PLANTS of EQUATORIAL EAST ASIA
Malaysia - Singapore - Brunei Darussalam - Indonesia - Philippines - Papua New Guinea
General symposium information: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.gov.au/fm/fm.html
General symposium enquiries: fmv@rbgsyd.gov.au
Conference and Symposium: Royal Botanic Gardens, SYDNEY, Australia
Associated workshops: Tropical Forest Research Centre, ATHERTON, North Queensland, Australia
Preconference tour: starting CAIRNS, North Queensland, Australia
A number of intending participants have expressed interest in field trips, both in association with the workshops and presymposium tours in North N Queensland. Sydney tours are being organized as part of the main symposium.
Plant collecting on the field trips and permits associated with this is an issue for a number of participants who see this as a major factor in attending. Participants are welcome to organize their own permits with relevant management authorities prior to their visit to Australia; advice is to start making these arrangements early; a guide to plant and animal collecting permit requirements in Australia is available. For those not wishing to obtain their own collecting permits, arrangements are being made to allow collection under the permits of tour leaders and other local botanists on the tours.
There will be a pre-conference excursion in Queensland, through vegetation of the tropical monsoon eucalypt forests to the wet tropical rainforests, from 5–8 Sept 2001, immediately following the Queensland workshops. This excursion will return to Cairns in time for delegates to reach Sydney on 9 September. There are 25 places on this excursion, which will be filled on a first-come-first-served basis. The cost will be AU$850 (GST included). Registration should be paid together with symposium registration. For information about the excursion contact John Clarkson directly: john.clarkson@dnr.qld.gov.au fax: +61-7-4092 3593.
This four-day excursion by four-wheel drive bus starts from Cairns on Wednesday 5 September. Day 1 begins above the World Heritage-listed rainforests of the wet tropics as you are carried 7.5 km from Cairns to Kuranda aboard Skyrail, a canopy cableway. The trip then proceeds to Cooktown via the inland highway where the stark contrast between the eucalypt-dominated communities of the monsoon tropics and the rainforests of the wet tropical coast will be evident. The evening will be spent in Cooktown in a motel overlooking the Endeavour River.
Aboriginal involvement with the flora will feature strongly in day two. Firstly, a visit to Elim Beach to examine the plant communities developed on an extensive Quaternary dune field, then finishing the day on the sandstone escarpments at Laura. At both sites Aboriginal traditional owners will accompany the tour. The route for the day passes through eucalypt and Melaleuca woodlands of Lakefield National Park.
Day three will be back in the rainforests of the wet tropical coast, returning to Cairns via the Cape Tribulation area and the Daintree River with an opportunity to view some of the relictual angiosperms that characterise this flora.
The final day will be spent on the Atherton Tablelands where the theme of the day will be the link between soil, climate and forest type. You will have the opportunity to visit the sites of important palaeobotanical studies which have done much to illustrate the changes which have occurred in forest types in this area over the past several thousand years.
The price includes shared accommodation and all meals from pickup on the Wednesday morning to the morning of Sunday 9 September except for dinner on 8 September. Overseas visitors should note that Cairns is an international airport. If they wish to visit the Great Barrier Reef, they should arrive at least a day early.