Guest Speaker: Dr Shane Turner – Exposing the seedy secrets of WA native plants

Dr Shane Turner is a Senior Research Fellow (Seed Biology and Ecology) with Curtin University currently working on the Native Seed Technology and Innovation Hub for Western Australia. This is a new program and is supported by Lotterywest and Curtin University with partners from a range of different organisations that work with seeds.

Prior to starting with Curtin University in 2020, Dr Turner worked with Kings Park and UWA for several decades on many different projects and species. Dr Turner has produced over 100-refereed scientific papers and book chapters working across a range of disciplines including seed biology and ecology, threatened flora conservation, minesite restoration and tissue culture and cryogenics.

Shane will provide an overview of the importance of seeds, their diversity and the tricks that they use and possess which helps them survive in our harsh Western Australian environment and which also makes them interesting and fun to work with.

Photo: a – longitudinally dissected indehiscent endocarp of Persoonia longifolia showing the structure and location of the embryo within the woody endocarp. The thin papery testa surrounding the embryo has been carefully removed to reveal the two embryonic leaves (cotyledons) beneath; b – closeup example of the external and internal structure of an indehiscent fruit of Triodia basedowii showing the external structure, the seed positioned within the fruit and an extracted seed (Images David Symons).