Ms. Liz Dunlop

Australia's eastern coastline offers the perfect breeding ground for the invasive weed Senna obtusifolia, which poses a significant threat to the nation's environment, Queensland University of Technology researcher Liz Dunlop said.

Ms Dunlop, from QUT's Faculty of Science, said Senna obtusifolia, more commonly known as sicklepod, had the potential to severely impact the ecological integrity of Australia's vast natural areas.

"Sicklepod is an aggressive, invasive plant species recently introduced into Australia that is having significant impacts on grassland ecosystems on the Cape York Peninsula," Ms Dunlop said.
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With the invasion potential of sicklepod in Australia being largely unknown, Ms Dunlop's research focused on predicting the likely extent of future outbreaks of the weed by extensively mapping and modeling current and future areas of infestation.

She said understanding the invasion dynamics of sicklepod would provide the best clues for its long-term management.

"What I found was that sicklepod does have a large invasive potential in Australia, and its future spread could encompass almost the entire eastern and northern Australian coastlines," she said.

"It's a tropical weed that thrives in a wet hot climate, but it also has the potential to inhabit much cooler and drier regions of Australia.

"It grows thick and widely in grasslands and produces massive amounts of seeds which can be dispersed by water.It also often grows alongside roads where seeds can be picked up by cars and spread inadvertently across vast areas."

Ms Dunlop said a lack of moisture and dry stress were the main barriers preventing the weed's spread further inland.

"On a localised scale sicklepod populations appear largely unaffected by neighbouring vegetation, however, it is far more invasive in less competitive, open and disturbed environments.

"We also found that fire plays a very important role in influencing the invasion dynamics of sicklepod populations.It most likely increases the weed's intensity to grow and spread, however there is also evidence that it can have a negative effect on the viability of a sicklepod's seed."

Ms Dunlop said despite the weed being a declared species in Australia, it was essential for land managers and the community to ensure sicklepod plants were kept under control.

"One of the most important things people can do is remove the weed as soon as they see it on their property," she said.
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**Photos of sicklepod and Liz Dunlop are available for media use**

QUT researcher Liz Dunlop.

Researcher Liz Dunlop, of the Queensland University of Technology in Australia, led the work, which was carried out in close collaboration with Cousine Island management.

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Australia's eastern coastline offers the perfect breeding ground for the invasive weed Senna obtusifolia, which poses a significant threat to the nation's environment, Queensland University of Technology researcher Liz Dunlop said.

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Australia's eastern coastline offers the perfect breeding ground for the invasive weed Senna obtusifolia, which poses a significant threat to the nation's environment, Queensland University of Technology researcher Liz Dunlop said.