Dr Todd McLay ‘Phylogenomics and Taxonomy of Native Hibiscus’

Todd, from CSIRO, will talk about his work on Hibisceae species which occur in Australia, and are common in rainforests, monsoon tropics, and the arid zone.  Many of the taxa associated with the drier parts of Australia have not had a taxonomic treatment since their original description in the mid-1800’s.  Todd’s research shows the power of collections-based research to combine new molecular methods with traditional taxonomy for species discovery and broad-ranging insights on the evolution of the Australian flora.

Abstract

Hibiscus (tribe Hibisceae, family Malvaceae) is a large, global genus of 300-600 species that is typically associated with Hawaiian shirts, healthy teas, and large-flowered garden plants.  Previous molecular work has shown that Hibiscus is not monophyletic as many segregated Hibisceae genera are nested within the global diversity of Hibiscus, including several with Australian distributions such as Abelmoschus, Urena, and Decaschistia.  About 100 Hibisceae species occur in Australia, and are common in rainforests, monsoon tropics, and the arid zone.  Many of the taxa associated with the drier parts of Australia have not had a taxonomic treatment since their original description in the mid-1800’s.  To investigate the evolution and radiation of the Australian Hibiscus I have used a high-throughput sequencing method to sequence over 600 genes from more than 300 herbarium sheets of Hibiscus and other related genera.  These data have been used to understand generic boundaries in Hibisceae, resolve the evolutionary history of Australian Hibiscus in different ecological biomes, and determine the extent of polyploidy and hybridisation in Hibisceae.  The molecular data has also been used in combination with morphological data collected from over 3000 herbarium sheets to identify at least 30 new species of Hibiscus.  My results show the power of collections-based research to combine new molecular methods with traditional taxonomy for species discovery and broad-ranging insights on the evolution of the Australian flora.

Biography

Dr Todd McLay, is a molecular systematist who uses next-generation sequencing methods to explore the systematics, biogeography, and taxonomy of the Australian and New Zealand flora.  He is a New Zealander, and studied at Massey University for his undergraduate and Master’s degree, where he studied the population genetics of Dactylanthus taylorii, an endemic holoparasite.  He moved to Australia in 2012 for his PhD at the University of Melbourne, where his research used a variety of next-generation sequencing methods to explore the evolution of grass trees, Xanthorrhoea.  In 2017 he moved to Canberra to work on the phylogeny and taxonomy of native hibiscus at the herbarium in CSIRO.