Anna Syme
Anna is researching the evolution and systematics of plants and fungi. A key focus of her work is building multi-gene phylogenies to use as a framework to model evolutionary dynamics, such as species radiations and rates of molecular evolution. Previously, Anna studied these phenomena using invertebrate crustaceans, but the concepts apply across diverse biological taxa. Anna’s current work includes the analysis of genetic material to identify invasive weeds, and a molecular study of worldwide stipoid grasses including the Australasian endemic genus Austrostipa. She is also investigating the genomics of stipoid grasses to discover whether gene duplication is a driver of evolutionary change in this group.
Projects
Publications
Lebel, T. and Syme, A.E. (2012). Sequestrate Agaricus and Macrolepiota from Australia: new combinations and species, and their position in a calibrated phylogeny. Mycologia 104, 496–520.
Syme, A.E. (2012). Diversification rates in the Australasian endemic grass Austrostipa – 15 million years of constant evolution. Plant Systematics and Evolution 298, 221–227.
Syme, A.E., Murphy, D.J., Holmes, G.D., Gardner, S., Fowler, R. and Cantrill, D.C. (2012). An expanded phylogenetic analysis of Austrostipa (Poaceae: Stipeae) to test infrageneric relationships. Australian Systematic Botany 25, 1–10.
Syme A.E. and Oakley T.H. (2012). Dispersal between shallow and abyssal seas and evolutionary loss and re-gain of ostracod compound eyes in cylindroleberidid ostracods: conflicting conclusions from different comparative methods. Systematic Biology 61, 314–336.
Jenkins, G.P., Syme, A.E. and Macreadie, P.I. (2011). Feeding ecology of King George whiting Sillaginodes punctatus (Perciformes) recruits in seagrass and unvegetated habitats. Does diet reflect habitat utilization? Journal of Fish Biology 78, 1561–1573.
Last updated 12 Apr 2012