Tropical rainforest in Antarctic latitudes
45 million years ago South Australia was connected to Antarctica and the landscape was dominated by complex rainforests.
We still don’t fully understand the makeup of these forests or how complex rainforests could survive through winter darkness.
Choose an honours projects in this area to examine several fossil floras to help answer important questions about South Australia’s ecological history.
Study the evolutionary ecology of Australasian plants
Our overall interest is in the evolution of the living Australian vegetation, using the plant macrofossil record as a basis for determining how the vegetation has changed, along with living plant morphology and ecophysiology to predict how species have evolved and how they may adapt to environmental change in the future.
We are interested in a broad range of ages of fossils, from the time Australia was beginning to separate from Antarctica, about 50 million years ago, through to the most recent fossil evidence. Australia is one of the great living laboratories in which to discover the long-term impacts of major climate change and we have a large number of potential projects.
Talk to us about an area of Australasian plants that interests you. We are happy to plan an honours project that suits your particular interests and career goals.
Supervisors
Co-supervisors: Dr Kathryn Hill | Professor John Conran
Research area: Evolutionary ecology of Australasian plants
Recommended honours enrolment: Honours in Evolution and Palaeobiology