Art Intelligence Installation

October 28, 2024 keith Leave a comment

It’s been a while coming, but this week called for a more significant intervention on the site. To date interactions have been mostly necessarily light touch. However consistent with the definition in this prior post, it seemed the right time to establish the first of the site’s Art Intelligences (Ai) – which in the context of this project, are considered to be experimental artworks, embedded within the forest site, compatible with, & allied with the profound, natural intelligences of the forest (the meta-artwork) as it repairs and re-grows.

Moving Ai (1) – tetericornis for transfer, 22/10/24) Image Keith Armstrong

(Preparing **Ai (1) – tetericornis** for transfer, 22/10/24) Image Keith Armstrong

These hybrid installations across the site will ‘evolve with’ and ‘learn from’ the emerging forest whilst directly benefitting its growth. These Ai’s might also evoke awe and encourage public engagement with the forest’s fluxes of intelligent natural regrowth – and are placed at principal, representative sites, standing in as proxy for the entire forest development.

As a first step in discovering exactly what this could mean, we chose to focus attention around three fallen trees (again see this post) – two of which are already in place – and are helping the slow processes of returning biodiversity to the impoverished, ex pasture soil. However this week the third was specifically introduced – a 2 tonne, enormous fallen limb from ancient Forest Blue Gum (E. tetericornis) relocated from a nearby site. By hiring a crane, and with expert assistance Marcus Yates and I decided that it would be possible to locate this carefully fallen tree limb, amongst the young, emergent trees already on site, to slowly become a site for insects, other creatures and seed spreading perching birds. This was also an idea I’d discussed with the team as a viable way forward – and resonated with an earlier idea of bringing a fallen log to the site that Dr. Carrie Hauxwell had previously proposed.

By supporting biodiversity in its own unique way – this Ai/terericornis would quickly become in a low cost low rent housing for a myriad of future species, with the capacity to add current and future carbon and nutrients to the emerging forest – a site currently missing the richness of a forest floor or any real form of shading.

It would also begin to feed the regenerating ground, and encourage development of mychorizzal networks – whilst also providing shelter, food, and habitat for a variety of creatures. In otherwords – it will be a gift to the ecosystem.”

Future steps would now involve the development of ‘Art Intelligence Accelerators’ to speed up this process that might otherwise take decades. (More on that in a future post).

Ai (1) – tetericornis in position, 22/10/24) Image Keith Armstrong

Ai (1) – tetericornis and other two ‘readymade’ Ais in place, 22/10/24) Image Keith Armstrong

The next proposed stages of the process will to instigate the accelerator actions to this Ai: beginning with 1 :A gravity fed slow-drip water system to keep an area of ground/the log permanently damp – encouraging both growth of lichens and fungi and accelerating breakdown. 2 the invention of machinic versions of mammalian soil: digging/scratching/manuring/aerating) – realised by electronically controlled/solar powered ‘muscle wire’ bark scratchers/depositors – designed to agitate and slowly break down the surface of wood and soil over time. 3: Formal, sculptural provision of attractants for local pollinating species (native honey/pollen sculptures).

Project Orientation

ANAT Micro Talk 10/10/24

October 14, 2024 keith Leave a comment

I was happy to be part of the ANAT Micro talk series last week – featuring Melissa DeLaney from ANAT plus Jennifer Kemarre Martiniello + Prof Simon Haberle (ANU) and myself Keith Armstrong + Dr. Eleanor Velasquez (TERN) alongside the ANAT team.

ANAT advertising image, Oct 2024 (Image courtesy ANAT)

I made the following notes for the talk – much of which was covered in the discussion – and which will in time be made available on video.

FAI is an art-science collaboration with Samford Ecological Research Facility (SERF) in SEQ, and the ecological data science organisation TERN (Terrestrial Ecology Research Network). The project is an examination of the innate, more than human, regenerative and creative intelligences that are allowing a 2 ha pasture, to slowly return itself back to a biodiverse forest, with minimal human assistance.

Our aim is to re-vegetate a 2 hectare site at Samford Ecological Research Station (SERF) in SEQ, acting as caretakers rather than directors, whilst also adding subtle, forest-enhancing artworks (Called Forest Art Intelligences) to the plot that will both benefit the forest and also allow audience engagement and interpretation with the myriad non-human intelligence of the site.

