Anatomy of a biodiversity hotspot: investigating the evolutionary and ecological basis of high plant diversity in southwestern Australia

The concentration of much of the world's biodiversity within relatively few hotspots is one of the most intriguing unexplained problems in ecology and evolution. I will investigate in detail the processes responsible for the remarkable plant diversity of Australia s hotspot, the Southwest Botanical Province. I will apply innovative approaches using molecular phylogenies (evolutionary trees) of major plant groups such as Banksia to integrate evolutionary and ecological explanations for high plant diversity. In so doing I will provide a new phylogenetic framework and new analytical tools for investigating the origin and maintenance of high biodiversity in southwestern Australia and other hotspots.