EHS Research and Postgraduates

2008/2009 Student

Tomoko Okazaki's experience participating in the UTROP project program.

I participated in the UTROP project “Seed biology of native plants of northern Australia” during the summer break in 2009. It aimed at finding the most effective treatments that could allow germination of native species seeds. This research was essential to facilitate rehabilitation and revegetation with native species on disturbed lands through human activities such as mining and clearing.

This project required four stages to complete; preparing for seed treatments, setting up the germination trials, monitoring the germination of seeds and statistical analysis of the data. As for my role, I was dealing with seeds of Persoonia falcata which were found to have little germination without treatments.

Firstly, I prepared seeds for six treatments which included woody endocarp of seeds removed, endocarp and testa pierced with drill and needle, end of the endocarp removed and half the endocarp removed. Secondly, seeds and endocarps plus seeds were sterilized with bleach solution to control fungal or bacterial contamination and applied gibberellic acid on half of the replicates. Gibberellic acid can enhance germination. All seeds and fruits were replaced into jars containing gelatinous medium and exposed to light in the incubator.

Germination of seeds were recorded every week and sterilized when they were infested by fungus or bacteria. It was important to control fungus and bacteria for this experiment and in fact, some of replications were discarded due to the attack of fungus. I was needed to observe seeds carefully to prevent infestation. As a final procedure, my supervisor, Sean Bellairs and I analysed the data and discussed about the results every four weeks.

This UTROP project gave me a great opportunity to increase my knowledge about seed dormancy mechanisms of Persoonia falcata and it will help me to understand seed biology of other species. Furthermore, I learned the procedure of experiments at the laboratory through this project. For instance, to keep sterilizing equipment could be important for some experiments and I realised it due to my experience at the laboratory.

As mentioned above, infestation of fungus was one of the issues for this test and in fact, as my skill was improved through several mistakes, it became more controlled. In addition, it was a pleasant surprise to find some particular samples germinated despite of my expectations and this experience increased my interest in my subject.

In conclusion, I would like to refer to my supervisor, Sean. He was very supportive and gave me advice when I asked him about any matters. Also, he always asked me for my opinions and respected me. I believe that my experiments would have ended unsuccessfully without his help.

Overall, it was a great pleasure to participate in the UTROP project and I am assured that this experience will be useful for my career in the future.