ANAT Speakers for Microtalk (Image courtesy ANAT)

My collaborators are:

Dr. Eleanor Velasquez – from TERN (B/g in arts and ecology & education officer)
Forest restoration ecologists Dr. David Tucker and Dr. Gabrielle Lebbinck (strategy and practice for stewardship and botanical survey of the site)
SERF Land manager Marcus Yates (all on site aspects of management and deeply lived advice)This steering group/panel/all committed to the same outcome and engaged with examining the idea of art intelligences from our different perspectives and cross fertilising. Because the artwork benefits the forest that allows the science team to both advise and then suggest approaches – as our capacity to co-develop slowly enhances.

Show slideshow of photos:

Mixophyes fasciolatus/Great-barred-frog, in pathway through adjacent forest, October 7th, 2024 (Image Keith Armstrong)

What have been the highlights of your residency (to date)?

Innumerable visits to the site – to spend time, walk on Country and listen, observe, activate senses, and slowly, surely learn – (Access to powerful Country).
Watching the forest begin to recreate itself.
ISEA Visit of the ANAT team and Angie Abdilla – New Ways Old – to see the affect the site and concept has on others (i.e. it’s not just us feel the power of this place!)
Having the artwork become a key feature of the SERF ‘Engaging Science’ trail
Discovering a rare red backed button quail after summer 2024, and changing our project plans to accommodate it
Being at the table around all decisions related to the long future protection of the site
Understanding that intelligence is far more than being just ‘like us”
Conceiving how we might make an artwork for the forest: that is appropriate, beneficial and respectful to the forest – and envisaging how we might establish analogs of the forest’s natural, metabolic intelligences that will allow both art and general audiences (on site and remotely) insight and engagement: (e.g. ART INTELLIGENCES, ACCELERATORS, INTERPRETERS)

Where to next?

The site should be indistinguishable from the adjacent forest within 50-100 years! We expect the trees to double in size by the end of this season and then onwards.
This Collaboration is just beginning.
Keen to establish ongoing engagement with Traditional Owners – a work in process determined by the site’s owners
Now starting creation of the first 3 of a series of interventions on site – and then allowing time and ecological process (2025 onwards) to direct those artworks (evolution/decay) – with human audience engagement then emerging through direct experience, documentation and other forms of aesthetic translation

Arachnid on the artwork site, Oct 7 2024, (Image Keith Armstrong)

How has your art practice been influenced by the residency environment?

Understanding better how to put analog life at the centre of a respectful making process
“With the recent rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI), we have overemphasised algorithms and other mathematical abstractions, based upon ourselves, and have neglected tacit, embodied, living more than human intelligences. As a consequence, our ability to be in the world – in other words, our wisdom – seems to have diminished dramatically”. (Paraphrased Capra quote)
This project offers me/us a powerful challenge to do better – to try to overcome what Laura and Stoller’s call colonial common sense/ ‘settler logic – recognise and counteract that embedded, unacknowledged, disciplinary violence.
Develop responses that are appropriate, respectful sustainable and regenerative.
Not be afraid to uses appropriate materials – and draw upon technology just where appropriate – engaging with lively analog materials as much as electronics and computation

What have you learnt from one another as collaborators and what traces will you leave at the completion of the residency?

Science’s shares a passion and ideals for a better world. Often its self-imposed limits dictate ways of seeing problems, and disallow outlets for the anger, dread and hope that scientists feel. This collaboration presents one different way of engaging to promote the shared passion all who care for the environment feel, and asking different questions/asking questions differently.

New life on the artwork site, Oct 7 2024 (Image Keith Armstrong)

Philosophical_Directions, Project Orientation

Art Intelligences, Accelerators, Interpreters

October 8, 2024 keith Leave a comment

The ability to form abstract concepts, symbols and mental images is a key feature of our consciousness, and human intelligence today includes the abstractions we associate with mathematics and with computers – algorithms, mathematical models and the like. However, from the systemic perspective of life at large, these mathematical abstractions are peripheral to the intelligence inherent in all living organisms. Living intelligence is tacit and embodied. Its key quality is the ability to be in the world, to move around in it, and to survive in it.
(Fritjof Capra, Resurgence and Ecologist Magazine)

The site by moonlight, 7/10/24 (Image Keith Armstrong)

With the recent rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI), we have overemphasised algorithms and other mathematical abstractions and have neglected our tacit, embodied, living intelligence. As a consequence, our ability to be in the world – in other words, our wisdom – seems to have diminished dramatically. Indeed, a civilisation that sees making money rather than human wellbeing as its main goal and in the process of doing so destroys the natural environment on which human survival depends can hardly be deemed very intelligent.
(Fritjof Capra, Resurgence and Ecologist Magazine)

The artwork site at last light, 7/10/24 (Image Keith Armstrong)

Emerging Rationale: 8/10/24
FAI comprises the entire re-growth site at SERF, as it develops over the years – with the associated land management processes being the site’s curation and maintenance functions. Within that emerging forest, site specific (art) interventions dotted across the land are each designed to both benefit the site ecologically (and in some cases aesthetically), whilst also providing window of engagement into the site’s ecological recovery for future audiences.

