ORCID Profile
0000-0002-0822-0564
Current Organisations
State Herbarium of South Australia
,
University of Western Australia
,
University of Adelaide
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Research Topics
In Research Link Australia (RLA), "Research Topics" refer to ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes. These topics are either sourced from ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes listed in researchers' related grants or generated by a large language model (LLM) based on their publications.
Top 5 Research Topics
ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)
Genetics | Population, Ecological and Evolutionary Genetics | Evolutionary Biology | Conservation and Biodiversity | Biogeography and Phylogeography | Plant Protection (Pests, Diseases And Weeds) | Sustainable Development | Forensic Biology | Marine and Estuarine Ecology (incl. Marine Ichthyology) | Host-Parasite Interactions | Phylogeny and Comparative Analysis | Genomics | Invertebrate Biology | Other Biological Sciences | Population And Ecological Genetics | Access to Justice | Environmental Rehabilitation (excl. Bioremediation) |
ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)
Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity at Regional or Larger Scales | Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences | Expanding Knowledge in the Environmental Sciences | Control of pests and exotic species | Tropical fruit | Living resources (flora and fauna) | Criminal Justice | Rehabilitation of Degraded Coastal and Estuarine Environments | Marine Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity | Trade and Environment
Related Links
Publications
Variation in biogeochemical parameters across intertidal seagrass meadows in the central Great Barrier Reef region
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2005
DOI: 10.1016/J.MARPOLBUL.2004.10.046
Abstract: This survey provides baseline information on sediment characteristics, porewater, adsorbed and plant tissue nutrients from intertidal coastal seagrass meadows in the central region of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. Data collected from 11 locations, representative of intertidal coastal seagrass beds across the region, indicated that the chemical environment was typical of other tropical intertidal areas. Results using two different extraction methods highlight the need for caution when choosing an adsorbed phosphate extraction technique, as sediment type affects the analytical outcome. Comparison with published values indicates that the range of nutrient parameters measured is equivalent to those measured across tropical systems globally. However, the nutrient values in seagrass leaves and their molar ratios for Halophila ovalis and Halodule uninervis were much higher than the values from the literature from this and other regions, obtained using the same techniques, suggesting that these species act as nutrient sponges, in contrast with Zostera capricorni. The limited historical data from this region suggest that the nitrogen and phosphorus content of seagrass leaves has increased since the 1970s concomitant with changing land use practice.
Phylogenomic Insights into the Phylogeography of Halophila baillonii Asch.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 13-01-2023
DOI: 10.3390/D15010111
Abstract: A molecular genetic approach was used to elucidate the phylogeographic relationships of the clover grass (Halophila baillonii Asch.) from three key regions within its current distributional range. Halophila baillonii is a small seagrass that has historically been only found in a few locations in the Caribbean and Atlantic coast of Brazil. In the past few decades H. baillonii has also been observed in the Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP). Very little is known about the relationship between the ETP populations and the Caribbean and Atlantic ones. To study their relationship, we used a hybrid capture approach targeting chloroplast loci on s les from Belize, Brazil, and the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Phylogenetic analyses resolved H. baillonii as monophyletic and placed the s les from Belize and Costa Rica in a clade sister to the Brazilian ones. The results clearly indicate that the ETP s les are very closely related to Belize and that the most likely explanation of its occurrence in the ETP is a recent introduction, possibly as a consequence of the opening of the Panama Canal.
Introduction to Papers on Seagrass Conservation
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 1999
DOI: 10.1071/PC000250
Abstract: The following ten papers are the proceedings of a symposium on "seagrass conservation issues" held at the meeting of the Society for Conservation Biology, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia (July 13?16, 1998).
