accumulates.
Antioxidants may be particularly important if you
consume large quantities of polyunsaturated fatty acids.
These fats, although generally regarded as being
nutritionally preferable to the saturated ones of animal
origin, are especially susceptible to oxidation. Studies have
shown that the resulting products can disrupt cell
membranes, themselves composed of fat, and disturb the
normal formation of prostaglandins hormone-like
molecules that are important in regulating the aggregation
of platelets, the opening and closing of small blood vessels
and the immune response.
Dr Graeme Mcintosh of the CSIRO Division of Human
Nutrition in Adelaide has taken a particular interest in the
role of vitamin E in health and disease for a number of
years, and has conducted a range of studies on it.
In one experiment, he found that supplementing the diets
of experimental rats and marmosets with tuna-sh oil
(mainly polyunsaturated) resulted in pathological changes
associated with vitamin E deciency, despite the fact that
the animals were consuming normal amounts of the
vitamin in the rest of the diet. The high dose of
polyunsaturated fats used up much of the antioxidising
ability of the animals' existing vitamin E, thus giving rise to
all the symptoms of a true dietary vitamin E deciency.
In Nature, most sources of polyunsaturated fats contain
vitamin E which acts as an antioxidant to stop the fat or
oil from turning rancid but problems can arise when the
oil is extracted. Frequently food manufacturers add
articial antioxidants to keep the fatty acids from oxidising
during storage of the foodstuff. To what extent this remains
effective inside us is not yet clear. However, Dr Mcintosh
points out that with excessive use such synthetic
antioxidants can be toxic. It therefore seems sensible to
suppose that the naturally present vitamin is safer for us.
Certain factors can inuence our absorption of vitamin E.
These include: a blockage of the normal ow of bile
(cholestasis), a uid necessary for the normal absorption of
fats in which vitamin E is dissolved; the presence of
intestinal parasites that, by damaging the inner surface of
the small intestine, can reduce absorption of the vitamin as
well as other dietary components; abnormal mucus
formation in the gut and other organs (the disease cystic
brosis); and excessive alcohol consumption. Absence of
the normal lipoproteins (fat-carriers) in the blood can also
have an effect.
So, are Australians taking in enough of this vitamin? Dr
Mcintosh believes the answer may not always be 'yes'.
Nobody has yet carried out a comprehensive survey on the
vitamin E content of foods in Australia. In the United
States, a recent survey showed that as many as 20% of the
population could receive inadequate supplies of vitamin E,
and that certain groups the poor, the elderly and blacks
are particularly at risk. Dr Mcintosh believes that the
same applies to certain groups in our society. Our own poor
and elderly clearly need consideration in the light of the
American ndings. Chronic alcoholics, because of their
generally poor standard of nutrition, are also at risk.
Some Aboriginal communities constitute another such
group. In research at Yalata, S.A., Dr Mcintosh measured
the vitamin E status of Aboriginal children and found it to
be low. He suspects that this was brought
about by a combination of poor nutrition
and the presence of intestinal parasites,
which inuence absorption via the intestine.
Dr Mcintosh, in collaboration with Dr
Robert Gibson of the Flinders Medical
Centre, has conducted research that
suggests diabetics too could benet from an
increased intake of vitamin E.
One of the most serious long-term
complications of diabetes is the slow
blockage of small blood vessels, which can
lead to a range of major problems. If it
occurs in the retina of the eye, blindness can
result; if in the brain, a stroke. The
occlusion of the vessels comes about
because the clotting agents in the blood
the platelets start sticking together when
they shouldn't. Although we know how the
aggregation of platelets occurs normally
(when a blood clot is necessary), scientists
have little idea why they sometimes clump
together at the wrong time.
The incorrect functioning of platelets is a
well-known phenomenon in people with
diabetes. Scientists believe that it could be
connected with the level of vitamin E because the behaviour
of platelets becomes disturbed when the vitamin is
decient. (This comes about through the deciency-induced
change in prostaglandin levels mentioned earlier.)