1: Ai ‘Art intelligences’ & Aii (‘Art intelligence interpreters’)

Art Intelligences (Ai) = Experimental artworks, embedded within the forest site, compatible with, & allied with the profound, natural intelligences of the forest (the meta-artwork) as it repairs and re-grows. These hybrid installations across the site ‘evolve with’ and ‘learn from’ the evolving forest whilst directly benefitting its growth. Ais might also evoke awe and encourage public engagement with the forest’s fluxes of intelligent natural regrowth. Ais are placed at principal, representative sites, and therefore stand in as proxy for the entire forest development

Art Intelligence accelerators (Aia) = Additional/embellishing, creative elements added to Art Intelligences to enhance and accelerate local ecological processes – therefore intended primarily for non-humans. For example these may add additional benefit or encouragement to certain organisms to be and become, that in turn will further aid forest recovery.

Art Intelligence interpreters (Aii) = Elements that create additional layers of engagement with the Ais, and their hosting forest, intended predominantly for human audiences (art and otherwise). Interpreters may be accessed both locally and/or remotely – (e.g. they may involve on-site translations in light sound & vibration and forms of online observation). Aii interpreters may also draw data from the existing on-site scientific observatory instruments (eg. scientific standards such as laser scanners, ‘acoustic observatory’ stations, veg-change cameras & carbon sequestration soil/air probes), and may also employ an analog material palette of ‘lively materials’ capable of detecting & registering changes above & below the soil in colour, light, movement & growth (including absorbent flexing woods and metals, reflective materials, sensitive litmus papers, continually circulated water & seed banks) as well as networked analog sensor systems accessible remotely.

Hence whereas the entire site is an experimental artwork – these added elements Ai’s + Aia’s further activate the site with Aii’s then encouraging further human observation and engagement.

A future Ai, awaiting move to the site, 7/10/24 (Image Keith Armstrong)

Mark Rifkin, a literary scholar, develops the concepts of settler common sense in ways that are resonant with anthropologist Laura and Stoller’s concept of colonial common sense. .. their ‘common sense’ is a normative, embodied multi-sensory effectively and politically charged way of knowing. As a kind of common sense, it sediments and habituates the difference between good and bad and right and wrong in settler worlds. It is .. highly attuned to colonial values and norms, attentions, sensibilities, aesthetics, desire. ..Its.. economies and forms of nostalgia dictate what is seeable, sayable, thinkable and knowable, and what cannot be seen, said, imagined or felt. It limits, for example, what we think, what we can experience, what we value and how we intervene in the world, especially how we engage land, forests and plants.

If settlers would make space, there are many other stories to be heard about these lands and their relations.

Natasha Myers – Becoming Sensor for a Planthroposcene (October 22, 2020).mp3

Introducing first 3 on-site Ais

1: Ai (1) – tetericornis
This 2tonne, enormous fallen limb from ancient Forest Blue Gum (E. tetericornis), in a far corner of the site, is scheduled removal for for H&S reasons. Hence we have decided to move it to the sloped bank site to form one of the initial site’s Art Intelligences Ai’s. This carefully placed fallen tree limb, will be set amongst the young, emergent trees already on site, to slowly become a home for insects, other creatures and seed spreading perching birds – supporting biodiversity in its own unique way – becoming in effect a low cost low rent housing for a myriad of future species. This addition of additional current and future carbon and nutrients to the emerging forest – a site currently missing the richness of a forest floor or any real form of shading – will also feed the regenerating ground, and encourage development of mycorrhizal networks – whilst also providing shelter, food, and habitat for a variety of creatures. In otherwords – it will be a gift to the ecosystem.”

Consistent with the idea of an Ai – it will thus become embedded within the forest site, compatible with, & allied with the profound, natural intelligences of the forest’s (meta-artwork) as it repairs and re-grows. As a hybrid, dramatic installation will ‘evolve with’ and ‘learn from’ the forest whilst directly benefitting its growth. Furthermore such a dramatic structure has the capacity to evoke awe and encourage public engagement with the forest’s processes of intelligent natural regrowth through its physical presence.

Proposed log to use as basis for Ai (Image Keith Armstrong)

2: Ais (2+3) – acacias
These fallen older acacias trees already lie within the site and are already both actively degrading and forming a protective site for emerging young trees. They will form the second and third Ais – being in essence on-site readymades.

Fallen myrtle in the corner of the site, Sept 2024, (Image Keith Armstrong)

Lichen on myrtle logs in the corner of the site, Sept 2024, (Image Keith Armstrong)

Fungi on the fallen myrtle logs in the corner of the site, Sept 2024, (Image Keith Armstrong)

Step 2: Initial Art intelligence accelerators = Creative elements added to the Art Intelligences to enhance and accelerate ecological processes

Aia’s (Art Intelligence accelerators) are creative elements, added to the first three Art Intelligences (ie the fallen limbs/trees), and are designed to enhance and accelerate ecological processes. More of these would initially be applied to the smooth, still mostly whole Bluegum limb. They may include aesthetic organic and inorganic additional elements; Organic elements, tbc may include:

initial temporary housing for native insects, borers, wasps and bees (e.g synthesised mud/hollow tubes/drillings)
soil-submerged tree ends to encourage early termite activity
young tree(s) transplanted from another area where in greater abundance
a formal series of furrows/holes in that vicinity that will in time catch leaf matter/seeds
selective weeding and grass care around trees to enhance their sound root growth

Insect gall on developing Eucalypt leaf, Sept 2024 (Image Keith Armstrong)

And then inorganic AIa (Art Intelligence accelerators) elements may include:

a gravity fed slow-drip water system to keep an area of ground/the log permanently damp – encouraging both growth of lichens and fungi and accelerating breakdown.
a perspex sided soil window to encourage root and fungi growth whilst providing observational capacity.
machinic versions of mammalian soil: digging/scratching/manuring/aerating) – realised by electronically controlled/solar powered ‘muscle wire’ bark scratchers/depositors – designed to agitate and slowly break down the surface of wood and soil over time.
formal, sculptural provision of attractants for local pollinating species (native honey/pollen sculptures).
seasonal, occasional low level lighting to attract night- time pollinators and other insects.

Paper wasp creates nest underneath one of the artwork site’s LiDAR position markers, Sept 2024 (Image Keith Armstrong)

Step 3:Initial Art intelligence Interpreters = Additional creative elements added to the Art Intelligences suited for the engagement/comprehension of human audiences – with both local and remote access capacities.

This may include a temporary analog material palette of ‘lively materials’ capable of detecting & registering changes above & below the soil in colour, light, movement & growth (including absorbent flexing woods and metals, reflective materials, and periodically installed sensitive litmus papers.

An Arduino powered, cellular ‘flux cycle’ recording station may also be used to track changing analog fluxes day by day and month by month .. with only their uncalibrated patterns, shapes and intensities providing an abstract online analogy of the Ai site, set alongside captured video imagery and sound highlights from the on site ‘Acoustic Observatory recorder’.

Other AV outcomes will be developed from existing on-site scientific observatory (eg. from LiDar/laser scans, ‘acoustic observatory’ stations, veg-change cameras & carbon sequestration soil/air probes).

Spider cocoon grows on installed instruments (Image Keith Armstrong)

Science Direction

Myrtaceae(/mərˈteɪsiˌaɪ, -siːˌiː/) Science/ Restoration/ WWW

October 4, 2024 keith Leave a comment

Myrtaceae(/mərˈteɪsiˌaɪ, -siːˌiː/) Science/The Site

“As they slowly come together as a renewed community, they will be an extraordinary and invaluable addition to our Australian heritage.”
Dr. David Tucker (10/8/24, EF grant reference letter)

SERF Myrtacea, Sept 2024 )(Image Keith Armstrong)

“Clearly Eucalypt species such as these are in effect ‘hiding in plain sight’ in the Australian public’s imagination, and I have long asked how we might encourage people to begin to better see what we risk losing. Clearly, we need other approaches beyond science to overcome our ‘plant blindness’, and this is why I support the Forest Art Intelligence project’s aim of bringing attention to the described natural intelligence of this Eucalypt woodland as it recovers over time”.
Dr. David Tucker (10/8/24, EF grant reference letter)

The purpose of this post is to attempt come to come to terms, maybe just a little more, with some of the artwork sites’ eucalypt species given the project is focused upon their flourishing. This will both enhance the shared language with the science team, and further my capacity to differentiate the ‘wood from the trees’ whilst on site 😉 This, based upon a realisation how little I comprehend in a systematic/science0-eyed sense when in the bush, despite the all consuming experience it always engenders. Is it therefore possible to absorb more?

