Dr. Ashley Field

Research

My research program investigates the evolution, systematics, niche-specialisation, rarity conservation biology and extinction in ferns, lycophytes and vascular epiphytes in the Wet Tropics, Australia. My primary research focus is on aspects of the evolution, systematics, conservation biology and human use of the genus Phlegmariurus (Lycopodiaceae) globally. I am the curator of fern and lycopod families at the Australian Tropical Herbarium (CNS, Cairns) and Queensland Herbarium (BRI).

Current projects

Systematics of Australian ferns and lycophytes
Advances in molecular phylogenetic systematics enable us to improve the classification of ferns and lycophytes to better reflect their evolutionary diversification. One the 20th anniversary of the publication of the Flora of Australia 48 fern and lycophyte volume (1998), this project aims to (a) Update the classification of Australian ferns and lycophytes to the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group family and generic classification; (b) sample all Australian fern and lycophyte species for high throughput DNA sequencing and phylogenomic analysis; (c) locate, examine and digitise type materials and original literature of all Australian fern and lycophyte species and select lectotypes where appropriate and (d) produce Australia’s first online interactive identification system to the ferns and lycophytes (Identification System can be found here).

Evolutionary diversification, systematics, rarity and conservation of Phlegmariurus (Lycopodiaceae).
Phlegmariurus (Lycopodiaceae) is a diverse genus of 200-300 species of epiphytic, epilithic and terrestrial herbs that occur in wet forested and montane habitats globally in the tropics and subtropics. This collaborative research programs uses molecular tools to unravel the complex diversification of Phlegmariurus globally with an overall aim to resolve our understanding of the species diversity for conservation purposes.

The evolution of niche specialisation and its relationship to rarity and evolutionary diversification.
This project studies ant-Myrmecodia and Myrmecodia-host tree specialisation, butterfly-host plant specialisation, Phlegmariurus-host tree specialisation as well as thrip-Ficus and wasp-Ficus specialisation to better understand the evolution of niche specialisation and its relationship to rarity, range and population size potential and rates of evolutionary descent and diversification.

Selected Publications

Field A.R., Bostock P.D.B. (2023) (108) Request for a binding decision on whether the names Lycopodium filicaule Hook. f. and L. filicaulon Copel. are sufficiently alike to be confused Taxon 72 (5) 1131 https://doi.org/10.1002/tax.13030

Almeida, T.E., Smith, A.R., Bostock, P.D., Bloesch, Z. & Field A.R. (2023). A new intergeneric fern hybrid from Australia. Austrobaileya 13: 41–50

Bloesch Z., Nauheimer L., Almeida T.E., Crayn D., Field A.R. (2022) HybPhaser identified hybrid evolution in Australian Thelypteridaceae. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 173:107526 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2022.107526

Field A.R., Quinn C.J., Zich F.A. (2022) Australian Tropical Ferns and Lycophytes. Australian Tropical Herbarium, Cairns; Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra; Identic, Brisbane. apps.lucidcentral.org/fern/text/intro/index.htm (accessed online 4 Apr 2022).

Chen C.-W., Perrie L., Glenny D., Chiou W.-L., Fawcett S., Smith A.R., Parris B.S., Ebihara A., Ohlsen D., Lehtonen S., Don S.-Y., Lehnert M., Field A.R., Chao Y.-S., Murdock A.G., Sundue M. (2022) An annotated checklist of lycophytes and ferns of the Solomon Islands. Fern Gaz. 21(7):292-419

Herrera, F., Testo W.L., Field A.R., Clark E.G., Herendeen P.S., Crane P.R., Shi G. (2022) A permineralized Early Cretaceous lycopsid from China and the evolution of crown clubmosses. New Phytologist 233: 2310– 2322 https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.17874

Perrie L.R., Field A.R., Ohlsen D.J., Brownsey P.J. (2021) Expansion of the fern genus Lecanopteris to encompass some species previously included in Microsorum and Colysis (Polypodiaceae) Blumea 66: 242–248. DOI: 10.3767/blumea.2021.66.03.07

Callmander M.W., Buerki S., Zich F., Field A.R., Gallaher T (2021) Pandanus grayorum (Pandanaceae), a new species endemic to north-eastern Queensland, Australia. Australian Systematic Botany 34: 327-335. (https://doi.org/10.1071/SB20033)

