Professor Bill Foley Phone: +61 2 6125 2866 Fax: + 61 2 6125 5573 William.Foley@anu.edu.au Visit Bill's Lab Website

Main Research Interest
Nutritional ecology of herbivores - particularly effects of toxic and poisonous plants

Research Interests
Our interests in plant animal interactions span a wide scale from molecular genetics and physiological studies through to the use of airborne remote sensing as a way of measuring the quality of forests. Current work can be divided into several themes

The plant's perspective
Population and molecular genetics studies of plant defence . We have recently started to use molecular techniques to understand the heritability of plant defences in natural populations of Eucalyptus. We are also attempting to identify genes associated wit the synthesis of major groups of plant defence compounds in Eucalyptus in collaboration with colleagues at CSIRO and Max Planck Institute of Chemical Ecology in Germany

Chemistry of natural plant toxins and antifeedant compounds. This focuses on fundamental work on plant chemistry of Eucalyptus and Erythrophleum and we have isolated and identified a number of new compounds from Eucalyptus that are potent anti-feedant molecules. This work is done in collaboration with colleagues at Shizuoka and Kyoto Pharmaceutical Universities in Japan and with Southern Cross University.

Animal perspective
Interspecific variation in feeding: Why do animals often eat leaves from one tree yet ignore others the same species growing adjacent? Detailed studies of the preferences of animals for individual trees show that there is cross-resistance amongst different marsupials as well as insects.

How do animals learn about poisonous plants? We are trying to integrate the physiological and behavioural cues that wild mammals use to tell them that are feeding on potentially toxic foods. These studies involve identifying the specific neurological and physiological pathways that are used to regulate the intake of natural plant toxins and the pharmacokinetics of different plant compounds in marsupials. We work closely with colleagues at the University of Tasmania in these studies.

Conservation perspective
Forest protection. Forest plantation managers may be able to use the natural resistance mechanisms of Eucalyptus as a more sustainable method of protecting thew crops against browsing by mammals and insects. We work closely with State Forests of NSW in this work.

Palatability mapping: We have developed methods to map the patchiness of forests for marsupials using near infrared spectroscopy. This method allows quick and rapid assays of chemical constituents in plants with minimal sample preparation. It is non-destructive and cheap. Most of our work is done with a laboratory NIR spectrometer but we are now starting to use airborne instruments as well.

Remote sensing of canopy chemistry. The idea of palatability mapping has naturally extended to a landscape scale and we are now using airborne NIR spectrometers (HYMAP http://www.intspec.com/) to map canopy chemistry at much larger scales so that we can identify high quality forest patches. We work with colleagues in the School of Resource and Environmental Sciences on this airborne spectrometry programme.

Selected Publications 2004-09
DeGabriel, J.L., Moore, B.D., Foley, W.J., Johnson, C.N. 2009. The effects of plant defensive chemistry on nutrient availability predict reproductive success in a mammal. Ecology 90(3): 711-719.

Felton, A.M., Felton, A., Lindenmayer, D.B., Foley, W.J. 2009. Nutritional goals of wild primates. Functional Ecology 23: 70-78.

Henery, M.L., Stone, C., Foley, W.J. 2009. Differential defoliation of Eucalyptus grandis arises from indiscriminant oviposition and differential larval survival. Agricultural and Forest Entomology 11: 107-114.

DeGabriel, J.L., Wallis, I.R., Moore, B.D., Foley, W.J. 2008. A simple, integrative assay to quantify nutritional quality of browses for herbivores. Oecologia 156: 107-116.

Henery, M.L., Henson, M., Wallis, I.R., Stone, C., Foley, W.J. 2008. Predicting crown damage to Eucalyptus grandis by Paropsis atomaria with direct and indirect measures of leaf composition. Forest Ecology and Management 255: 3642-3651.

Henery, M.L., Wallis, I.R., Stone, C., Foley, W.J. 2008. Methyl jasmonate does not induce changes in Eucalyptus grandis leaves that alter the effect of constitutive defences on larvae of a specialist herbivore. Oecologia 156: 847-859.

Keszei, A., Brubaker, C.L., Foley, W.J. 2008. A molecular perspective on terpene variation in Australian Myrtaceae. Australian Journal of Botany 56: 197-213.

Andrew, R.L., Peakall, R., Wallis, I.R., Foley, W.J. 2007. Spatial distribution of defense chemicals and markers and the maintenance of chemical variation. Ecology 88(3): 716-728.

Andrew, R.L., Wallis, I.R., Harwood, C.E., Henson, M., Foley, W.J. 2007. Heritable variation in the foliar secondary metabolite sideroxylonal in Eucalyptus confers cross-resistance to herbivores. Oecologia 153: 891-901.

Henery, M.L., Moran, G.F., Wallis, I.R., Foley, W.J. 2007. Identification of quantitative trait loci influencing foliar concentrations of terpenes and formylated phloroglucinol compounds in Eucalyptus nitens . New Phytologist 176: 82-95.

Huang, Z., Jia, X., Turner, B.J., Dury, S.J., Wallis, I.R., Foley, W.J. 2007. Estimating Nitrogen in Eucalypt Foliage by Automatically Extracting Tree Spectra from HyMap(TM) Data. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing 73(4): 397-401.

Marsh, K.J., Wallis, I.R., Foley, W.J. 2007. Behavioural contributions to the regulated intake of plant secondary metabolites in koalas. Oecologia 154: 283-290.

Marsh, K., Wallis, I., Andrew, R., Foley, W., (2006) “The Detoxification Limitation Hypothesis: Where Did it Come From and Where is it Going?”, Journal of Chemical Ecology, Vol 32, pp 1247-1266.

Marsh, K.J., Wallis, I.R., McLean, S., Sorensen, J.S., Foley, W.J. 2006. Conflicting demands on detoxification pathways influence how common brushtail possums choose their diets. Ecology 87(8): 2103-2112.

Wiggins, N., Marsh, K., Wallis, I., Foley, W., McArthur, C., (2006) "Sideroxylonal in Eucalyptus foliage influences foraging behaviour of an arboreal folivore", Oecologia, Vol 147, pp 272-279.

Andrew, R., Peakall, R., Wallis, I., Wood, J., Knight, E., Foley, W., (2005) "Marker-Based Quantitative Genetics in the Wild?: The Heritability and Genetic Correlation of Chemical Defenses in Eucalyptus", Genetics, Vol 171, pp 1989-1998.

Baranska, M., Schulz, H., Reitzenstein, S., Uhlemann, U., Strehle, M., Krüger, H., Quilitzsch, R., Foley, W., Popp, J., (2005) "Vibrational Spectroscopic Studies to Acquire a Quality Control Method of Eucalyptus Essential Oils", Biopolymers, Vol 78, pp 237-248.

Dearing, M., Foley, W., McLean, S., (2005) "The Influence of Plant Secondary Metabolites on the Nutritional Ecology of Herbivorous Terrestrial Vertebrates", Annual Review of Ecology Evolution and Systematics, Vol 36, pp 169-189.

Foley, W., Moore, B., (2005) "Plant secondary metabolites and vertebrate herbivores - from physiological regulation to ecosystem function", Current Opinion in Plant Biology, Vol 8, pp 430-435.

Marsh, K., Wallis, I., Foley, W., (2005) "Detoxification rates constrain feeding in common brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula)", Ecology, Vol 86, Issue 11, pp 2946-2954.

Moore, B., Foley, W., Wallis, I., Cowling, A., Handasyde, K., (2005) " Eucalyptus foliar chemistry explains selective feeding by koalas", Biology Letters, Vol 1, pp 64-67.

Moore, B., Marsh, K., Wallis, I., Foley, W., (2005) "Taught by animals: how understanding diet selection leads to better zoo diets", International Zoo Yearbook, Vol 39, pp 43-61.

Moore, B., Foley, W., (2005) "Tree use by koalas in a chemically complex landscape", Nature, Vol 435, pp 488-490.

Wallis, I., Foley, W., (2005) "The Rapid Determination of Sideroxylonals in Eucalyptus Foliage by Extraction with Sonication followed by HPLC", Phytochemical Analysis, Vol 16, pp 49-54.

Foley, W., Lawler, I., Moore, B., Marsh, K., Wallis, I., (2004) "Diet selection in marsupial folivores of Eucalyptus : the role of plant secondary metabolites", in The Biology of Australian Possums and Gliders , Ross L. Goldingay and Stephen M. Jackson (eds) First edition, Surrey Beatty & Sons, Chipping Norton, NSW, pp 207-221.

