Wild Macadamia Conservation
Bush Nuts can be difficult to find scattered along rugged forested slopes, so this project will train machine learning to search satellite imagery for likely habitat. Once a range of remote locations have been identified, cameras will be installed to monitor the insects that visit the trees at the different sites.
Like many large, fatty seeds, macadamia nuts are not easy to be store longer than a few years and still grow into a tree. This project looks at alternative ways of storing macadamia genetic material so that macadamias can be added to the world’s seed banks.
Trees are part of a complex web of life and yet we know very little about what goes on in and around the roots of macadamia trees. This project investigates the fungi that lives in the soil around Bush Nuts, not just in the soil, but in symbiosis with the roots themselves.
New techniques that combine drying and cooling are being explored to see if macadamia seeds can be stored after all.
Three Macadamia species are now listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Macadamia integrifolia, native to south-east QLD, is listed as “vulnerable” while M. ternifolia, native to QLD, and M. tetraphylla, from northern NSW, are in the more threatened category of “endangered”. Global interest in the story has been sparked by a feature …
Cultivated macadamia trees have significantly less genetic diversity than wild trees. This means wild trees may have a greater capacity to respond to changing conditions, new diseases, human needs, and climatic change. Learning more about the genetic composition of wild macadamias gives us the chance to conserve and protect this important native species. There might …
Macadamias naturally occur in the subtropical rainforests of eastern Australia. These rainforests are predicted to undergo significant change in coming decades as a result of climate variation, particularly shifting temperature and rainfall patterns. The impact this will have on wild populations of macadamia is being studied by the Trust. Three years ago, former Macadamia Conservation …
Global interest in the wild relatives of commercial crops received a boost this week with the news that a majority of macadamia orchards throughout the world are derived from just a few wild trees. In a paper published in Frontiers in Plant Science (21 March 2019), a team led by Cathy Nock at Southern Cross …
MCT is proud to announce that on the 11 September 2018, Keith Sarnadsky discovered a new population of Macadamia jansenii. Thanks to FAME, MCT was able to commission Keith to search for new populations. He set about the task with characteristic thoroughness, combining his knowledge of the preferred habitat of M. jansenii and the vegetation in Bulburin National Park with detailed mapping available from Queensland Globe.
The MCT is proud to announce a partnership with the Foundation for Australia’s Most Endangered Species (FAME) to “Secure the future of Australia’s most endangered macadamia species, Macadamia jansenii”. The grant will help fund a survey to check the health of the tiny wild population, expeditions to search for new populations, reintroduction plantings to expand …
MCT received the Outstanding Contribution Award and Ian McConachie received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 8th International Macadamia Symposium in Yunnan, China Ian McConachie presented a talk on wild macadamia conservation highlighting the value of wild macadamia genetics to the industry, the number of wild trees that have already been lost and the shared …
The Macadamia Processing Company, Pacific Gold Macadamias, and Macadamia Marketing International jointly donated $10,000 to MCT For the fourth year in a row, The Macadamia Processing Company, Pacific Gold Macadamias, and Macadamia Marketing International have jointly donated $10,000 to the Macadamia Conservation Trust. Such a generous donation shows their understanding of the intrinsic value of …
