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Main research interest
Plant systematics and biogeography
Background
I originated from Adelaide, South Australia, obtaining my Ph.D.
at the University of Adelaide in 1976. From there I moved to
the Australian National Botanic Gardens, Canberra as a botanist
involved in research and the development of the Gardens. During
my tenure there I was appointed Australian Botanical Liaison
Officer at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London, for 1981-2.
I moved to my present post at Botany and Zoology at ANU in 1991.
In 1997-8 I spent a sabbatical at the University of Cape Town,
South Africa, researching southern hemisphere biogeography with
Prof Peter Linder. I was head of Botany and Zoology from 2000
to 2003.
Research Interests
My research in systematics investigates the evolutionary
origins and patterns of diversification of organisms, especially
plants, in time and space. My research group estimates phylogenies
(evolutionary trees) as a framework for testing hypotheses in
biogography and macro-evolution, and for classifying and naming
organisms. A diversity of evidence is used, including DNA sequences,
morphology and secondary plant compounds.
Systematics. The main emphasis is on the Australian
flora, especially legumes (Fabaceae), but also a number of oher
taxa, incuding gymnosperms, lichens and bryophytes. We
use phylogenies to determine relationships among species, and
on this basis revise classification, describe and name new taxa,
and publish identification tools such as flora handbooks and
on-line interactive keys.
Biogeography seeks to explain the spatial distribution
of organisms in terms of historical processes such as continental
drift and climatic change. My research has identified eight hotspots
of plant biodiversity across Australia that should be priorities
for conservation. Another project is an international collaboration
using phylogenies of ancient plant lineages to detect common
patterns that reflect the tectonic history of the earth.
The macro-evolution program investigates evolutionary
radiation and its historical causes. Currently we are modelling
molecular evolutionary rates to investigate adaptive radiation
in dominant taxa of the Australian sclerophyll flora. We are
testing the hypothesis that radiation was simultaneous in many
groups in the mid-Tertiary, possibly triggered by climatic change.
In another study, we have linked the diversification of a red-flowered
group of Western Australian legumes to a switch in pollinators
from bees to birds (honeyeaters). An hypothesis that we are testing
in this group is whether pollinator transitions have triggered
radiations.
Link with CSIRO
I am an honorary research associate at the Centre
for Plant Biodiversity Research (CPBR), CSIRO, located just
across the road. My students have full access to the facilities
there, as well as co-supervision by leading systematists.
Selected Publications
Crisp, M.D., Cook, L.G., 2007. A congruent molecular signature
of vicariance across multiple plant lineages. Molecular
Phylogenetics and Evolution 43, 1106-1117.
Biffin, E., Harrington, M.G., Crisp, M.D., Craven, L.A., Gadek,
P.A., 2007. Structural partitioning, paired-sites models and
evolution of the ITS transcript in Syzygium and Myrtaceae.
Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 43, 124-139.
Cook, L. G. and Crisp, M. D., 2005. Not
so ancient: the extant crown group of Nothofagus represents
a post-Gondwanan radiation. Proceedings of the Royal Society,
B. Biological Sciences. 272, 2535-2544.
Cook, L. G. and Crisp, M. D. 2005. Directional
asymmetry of long-distance dispersal and colonisation could
mislead reconstructions of biogeography. Journal of Biogeography 32,
741-754 .
Crisp, M. D. and Cook, L. G. 2005. Do early branching lineages
signify ancestral traits? Trends in Ecology and Evolution
20, 122-126.
Orthia, L. A., Cook, L. G. and Crisp, M. D. 2005. Generic
delimitation and phylogenetic uncertainty: an example from
a group that has undergone an explosive radiation. Australian
Systematic Botany 18, 41-47.
Crisp, M. D., Cook, L. G. and Steane D. A. 2004. Radiation
of the Australian flora: what can comparisons of molecular
phylogenies across multiple taxa tell us about the evolution
of diversity in present-day communities? Philosophical
Transactions of the Royal Society of London B, Biological
Sciences 359:
1551-1571.
Pfeil, B. E., Brubaker, C. L., Craven, L. A. and Crisp, M.
