Dr Molly Whalen

Contact Details

Key Responsibilities

• Co-coordinator of BSc Degree in Biodiversity & Conservation

• Cluster Leader (with Dr Kleindorfer) Biodiversity & Conservation

• Coordinator of BSc Ecology, Behaviour and Evolution Major

Teaching

• Biodiversity & Conservation
• Plant Systematics & Ecology

Research

My research interests are in the general areas of plant systematics and ecology and conservation biology, and my research program combines systematic and ecological approaches.

My research interests in conservation biology include the biology and management of both rare plants and weedy plants and reclamation and revegetation, especially in arid and coastal areas. In my ecological work I have a particular interest in plant reproductive ecology and plant-animal interactions. My interest in plant ecology and conservation biology includes the application of genetic and ecological approaches to the management of both rare plant species and weedy plants, the impact of disturbance on plant animal interactions and plant reproductive biology, and ecology of halophytic plants. Recent honours and post-graduate student projects in our lab include studies of the conservation biology of mound spring plants, population biology and ecology of weedy blackberry species, seed dispersal by ants and emus, and responses of understory vegetation to managed flooding on the Chowilla floodplain. I have also been involved in a collaborative project on the systematics of exotic Rubus species in Australia.

With respect to systematics and evolutionary ecology, three plant families in which I have a particular interest are the Frankeniaceae, Euphorbiaceae and Myrtaceae. As well as the systematics and evolutionary history of genera within these groups, I am also interested in the ecological significance of variation in morphological and other characters in these groups, e.g. characters related to plant defence and reproduction.

The Frankeniaceae occurs in Mediterranean and desert regions and on specialized soil types, e.g. saline and gypseous soils, and my interest in this group is part of a broader interest in the evolution and ecology of desert and halophytic plants. Past and on-going honours and post-graduate student projects in our lab have examined the molecular systematics of this group, as well as breeding systems,  pollination and conservation biology of Australian species in this group.

The Euphorbiaceae is a large and diverse family with a widespread distribution. In addition to my work on systematics, one aspect of euphorb biology in which I am interested is the nature of interactions with ants and the evolution of associated morphological structures. Extrafloral nectaries have been reported in a number of euphorb genera and many members of the family have seeds with caruncles which are generally assumed to function as elaiosomes which attract ants. Duncan Mackay and I and students in our lab have examined ant-plant interactions in species with extra-floral nectaries in several genera of Euphorbiaceae and also seed dispersal by ants in coast bitterbush.

See Publication List

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