Rouhan G., Boullet V., Field A.R., Schuettpelz E. (2021) Three new combinations and one lectotypification of fern and lycophyte taxa from the French overseas territories. Phytotaxa 497(1): 54-56. https://doi.org/phytotaxa.497.1.6

Field A.R. (2020) Lycopodiaceae. In: Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, Canberra. https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Lycopodiaceae

Field A.R. (2020) Classification and typification of Australian lycophytes and ferns based on Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification PPG I. Australian Systematic Botany 33(1): 1–102. doi.org/10.1071/SB18011

Field A.R., Brownsey P.J. (2020) (2700) Proposal to conserve the name Lycopodium mirabile (Phlegmariurus mirabilis) (Lycopodiaceae) with a conserved type. Taxon 6(4): 858–859.  doi.org/10.1002/tax.12102

Renner M.A.M., Field A.R. (2019) The filmy fern Hymenophyllum reinwardtii (Hymenophyllaceae) newly recorded for Australia. Telopea 22:185–191. doi.org/10.7751/telopea13967

Field A.R., Renner M.A.M. (2019) Rediscovered or reconsidered: The presumed Extinct ferns and lycophytes of tropical Queensland, Australia. Australian Systematic Botany 32: 111–122. doi.org/10.1071/SB18024

Brownsey P.J., Perrie L.R., Field A.R. (2019) Taxonomic notes on the New Zealand flora: lectotypes in Dryopteridaceae and Nephrolepidaceae. New Zealand Journal of Botany 57(1): 32–38. doi.org/10.1080/0028825X.2018.1544571

Perrie L.R., Shepherd L.D., Field A.R., Brownsey P.J. (2019) Morphological and genetic evidence for the separation of Phlegmariurus billardierei from P. varius (Lycopodiaceae). New Zealand Journal of Botany 58: 118–128. doi.org/10.1080/0028825X.2019.1668438

Silcock J.L., Field A.R., Walsh N.G., Fensham R.J. (2019) To name those lost: assessing extinction likelihood in the Australian vascular flora. Oryx 54:167–177. doi.org/10.1017/S0030605318001357

Testo W.L., Field A.R., Sessa E.B., Sundue M. (2019) Phylogenetic and Morphological Analyses Support the Resurrection of Dendroconche and the Recognition of Two New Genera in Polypodiaceae Subfamily Microsoroideae Systematic Botany 44(4): 1–16. doi.org/10.1600/036364419X15650157948607

Field A.R. (2018) Phlegmariurus vanuatuensis (Huperzioideae, Lycopodiaceae) a new species from Vanuatu, re-circumscription of P. nummulariifolius and new combinations in Phlegmariurus. PhytoKeys 109: 53–66.

Brownsey P., Perrie L.R., Field A.R. (2018) Taxonomic notes on the New Zealand flora: lectotypes in Isoetaceae and Lycopodiaceae. New Zealand Journal of Botany 56(4): 396–405. doi.org/10.1080/0028825X.2018.1519513

Testo W., Øllgaard B., Field A.R., Almeida T.E., Kessler M., Barrington D. (2018b) Phylogenetic systematics, morphological evolution, and natural groups in Neotropical Phlegmariurus (Lycopodiaceae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 125: 1–13. doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2018.03.016

Bauret L., Field A.R., Gaudeul M., Rouhan G., Selosse M.-A. (2018) First insights on the biogeographic history of Phlegmariurus (Lycopodiaceae), with a focus on Madagascar. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 127: 488–501. doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2018.05.004

Testo W., Field A.R., Barrington D. (2018) Overcoming among-lineage rate heterogeneity to infer the divergence times and biogeography of the clubmoss family Lycopodiaceae. Journal of Biogeography 45(8): 1–13. doi.org/10.1111/jbi.13373

Field A.R. (2017) Arrival of Tawny Coster butterflies on the East Australian coast coinciding with the winds of Tropical Cyclone Debbie. North Queensland Naturalist 47: 28–31. researchonline.jcu.edu.au/50191/

