Science
- Evolutionary ecology research
- Australian rain forest community assembly
- Australian rain forest through time
- Ecology of Cumberland Plain Woodland
- Bicentenary Plant Diversity Program
- Biodiversity Adaptation Transect
- Botany of Botany Bay
- Conservation genetics
- DNA studies of Elaeocarpaceae
- Ecology of Isopogon prostratus
- Floristic Lists of NSW
- Habitat fragmentation
- Lomatia (Proteaceae)
- Molecular phylogeny of the Australian Lauraceae
- Promiscuous Lomatia
- Promiscuous Proteaceae
- Native plants of Sydney Harbour NP
- Newnes Plateau Shrub Swamps
- Next Generation Sequencing
- Nickel hyperaccumulation in Stackhousia
- NSW Vegetation Classification & Assessment Project
- Plants of the Newnes Plateau
- Plants, vegetation, landscape, country
- Phylogenetic relationships of Ceratopetalum
- Podocarpus elatus
- Rainforest conifer - Podocarpus elatus
- Speciation in Proteaceae
- Testing speciation models
- Horticultural research
- Plant diversity research
- Plant pathology research
- Herbarium & resources
- Scientific publications
Nickel hyperaccumulation in StackhousiaDr Dylan O. Burge - The International Research Fellowship Program of the United States National Science Foundation Stackhousia comprises 33 species, 31 of which are found only in Australia. Stackhousia belongs to the Stackhousioideae subfamily of the mostly tropical family Celastraceae. Our research deals with the evolution of an very unusual plant trait, the accumulation of nickel to extremely high levels - known as nickel hyperaccumulation. Stackhousia contains a single known hyperaccumulator of nickel, S. tryonii, which is found only on nickel-rich soils in central Queensland. Stackhousia tryonii accumulates nickel up to four percent of its body mass, the highest level known in a living organism. Research carried out in 2008 resolved some phylogenetic relationships in the Stackhousioideae, and tests for nickel content using more than 100 herbarium specimens collected from all over Australia have confirmed that S. tryonii is probably the only hyperaccumulator in the genus. Using a diverse suite of modern tools to approach this question, borrowing from the fields of phylogenetics, genomics, ecology, soil science, and geology, our aim is to determine how nickel hyperaccumulation evolved during the diversification of Stackhousia. To date, I have completed all of my field work, collecting soils, plant cuttings, and seeds from 69 Stackhousia populations in Australia and New Zealand. Analyses of the chemical content of soils and plants have been completed to determine nickel levels. Greenhouse experiments are also under-way at the Australian Botanic Garden, Mount Annan. These will help to ascertain the response of Stackhousia species to nickel. Genomic DNA sequence data has been collected from Stackhousia, and I am analyzing these in collaboration with Hannah McPherson (Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust). In November of 2012, I will move to the University of British Columbia, Canada, to complete this research. For more information on this work, including a detailed photo-essay of all research components, see www.edaphics.com. This research is carried out under the auspices of the International Re-search Fellowship Program of the United States National Science Foundation. I received my Ph.D. from Duke University in May of 2011. As part of this dissertation work, I spent the summer of 2008 at the University of Adelaide and the State Herbarium of South Australia, where I studied Stackhousia with Bill Barker. That research, which dealt with genetic relationships in Stackhousia, inspired the present research, which is an international collaborative effort involving Maurizio Rossetto, Royal Botanic Garden and Domain Trust, Balwant Singh, the University of Sydney, Bill Barker, and Loren Rieseberg, the University of British Columbia, Canada and myself. Assistance with this research is provided by Katherine Zhukovsky, a recent graduate of Duke University. |
|
Photographs from research in Australia. |