Regional genetic differentiation in the spectacled flying fox (Pteropus conspicillatus Gould)
Publisher: ANU Press
Date: 2012
The mating system of an hydrophilous angiosperm posidonia australis (Posidoniaceae)
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 05-1997
DOI: 10.2307/2445898
Phylogenetic Studies in Alismatidae, II: Evolution of Marine Angiosperms (Seagrasses) and Hydrophily
Publisher: JSTOR
Date: 07-1997
DOI: 10.2307/2419820
Mega Clonality in an Aquatic Plant—A Potential Survival Strategy in a Changing Environment
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 06-04-2018
Postdisaster Posttraumatic Growth: Positive Transformations Following the Black Saturday Bushfires
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 27-08-2018
A hybrid capture RNA bait set for resolving genetic and evolutionary relationships in angiosperms from deep phylogeny to intraspecific lineage hybridization
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 07-09-2021
DOI: 10.1101/2021.09.06.456727
Abstract: Novel multi-gene targeted capture probes have been developed with the objective of obtaining multi-locus high quality sequence reads across any angiosperm lineage. Using existing genomic and transcriptomic data, two independent single assay probe/bait sets have been developed, the first targeting conserved exons from 20 low copy nuclear genes (OzBaits_NR V1.0) and the second, 19 plastid gene regions (OZBaits_CP V1.0). These ‘universal’ bait sets can efficiently generate DNA sequence data that are suitable for systematics and evolutionary studies of flowering plants. The bait sets can be ordered as Daicel-Arbor Sciences custom myBaits. We demonstrate the utility of the bait set in consistently recovering the targeted genomic regions across an evolutionarily broad range of angiosperm taxa.
Genetic variation, its assessment and implications to the conservation of seagrasses
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-1998
Genomic Screening Reveals That the Endangered Eucalyptus paludicola (Myrtaceae) Is a Hybrid
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 10-12-2020
DOI: 10.3390/D12120468
Abstract: A hybrid origin for a conservation listed taxon will influence its status and management options. Here, we investigate the genetic origins of a nationally endangered listed taxon—Eucalyptus paludicola—a tree that is restricted to the Fleurieu Peninsula and Kangaroo Island of South Australia. Since its description in 1995, there have been suggestions that this taxon may potentially be a stable hybrid species. Using a high throughput sequencing approach, we developed a panel of polymorphic loci that were screened across E. paludicola and its putative parental species E. cosmophylla and E. ovata. Bayesian clustering of the genotype data identified separate groups comprising E. ovata and E. cosmophylla while E. paludicola in iduals were admixed between these two, consistent with a hybrid origin. Hybrid class assignment tests indicate that the majority of E. paludicola in iduals (~70%) are F1 hybrids with a low incidence of backcrossing. Most of the post-F1 hybrids were associated with revegetation sites suggesting they may be maladapted and rarely reach maturity under natural conditions. These data support the hypothesis that E. paludicola is a transient hybrid entity rather than a distinct hybrid species. We briefly discuss the conservation implications of our findings.
Differences in resprouting ability are not related to seed size or seedling growth in four riparian woody species
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 25-04-2007
Development of multiplex microsatellite PCR panels for the seagrass Thalassia hemprichii (Hydrocharitaceae)
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 11-2014
DOI: 10.3732/APPS.1400078
Seagrass Evolution, Ecology and Conservation: A Genetic Perspective
Publisher: Springer-Verlag
Isolation and characterisation of polymorphic microsatellite loci in the vulnerable spectacled flying fox, Pteropus conspicillatus
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 09-11-2007
Range‐wide population genetic structure of the Caribbean marine angiosperm Thalassia testudinum
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 29-08-2018
DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.4443
Experimental Infection and Repeat Survey Data Indicate the Amphibian Chytrid Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis May Not Occur on Freshwater Crustaceans in Northern Queensland, Australia
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 07-02-2007
Genomic coalescence in a population of Laxmannia sessiliflora (Angiospermae, Anthericaceae): an association of lethal polymorphism, self-pollination and chromosome number reduction
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 04-1999
Abstract: A population of Laxmannia R. Br. (Angiospermae, Anthericaceae) near Collie, Western Australia, combines the taxonomically significant sessile inflorescences of L. sessiliflora Dcne. (n = 4) and the derived breeding system of L. ramosa Lindl. (n = 4). It exhibits a polymorphism for seed-aborting lethal equivalents, significant levels of self-pollination and a chromosome polymorphism in which a haploid genome with n = 3 is most frequent. Allozyme analysis indicates that the population is either of hybrid origin or one that has uniquely erged from a phylogenetic link between the two species. The population is considered to represent a natural demonstration of the phenomenon of genomic coalescence as modelled by James (1992, Heredity, 68, 449-456) in which devices which reduce the number of independently segregating supergenes heterozygous for recessive lethals are elevated to high frequencies by inbreeding. The population also suggests a mechanism whereby dysploid chromosome number reduction may be promoted by natural selection in natural population systems.
