Latest news with #BrettSummerell
ABC News
08-07-2025
- ABC News
How Lily took her perpetrator to court and won + mushroom foraging fallout
Lily Steele-Park took legal action after she was was raped in her first year of uni by a man known to her friends. Her rapist was then found guilty and sentenced to 6 years in jail. But Lily's experience is an outlier. In NSW, only 7% of reported rapes and sexual assaults result in a conviction. In this episode, Lily shares her story and what it's like to speak out. Plus as the mushroom trial wraps up, we ask a mycologist if foraging for mushrooms is ever safe? Listen now: 01:29 - Victim-survivors on the cracks in the system 07:10 - Lily's story 24:34 - Mushroom foragers warnings Guest: Lily Steele-Park, victim-survivor Lily Steele-Park, victim-survivor Brett Summerell, chief scientist, Royal Botanic Garden Sydney Get the whole story from Hack:
The Guardian
08-07-2025
- Science
- The Guardian
Invasive shot-hole borer from WA could wreak havoc on Sydney's heritage trees
The chief scientist of the Botanic Gardens of Sydney is warning of an imminent and deadly risk to the city's trees posed by an invasive beetle that has led to the removal of thousands of trees in Perth. The tiny polyphagous shot-hole borer, which is native to south-east Asia, is a 'fungus farmer' that burrows into trees and can spread a fungus that kills the host tree. The larvae of the beetle feed on the fungus, which then colonises the tree's water and nutrient conducting vessels and blocks them, causing stress and dieback that can eventually lead to the tree's death. The beetle was first detected in a tree in Perth in 2021 and a year later had spread to more than 200 locations across the West Australian capital. About 4,000 trees, including Moreton Bay and Port Jackson figs – which are not native to WA – have been cut down during attempts to eradicate the beetle. The beetle can't establish the fungus in all tree species, and it is not known how many types of trees in Australia – native and introduced – could become targets. Overseas, more than 400 host species have been recorded. The West Australian government has its own list of species found to be susceptible. The WA government announced last month that a national management group made up of state, territory and federal representatives had determined it was no longer feasible to try to eradicate the invasive pest and control strategies would shift to managing it. Brett Summerell, the chief scientist at Sydney's botanic garden, said they had been preparing for the beetle to make its way to eastern Australia, where it could have a huge impact in places such as formal gardens. 'We've been concerned for the past couple of years, but that concern is now heightened because the potential for it to be accidentally brought into the Sydney region is quite significant,' he said. Summerell said with the focus shifting from eradication to management in WA, it was 'inevitable' that the beetle would spread further in Perth, and there would be increased opportunities for it to expand – likely via the transportation of infested wood such as firewood. 'I just see the opportunities for people to pick up infested wood and travel east, even all the way to the Sydney region. That risk is going to be heightened because we're moving from eradication to management.' He said because it was not known how many tree species were susceptible, 'it's just a big experiment about to happen'. In Sydney there are large populations of known hosts such as plane and fig trees meaning there was the potential for large numbers to be severely affected, Summerell said. Shot-hole borers could impact the heritage values and appearance of popular parks and gardens – and the amenity trees provide through natural urban cooling. Carol Booth, the policy director at the Invasive Species Council, said it was critical that governments fund research to investigate more control options, including collaboration with overseas researchers. 'One of the highest priorities should be to contain it for as long as possible to give us the time to develop more effective control methods,' she said. The council wants to see more work to investigate the potential impacts of the shot-hole borer in Australia and which native species might be susceptible. 'The big unknown is what is going to be the environmental impact,' she said. 'What the impact is going to be overall in forests. It's really uncertain.' Signs of polyphagous shot-hole borer infestation included tiny entry and exit holes – about the size of the tip of a ballpoint pen – in a tree's bark and wilting and dieback of branches, often starting in the upper canopy. Summerell said monitoring for the presence of the beetle was critical, as was educating the public to identify the signs of a potential infestation, which could start in a backyard tree. 'The more sets of eyes we have looking for potential problems, the more likely we are to find it early,' he said. 'If there are little holes and dots in the trees where it's obvious a borer has been … they should report that.'
