The Hans Merensky Chair in Advanced Modelling of Eucalypt Wood Formation, or EucXylo (from EUCalypt XYLOgenesis), is funded by the Hans Merensky Foundation.  The Chair, which kicked off in January 2019  is held by Prof David M. Drew, based at the Department of Forest and Wood Science within the Faculty of Agrisciences. In 2022, in addition to technical and support staff, the team consisted of four postdoctoral fellows and ten postgraduate students.

Research in the EucXylo program explores in detail all aspects of growth, but particularly the dynamics of wood formation (xylogenesis), in the ecologically and commercially important group of genera known as the eucalypts (particularly Eucalyptus, Corymbia and Angophora). The research has two key parts. First, cutting edge, detailed experimental and observational science, looking at plant growth, wood formation processes and anatomy and ecophysiology. Second, the development of mathematical, computational models of tree growth and xylem production.

The vision is for research within EucXylo to take a systems approach to understand growth and xylogenesis, linked closely to the extraordinary power of bioinformatics. The pieces of the wood formation puzzle is put together, harnessing modern computational and systems-level analyses where possible to formulate and answer various relevant questions which emerge as our research progresses. It is hoped that this integrative approach will close the loop between the relevant scales which are all inextricably linked: from the level of the forest or the organism down to the level of the developing cell.

As the interactions between the components of the “eucalypt wood formation system” are studied, it will explore how these interactions drive function, structure and behaviour in differentiating and structural xylem and in the eucalypt tree as a whole. To this end, the students and researchers are harnessing cutting edge, high precision ecophysiological and fine-scale growth measurement approaches, combined with intensive sampling and analysis. The goal is to constantly incorporate and interpret our findings through ever-evolving models of tree growth and wood formation. And, it is believed, with better models comes a better capacity to predict how trees will grow and respond to shifting environmental conditions in a world grappling with climate change and the need for sustainable, responsibly sourced resources.

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