Seagrass Evolution, Ecology and Conservation: A Genetic Perspective
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Date: 2006
Sprouting and genetic structure vary with flood disturbance in the tropical riverine paperbark tree, Melaleuca leucadendra (Myrtaceae)
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 11-2013
DOI: 10.3732/AJB.1200614
Abstract: Sprouting in woody plants promotes persistence in the face of disturbance, ultimately influencing population structure. Different disturbance regimes drive variable population responses, but there have been few direct tests of the relative differences in population structure to specific drivers. We measured population structure as genotypic ersity (clonality) as a function of hydrological regime for a riverine tree, Melaleuca leucadendra, a major structural component in flood landscapes in the Australian dry tropics. We estimated clonality, genotypic richness, and population allelic ersity. The relationship among disturbance, genetic estimates of clonality, and population distinctiveness was compared with flood regime, characterized by return frequencies and hydrological stress at in idual river reaches. Two contrasting patterns of genotypic structure were detected and corresponded to order-of-magnitude differences in flood regime between sites. At mainstem locations characterized by greatest flood intensity, sprouting generated clonal structure to 17 m (30% ramets clonal). By contrast, clonality was atypical at lower-disturbance tributaries (0% clonal). Population allelic distributions showed extensive genetic exchange among mainstem locations, but strong genetic differentiation between mainstem and tributaries. Population structure and distinctiveness in riverine Melaleuca are determined by differences in sprouting and recruitment responses that depend on localized hydrological regime. Sprouting contributes to population persistence via localized clonal growth. Resprouting following disturbance in M. leucadendra may help explain its numerical dominance in tropical river systems. This study, although preliminary, suggests that flood ecosystems may represent excellent experimental systems to develop a better understanding of whole-organism responses to environmental drivers.
Methods for assessing seagrass seed ecology and population genetics
Publisher: Elsevier
Date: 2001
Rise and fall of a continental mesic radiation in Australia: spine evolution, biogeography, and diversification of Cryptandra (Rhamnaceae: Pomaderreae)
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 14-10-2023
Genetic variation within and between populations of Posidonia australis, a hydrophilous, clonal seagrass
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 10-1997
DOI: 10.1038/HDY.1997.175
Advances in approaches to seagrass restoration in Australia
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 2021
DOI: 10.1111/EMR.12452
Abstract: Three case studies involving two temperate Australian seagrass species – Pondweed ( Ruppia tuberosa ) and Ribbon Weed ( Posidonia australis ) – highlight different approaches to their restoration. Seeds and rhizomes were used in three collaborative programmes to promote new approaches to scale up restoration outcomes.
