- Position:
- PhD Candidate
- Phone:
- 61 8 9480 3614
- Fax:
- 61 8 9480 3641
- Email:
- This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
RESEARCH THEMES:
- Orchid evolutionary biology
- Pollination biology
- Mycorrhizal ecology
- Orchid conservation
BACKGROUND:
I have been a member of the Western Australian Native Orchid Study and Conservation Group and Birds Australia (formerly the RAOU) since 1991. I attended the University of Western Australia completing a Bachelor of Science with a double major in Zoology and Botany. My honours was in Zoology with the group project on ‘Summer ecophysiology of the Honey Possum’ while the individual project was on ‘Population structure of the Western Rainbowfish in the east Kimberley’. After honours I worked on several projects including the behavioural ecology of Red-capped Plovers and Sand-bubbler crabs at Cable Beach, the decline of finches in the Kununurra irrigation area and the monitoring of invertebrate communities in the habitat of the Western Swamp Tortoise. In the spring of 2005 I began work at Kings Park collecting seed and mycorrhiza from hammer orchids in preparation for my Phd.
PROJECT:
The Role of Pollinators and Mycorrhiza in Controlling Distribution and Speciation in Drakaea (Hammer Orchids)
Kings Park and Botanic Gardens, University of Western Australia
Supervisors:
Dr Andrew Batty
Professor Kingsley Dixon
Professor Stephen Hopper
The genus Drakaea (Orchidaceae) is endemic to south-western Australia and is pollinated by sexual deception of thynnine wasps. They occupy a specialised habitat of open sandy areas and utilise a mycorrhiza unique to Drakaea and the ecologically similar Paracaleana. Of the nine species in the genus, five are declared rare flora and all species are believed to be highly specific to both pollinator and mycorrhiza. Previous work has shown that pollinators can be readily attracted to experimentally presented flowers. This approach will be coupled with seed baiting for mycorrhiza to elucidate the factors controlling distribution and rarity in Drakaea. A combination of population genetics and baiting experiments across the range of Drakaea will provide the mechanisms by which populations diverge ecologically and genetically. Finally, the phylogenies of the Drakaea, wasp and mycorrhiza will be produced to establish how the ecological and genetic processes have shaped co-evolution between the orchid and its hosts.
PUBLICATIONS:
N/A