Current Research
Project Title: The Marine Algae of Lord Howe Island
Participants: G. T. Kraft and collaborators
Project Summary: Lord Howe Island is a spectacular World Heritage area and the site of the World's southernmost coral reef. Isolated in the Tasman Sea some 700 km northeast of Sydney, it is often compared with the famous Galapagos Islands of South America because of the richness and variety of its unique plant and animal life. We have been documenting its marine algae for over 20 years and are discovering large numbers of new species and genera there.
Project Title: Marine Algae from the Tropical East and West -- the Great Barrier Reef and Western Australia
Participants: G. T. Kraft and collaborators
Project Summary: Some of the finest diving in the world is to be had on the southern Great Barrier Reef of Queensland and at Rottnest and the Abrolhos Islands of Western Australia. Collections made in these areas over the years have resulted in the discovery of many new and unusual species and a greater understanding of Australia's links to the floras of far-flung areas such as Africa, the Philippines and Hawaii.
Project Title: Classification and Phylogeny of genera of the Red Algal Family Rhodomelaceae
Participants: L.E. Phillips, G. T. Kraft, and J. A. West
Project Summary: Anatomical and molecular techniques are being used to investigate the members of the Rhodomelaceae, the largest family of the largest seaweed phylum. The emphasis is on those tribes and genera containing the highest proportions of Australian-endemic representatives. Relationships within and between genera are being targeted for study with the aim of resolving formerly intractable questions about their evolutionary histories.
Project Title: Ecology of an Invading Kelp Species in Port Phillip Bay
Participants: N. Yee and G. T. Kraft
Project Summary: A baseline floristic study is being conducted in three areas of Port Phillip Bay that have been
recently invaded by the introduced Japanese kelp Undaria. The species-composition of the invaded communities is being compared to those of adjacent, non-invaded areas, and the seasonality, distribution, and possible deleterious effects of Undaria are being quantatively assessed.
Project Title: Investigations of a New Genus and Species of Marine Green Algae from Point Lonsdale, Victoria
Participants: A. Bitans, G. T. Kraft
Project Summary: The green algae of southern Australia are better known than any other seaweed group, but undescribed members are still being discovered. In the Marine Reserve at Point Lonsdale, a crust-forming green alga unknown anywhere else in the world is being studied and described for the first time. Details of its ecology, anatomy, ultrastructure, photosynthetic pigments and molecular biology are being documented in order to give this interesting organism a firmly grounded scientific name.
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Maintainer Email Address: C.O'Brien@botany.unimelb.edu.au