Translating seagrass science into action
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2020
DOI: 10.1071/MFV71N8_ED
Polymorphic microsatellite markers for the Caribbean seagrass Thalassia testudinum Banks ex König
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-11-2006
A resourceful and adaptable method to obtain data on the status of seagrass meadows
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2017
A Guide to Southern Temperate Seagrasses. By Michelle Waycott, Kathryn McMahon, and Paul Lavery. Collingwood (Australia): CSIRO Publishing. AU $29.95 (paper). 108 p. + 2 pl.; ill.; no index. IS
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Date: 03-2016
DOI: 10.1086/685356
Molecular phylogenetics and the morphology of the Lycopodiaceae subfamily Huperzioideae supports three genera: Huperzia, Phlegmariurus and Phylloglossum
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2016
DOI: 10.1016/J.YMPEV.2015.09.024
Abstract: The generic classification of huperzioid Lycopodiaceae was tested using Bayesian inference and Maximum likelihood phylogenetic analyses of DNA sequences from four chloroplast loci for 119 taxa and optimisation of 29 morphological characteristics onto the phylogeny. Consistent with previous studies, the subfamilies Lycopodioideae and Huperzioideae are monophyletic and diagnosable by synapomorphies that correlate with differences in their life-histories. Within the Huperzioideae, the monophyly of the widely adopted genus Huperzia (excl. Phylloglossum) is poorly supported. Three clades of huperzioid Lycopodiaceae were recovered in all analyses of molecular data: Phylloglossum drummondii, Huperzia sensu stricto and Phlegmariurus sensu lato. These clades are strongly supported by morphological characters, including differences in spores, gametophytes, sporophyte macro-morphology, as well as growth habit and life-histories. Our findings indicate that either a one-genus (Huperzia s.l.) or a three-genus (Phylloglossum, Huperzia s.s. and Phlegmariurus s.l.) classification of huperzioid Lycopods are equally supported by molecular evidence, but a two-genus system (Huperzia s.l.+Phylloglossum) is not. We recommend recognising three genera in the huperzioid Lycopodiaceae, as this classification best reflects evolutionary, ecological, and morphological ergence within the lineage.
MOLECULAR PHYLOGENETIC ANALYSIS OF THE EVOLUTION OF COMPLEX HYBRIDITY IN ISOTOMA PETRAEA
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-2002
DOI: 10.1111/J.0014-3820.2002.TB01441.X
Abstract: Complex hybridity is a rare diploid genetic system of plants, extensively characterized in Oenothera, in which heterozygosity for one or more reciprocal translocations is maintained by means of autogamy and a balanced lethal system. It is visible at metaphase I of meiosis as rings or chains of chromosomes held together by terminalized chiasmata. Phylogenetic analysis based on 274 random lified polymorphic DNA markers showed that in the Australian endemic Isotoma petraea (Lobeliaceae) the genetic system had a single origin, as a ring-of-six, in the Pigeon Rock population. It subsequently spread to other populations to produce hybrids incorporating additional chromosomes into the rings. Our research supports the suggestion that complex hybridity is an evolutionary response to intense inbreeding and selected because it allows masking of accumulated deleterious alleles.
Isolation and characterization of microsatellite loci in Santalum lanceolatum and Santalum leptocladum (Santalaceae)
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-2010
DOI: 10.3732/AJB.1000213
Abstract: Microsatellite primers were developed for the first time in the native Australian sandalwood species Santalum lanceolatum. • Using an enrichment cloning protocol, five novel polymorphic codominant loci were developed and characterized in S. lanceolatum and S. leptocladum. In addition to these, three existing microsatellite loci from other sandalwood species were successfully lified and characterized for S. lanceolatum and S. leptocladum. Among the eight loci, allelic ersity ranged from 4 to 29. • Primers will be useful for studies of clonality, genetic ersity and spatial genetic structure in wild populations. When coupled with other molecular techniques will help investigate the relationship between S. lanceolatum and S. leptocladum, species of commercial and conservation interest.