But Dr Mcintosh's study did not nd any shortage of
vitamin E in the malfunctioning platelets, although he and
his colleagues did observe various biochemical changes in
them. The plasma (the blood uid rather than the cells)
contains an actual surplus of vitamin E, suggesting that
abnormal transport could be occurring.
However, preliminary results from a small study of
mature-onset diabetes which is primarily a disease of
middle age connected with obesity and the consumption of
too many calories gave quite different findings.
Sufferers from this condition generally have too much
insulin, and their body's cells don't respond properly to it.
They also have too much of the wrong sorts of fats in the
blood.
The research showed that such people had normal or
high quantities of vitamin E in their plasma, but not
enough in their platelets. The vitamin seemed to be
pooling in the blood, perhaps 'blocked' in some way from
entering the cells and platelets as a result of the abnormal
pattern of fats. Dr Mcintosh believes that supplementary
vitamin E in the diet could help these patients, but would
only be effective if combined with simultaneous changes in
their diets aimed at normalising their blood fats, which
could overcome blockage to the normal transport of the
vitamin.
Despite his nding of high concentrations in the platelets
of juvenile-onset diabetics, Dr Mcintosh points to other
studies that suggest that supplementing with vitamin E will
nevertheless decrease the aggregation of platelets in these
patients. How it works, scientists don't yet know; the
nature of the biological response to high doses of vitamin E
is still poorly understood. Clearly, much more remains to
be discovered about this rather low-prole' vitamin, but
already the evidence suggests it is far more 'inuential' than
was at rst thought.
Roger Beckmann
Blood platelets under the electron microscope. The dark circles in them are molecules
that, if released, bring about reactions that can lead to blood clotting. Proper levels of
vitamin E in platelets appear to be essential for their correct functioning.
Vitamin E and human health is our diet adequate? G.H.
Mcintosh. Medical Journal of Australia, 1989,150, 607-8.
Dietary cholesterol and lipid supplements inuence
tocopherol status in the marmoset monkey. G.H.
Mcintosh, F.H. Bulman and E.J. McMurchie. Nutrition
Reports International, 1988, 37, 923-32.
The role of vitamin E in diabetic vascular disease. R.A.
Gibson and G.H. Mcintosh. Patient Management, 1989,11,
83-9.
Vitamin E intakes and sources in the United States. S.P.
Murphy, A.F. Subar and G. Block. American Journal of
Clinical Nutrition, 1990, 52,361-7.
Malnutrition in Aboriginal children at Yalata, South
Australia. D.B. Cheek, G.H. Mcintosh, V. O'Brien, D.
Ness and R.C. Green. European Journal of Clinical
Medicine, 1989,43,161-8.
Unwanted nitrates the termite
connection
Ever tried to lather soap in the outback? The problem is
the 'hardness' of the water, due to the dissolved minerals
and salts in the bore water on which most arid settlements
rely.
Water from many bores in central Australia contains
nitrate ions, N03~ (generally balanced by positively charged
sodium ions). Usually, nitrates in rivers, lakes,
groundwater and the sea are a sign of pollution. They can
come from agricultural fertilisers or sewage, and their
presence, along with that of other nutrients such as
phosphorus, often causes excessive algal growth or
eutrophication.
But central Australia has a very sparse human
population, and no widespread application of fertiliser
occurs. Yet, in some aquifers in the Ti-Tree basin of the
Northern Territory, hydrologists have found nitrate
concentrations as high as 360 mg per litre in water of
otherwise low salinity.
Above a certain concentration, nitrates can be toxic
and their derivative nitrites (N02" ), which can form by the
action of bacteria, are even worse. Those most at risk are
babies under the age of 3 months. Bacteria in contaminated
feeding bottles or in the stomach convert the nitrate to
nitrite. And, when absorbed into the bloodstream, this
nitrite attaches easily and irreversibly to the infant's
haemoglobin, forming a compound called methaemoglobin,
which is inefcient at carrying oxygen.