Field A.R., Testo W., Bostock P.D, Holtum J.A.M., Waycott M. (2016) Molecular phylogenetics and the morphology of the Lycopodiaceae subfamily Huperzioideae supports three genera: Huperzia, Phlegmariurus and Phylloglossum. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 94(b): 635–657. doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2015.09.024

Tree D.J., Mound L.A., & Field A.R. (2015) Host Specificity Studies on Gynaikothrips (Thysanoptera: Phlaeothripidae) Associated with Leaf Galls of Cultivated Ficus (Rosales: Moraceae) Trees. Florida Entomologist, 98(3): 880–883.  doi.org/10.1653/024.098.0310

Trapnell D.W., Beasley R.R., Stacey L.L., Field A.R., Jones K.L. (2015) Characterisation of microsatellite loci for an Australian epiphytic orchid Dendrobium calamiforme, using Illumina sequencing. Applications in Plant Sciences 3 (6). doi.org/10.3732/apps.1500016

PPG I. Schuettpelz E., Schneider H., Smith A.R., Hovenkamp P., Prado J., Rouhan G., Salino A., Sundue M., Almeida T.E., Parris B., Sessa E.B., Field A.R., de Gasper A.L., Rothfels C.J., Windham M.D., Lehnert M., Dauphin B., Ebihara A., Lehtonen S., Schwartsburd P.B. Metzgar J., Zhang, L.-B., Kuo L.-Y., Brownsey P.J., Kato M., Arana M.D. (2016) A community-derived classification for extant lycophytes and ferns. Journal of Systematics and Evolution 54(6): 563–603. doi.org/10.1111/jse.12229

Zhang L., Rothfels C.J., Ebihara A., Schuettpelz E., Le Pecheon T., Kamua P., He H., Zhou X.-M., Prado J., Field A.R., Yatskievych G., Gao X.-F. & Zhang L.-B. (2015) A global plastic phylogeny of the brake fern genus Pteris (Pteridaceae) and related genera in Pteridoideae. Cladistics 31(4): 406–423. doi.org/10.1111/cla.12094

Trapnell D.W., Beasley R.R., Stacey L.L., Field A.R., Jones K.L. (2015) Characterisation of microsatellite loci for an Australian epiphytic orchid Dendrobium calamiforme, using Illumina sequencing. Applications in Plant Sciences 3 (6). doi.org/10.3732/apps.1500016

Field A.R. & Bostock P.D.B. (2013) New and existing combinations in Palaeotropical Phlegmariurus (Lycopodiaceae) and lectotypification of the type species Phlegmariurus phlegmaria (L.) T.Sen & U.Sen. Phytokeys 20: 33–51. https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.20.4007

Ohlsen D.J., Field A.R. (2013) A new fern species for Queensland: Diplazium squamuligerum (Rosenst.) Parris (Woodsiaceae). Austrobaileya 9(1): 114–125. researchonline.jcu.edu.au/38038/

Field A.R. (2012) Poikilogyne cordifolia (Cogn.) Mansf., a newly recorded genus and species of Melastomataceae for Australia. Austrobaileya 8(4): 613–615. researchonline.jcu.edu.au/38034/

Field A.R. & Zich, F. (2012) Types of enigmatic north-Queensland orchids from the Dockrill herbarium. Austrobaileya 8(4): 696–698. researchonline.jcu.edu.au/38035/

Lim W.-H., Goodger J.Q.D., Field A.R., Holtum J.A.M & Woodrow I.E. (2010) Huperzine alkaloids from Australian and southeast Asian Huperzia. Pharmaceutical Biology 48(9): 1073–1078. https://dor.org/10.3109/13880209.2010.485619

Lim W-H, Goodger J.Q.D., Field A.R., Holtum J.A.M. & Woodrow I.E. (2009) Australiasian Huperzia as potential sources of Huperzine A and B. Planta Medica 75: 9. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0029-1235009

Field A.R. & Bostock P.D. (2008) Huperzia tetrastichoides A.R.Field & Bostock (Lycopodiaceae) a newly recognised species of tassel-fern from the Wet Tropics of Queensland, Australia. Austrobaileya 7(4): 711–715. researchonline.jcu.edu.au/5995/

Goodger, J.Q.D., Whincup, A.L., Field A.R., Holtum J.A.M. & