My research focuses on the ecological and evolutionary processes
that shape the spatial and temporal patterns of variation found
in natural populations. On a conceptual level I want to combine
our understanding of microevolutionary processes such as selection,
genetic structure of populations, and gene flow, with the ecological
processes of age structure, recruitment, dispersal, and dormancy.
I have begun this work on life history variation by integrating
studies of selection and demography to explain the coexistence of
two life history types within populations of a short lived plant,
Campanula americana . I used a matrix population model to
quantify the contribution of winter annuals and biennials to the
population growth rate and to evaluate the role of the soil seed
bank . The life cycle graph of this model is shown below.
My general approach to research involves combining field work in
natural populations with greenhouse experiments and mathematical
modeling. My current research is on the comparative demography of
four native Australian species of Trachymene (Apiaceae) with life
history types which include: annual, biennial or perennial. The
projects which I have recently supervised include: (1) The population
biology, canopy seed bank dynamics and early seedling growth characteristics
of two gymnosperm species: Callitris muelleri and Callitris
rhomboidea. (2) The distribution of four Banksia species in
relation to a soil moisture gradient. (3) The population biology
and reproductive ecology of a rare and endangered species, Trachymene
scapigera.
I am interested in supervising students who want to combine experimental
and field based studies of native Australian plants or projects
that combine a theoretical and an empirical approach to plant ecology
or evolution.
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