Weed Spotter Queensland Network Newsletter Autumn 2012 edition

Parkinsonia Dieback Project
in the Desert Channels
Parkinsonia (Parkinsonia aculeata) is a highly invasive
weed of national significance, which has massive
potential to spread through inland waterways and
rangelands.
Thanks to the combination of sharp eyes of NT Barkly
Landcare Officer, Colleen Westover, who noticed
unexplained deaths of Parkinsonia in 2004, a threeyear
PhD study at the University of Queensland (UQ)
by Naomi Diplock and the persistence of Dr Vic Galea,
Associate Professor in plant pathology at UQ, around
200 local fungal cultures have been identified which can
cause Parkinsonia dieback. This is a naturally occurring
event which kills Parkinsonia.
Over the past 18 months landholders in western
Queensland have been participating in a trial funded by
Meat and Livestock Australia to test the effectiveness
of pathogens. Coordinated by UQ, in partnership with
regional NRM groups, 14 field days have been held (eight
in 2010, and six follow up in 2011), and 70 trial sites
have been set up with individual landholders. Results
are promising, with trial participants reporting a range of
responses including death and sickness of Parkinsonia
trees in a variety of land types. The project leader is
Dr Vic Galea, UQ, and supporters are Desert Channels
Group, Southern Gulf Catchments, South West NRM,
National Prickle Bush Management Group, Capricorn
Pest Management and Biodiversity Queensland.
Sue Ackers, Desert Channels Queensland Inc.
Dr Ken Goulter removing a sample from a healthy Parkinsonia
tree for laboratory testing at Holmleigh field day.
Photo: Sue Ackers.
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Obtaining a weed list of
your area
The WildNet application delivers wildlife information
and incorporates Queensland Herbarium specimen
data (HERBRECS). This application is available online
from and can be used by weed
spotters to access weed information (images and notes),
weed lists for their area of interest, and to determine
if specimens have been lodged with the Queensland
Herbarium.
A summary of how to access weed information from the
site is provided below.
Wildlife Online can be used to access species lists
for protected areas, forestry areas, local government
areas and areas defined using coordinates (which can
be accessed from websites such as Google Maps). To
access weed lists, users should select the ‘introduced’
and ‘plant’ options. The ‘specimen’ option should be
used to determine the species that have a specimen
lodged with the Queensland Herbarium database. The
outputs, which are emailed to the requester, are PDF or
text files and include the number of records and number
of specimens recorded for the area.
WetlandInfo’s Wetland Information Summary Search
allows internet users to view a range of summarised
environmental information including wildlife statistics
for basins, natural resource management regions and
local government areas. Specific wildlife lists such as
‘Introduced Plants’ can be accessed from the wildlife
statistics table to display a number of attributes
including number of specimens, number of occurrences
and date of last sighting. Some species on the lists have
links to species notes, images and internet pages and
the lists can be downloaded.
WetlandMaps is an interactive map service that gives
users access to wetland information via a web-based
Geographic Information System (GIS). As well as
delivering spatial data including wetland mapping,
WetlandMaps has tools for accessing wildlife and survey
data. Species records can be mapped and records and
survey data can be viewed using the inventory tool.
The report tool can be used to generate fauna or flora
lists for a range of area types (current displayed extent,
selected polygon(s), buffered polygon(s) and drawn
areas). The species list outputs are PDF or text files and
include the number of records, number of specimens
recorded for the area and date last seen.
Any errors found within the information generated from
these sites should be reported to the WildNet Team at
to rectify.
Noleen Brown.