Environmental Science

 Fraser Island

Many years ago when the world was young, my father would take myself and some of his honours students on water sampling expeditions to Fraser Island. We would hike into the forest and find lakes, where we would test the water and go for a swim.

We did lots of four wheel driving and we would stop at the beach, sample the ground water, and do some beach fishing.


Leptospermums


Leptospermum is the genus of flowering plants that bees collect nectar from to produce bioactive manuka honey. There is a bit of a legal contest over whether the honey has to specifically come from the manuka plant in New Zealand.

Manuka honey contains an active compound called Methylglyoxal, that has good antibacterial properties. Manuka honey has seen great success in wound care and is a value-added brand of honey.

Micropipeting


A micropipetter is a tool for sucking up a small amount of liquid and depositing it in a separate container. With nectar sampling you use a micropipetter to inject a single drop of water into the small flowers of the Leptospermum, then suck it back up with the nectar and deposit it into a sample container. I takes about ten flowers from one tree to produce enough of a sample to study.

I have been on a few Leptospermum sampling expeditions and done some pipetting in the lab.

All for now, Boston. 


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