Genetic Diversity Enhances Restoration Success by Augmenting Ecosystem Services
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 25-06-2012
Genetic factors in the conservation of seagrasses
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 1999
DOI: 10.1071/PC000269
Abstract: Increasingly our awareness of seagrass conservation issues requires an understanding of population dynamics and knowledge of the ability of different species to recover from disturbance. Seagrass populations may recover vegetatively or through the establishment of sexually derived seedlings. Some understanding of the processes of population formation and maintenance can be obtained through population genetic surveys. With the advent of molecular genetic markers even genetically depauperate populations can be studied. Patterns of genetic variation can vary over the range of seagrass populations and with the type of marker used. A case study is presented which demonstrates the importance of surveying a significant range of species to better understand the patterns of genetic ersity present. Seagrass phylogeny needs to be improved before reliable taxonomic interpretations can be made in many seagrass groups. Uncommon or rare seagrass species require special attention to ascertain their evolutionary origins and the nature of their extant distributions. Studies of genetic factors may enhance our understanding of how seagrass populations survive over both short and long time scales and can provide considerable insight to the seagrass conservation strategist.
Population decline in a Pleistocene refugium: Stepwise, drought-related dieback of a South Australian eucalypt
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2023
Landscape biodiversity correlates with respiratory health in Australia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2018
DOI: 10.1016/J.JENVMAN.2017.10.007
Abstract: Megatrends of urbanisation and reducing contact with natural environments may pose a largely unappreciated risk to human health, particularly in children, through declining normal (healthy) immunomodulatory environmental exposures. On the other hand, building knowledge of connections between environments, bio ersity and human health may offer new integrated ways of addressing global challenges of rising population health costs and declining bio ersity. In this study we are motivated to build insight and provide context and priority for emerging research into potential protective (e.g. immunomodulatory) environmental exposures. We use respiratory health as a test case to explore whether some types and qualities of environment may be more beneficial than others, and how such exposures may compare to known respiratory health influences, via a cross-sectional ecological epidemiology study for the continent of Australia. Using Lasso penalized regression (to interpret key predictors from many candidate variables) and 10-fold cross-validation modelling (to indicate reproducibility and uncertainty), within different socio-geographic settings, our results show surrogate measures of landscape bio ersity correlate with respiratory health, and rank amongst known predictors. A range of possible drivers for this relationship are discussed. Perhaps most novel and interesting of these is the possibility of protective immunomodulatory influence from microbial ersity (suggested by the understudied 'bio ersity hypothesis') and other bioactive agents associated with bio erse environments. If beneficial influences can be demonstrated from bio erse environments on immunomodulation and human health, there may be potential to design new cost-effective nature-based health intervention programs to reduce the risk of immune-related disease at a population level. Our approach and findings are also likely to have use in the evaluation of environment and health associations elsewhere.
Can bacterial indicators of a grassy woodland restoration inform ecosystem assessment and microbiota-mediated human health?
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2019
DOI: 10.1016/J.ENVINT.2019.05.011
Abstract: Understanding how microbial communities change with environmental degradation and restoration may offer new insights into the understudied ecology that connects humans, microbiota, and the natural world. Immunomodulatory microbial ersity and 'Old Friends' are thought to be supplemented from bio erse natural environments, yet deficient in anthropogenically disturbed or degraded environments. However, few studies have compared the microbiomes of natural vs. human-altered environments and there is little knowledge of which microbial taxa are representative of ecological restoration-i.e. the assisted recovery of degraded ecosystems typically towards a more natural, bio erse state. Here we use novel bootstrap-style res ling of site-level soil bacterial 16S rRNA gene environmental DNA data to identify genus-level indicators of restoration from a 10-year grassy eucalypt woodland restoration chronosequence at Mt Bold, South Australia. We found two key indicator groups emerged: 'opportunistic taxa' that decreased in relative abundance with restoration and more stable and specialist, 'niche-adapted taxa' that increased. We validated these results, finding seven of the top ten opportunists and eight of the top ten niche-adapted taxa displayed consistent differential abundance patterns between human-altered vs. natural s les elsewhere across Australia. Extending this, we propose a two-dimensional mapping for ecosystem condition based on the proportions of these ergent indicator groups. We also show that restoring a more bio erse ecosystem at Mt Bold has increased the potentially immune-boosting environmental microbial ersity. Furthermore, environmental opportunists including the pathogen-containing genera Bacillus, Clostridium, Enterobacter, Legionella and Pseudomonas associated with disturbed ecosystems. Our approach is generalizable with potential to inform DNA-based methods for ecosystem assessment and help target environmental interventions that may promote microbiota-mediated human health gains.
