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Dr Ann Smithson

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Position:
Research Scientist (Conservation Genetics); Research Associate, University of Western Australia
Phone:
(+61 8) 9480 3655
Fax:
(+61 8) 9480 3641
Email:
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Academic background: 

I am a Pommy expat, with background in plant ecology and evolutionary biology, especially in orchids. I have a degree from Durham, UK, and a PhD from the University of Exeter, UK, on the evolution of plant-pollinator interactions. Following on from postdocs at Exeter and Umeå, Sweden, I received a UK Research Council (NERC) Research Fellowship in the evolutionary biology of orchid-pollinator interactions. After a further 4 years as a temporary lecturer at Exeter, researching the ecological and conservation genetics of plants and the evolution of plant pollinator interactions, I spent a year in UK labs developing ideas on the application of genomics to plant ecology, conservation, and evolutionary biology. After sampling worldbeating Ozzy biodiversity, community, weather and wine on one of my travels, I saw the light, and emmigrated to Perth to start my current post at Kings Park and UWA in June 2007.

Major projects:

In my current post I am using a range of field-based, genetics and genomics approaches to assess the importance of local adaptation in selected plant groups in Western Australia, which is a world biodiversity hotspot with very high levels of plant endemism. The research has a strong applied theme, driven by the need to deliver sound advice to conservation practitioners on the size of seed provenance zones when selecting seeds for habitat restoration and rehabilitation, following mining and other human activities. From a wider perspective, however, I am particularly interested in comparatively quantifying diversity at both neutral and adaptive loci, assessing how local adaptation is achieved and driven, and in identifying the genetic pathways associated with local adaptation. This is a challenging task requiring novel genetic approaches, since there is little pre-existing genetic information for most Australian non-crop plant species. I also have continuing interests in orchid pollination and evolutionary biology, and the evolution of seed germination.  

Research associates, post-docs and students:

Donna Bradbury (PhD 2007 - present) The power of population genomics to identify functionally important genetic variation and its utility for the conservation of Tuart (Eucalyptus gomphocephala DC.).  

Publications:

  • Smithson A., Juillet N., Gigord L. D. B. & Macnair M. R. (2007). Is there a positive relationship between phenotypic diversity and reproductive success in rewardless orchids? Ecology 88, 434-442.
  • Internicola A., Juillet N., Smithson A. & Gigord L. D. B. (2006). Experimental investigation of spatial aggregation-dependent reproductive success in a rewardless orchid. Oecologia 150, 435-441.
  • Smithson A. (2006). Pollinator limitation and inbreeding depression in orchid species with and without nectar rewards. New Phytologist 169, 419-430.
  • Cresswell J. C. and Smithson A. (2005). Artificial flowers and pollinators in pollination research. In Pollination Ecology, a Practical Approach. Ed A. Dafni and P. Kevan, IRL Press.
  • Gravendeel B., Smithson A., Slik F. and Schuiteman A. (2004) Epiphytism and pollinator specialization - drivers for orchid diversity? Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. 359, 1523-1535.
  • Smithson A. and Gigord L. D. B. (2003). The evolution of empty flowers revisited. American Naturalist 161, 537-552.
  • Smithson A. and Macnair M. R. (2003). Have recent developments in molecular techniques led to greater insight into evolutionary and ecological processes in plant populations? Genes in the Environment, Eds. R. S. Hails, J. E. Beringer and H. C. J. Godfray. Blackwell Publishing.
    Smithson A. (2002). The evolution of rewardlessness in orchids: reward supplementation experiments with Anacamptis morio. American J. Botany 89, 1579-1587.
  • Gigord L. D. B., Macnair M. R., Stritesky M. and Smithson A. (2002). The potential for floral mimicry in rewardless orchids: an experimental approach. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 269, 1389-1395.
  • Ferdy J. B. and Smithson A. (2002). Bumblebee behaviour and selfing rates in unrewarding inflorescences. Evolutionary Ecology 16, 155-175.
  • Gigord L. D. B., Macnair M. R. and Smithson A. (2001). Negative frequency-dependent selection maintains a dramatic flower colour polymorphism in the rewardless orchid Dactylorhiza sambucina. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 98, 6253-6255.
  • Smithson A. and Gigord L. D. B. (2001). Are there advantages in being a rewardless orchid? Reward supplementation experiments with Barlia robertiana. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 268, 1-7.
  • Smithson A. (2001). Pollinator preference, frequency-dependence, and floral evolution. In Cognitive Ecology of Pollination: Animal Behaviour and Floral Evolution. Eds Chittka L. and Thomson J. D., pp 237-258, Cambridge University Press.
  • Arntzen, J. W., Smithson A. and Oldham R. S. (1999). Marking and tissue sampling effects on body condition and survival in the newt Triturus cristatus. J. Herpetol. 33, 567-576.
  • Smithson A. and Macnair M. R. (1997). Negative frequency-dependent selection by pollinators on artificial flowers without rewards. Evolution 51, 715-723.
  • Smithson A. and Macnair M. R. (1997). Density-dependent and frequency-dependent selection by bumblebees Bombus terrestris (L.) (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 60, 401-417.
  • Smithson A. and Macnair M. R. (1996). Frequency-dependent selection by pollinators: Mechanisms and consequences with regard to the behaviour of bumblebees Bombus terrestris (L.) (Hymenoptera, Apidae). J. Evol. Biol. 9, 571-588.
  • Leckie D., Smithson A., Crute I. R. (1993). Gene movement from oilseed rape to weedy populations - a component of risk assessment for transgenic cultivars. Asp. App. Biol. 35, 61-66.