Evolutionary History of Chenopodium Across Australia’s Climate Divide

Dr. Anže Žerdoner Čalasan

Fakultät für Biologie, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

Australia is a continent of climatic extremes, ranging from fire-prone forests to vast arid deserts. Yet many plantlineages have successfully colonised and diversified across these contrasting environments. One such lineage is Chenopodium. In this seminar, I explore the spatio-temporal framework of the evolutionary history of Australian Chenopodium and examine both trait evolution and biogeographic history in the context of habitat transitions across Australia’s climate divide. I address how shifts in key life-history and reproductive traits, together with historical dispersal patterns, have shaped the diversification of this group in these diverse and often hostile environments.