Systematics and Evolution (HA)

Asteraceae

Project Leader: Alexander Schmidt-Lebuhn

The daisy family (Asteraceae or Compositae) is the largest of all plant families with an estimated 20,000 to 25,000 species worldwide. From a human perspective, it is highly relevant because it includes economical, culinary or medical plants such as murnong, sunflower, marigold, lettuce, chicory, artichoke, chamomile, absinthe and tarragon as well as numerous ornamentals, but also a great number of weedy representatives. The daisies are represented in Australia with ca. 1,000 native species, constituting an important part of plant biodiversity especially in arid and alpine habitats. In addition, there are ca. 200-300 introduced species, a higher percentage than for most other plant groups, and several of them are declared noxious weeds.

2011 Report

In the first year after its re-launch in 2010, research in the Asteraceae project comprised three very different approaches. On an Australian scale, a spatial study of species richness and uneven collecting efforts was conducted in collaboration with Carlos Gonzalez-Orozco and Nunzio Knerr, and is now close to submission for publication. Ongoing research in the same area will deal with patterns of endemism, collector biases and the influence of environmental factors on the distribution of species in the Asteraceae of Australia.

At the same time, work has begun to collect morphological data for an Australian participation in the Virtual Key to the Compositae, a globally coordinated attempt to produce an online multi-access key to all species of this large family worldwide. So far, most of the data has been collected for a few first genera including Calotis, Chrysocephalum, Craspedia, Leptorhynchos and Leucochrysum. We plan to get the data for these groups online in the second half of 2011, and hope to be able to raise funds to expand the key to cover all Australian daisies over the next few years.

Finally, systematic research was initiated on the genus Craspedia . Field work in the Australian alps allowed the acquisition of cultivars of many species in close cooperation with the Australian National Botanic Gardens. They serve as a basis for cytological studies and will allow crossing experiments to be undertaken in the near future. Together with morphological and molecular analyses, this will ultimately allow a better understanding of the group's evolutionary history, speciation processes and contemporary species delimitations.

Scientific and Technical Staff

PROJECT LEADER

Alexander Schmidt-Lebuhn ^

STAFF, HONORARY ASSOCIATES & STUDENTS

Dave Mallinson # (Asteraceae curator)
Cathy Miller ^