Alec Downey is in the black shirt and Prof. Mike Dixon is in the blue shirt.

Dr Rhiannon Smith, ERS, Alec Downey, Head of Plant Science Applications, ICT International and Professor Mike Dixon from the University of Guelph, Canada (pictured) were in Sydney last week to install sap flow meters and a psychrometer in a large Morton Bay fig tree at Government House. The idea for the project came about after the NSW Governor David Hurley and Mrs Hurley, visited the UNE SMART Farm in 2016 where they viewed Rhiannon’s presentation on measuring water relations of trees using sap flow meters.

Rhiannon demonstrating her work on the SMART Farm to Governor Hurley in 2016.

Mrs Hurley was intrigued by the variation in the amount of water used by different tree species and wanted to know how much water is required to sustain the large, 150–175 year old heritage-listed Morton Bay fig trees at Government House. Royal Botanic Gardens staff were also keen to source information from this project to ensure the health of the trees into the future.

ICT International, and its CEO Susan Cull, are closely linked with the UNE SMART Farm and are contributing in-kind expertise and instrumentation for this exploratory stage of the project. Prof. Dixon and his team are involved in the development and testing of the sensors.