The babies therefore become anaemic and (because of the
low oxygen concentration in their blood) often appear blue,
giving the condition the name 'blue baby syndrome'. Adult
haemoglobin is more resistant to the binding of nitrite and
so adults can tolerate higher water nitrate levels than
infants.
A further worry is the suggestion by some medical
researchers that lengthy exposure to high levels of nitrate in
food and water could be one of the factors, predisposing
towards cancers of the stomach and throat.
So nitrates pose a problem, and they may preclude the
use of underground water as the drinking-supply for a
small settlement. Where do nitrates in such abundance
come from, and how do they get into the groundwater?
This was a question that Dr Chris Barnes of the CSIRO
Division of water Resources, and his colleagues Mr Gerry
Jacobson of the Bureau of Mineral Resources and Dr Geoff
Smith of the Australian National University, decided to
investigate. Soil microbes associated with the roots of
acacias 'x' nitrogen gas from the atmosphere into organic
compounds, and other scientists had suggested that such
biological 'xation' could produce nitrates in the soil, which
perhaps were leached down into the groundwater.
To test this idea, Dr Barnes and Mr Jacobson chose a
study site near the Yulara tourist resort at Ayers Rock,
where they analysed the nitrate in water from a number of
bores. They found its concentration to be greater than 42 mg
per litre. (Prospective visitors to the resort can be reassured
that the water there undergoes complete desalination
which includes nitrate removal by reverse osmosis.)
They then sampled the soil surface in a number of places,
also measuring the level of nitrate. As expected, the tops of
sand dunes gave low readings. Relatively high nitrate
levels occurred beneath open ground and spinifex, with
slightly lower levels underneath groves of young mulga
trees (a type of acacia). The scientists found signicantly
lower concentrations beneath stands of mature mulgas.
A clue about the source of the nitrate came from
laboratory analysis of soil samples, which showed the
presence of blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria, in crusts.
These primitive microbes were producing nitrate, which the
mulgas, and other vegetation, then used. Cyanobacterial
crusts occurred everywhere except on top of sand dunes.
But the biggest surprise concerned termite mounds: some
of them contained a staggering concentration of nitrate
up to a hundred times the level found anywhere else. Just
to be sure of this unexpected nding, the team carried out
further sampling in July 1989, which conrmed their rst
results.
Not all mounds were nitrate-rich differences between
termite species existed, but the scientists could not
investigate this fully. Those mounds that did harbour large
quantities of nitrate carried most of it in the hard outside
wall. Dr Barnes suspects that results from evaporation.
Relatively high concentrations of nitrates occurred beneath
spinifex (top), but not nearly as high as those found in the soil
surface of certain termite mounds. Dr Barnes (lower photo)
samples a small pavement mound.
A windmill operating a bore the source
of water in many outback settlements.
When the mound is soaked, the soluble nitrates from the
termites disperse. Then, as the mound dries, the water is
drawn up, travelling to the outside where it evaporates,
leaving the nitrates concentrated in the outer skin.
The next heavy rain and rains in this part of the world
are rare but generally heavy when they do arrive will
rinse the nitrates off the outside of the mound and down,
eventually, into the water table. Indeed, when the scientists
carried out core sampling beneath spinifex, bare soil and
cyanobacterial crusts, they found pulses of nitrates at
various depths, corresponding to nitrate 'ushes' from the
surface after a big 'rain event'. Bacteria able to break down
the nitrate appeared to be scarce in the arid zone soils,
possibly as a result of a shortage of carbon for them.
The only remaining piece of the puzzle is the question of
why and how termite mounds become such a rich nitrate
source. Perhaps bacteria in the gut of certain termite species
x nitrogen; other possibilities are that nitrifying bacteria at
the mound surface convert the termites' ammonia excretion
to nitrate, or that a termite secretion, perhaps used as a
'cement' in the mound, is rich in nitrate-containing salts.
Whatever the details of the biochemistry, the fact remains
that the particular termite species in the region have surely
been in operation for tens of thousands of years, acting as
nitrate-generators lling up the water in great basins
beneath the desert with a chemical that we could do
without.
