Ghazala Yasmeen
Department of Forest and Ecosystem Science
The University of Melbourne, Creswick Campus
Water Street, Creswick, VIC 3363, Australia
Email: g.yasmeen@pgrad.unimelb.edu.au
Degree
Master of Forest Science
Thesis title
Nitrogen fixation of native Australian legume species
Supervisors
Project Overview
Australia has been both extremely poor in nutrients and arid for a long time. Drought increase the risk of fires and low rainfall reduces the leaching of some of the nutrients. Low fertility is characteristic of most soil, particularly with respect to nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). Both of these are equally important nutrients for plant growth. So in nutrient poor soils plants form symbiotic relationships with microorganisms to obtain the required nitrogen. N fixation is carried out by the bacteria in symbiotic relationship with legumes.
Project Objectives
The aim of this study is nitrogen fixation in Australian native legumes to cope with fire and nutrient deficiency.
This study will be conducted on some native legumes and is limited to Australian woodlands and heathlands.
This limitation is primarily because:
- There is lot of research work done on annual legumes but there is lack of knowledge about woody legumes and their role in nutrient cycling.
- Information from this research is useful for Department of Sustainability and Environment fire management of state land.
Field work was carried out in Casterton, in the western part of state Victoria. Data from leaves, litter and soil were collected from ten different sites at Casterton.This data was analyzed later for soil moisture, pH, EC, nitrate and ammonia. Experimental work was continuous with LECO and ICP for total N, C, H and total P digest. Another experiment carried out in glasshouse of Department of Forest and Ecosystem Science Creswick.Four legume species were grown under controlled conditions with different treatments of P.This experiment was conducted to compare the results of field and glasshouse. Half of the replicates were harvested in March 2008 and data was collected for shoot, roots and nodules. Nodules from each treatment and replicate were stored in paraformaldehyde. Experiment on nodule anatomy will be carried out to see the difference in the anatomy of nodules after applying different P treatments.
Qualification
MSc Botany
M.Phil Biology
Professional background
- Forest Ecologist in Pakistan Forest Institute, Ministry of Environment
- Work with IUCN team in Islamabad on a project of Biological conservation in Northern areas of Pakistan.
Link to Postgraduate index page