Help Brendan save Australia's orchids
Hi, my name is Brendan and I'd like your help to save Australia's orchids!
For those of you who don't know me, I have spent the last three years working on the conservation of Australia's endangered orchids through my PhD. I believe orchids are an important part of any ecosystem as they have close relationships to soil fungi used by many other plants and can be great indicators for ecosystem health. Unfortunately, they are often overlooked due their small size, long dormancy periods and a perception of unimportance to ecosystems.
Australia has a large diversity of orchids, many of which can be found no where else in the word! Due to many threats, including habitat fragmentation, urbanisation, illegal collection, climate change and weed invasion, they are one of the most threatened plant families globally. Many of Australia's threatened orchid species have just one or two small populations left and wont be able to survive without conservation intervention. Propagating plants in a lab environment to re-introduce into the wild is one of best ways we can increase declining population numbers. At present, there are few people with the knowledge and facilities who are able to do this.
I want to continue my involvement in the conservation of these very unique plants and we need as many people as possible working together to improve our efforts. However, propagating these plants to re-introduce into the wild is no easy task and requires specialised equipment to maintain a sterile environment. This is where I ask for YOUR help to get the ball rolling so I can play a larger part in their conservation.
Unfortunately, the costs required to set myself up with the equipment needed is out reach for me. These funds will help cover the costs of a Laminar Flow cabinet, which is essential for sterile propagation, as well as some basic equipment and consumables needed for media preparation. Reaching this goal would mean the world to me as this is something I am very passionate about and I greatly appreciate any help you can provide.
I have worked for RMIT as a tutor since 2017 and worked for Whittlesea council for a short time on their conservation team. I’m hoping to start working for myself as an ecologist specialising in orchid work and this will be a great step towards that goal.
If you want any more information about myself and what I do, here are some links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendan-janissen
https://www.publish.csiro.au/bt/fulltext/bt20102?subscribe=false
I’m hoping to have another publication out shortly that demonstrates my work on improving germination in orchids