The predominant trees at the two artwork sites are in the order Myrtaceae {the Myrtle family} – a large, cosmopolitan family of plants with over 5000 species worldwide, well represented in Australia contain ca. 12 families with over 70 genera and over 1500 species – can be found in a wide range of habitats and climatic zones – coastal heaths, temperate forests and woodlands, tropical rainforests – even arid and alpine zones.. (https://anpsa.org.au/genera/myrtle-family-myrtaceae/).

All myrtle species are woody, contain essential oils, and have flower parts in multiples of four or five. The leaves are evergreen, alternate to mostly opposite, simple, and usually entire (i.e., without a toothed margin). The flowers have a base number of five petals, though in several genera, the petals are minute or absent. The stamens are usually very conspicuous, brightly coloured, and numerous.

GENERA members of Myrtaceae (i.e. more than one GENUS) include Eucalypts: Eucalyptus, Corymbia, Angophora {together collectively known as the eucalypts}.

Many species fall within this genus, including

Eucalyptus
Angophora – (exclusive to E. Australia) – not so present at SERF – examples are Angophora leiocarpa (Rusty Apple)
Corymbia – (primarily N. Australia) – Prominent at SERF are Corymbia intermedia (Pink Bloodwood) and Corymbia tessellaris (Moreton Bay Ash)
Callistemon (Bottle brushes)
Eucalypts: Eucalyptus, Corymbia, Angophora
Leptospermum and relatives (Tea trees) (While many paperbarks are called tea trees, true tea trees are Leptospermum)
Melaleuca (Paperbarks and honey myrtles)
Syzygium (lily-pillies)

The eucalypts – within the plant family Myrtaceae – number among their relatives such well known Australian genera as Callistemon (bottlebrushes), Melaleuca (paperbarks), Leptospermum (tea trees) and Syncarpia (turpentine)

Grassland sunset (Image Keith Armstrong)

Some names in common usage are:

Apple – A name used by early European settlers due to a similarity in appearance of some plants to apple trees (eg. Angophora bakeri, Narrow-leaved apple)
Ash – Timber is similar to the European ash trees (eg. Eucalyptus regnans, Mountain ash)
Blackbutt – The lower part of the trunk has persistent bark which is usually black due to past fires (eg. Eucalyptus pilularis, Blackbutt)
Bloodwood – Timber often has pockets of a dark red gum known as kino (eg. Corymbia eximia, Yellow bloodwood)
Box – Bark is retained on the tree and is short fibred; plates of bark may shear off with age (eg. Eucalyptus melliodora (Yellow box)
Ironbark – Bark is retained on the tree and is hard and deeply furrowed (eg. Eucalyptus crebra, Narrow-leaved ironbark)
Mallee – Multi-stemmed trees, usually fairly small in height (eg. Eucalyptus albida, White-leaved mallee)
Peppermint – The oil in the leaves has a peppermint-like aroma (eg. Eucalyptus dives, Broad-leaved peppermint)
Ribbon Gum – Bark is deciduous and is shed in long strips which often hang from the branches (eg. Eucalyptus viminalis, Ribbon gum)
Scribbly Gum – Bark is deciduous and the smooth trunk is marked with “scribbles” caused by an insect larva (eg. Eucalyptus sclerophylla, Scribbly gum)
Stringybark – Bark is retained in long fibres which can be pulled off in “strings” (eg. Eucalyptus eugenioides, Thin-leaved stringybark)

We will encourage the transition process on this plot via selective slashing, mulching, weeding, and the introduction of fallen habitat trees & occasional selective planting under Marcus Yates management and with advice and input from Dr David Tucker, Marcus Yates, Dr. Gabrielle Lebbink and Dr. Eleanor Velasquez.

SITE 1: 7164 sq. m passively managed plot – grassed sloping bank, last slashed July 23. Likely similar to the other dominant veg at SERF – i.e. Myrtaceae woodland on Mesozoic to Proterozoic igneous rocks – specifically Eucalyptus tereticornis, Corymbia intermedia, E. crebra +/- Lophostemon suaveolens woodland on Mesozoic to Proterozoic igneous rocks . This vegetation is ‘of concern’ Regional Ecosystem classification RE 12.12.12: @ 2021 – only 21.5% of this type remains as it is extensively cleared for pasture.

Re-growth on Site 1, 2024, (Image Keith Armstrong)

Emergent species:
Eucalyptus crebra: Narrow-leaved red ironbark
(Eucalyptus tereticornis, (blue gum /forest red gum/red irongum),
Corymbia intermedia (pink bloodwood),
Corymbia tesselaris (Moreton Bay ash))

Canopy species:
Lophostemon sauveolens (Swamp Box, Swamp Turpentine)

Pink Bloodwood :Corymbia intermedia http://www.npqtownsville.org.au/
native-plants-of-the-townsville-region/
corymbia-intermedia/

Reference Trees at Barracks (in process learning!)