Sydney Morning Herald
08-07-2025
- Science
- Sydney Morning Herald
Lovely trees at risk to deadly borer the west could not stop
The term existential threat sits oddly with Sydney's Moreton Bay and Port Jackson figs and the many other species of trees that give life, shade, tranquillity and beauty to our city, suburbs and state, but that is precisely the catastrophe posed by an exotic tunnelling beetle. The shot-hole borer, an eat-everything form of ambrosia beetle from South-East Asia, is highly invasive and attacks and infects more than 500 plant species around the world. The borer burrows into a healthy tree trunk and creates a maze of tunnels into which it deposits fungal spores that grow to form the beetle's food source. Left unchecked, the fungus clogs up the tree's vascular system, progressively killing the plant. The insect has invaded California, Israel and South and now has a foothold in Australia. In 2021, the borer's discovery in box elder maple trees in a Perth backyard triggered Western Australia's largest and most complex biosecurity response, with 2.6 million trees inspected and 4500 cut down. But the west failed to eradicate the beetle and now, as a consequence, the eastern states must steel themselves for invasion. The borer has tiny wings that allow it to fly short distances, but it can hitch a ride on garden waste, firewood or chipped mulch – it is not difficult to image campers crossing the Nullarbor and heading to Sydney with a load of infected firewood. In addition, the female beetle has a deadly advantage – she can produce offspring without a mate and start a whole new colony on her own. Loading Plant pathologist and chief scientist of the Botanic Gardens of Sydney, Professor Brett Summerell, has sounded the alarm over the urgent biosecurity threat the beetle poses to Sydney's trees and the native species in the warm coastal forests of the NSW. 'I was just starting to do the numbers, and thinking about how much impact this could have if it got here was just absolutely devastating,' he said. 'We have a lot of heritage figs in the botanic gardens, Centennial Park, Hyde Park, pretty much in every major park and garden within Sydney is heavily populated with fig trees, which seem to be extremely susceptible to the beetle.' As are plane trees, box elder maples, ash, elms and oak and fruit trees, including mango, macadamia, avocado and apple. Since European settlement, Australia has been a home away from home for invasive animal and plant species. The newcomers brought cats, pigs, goats, foxes, cattle, buffalo, camels, cane toads and, most notoriously, rabbits, blackberries, lantana and prickly pear. Red fire ants, native to South America and potential killers, were discovered in northern NSW in January 2024 in turf brought in from Queensland.
The Age
08-07-2025
- Science
- The Age
‘It's absolutely devastating': Urgent biosecurity warning for Sydney's street trees
Sydney's majestic Moreton Bay and Port Jackson figs could be decimated along with up to 4000 plane trees casting shade and greenery along the city's streets if an invasive tunnelling beetle hitches a ride across the Nullarbor from its stronghold in Perth. Last month, the Western Australian government admitted it had lost a multimillion-dollar fight to eradicate the polyphagous shot-hole borer, a tiny beetle originally from South-East Asia that has devastated 4500 trees in Perth, including 20 towering much-loved figs that were chainsawed and mulched. Now plant pathologist and chief scientist of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Professor Brett Summerell, has sounded the alarm over the urgent biosecurity threat the beetle poses to Sydney. 'I was just starting to do the numbers, and thinking about how much impact this could have if it got here was just absolutely devastating,' he said. 'We have a lot of heritage figs in the botanic gardens, Centennial Park, Hyde Park, pretty much in every major park and garden within Sydney is heavily populated with fig trees, which seem to be extremely susceptible to the beetle.' Summerell's warning comes after senior botanist at Curtin University Professor Kingsley Dixon said no plant material from WA should be allowed into eastern Australia, fearing more trees would be 'king-hit'. Many of the CBD's trees are plane trees which are also at risk of attack. Losing the trees would cause a massive loss of amenity and turbocharge urban heating; street trees slash summer temperatures in cities by as much as 12 degrees. Figs, plane trees and box elder maples are all known targets alongside crops such as mango, macadamia, avocado and apple trees. Trees grown for timber, including ash, elms and oak, are also vulnerable.
Sydney Morning Herald
08-07-2025
- Science
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘It's absolutely devastating': Urgent biosecurity warning for Sydney's street trees
Sydney's majestic Moreton Bay and Port Jackson figs could be decimated along with up to 4000 plane trees casting shade and greenery along the city's streets if an invasive tunnelling beetle hitches a ride across the Nullarbor from its stronghold in Perth. Last month, the Western Australian government admitted it had lost a multimillion-dollar fight to eradicate the polyphagous shot-hole borer, a tiny beetle originally from South-East Asia that has devastated 4500 trees in Perth, including 20 towering much-loved figs that were chainsawed and mulched. Now plant pathologist and chief scientist of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Professor Brett Summerell, has sounded the alarm over the urgent biosecurity threat the beetle poses to Sydney. 'I was just starting to do the numbers, and thinking about how much impact this could have if it got here was just absolutely devastating,' he said. 'We have a lot of heritage figs in the botanic gardens, Centennial Park, Hyde Park, pretty much in every major park and garden within Sydney is heavily populated with fig trees, which seem to be extremely susceptible to the beetle.' Summerell's warning comes after senior botanist at Curtin University Professor Kingsley Dixon said no plant material from WA should be allowed into eastern Australia, fearing more trees would be 'king-hit'. Many of the CBD's trees are plane trees which are also at risk of attack. Losing the trees would cause a massive loss of amenity and turbocharge urban heating; street trees slash summer temperatures in cities by as much as 12 degrees. Figs, plane trees and box elder maples are all known targets alongside crops such as mango, macadamia, avocado and apple trees. Trees grown for timber, including ash, elms and oak, are also vulnerable.
