Jürgen Kellermann is ABRS Research Fellow at the National Herbarium of Victoria. He is currently revising several species complexes in Rhamnaceae, in particular the genera Cryptandra and Spyridium, as well as writing the Flora of Australia account for the family in collaboration with Frank Udovicic and Neville Walsh. This will be published in volume 24 of the series; it will be the first treatment of the family for Australia since Bentham’s account in Flora Australiensis (1863). Collaborators at other institutions include Bill Barker (AD), Barbara Rye and Kevin Thiele (PERTH).
Jürgen has a degree in biochemistry, botany and organic chemistry from the Freie Universität (Free University) in Berlin, Germany. He wrote his Ph.D. thesis at the School of Botany, The University of Melbourne, under supervision by Pauline Y. Ladiges and Frank Udovicic. In his Ph.D.-research he established a molecular phylogeny of Rhamnaceae, which is the basis for a revised generic classification of the family in Australia. He has also collaborated with collegues in Germany and Argentina on a phylogeny of the South American tribe Colletieae. Jürgen's other research interests are botanical history and the history of collections.
Rhamnaceae in Australia
Rhamnaceae is a cosmopolitan family of approximately 925 species, and is represented by approx. 250 species in Australia; it is among the 20 largest families of flowering plants on the continent.
Only about 10% of species are found in the tropical north, most of these from genera that are also widespread in south-east Asia or the Pacific, e.g., Alphitonia Reiss. ex Endl., Ventilago Gaertn. or Ziziphus Mill.
Most of the species (90%) belong to a distinct group of Rhamnaceae that is almost endemic to Australia, and which can be recognised by the presence of minute star-shaped hairs on stems, leaves and/or flowers. This stellate-haired group is classified as the tribe Pomaderreae, and contains the well-known genera Cryptandra Sm. (c. 55 species), Pomaderris Labill. (75-80), Spyridium Fenzl (40-45), Stenanthemum Reissek (c. 30), Trymalium Fenzl (13), the recently published genus Polianthion K.R.Thiele (4; Kellermann et al 2006) and two monotypic Western Australian genera, Siegfriedia C.A.Gardner and Blackallia C.A.Gardner. Two more genera are currently in press, and a third possible new genus is under investigation.
Pomaderris, after which the tribe Pomaderreae is named, is the largest genus and the only one to extend to New Zealand, with eight species mainly on the North Island. In Australia the tribe is distributed throughout the temperate to semi-arid southern regions. Some species also occur in the arid centre and the tropical North.
Papers
Kellermann, J. (2004). Robert Brown's contributions to Rhamnaceae systematics. Telopea 10: 515-524.
Aagesen, L., Medan, D., Kellermann, J. & Hilger, H.H. (2005). Phylogeny of the tribe Colletieae (Rhamnaceae) - a sensitivity analysis of the plastid region trnL-trnF combined with morphology. Plant Systematics and Evolution 250: 197-214.
Kellermann, J., Udovicic, F. & Ladiges, P.Y. (2005). Phylogenetic analysis and generic limits of the tribe Pomaderreae (Rhamnaceae) using internal transcribed spacer DNA sequences. Taxon 54: 619-631.
Ladiges, P.Y., Kellermann, J., Nelson, G., Humphries, C.J. & Udovicic, F. (2005) Historical biogeography of Australian Rhamnaceae, tribe Pomaderreae. Journal of Biogeography 32: 1909-1919.
Kellermann, J. , Medan, D., Aagesen, L. & Hilger, H.H. (2005) Rehabilitation of the South American genus Ochetophila Poepp. ex Endl. (Rhamnaceae: Colletieae). New Zealand Journal of Botany 43: 865-869.
Kellermann, J. (2006[2005]) New combinations for two species of Spyridium (Rhamnaceae: Pomaderreae) from the Grampians, Victoria. Muelleria 22: 97-104.
Kellermann, J., Rye, B.L. & Thiele, K.R. (2006) Polianthion, a new genus of Rhamnaceae (Pomaderreae) from Western Australia and Queensland. Australian Systematic Botany 19: 169--181.
Non-refereed publications and published abstracts
Kellermann, J. (2002) The Australian Rhamnaceae - a preliminary molecular analysis. Australian Systematic Botany Society Newsletter 110: 2-4 & 111, 5 [addendum].
Kellermann, J. (2004) Ecology and vegetation of Western Australia - an account of 100 years ago [review]. Australian Systematic Botany Society Newsletter 118: 26-28.
Kellermann, J., Udovicic, F. & Ladiges, P.Y. (2004) Stellate-haired Rhamnaceae: a molecular phylogeny of the tribe Pomaderreae. In: Bechly, G (ed.) Abstracts of the 7th annual congress of the Gesellschaft für Biologische Systematik (GfBS, Society for Biological Systematics). Organisms, Diversity & Evolution 4, Electr. Suppl 6: 35.
Kellermann, J. (2005 [2004]) The types of Pomaderreae (Rhamnaceae) at the Botanische Staatssammlung in Munich. Australian Systematic Botany Society Newsletter 121: 5-8.
Kellermann, J. (2005) Star-shaped hairs: studies on Rhamnaceae in Australia. In: School of Botany (The University of Melbourne), Annual Report 2004: 6-7.
Kellermann, J. (2005) Current research on the Australian Rhamnaceae. Rhamnaceae Study Group Newsletter, ASGAP 13 [2-3].
Kellermann, J. (2005) Studies on Australian Rhamnaceae. Biologue 30: 18-19. |