Reference tree positions @ Barracks (Image Keith Armstrong)

Other canopy/relevant local species we had initially planned to plant
Melaleuca quinquenervia (broad-leaved paperbark, paper bark tea tree),
Melaleuca salicina (willow bottlebrush),
Guoia semiglauca (guioa or wild quince)
with the expectation that many subcanopy and shrub species will passively regenerate through the dispersal of seeds from birds, water, wind etc. following canopy closure and site capture

SITE2: 7035.658 sq. m ‘wetland’, holding area – grassed seasonal wet gulley area – was burnt in August 2023 – likely an ecotone associated with wet gullies RE12.3.6, which reflects the forest type further along the drainage line – Melaleuca quinquenervia +/- Eucalyptus tereticornis, Lophostemon suaveolens, Corymbia intermedia open forest on coastal alluvial plains

weedy grass in foreground and mountain behind — Predominant weedy grass species in SERF active regeneration area gulley, Summer 2024 (Image Keith Armstrong)

EUCLID /Identification Processes:

from https://apps.lucidcentral.org/euclid/text/intro/learn.htm#Identifying

To the uninitiated, most eucalypt species tend to look similar, and while taxa in some groups are indeed difficult to distinguish, in general there are good features and clear characteristics to use in identification. Eucalypt leaf morphology provides a range of diagnostic features (as well as injects a level of confusion in the change from seedling to juvenile to sapling to adult leaves that takes place in the majority of species). Eucalypt fruits (gumnuts) also show great diversity in form and size. Identification in EUCLID for eastern Australian species usually fall back on the less conspicuous and accessible but highly diagnostic characters, often ones that may be less relevant in other plant groups.

In working with eucalypts in the field it is important to recognise whether the trees are cultivated, or occur naturally. If cultivated, they could be from anywhere in Australia. To aid identification take into account other aspects of the specimen, viz. the height of the plant, the number of stems or trunks, the colour of the crown, the overall appearance of the crown to determine if it is composed of juvenile or adult leaves, general size of the leaves (very small, e.g. E. parvula or E. kruseana, or very large, e.g. E. globulus) and the type of bark, basically, whether rough or smooth, and extent of coverage by the rough bark of the smaller branchlets. There is often considerable variation in some characters between trees of the same species in one population, especially in size of parts, such as length and width of leaves, length of petioles, bud sizes, lengths of peduncles and pedicels, and fruit dimensions and position of the disc relative to the rim of the fruit.

The ‘internal’ features of the eucalypt plant, such as the number of opercula in the bud, arrangement of stamens, number of ovule rows and seed shape, are usually more reliable for identification than the ‘external’ features. They are relatively protected from the elements and from various forms of predation. They are the parts that require handling and close inspection or even dissection, as opposed to macro observation.

Calistemon in Flower, SERF, 26/9/24 (Image Keith Armstrong)

Specimens for study may be obtained.. For most trees, a weighted length of rope can be thrown over a low branch which can then be broken off with a sharp tug and pulled to the ground for close inspection of the parts. Alternatively, for trees of moderate height, pole pruners can be used less destructively than the weighted rope. For tall trees it is a curious fact that the flowers and fruits are small and scarcely visible to the unaided eye, e.g. E. regnans. Then the canopy needs to be inspected with binoculars and a useful branch selected. If it is above rope-throwing height, the branch may be reached with the use of a shanghai by shooting a lead weight attached to a fine, light line over the branch and then attaching a thicker, stronger rope to one end of this line and then pulling this line up over the branch. Often the smallest trees or mallees have the largest buds and fruits, e.g. E. pyriformis. These plants are the easiest to sample, examine and assess.

The whole process of identification begins in the field with broad external assessment and ends with microscopic examination. In summary it might be said that the number of opercula on the developing flower bud is of absolute reliability, staminal inflexion, ovule row numbers and seed shape are of high reliability, bud numbers, flower colour and bark type of medium reliability, leaf colour of low reliability, bark colour of very low reliability. External features are very susceptible to seasonal and intra-population variability.

This is the level of detail to expect to shift through scientifically:!

