Australian Tropical Herbarium Herbarium Staff Kaylene Bransgrove

Kaylene Bransgrove

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PhD candidate

MSc in Biodiversity and Taxonomy of Plants, 2007, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK. Bachelor of Science (Hons), 1995, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.

Office:

E2.203A, Sir Robert Norman Building (E2), James Cook University, PO Box 6811, Smithfield  QLD  4878

Phone:

+61 (0)7 4232 1687

Email:

kaylene.bransgrove@my.jcu.edu.au

Research

My research interests are in taxonomy, systematics, biogeography of fungi and plants. I am especially interested in the fungal-host interactions and host specificity.

Projects

I am currently undertaking a PhD investigating the tropical fungal endophytes of the Wet Tropics region in northern Queensland. While we know that the endophyte flora of the tropics is considered rich and diverse, we know little about the endophytes of northern Australia and the Wet Tropics. I am using the genus Elaeocarpus as a model host to investigate the biodiversity, taxonomy, host specificity and genetic diversity of the fungal endophytes of the Wet Tropics.

I am also investigating the biodiversity and seasonality of fungi at high altitudes in the Wet Tropics. In this project I will collect fungi from high-altitude sites across the region.  Sites will be surveyed systematically and revisited in all seasons for the life of the project to investigate seasonality and to collect any fungi which may fruit in specific seasons. The biodiversity focus for the project is the macrofungi of the sites.

Selected Publications

Shivas, RG, Tan, YP, Edwards, J, Dinh, Q, Maxwell, A, Andjic, V, Liberato, J, Anderson, C, Beasley, D, Bransgrove, K, Coates, L, Cowan, K, Daniel, R, Dean, J, Lomavatu, M, Mercad-Escueta, D, Mitchell, R, Thangavel, R, Tran-Nguyen, L, Weir, B (2016) Colletotrichum species in Australia. Australasian Plant Pathology 45, 477-464.

Bransgrove, K, Middleton, DJ (2015) A revision of Epithema (Gesneriaceae). Gardens' Bulletin Singapore 67, 159-229.

Grants and awards

  • 2013: Pauline Ladiges Prize awarded by the Australasian Systematic Botany Society for best student presentation.

  • 2012: Wet Tropics Management Authority (WTMA) Student Grant, “Biodiversity and host specificity in tropical rainforest fungal endophytes in the Wet Tropics”.

  • 2011: PhD candidature scholarship, National Environmental Research Programme (NERP).

  • 2011: Kyoto University Global COE Programme Fellowship, September 2011. Travel, accommodation, stipend to attend the Kyoto University Summer Field School. Mycology field course on Yakushima Island, mycology genome course at Kyoto University.

  • 2008: Sibbald Fellowship, Sibbald Trust, Edinburgh. Award of grant to conduct a revision of Epithema (Gesneriaceae).

  • 2006: British Council Scholarship, British Council. Award of full scholarship for MSc study, Biodiversity and Taxonomy of Plants, 2006-2007, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom.