Herbarium Staff

Mine and my group’s research is in the field of plant systematics and evolution and deals broadly with the questions: how many plant species are there in tropical Australia and the region, how are they related and how have they evolved? We use a range of traditional and cutting edge techniques, ranging from field surveys and herbarium taxonomy to scanning electron microscopy, DNA-barcoding and genomics.

My research interests are in taxonomy, systematics, biogeography of fungi and plants. I am especially interested in the fungal-host interactions and host specificity.

My research program investigates the evolution, systematics, niche-specialisation, rarity conservation biology and extinction in ferns, lycophytes and vascular epiphytes in the Wet Tropics, Australia. My primary research focus is on aspects of the evolution, systematics, conservation biology and human use of the genus Phlegmariurus (Lycopodiaceae) globally. I am the curator of fern and lycopod families at the Australian Tropical Herbarium (CNS, Cairns) and Queensland Herbarium

I am broadly interested in the evolutionary ecology of plants. My main focus of research is on the rapid evolution of locally adapted traits of invasive species across large biogeographical regions, with a special focus on reproduction, reproductive systems, and seed ecology.

My research interests lie in the fields of plant evolution, biodiversity, phylogeography and systematics. My research focuses on the phylogeography of Australian orchid groups where I use molecular data to investigate phylogenetic relationships interpreted in geographic and chronological contexts. In my PhD project I am investigating the phylogeography of orchid groups endemic to mountain tops of Queensland’s Wet Tropics bioregion, a world biodiversity hotspot on…

My research focuses on the systematics of selected genera in the Asparagaceae, Ericaceae and Rubiaceae, plant functional traits and vegetation ecology of New Guinea and its off-shore islands.

My main research interests are in the ecology and biodiversity of the mountain flora of the Wet Tropics. Much of my work is involved with planning and leading expeditions to the high peaks of the Wet Tropics bioregion. The aim of these expeditions is manifold: to precisely map the distribution of the bioregion’s high altitude endemic flora, to collect samples for ex-situ conservation, to collect…