The National Arboretum Canberra research site provides researchers with a unique environment to investigate climate variability, climate change, water use and precision measurement of trees and forests.

Biology

The National Arboretum Phenomic Environmental Sensor Array (PESA) at the National Arboretum in Canberra, ACT is a 'NextGen' monitoring  system enabling researchers to understand how extreme weather and climate variability affect tree growth in experimental plots as they mature from individual trees to mature forest ecosystems.

It will allow us to predict drought effects on growth and development for different eucalyptus species and genotypes which has important implications for regenerating forest ecosystems under climate change nationally and globally.

Initial placement of the PESA will be at the ANU Research Forest of the National Arboretum of Canberra, but the  Array design has flexible components to allow sub-sets to be relocated to other sites for comparative analyses and integration over wider geographic scales.

The National Arboretum Phenomic Sensory Array project is conducted by the Borevitz Lab at the Reseach School of Biology. For more information visit the Borevitz Lab website.

Environmental science

The National Arboretum Canberra research site will also help us understand:

• How will eucalypt forests respond to climate change
• How much carbon do eucalypt forests sequester out of the atmosphere
• Whether or not eucalypt trees change their shape or the properties of their wood under different climate extremes

For more information visit the Climate Change and Forests project page on the Fenner School of Environment and Society website.