Corymbia intermedia

(Pink Bloodwood) – Myrtaceae: Tree to 35 m tall. Forming a lignotuber. (ie embedded vegetative buds that allow regeneration following crown destruction – forming new stems/trunks (which can become massive) after fire possessing

Bark rough and tessellated to the small branches, often thick and furrowed, grey or brown
Juvenile (coppice or field seedlings to 50 cm): stem rounded in cross-section, scabrid at first, becoming smooth; juvenile leaves always petiolate, peltate for ca 10 nodes, opposite for 3 to 7 nodes then sub-opposite to alternate, lanceolate, 8–16 cm long, 2–4.2 cm wide, base of lower leaves peltate, eventually tapering to petiole, discolorous, green, scabrid at first particularly on petiole and midrib, eventually smooth.Adult leaves alternate, petiole (0.8)1.2–2.5 cm long; blade lanceolate, 8–15 cm long, 1.3–4 cm wide, base tapering to petiole, discolorous, glossy or dull, green, strongly penniveined, densely to very densely reticulate, intramarginal vein parallel to and just within margin, oil glands island or absent.
Inflorescence terminal compound, peduncles 1–2 cm long; buds 7 per umbel, pedicels 0.2–1.5 cm long. Mature buds pyriform to obovoid, 0.7–1 cm long, 0.4–0.6 cm wide, green to yellow or creamy, smooth, without ridges, scar absent (both opercula shed together at flowering), operculum conical to rounded to beaked, stamens inflexed, anthers cuboid or cuneate, versatile, dorsifixed, dehiscing by longitudinal slits (non-confluent), style long, stigma tapered or mop-like, locules 3 or 4, the placentae with ovules not arranged in distinct vertical rows. Flowers white.
Fruit pedicellate (pedicels 0.2–1.5 cm long), ovoid to barrel-shaped, the neck short, 1–2 cm long, 0.8–1.6 cm wide, appearing speckled, disc descending, valves 3 or 4, enclosed.
Seeds brown or reddish brown, (4)6.5–9(11) mm long, ellipsoidal with terminal wing, surface smooth, hilumclose to one edge, ventral.

Introduction to FOREST RESTORATION APPROACHES

Ecologist Susan Simmard (famous for defining the wood wide web) reminds how plants in effect suck up sunlight – photosynthesising via leaves (and sometime stems) – shuttling energy down into roots – and how they share carbon with other trees (e.g. interdependence). Tree roots and soil are the foundation of the forest – . The mycelium from the mychorizza – infects and colonises roots – and trade carbon for nutrients, forming nodes and links/fungal highways – mother or hub trees nature the young – sending carbon to their seedlings in the understory. Forests Simmard reminds us aren’t just collections of trees but complex systems with hubs (hub trees) and networks .. that overlap and allow them to communicate and provide avenues for feedback and adaptation – that make the forest resilient. In the case of FAI – that network is in its infancy/simplified and needs nurture.

Eucalypts form symbioses with mycorrhizal fungi both in their native habitat and in plantations. For instance, one study of sporocarps under Eucalyptus globulus in both plantation and forest settings reported 44 putative ectomycorrhizal (ECM) species; 30 of which occurred in plantations (Lu et al. 1999)

Inter-plant communication through mycorrhizal networks mediates complex adaptive behaviour in plant communities.

Likewise re: sentience/sapience (Sentience: The ability to feel emotions, have a subjective experience, develop a personality, and form a morality.Sapience: The ability to act rationally, to learn, to understand) – Peter Wohlleben (The Secret Life of Trees) makes compelling cases for communication and cooperation among plant species.

Please note that this info on restoration below may not all apply to a subtropical climate.. (Thanks Dr. Gabrielle Lebbinck for this heads up)

Approaches to Restoration: Reestablishing native grassy swards in degraded grassy white box woodlands

( Prober et al. 2005). + (Ref 2)A critical stage in the restoration and persistence of native plant composition and diversity is seedling germination and establishment. The seedling stage is often exceptionally vulnerable and determines the distribution of many species. (Harper 1977). Consequently, conditions for seedling recruitment will influence the composition and diversity of restored plant communities (Grubb 1977; Hobbs and Huenneke 1992; Morgan 2001; Clarke and Davison 2004). Restoration of ecological conditions that promote germination and establishment of native seedlings is thus an important component of successful restoration of species composition and diversity.

FORBS
Temperate grassy eucalypt woodlands in the agricultural zones of south-eastern Australia naturally support a high diversity of herbaceous perennial forbs among the dominant grass tussocks (McIntyre et al. 1993; Prober and Thiele 1995; Clarke 2000). These ecosystems have become highly fragmented and degraded through nearly 200 years of clearing and agricultural use, and most woodland remnants now have a high abundance of exotic plants and reduced native plant diversity (Lunt 1991; Tremont and McIntyre 1994; Prober and Thiele 1995). Ecological restoration of understorey plant diversity is thus urgently needed to conserve and enhance what remains of these grassy ecosystems (Cole and Lunt 2005; Prober and Thiele 2005; Gibson-Roy et al. 2007), and to ensure the long- term survival of many woodland forb species.