Associations of concern: declining seagrasses and threatened dependent species
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-10-2008
DOI: 10.1890/080041
Environmental change and human health: Can environmental proxies inform the biodiversity hypothesis for protective microbial-human contact?
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 12-10-2016
A targeted capture approach to generating reference sequence databases for chloroplast gene regions
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 04-2022
DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.8816
Abstract: Metabarcoding has improved the way we understand plants within our environment, from their ecology and conservation to invasive species management. The notion of identifying plant taxa within environmental s les relies on the ability to match unknown sequences to known reference libraries. Without comprehensive reference databases, species can go undetected or be incorrectly assigned, leading to false‐positive and false‐negative detections. To improve our ability to generate reference sequence databases, we developed a targeted capture approach using the OZBaits_CP V1.0 set, designed to capture chloroplast gene regions across the entirety of flowering plant ersity. We focused on generating a reference database for coastal temperate plant species given the lack of reference sequences for these taxa. Our approach was successful across all specimens with a target gene recovery rate of 92%, which was achieved in a single assay (i.e., s les were pooled), thus making this approach much faster and more efficient than standard barcoding. Further testing of this database highlighted 80% of all s les could be discriminated to family level across all gene regions with some genes achieving greater resolution than others—which was also dependent on the taxon of interest. Thus, we demonstrate the importance of generating reference sequences across multiple chloroplast gene regions as no single loci are sufficient to discriminate across all plant groups. The targeted capture approach outlined in this study provides a way forward to achieve this.
Seagrass population dynamics and water quality in the Great Barrier Reef region: A review and future research directions
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2005
DOI: 10.1016/J.MARPOLBUL.2005.01.017
Abstract: Seagrasses in the Great Barrier Reef region, particularly in coastal habitats, act as a buffer between catchment inputs and reef communities and are important habitat for fisheries and a food source for dugong and green turtle. Within the Great Barrier Reef region there are four different seagrass habitat types now recognised. The spatial and temporal dynamics of the different types of seagrass habitat is poorly understood. In general seagrass growth is limited by light, disturbance and nutrient supply, and changes to any or all of these limiting factors may cause seagrass decline. The capacity of seagrasses to recover requires either recruitment via seeds or through vegetative growth. The ability of seagrass meadows to recover from large scale loss of seagrass cover observed during major events such as cyclones or due to anthropogenic disturbances such as dredging will usually require regeneration from seed bank. Limited research into the role of pollutants on seagrass survival suggests there may be ongoing impacts due to herbicides, pesticides and other chemical contaminants. Further research and monitoring of seagrass meadow dynamics and the influence of changing water quality on these is needed to enhance our ability to manage seagrasses on the Great Barrier Reef.
Ecosystem services returned through seagrass restoration
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 21-04-2016
DOI: 10.1111/REC.12360
Thermal tolerance of two seagrass species at contrasting light levels: Implications for future distribution in the Great Barrier Reef
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-10-2011
Disturbance Is an Important Driver of Clonal Richness in Tropical Seagrasses
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 05-12-2017
Phylogenomics and continental biogeographic disjunctions: insight from the Australian starflowers (Calytrix).
