School of Botany and Zoology

Luke Barrett
Luke.Barrett@csiro.au
+61 (0)2 6246 4893

Thesis title: Ecological and evolutionary dynamics within the Linum marginale / Melampsora lini host-pathogen association

Thesis description:
I am investigating co-evolutionary dynamics in the interaction between the rust pathogen, Melampsora lini and its native Australian plant host species, Linum marginale .   Previous work on this system has revealed geographic variation in the resistance and virulence structure of interacting populations, and in other traits important to the interaction.

The broad focus of my work is to use molecular, experimental and field approaches to investigate how evolutionary divergence between populations may be influenced by variation in several key factors including gene flow, sexual recombination, mutation, life history characteristics, the duration and severity of epidemics and levels of gene flow .

Publications
Barrett LG, He T, Lamont BB, Krauss SL (2005) Temporal patterns of genetic variation across a 9-year-old aerial seed bank of the shrub Banksia hookeriana (Proteaceae). Molecular Ecology 14 , 4169-4179.

Thrall PH, Barrett LG, Burdon JJ, Alexander HM (2005) Variation in pathogen aggressiveness within a metapopulation of the Cakile maritima - Alternaria brassicicola host-pathogen association. Plant Pathology 54 , 265-274.