However, restoration of native plant diversity in temperate grassy ecosystems is not straight forward(McDougall and Morgan 2005). Understorey degradation in these ecosystems has been associated with altered ecological processes, particularly enhanced soil nutrient regimes (McIntyre and Lavorel 1994; Prober et al. 2002a; Dorrough et al. 2006). These can favour the long-term persistence of exotics (Prober et al. 2002b, 2005) and modify conditions for establishment and survival of many native species. In particular, competition from exotics may reduce resources for seedling establishment by native species (Grime 1979; Wilson and Tilman 1993; Lenz and Facelli 2005) and suppress slower-growing native species (Alvarez and Cushman 2002; King and Buckney 2002; Prober et al. 2002b).

Oversupply of red natal weedy grass, SERF plot, Sept 2024 (Image Keith Armstrong)

Restoration techniques that have attempted to address these altered ecological processes include spring burning, seasonal grazing and carbon addition. Spring burning removes litter, above-ground biomass and the seed bank of exotic annual grasses (Kost and De Steven 2000; Clarke and Davison 2001; Prober et al. 2004, 2005), reducing the abundance of annual exotic grasses in the following seasons, but variously enhancing broadleaf exotics (Prober et al. 2005). Heavy grazing in spring has similarly been found to reduce the seed set and abundance of exotic annual grasses (Menke 1992; Garden et al. 2000). Carbon addition promotes carbon-limited soil microorganisms, which subsequently compete with plants for available soil nitrogen, dramatically inhibiting the growth of nitrophilic annual exotics and in some cases allowing slower-growing native species a window-of-opportunity to establish (Averett et al. 2004; Corbin and D’Antonio 2004; Prober et al. 2005). Spring burning and carbon addition have proven successful for establishing native grasses in Australia (Prober et al. 2005) and grasses and forbs in tall-grass prairies in the USA (Baer et al. 2003; Blumenthal et al. 2003; Averett et al. 2004), and have led to successful restoration of ecological processes associated with nitrogen cycling in temperate grassy eucalypt woodlands (Prober et al. 2005).

An important next step in restoring woodland understoreys is to enhance native plant diversity by re-establishing sustainable populations of native perennial forbs. However, there is little data on natural recruitment and population dynamics of native forbs to guide this process (Morgan 2001; Clarke and Davison 2004), and responses of native forbs to the above restoration techniques (especially carbon addition) are unknown.

———————- TAXONOMY ADDENDUM —————–

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxonomy_(bi

LIFE: Eukaryota – Organisms whose cells have a membrane-bound nucleus.

DOMAIN/CLADE: Diaphoretickes – The majority of the earth’s biomass that carries out photosynthesis belongs to Diaphoretickes – 400,000 members.

KINGDOM/PLANTAE – predominantly photosysnthesisers who obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with cyanobacteria to produce sugars from carbon dioxide and water, using the green pigment chlorophyll. (Exceptions are parasitic plants that have lost the genes for chlorophyll and photosynthesis, and obtain their energy from other plants or fungi. Most plants are muliticellular, except for some green algae. NB Plantae excludes fungi and some algae.)

PHYLUM/Traceophytes -Vascular plants (from Latin vasculum ‘duct’), also called tracheophytes (UK: /ˈtrækiːəˌfaɪts/,^[5]US: /ˈtreɪkiːəˌfaɪts/)^[6] or collectively tracheophyta. are plants that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They also have a specialized non-lignified tissue (the phloem) to conduct products of photosynthesis. The group includes most land plants (c. 300,000 accepted known species)^[10] other than mosses

CLASS/Angiosperms – Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, They include all forbs (flowering plants without a woody stem), grasses and grass-like plants, a vast majority of broad-leaved trees, shrubs and vines, and most aquatic plants.

ORDER/Eudicots – flowering plants (angiosperms) which are mainly characterized by having two seed leaves (cotyledons) upon germination.^[1]The term derives from dicotyledon (etymologically, eu = true; di = two; cotyledon = seed leaf).

FAMILY/Rosids – Today’s broadleaved forests are dominated by rosid species, which in turn help with diversification in many other living lineages. Additionally, rosid herbs and shrubs are a significant part of arctic/alpine and temperate floras. The clade also includes some aquatic, desert and parasitic plants

Malvids

The malvids consist of eight orders of flowering plants: Brassicales, Crossosomatales, Geraniales, Huerteales, Malvales, Myrtales, Picramniales and Sapindales.