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 02-2022
DOI: 10.1002/AJB2.1790
Abstract: Continental-scale disjunctions and associated drivers are core research interests in biogeographic studies. Here, we selected a species-rich Australian plant genus (Calytrix Myrtaceae) as a case study to investigate these patterns. Species of this endemic Australian starflower genus have a disjunct distribution across the mesic fringes of the continent and are largely absent from the arid center. We used high-throughput sequencing to generate unprecedented resolution and near complete species-level nuclear and plastid phylogenies for Calytrix. BioGeoBEARS and biogeographic stochastic mapping were used to infer ancestral areas, the relative contributions of vicariance and dispersal events, and directionality of dispersal. Present-day disjunctions in Calytrix are explained by a combination of scenarios: (1) retreat of multiple lineages from the continental center to the more mesic fringes as Australia became progressively more arid, with subsequent extinction in the center as well as (2) origination of ancestral lineages in southwestern Australia (SWA) for species-rich clades. The SWA bio ersity hotspot is a major ersification center and the most common source area of dispersals, with multiple lineages originating in SWA and subsequently spreading to the adjacent arid Eremaean region. Our results suggest that major extinction, as a result of cooling and drying of the Australian continent in the Eocene-Miocene, shaped the present-day biogeography of Calytrix. We hypothesize that this peripheral vicariance pattern, which is similar to the African Rand flora, may explain the disjunctions of many other Australian plant groups. Further studies with densely s led phylogenies are required to test this hypothesis.
A muddy time capsule: Using sediment environmental DNA for the long-term monitoring of coastal vegetated ecosystems
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2020
DOI: 10.1071/MF19175
Abstract: Seagrass, saltmarsh and mangrove habitats are declining around the world as anthropogenic activity and climate change intensify. To be able to effectively restore and maintain healthy coastal-vegetation communities, we must understand how and why they have changed in the past. Identifying shifts in vegetation communities, and the environmental or human drivers of these, can inform successful management and restoration strategies. Unfortunately, long-term data (i.e. decades to hundreds of years) on coastal vegetated ecosystems that can discern community-level changes are mostly non-existent in the scientific record. We propose implementing DNA extracted from coastal sediments to provide an alternative approach to long-term ecological reconstruction for coastal vegetated ecosystems. This type of DNA is called ‘environmental DNA’ and has previously been used to generate long-term datasets for other vegetated systems but has not yet been applied to vegetation change in coastal settings. In this overview, we explore the idea of using sediment eDNA as a long-term monitoring tool for seagrass, saltmarsh and mangrove communities. We see real potential in this approach for reconstructing long-term ecological histories of coastal vegetated ecosystems, and advocate that further research be undertaken to develop appropriate methods for its use.
Historic and contemporary biogeographic perspectives on range-wide spatial genetic structure in a widespread seagrass
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-2023
DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.9900
Abstract: Historical and contemporary processes drive spatial patterns of genetic ersity. These include climate‐driven range shifts and gene flow mediated by biogeographical influences on dispersal. Assessments that integrate these drivers are uncommon, but critical for testing biogeographic hypotheses. Here, we characterize intraspecific genetic ersity and spatial structure across the entire distribution of a temperate seagrass to test marine biogeographic concepts for southern Australia. Predictive modeling was used to contrast the current Posidonia australis distribution to its historical distribution during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Spatial genetic structure was estimated for 44 s led meadows from across the geographical range of the species using nine microsatellite loci. Historical and contemporary distributions were similar, with the exception of the Bass Strait. Genetic clustering was consistent with the three currently recognized biogeographic provinces and largely consistent with the finer‐scale IMCRA bioregions. Discrepancies were found within the Flindersian province and southwest IMCRA bioregion, while two regions of admixture coincided with transitional IMCRA bioregions. Clonal ersity was highly variable but positively associated with latitude. Genetic differentiation among meadows was significantly associated with oceanographic distance. Our approach suggests how shared seascape drivers have influenced the capacity of P. australis to effectively track sea level changes associated with natural climate cycles over millennia, and in particular, the recolonization of meadows across the Continental Shelf following the LGM. Genetic structure associated with IMCRA bioregions reflects the presence of stable biogeographic barriers, such as oceanic upwellings. This study highlights the importance of biogeography to infer the role of historical drivers in shaping extant ersity and structure.
Genetic uniformity in Amphibolis antarctica, a dioecious seagrass
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 06-1996
DOI: 10.1038/HDY.1996.83
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