Moore, B., Wallis, I., Marsh, K., Foley, W., (2004) "The role of nutrition in the conservation of the marsupial folivores of eucalypt forests", in Conservation of Australia's Forest Fauna (second edition) , Daniel Lunney (eds) Second edition, Royal Zoological Society of NSW, NSW, Australia, pp 549-575.

Huang, Z., Turner, B., Dury, S., Wallis, I., Foley, W., (2004) "Estimating foliage nitrogen concentration from HYMAP data using continuum, removal analysis", Remote Sensing of Environment, Vol 93, pp 18-29.

McLean, S., Brandon, S., Davies, N., Foley, W., Muller, H., (2004) "Jensenone: biological reactivity of a marsupial antifeedant from Eucalyptus ", Journal of Chemical Ecology, Vol 30, Issue 1, pp 19-36.

Moore, B., Wallis, I., Palá-Paúl, J., Brophy, J., Willis, R., Foley, W., (2004) "Antiherbivore Chemistry of Eucalyptus --Cues and Deterrents for Marsupial Folivores", Journal of Chemical Ecology, Vol 30, Issue 9, pp 1743-1769.

Moore, B., Wallis, I., Wood, J., Foley, W., (2004) "Foliar nutrition, site quality, and temperature influence foliar chemistry of Tallowwood (Eucalyptus microcorys)", Ecological Monographs, Vol 74, Issue 4, pp 553-568.

Scrivener, N., Johnson, C., Wallis, I., Takasaki, M., Foley, W., Krockenberger, A., (2004) "Which trees do wild common brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) prefer? Problems and solutions in scaling laboratory findings to diet selection in the field", Evolutionary Ecology Research, Vol 6, pp 77-87.

Foley, W., Lawler, I., Moore, B., Wallis, I., (2004) "Ecological, Physiological and Behavioural Interactions between Marsupial Folivores and Eucalyptus Antifeedants", Sixth International Symposium of Poisonous Plants , Glasgow, Scotland, 6/08/2001, pp 215-222.

Current Research Group
Dr Ian Wallis (Research Fellow) - (i) Nutritional ecology of Eucalyptus-marsupial interactions, (ii) Distribution of plant defences in Eucalyptus (iii) Honey bee nutrition (ian.wallis@anu.edu.au)

Ms Rose Andrew (Research Assistant) - Heritability of plant defence in natural populations of Eucalyptus (rose.andrew@anu.edu.au)

Mr Martin Henery (PhD) - Potential for natural plant defence in Eucalyptus grandis

Ms Karen Marsh (PhD) - Pharmacokinetic limitations to feeding in marsupials (karen.marsh@anu.edu.au).

Mr Andras Keszei (PhD) - Molecular genetics of plant defence in Eucalyptus (andraskeszei@yahoo.com)

Past Students
Dr Andrew Woolnough " The feeding ecology of the northern hairy-nosed wombat, Lasiorhinus krefftii"
Currently Research Scientist (Feral Animals) Department of Agriculture, Western Australia. (andrew.woolnough@eudoramail.com)

Dr Ivan Lawler "Variation in marsupial folivory between and within Eucalyptus species: the roles and actions of plant secondary metabolites" Currently, Lecturer - dugong ecology - James Cook University Townsville (ivan.lawler@anu.edu.au)

Dr Lem Aragones - "Dugongs and green turtles: grazers in the tropical seagrass ecosystem" (Currently Lecturer University of the Philippines Los Banos (Marine Mammal ecology) (lem@agri.searca.org)

Mr Allen McIlwee (PhD) "Distribution of arboreal marsupials in the northern tropics" Currently employed by Parks Victoria as Research Scientist (allen.mcilwee@jcu.edu.au)

Ms Georgia Pass - Separating pre-and post-ingestive consequences of secondary plant metabolites in common brushtail possums. Currently working for Merck Pharmaceutics UK

Mr Ben Moore (PhD) - Foraging ecology of koalas (ben.moore@anu.edu.au)

Possible Student Projects
Many different projects can be accommodated depending on the background and skills of the students. In the next year we want to commence studies on the nutritional ecology of kangaroos. This will require students with a strong interest in nutrition and animal physiology and animal ecology but students who have skills in chemistry, pharmacology and plant physiology would be most welcome.

Courses Taught
BIOL1008 - Human Biology
BIOL3192 - Human Nutrition and Population Health