Patterns of colour across communities
Colour in the natural world is extraordinarily diverse. One of the most striking biological signals, colour is under both sexual and natural selection and has been investigated by many eminent evolutionary biologists. While it has been established that the broad diversity of flower colours across the world evolved under selection by pollinators, the processes that shape which colours should coexist in a community are still being debated.
My research focuses on the analysis of flower colour across communities, with particular interest in how geography, phylogeny and the processes of disturbance and invasion affect the ‘colour space’ of a community. I will investigate the aspects of the biotic and abiotic environment which may or may not make a community more colourful. I will also incorporate other groups such as birds into my research, in order to analyse patterns of colour selection more broadly.
Supervisor - Associate Professor Angela Moles
Co-Supervisor - Dr Darrell Kemp (Macquarie University)