All this is more than merely academic. The Northern
Territory Power and Water Authority wants to know the
origin of the nitrates in the hope that the knowledge could
help predict which bores will be low-nitrate and which
areas it should avoid for bore-drilling because of the
likelihood of strong nitrate contamination.
Further work may help provide a measure of prediction,
but several factors complicate the picture. Until we know all
the relevant termite species and their distribution, any
useful correlations will be hard to derive because mounds
are ubiquitous and fairly evenly spread throughout the
region. Furthermore, the hydrology of each area affects the
recharge of water, leading to concentration in certain places;
also, slow chemical reactions probably brought about by
bacteria take place in groundwater, and old water very
slowly loses some of its nitrate, even if it is in a high-nitrate
zone.
Roger Beckmann
Cyanobacterial nitrogen xation in arid soils of central
Australia. G.D. Smith. R.M. Lynch, J. Jacobson and C.J.
Barnes. FEMS Microbiology Ecology 1990, 74, 79-90.
Scientists Dr Geoff Smith (left) and Dr Chris
Barnes taking samples to nd the origin of
nitrate-rich groundwater in central Australia.
Around CSIRO
CSIRO's research Divisions and the Institutes to which
they belong are listed below. Inquiries can be directed to
the appropriate Division or Institute , or to any ofce of
CSIRO's National Information Network:
INSTITUTE OF INFORMATION
SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
105 Delhi Road, North Ryde, N.S.W.
P.O. Box 93, North Ryde, N.S.W. 2113
Tel. (02) 887 8222 Fax (02) 887 2736
Division of Information Technology
Division of Mathematics and
Statistics
Division of Radiophysics
CSIRO Ofce of Space Science and
Applications (COSSA)
INSTITUTE OF MINERALS,
ENERGY AND
CONSTRUCTION
P.O. Box 93, North Ryde, N.S.W. 2113
Tel. (02) 887 8222 Telex 25817
Fax (02) 887 8197
Division of Building, Construction
and Engineering
Division of Exploration Geoscience
Division of Geomechanics
Division of Mineral and Process
Engineering
Division of Mineral Products
Division of Coal and Energy
Technology
INSTITUTE OF INDUSTRIAL
TECHNOLOGIES
Normamby Road, Clayton, Vic.
Private Bag 28, Clayton, Vic. 3168
Tel. (03) 542 2968 Telex 32945
Fax (03) 543 2114
Division of Applied Physics
Division of Biomolecular
Engineering
Division of Chemicals and
Polymers
Division of Manufacturing
Technology
Division of Materials Science and
Technology
INSTITUTE OF ANIMAL
PRODUCTION AND
PROCESSING
P.O. Box 93, North Ryde, N.S.W.
2113
Tel. (02) 887 8222 Fax (02) 887 8260
Division of Animal Health
Division of Animal Production
Division of Tropical Animal
Production
Division of Food Processing
Division of Human Nutrition
Division of Wool Technology
INSTITUTE OF PLANT
PRODUCTION AND
PROCESSING
Limestone Avenue, A.C.T.
P.O. Box 225, Dickson, A.C.T., 2602
Tel. (06) 276 6512 Telex 62003
Fax (06) 276 6594
Division of Entomology
Division of Forestry
Division of Forest Products
Division of Horticulture
Division of Plant Industry
Division of Soils
Division of Tropical Crops and
Pastures
INSTITUTE OF NATURAL
RESOURCES AND
ENVIRONMENT
Limestone Avenue, Canberra, A.C.T.
P.O. Box 225 Dickson, A.C.T., 2602
Tel. (06) 276 6240 Telex 62003
Fax (06) 276 6207
Division of Atmospheric Research
Division of Fisheries
Division of Oceanography
Division of Water Resources
Division of Wildlife and Ecology
Centre for Environmental
Mechanics
The CSIRO National Information Network
S y d n e y M e l b o u r n e A d e l a i d e
Tel. (02)413 7211
Fax (02) 413 7631
Hobart
Tel. (002) 20 6222
Fax (002) 24 0530
Tel. (03) 418 7333
Fax (03) 419 0459
Perth
Tel. (09) 387 0200
Fax (09) 387 6046
Tel. (08)268 0116
Fax (08) 268 6757
Darwi n
Tel. (089)221711
Fax (089) 47 0052
i&CUykA3!*0e'
No more 'bonsai' banana trees?