D. 2004. Paralogy and orthology
in the Malvaceae rpb2 gene family: investigation of
gene duplication in Hibiscus. Molecular Biology
and Evolution 21: 1428-1437.
Crisp, M. D. and Cook, L. G. 2003. Phylogeny
and evolution of anomalous roots in Daviesia (Fabaceae:
Mirbelieae). International Journal of Plant Sciences
164: 603-612.
Crisp, M. D. and Cook, L. G. 2003. Phylogeny
and embryo sac evolution in the endemic Australasian papilionoid
tribes Mirbelieae and Bossiaeeae. In 'Advances in Legume
Systematics, Part 10. Higher Level Systematics'. (Eds. B.B.
Klitgaard and A. Bruneau) pp. 253-268. (Royal Botanic
Gardens, Kew.)
Andrew, R., Miller, J. T., Peakall, R., Crisp, M. D. and Bayer,
R. J. 2003. Genetic,
cytogenetic and morphological variation in a mixed mulga population:
evidence for apomixis. Australian Systematic Botany
16: 69-80.
Crisp, M. D., Laffan, S., Linder, H. P., and Monro, A. 2001.
Endemism in the Australian
flora. Journal of Biogeography 28: 183-198.
Crisp, M. D., West, J. G., and Linder, H. P. 1999. Biogeography
of the terrestrial flora. In 'Flora of Australia. Volume
1. Introduction'. (Eds A. E. Orchard and H. S. Thompson.) 2
edn. pp. 321-367. (CSIRO: Melbourne.)
Crisp, M. D. and Chandler, G. 1996. Paraphyletic
species. Telopea 6: 813-844.
Linder, H. P. and Crisp, M. D. 1995. Nothofagus
and Pacific biogeography. Cladistics 11: 5-32.
Current Research Group
Postdoctoral Fellow
David Morris, an ARC-funded Research Associate, works with
me on molecular systematics and evolution of Australian flora,
and supervises students' lab work
We continue to collaborate extensively with Lyn Cook, who
was previously a member of this lab and is now located at
the School of Integrative Biology, University of Queensland.
Research students
Melita Baum, BSc (Hons) - genetic and geographic variation
in Howittia trilocularis (Malvaceae)
Ed Biffin, PhD - phylogeny and evolution of fruits of Syzygium
(Myrtaceae)
Richard Carter, PhD - phylogeny and biogeography of Brachychiton (Sterculiaceae)
Robert Edwards (with Lyn Cook, UQ) - reticulate evolution
in the Melaleuca leucadendra complex.
Bobbie Hitchcock (with Marianne Horak, CSIRO) - systematics
of the light brown apple moths. Andrew Thornhill, PhD - phylogeneic analysis of pollen morphology
in Myrtaceae
Past Students
Robert Edwards, BSc (Hons), 'A phylogenetic study of the Melaleuceae
Alliance (Myrtaceae) using morphological and molecular data';
currently a PhD student at UQ.
Teguh Triono, PhD - systematics of Sapotaceae in Australia;
currently empoled as a senior botanist in Indonesia.
Ed Cross, PhD - systematics of Rhodanthe (Asteraceae),
a combined molecular and morphological approach; sadly deceased.
Anna Monro, PhD, 'Systematics of the Australian Polygalaceae
sens. lat.'; currently employed at CPBR.
Alex Roberts, BSc (Hons), 'Molecular phylogeny of Acomis,
Leptorhynchos and Rutidosis (Asteraceae)'.
Lindy Orthia, BSc (Hons), 'Systematics of Pultenaea
(Fabaceae)', currently a PhD student in this School; curretly
a PhD student in science communication at ANU.
Scot Kelchner, PhD, 'Phylogenetic structure, biogeography,
and evolution of the Myoporaceae', currently an asistant professor
at Idaho State University,
USA.
Bernard Pfeil, PhD, 'Systematics of the Hibisceae (Malvaceae)
in Australia', currently a post-doc at Cornell University, USA.
Rose Andrew, BSc (Hons), 'The genetics and maintenance of morphological
diversity in Acacia aneura', currently a PhD student
in this School.
Ed Biffin, BSc (Hons), Biogeography of Flindersia (Rutaceae)
in the Australian wet tropics, currently a PhD student in this
School.
Simone Louwhoff, PhD, 'The lichen genera Hypotrachyna
and Parmotrema in the Pacific Islands: Taxonomy, Phytochemistry
and Distribution', currently at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne.
Greg Chandler, PhD, 'Systematic studies in Gastrolobium
(Fabaceae: Mirbelieae)' and B.Sc. (Hons.), 1995. 'A revision
of the Daviesia ulicifolia Andr. species complex', currently
an assistant professor at University of North Carolina, USA
Lina Juswara, MPhil, 'Systematics of Goodyera R.Br.
sect. Otosepalum Schltr. and related taxa (Orchidaceae)',
currently a PhD student at Ohio State University, USA.
Emma Lumb, BSc(Hons), 'Is Podolobium ilicifolium (Fabaceae:
Mirbelieae) a species complex?', currently at the Office of
the Chief Plant Protection Officer, DAFF, Canberra.
Scott Gilmore, B.Sc.(Hons), 1999. 'Is Dicranoloma robustum
conspecific with D. billarderii?', currently a PhD student
at ANU.
Mant, J.G., BSc (Hons), 1998. A phylogeny of Triodia
R.Br. and related genera (Poaceae: Triodieae), currently a postdoc
at the University of Zurich..
Cayzer, L.W., Ph.D., 1997, 'Revision of the family Pittosporaceae
in Australia' and B.Sc. (Hons.), 1993, 'The investigation
of phenotypic variation within and between three eucalypt
taxa occurring in the A.C.T.', currently working at the Australian
Quarantine and Inspection Service, Canberra.
Lyne, A.M., Grad. Dip Sci., 1997. Analysis of the geographic
variation exhibited by Leptospermum brevipes F. Muell.
Telford, I.R., Grad. Dip Sci., 1997. 'Morphological variation
in the Sicyos australis Endl. complex (Cucurbitaceae)
and a preliminary investigation of the sectional classification
of the genus'. Now a PhD student at the University of New England.
Monro, A., BSc (Hons.), 1997, 'Phylogeny and biogeography of
the Mirbelia spinosa group (Fabaceae: Mirbelieae', currently
working at CPBR.
Alvarez de Glasby, B., PhD., 1996, 'The phylogenetic relationships
of the family Axinellidae (Porifera: Demospongiae)'. Now working
at the Museum of the Northern Territory.
Hoebee, S., BSc (Hons.), 1996, 'Ecological and evolutionary
aspects of a Daviesia (Fabaceae) hybrid zone'. Now a
postdoc at the Swiss Federal Institute WSL, Birmensdorf.
Parrish, T., BSc (Hons.), 1994. The systematics of two species
of Waratah, Telopea mongaensis F. Muell. and T. oreades
Cheel (Proteaceae). Ph.D., Netherlands Institute of Ecology,
Utrecht University (2002).
Flood, P., BSc (Hons), 1994. Characterisation of a hybrid zone
between Daviesia leptophylla and D. mimosoides.
Projects for Research Students
I am willing to supervise honours and postgraduate students
on any aspect of plant systematics, phylogenetics (including
molecular phylogenetics), biogeography and macro-evolution.
To date I have supervised students working on groups as diverse
as angiosperms (several families), mosses, lichens and marine
sponges. For examples of projects, see my statement of research
interests and those of my past and current students.
Honours projects:
Geographic variation
in common Aotus
Templetonia:
speciation and adaptation in the mallee
Evolution of bird-pollination
among Australian legumes
Courses Taught
'Evolution, Ecology and Genetics' (BIOL1003),
1st year.
Plant
Diversity' (BIOL2122), 2nd year.
'Biodiversity
and Systematics' (BIOL3134), 3rd year.
'Botanical Internship'
(BIOL3138), 3rd year (summer).
Other Activities
Editorial Board, 'Systematic
Biology'
Associate, Centre for
Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian National Herbarium,
CSIRO, Canberra
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The Australian National University
Date last modified: 2 August 2004
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