Lalita Simpson

Australian Tropical Herbarium | ATH

The generation and analysis of genome-scale data—genomics—is driving a rapid increase in plant biodiversity knowledge. However, the speed and complexity of technological advance in genomics presents challenges for its widescale use in evolutionary and conservation biology. Here, we introduce and describe a national-scale collaboration conceived to...

Grasses (Poaceae) comprise around 11,800 species and are central for human livelihoods and terrestrial ecosystems. Knowing their relationships and evolutionary history is key to comparative research and crop breeding. Advances in genome-scale sequencing allow for increased breadth and depth of phylogenomic analyses, making it possible to infer a ne...

The hyperdiverse orchid genus Bulbophyllum is the second largest genus of flowering plants and exhibits a pantropical distribution with a center of diversity in tropical Asia. The only Bulbophyllum section with a center of diversity in Australasia is sect. Adelopetalum. However, the phylogenetic placement, interspecific relationships, and spatio-te...

Angiosperms are the cornerstone of most terrestrial ecosystems and human livelihoods1,2. A robust understanding of angiosperm evolution is required to explain their rise to ecological dominance. So far, the angiosperm tree of life has been determined primarily by means of analyses of the plastid genome3,4. Many studies have drawn on this foundation...

Orchids constitute one of the most spectacular radiations of flowering plants. However, their origin, spread across the globe, and hotspots of speciation remain uncertain due to the lack of an up‐to‐date phylogeographic analysis. We present a new Orchidaceae phylogeny based on combined high‐throughput and Sanger sequencing data, covering all five s...

Orchids constitute one of the most spectacular radiations of flowering plants. However, their geographical origin, historical spread across the globe, and hotspots of speciation remain uncertain due to the lack of a broad phylogenomic framework. ⍰ We present a new Orchidaceae phylogeny based on high-throughput and Sanger sequencing datasets, coveri...

The hyperdiverse orchid genus Bulbophyllum is the second largest genus of flowering plants and exhibits a pantropical distribution with a center of diversity in tropical Asia. The only Bulbophyllum section with a centre of diversity in Australasia is sect. Adelopetalum. However, phylogenetic placement, interspecific relationships, and spatio-tempor...

Australia harbours a rich and highly endemic orchid flora with over 90% of native species found nowhere else. However, little is known about the assembly and evolution of Australia’s orchid flora. Here, we used a phylogenomic approach to infer evolutionary relationships, divergence times and range evolution in Pterostylidinae (Orchidoideae), the se...

Australia harbours a rich and highly endemic orchid flora with over 90% of native species found nowhere else. However, little is known about the assembly and evolution of Australia's orchid flora. Here, we used a phylogenomic approach to infer evolutionary relationships and range evolution in Pterostylidinae (Orchidoideae), the second largest subtr...

Premise: Universal target enrichment kits maximize utility across wide evolutionary breadth while minimizing the number of baits required to create a cost-efficient kit. The Angiosperms353 kit has been successfully used to capture loci throughout the angiosperms, but the default target reference file includes sequence information from only 6-18 ta...

This study assessed inter- and intraspecific relationships and genetic structure in an Australian species complex in the helmet orchids (Corybas) to clarify the taxonomic and conservation status of the threatened species Corybas dowlingii, a narrow endemic from southeast Australia. Taxonomic delimitation between the three closely related species C....

Universal target enrichment kits maximise utility across wide evolutionary breadth while minimising the number of baits required to create a cost-efficient kit. Locus assembly requires a target reference, but the taxonomic breadth of the kit means that target references files can be phylogenetically sparse. The Angiosperms353 kit has been successfu...

This study assessed genomic diversity in an Australian species complex in the helmet orchids to clarify taxonomic delimitation and conservation status of the threatened species Corybas dowlingii, a narrow endemic from southeast Australia. Taxonomic delimitation between the three closely related species C. aconitiflorus, C. barbarae, and C. dowlingi...

Elaeocarpus carbinensis from montane areas of the Wet Tropics bioregion of northeast Queensland, Australia is described and compared with similar species. Notes on habitat, distribution, and relationships, and a key to allied large-fruited species is provided. The conservation outlook for the species was determined with environmental niche modellin...

The Australian mesic biome spans c. 33 degrees of latitude along Australia's east coast and ranges but is dissected by historical and contemporary biogeographical barriers. To investigate the impact of these barriers on evolutionary diversification and to predict the impact of future climate change on the distribution of species and genetic diversi...

The upland forests of Australia’s Wet Tropics bioregion, which are recognised globally for their biodiversity value, are facing considerable threat from predicted climatic shifts. It is likely the impact will be seen at all taxonomic levels effecting phylogenetic diversity, species richness and within species genetic diversity. At a broad scale ou...