Cultivating banana trees in Canberra's decidedly
un-tropical climate might seem no pun
intended a fruitless endeavour, but for Dr
Paul Wellings and Mr Peter Hart, of the
CSIRO Division of Entomology, it was a vital
rst step in aiding people thousands of
kilometres east of Australia's capital city,
in the Kingdom of Tonga.
Sponsored by the Australian Centre
for International Agricultural
Research (ACIAR), Dr Wellings
and Mr Hart began work in
1989, growing banana
trees in the Division's
glasshouses, then
collecting
specimens of the
banana aphid,
Pentalonia
nigronervosa, in
northern
Queensland.
This small, soft-bodied pest occurs throughout
the Pacic and, because it carries bunchy-top virus, is
responsible for serious crop losses.
Bunchy-top virus creates a virtual bonsai banana,
stunting the tree's growth and deforming its leaves. The
tree fails to grow and fails to produce fruit: a signicant
problem in Pacic nations where bananas and plantains
(cooking bananas) constitute an important part of the local
economy.
The scientists also collected specimens of Aphidius
colemani, a 2-mm-long parasitic wasp found in Australia
but not in Tonga that lays its eggs in banana aphids (as
well as other species). The egg hatches inside its living
food supply; when the larva pupates the host dies, turning
into a 'mummy' that protects the wasp pupa until it is ready
to emerge.
In Australia, control of bunchy-top virus in banana
plantations is achieved mainly through destruction of
infested plants, insecticides and tissue culture of virus-free
banana plants, but none of these options is viable in
Tonga: insecticides are too expensive, destruction is
impossible to implement throughout the country, given the
land-ownership structure and the number of islands in the
Kingdom, and virus-free plants quickly become infested
because the aphid is unchecked.
The introduction of a parasite thus offers the best means
of controlling, if not eliminating, a pest of serious economic
proportions, and this strategy is to be supported by
planting virus-free trees as pest numbers dwindle.
Dr Wellings and Mr Hart rst cultivated banana plants
using tissue-culture techniques, then bred banana aphids
in controlled conditions (in ideal conditions, a new
generation emerges every 9 days) before introducing
Aphidius wasps to the infested plants.
Mummied aphids were collected from the banana
leaves for the ight to Tongatapu, the Kingdom's main
island. On arrival at the Tongan Ministry of Agriculture,
Fisheries and Forests (MAFF) Vaini Research Station, Dr
Wellings and Mr Hart erected special lightweight,
prefabricated emergence cages and began rearing the
parasites as they emerged.
The aphid, and a heavily-infested banana plant.
P. Wellings
Dr Paul Wellings with Tonga MAFF ofcials at the rst
release of parasitic wasps.
Working with Mr Pila Kami, a MAFF biological control
ofcer responsible for the aphid control project, the
scientists next selected several banana plantations as
release sites. At each they placed small banana trees
containing a mixture of 'clean' aphids, parasitised aphids
and mummies, so emerging wasps would attack
laboratory aphids before moving about the plantation in
search of further populations in which to lay their eggs.
Mr Hart spent several weeks at Vaini training MAFF
ofcers to take over planting, rearing and release
schedules. Continued releases are vital: the researchers
must await long-term eld studies to see whether there
has been any downward trend in the pest's populations.
However, Dr Wellings is cautiously optimistic that, like
many a South Seas traveller, A. colemani will nd the
Polynesian life-style irresistible.
Carson Creagh

ECOS Winter 1991

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ECOS Winter 1991

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CSIRO'S SCIENCE-AND-THE-ENVIRONMENT MAGAZINE

No. 68 WINTER 1991

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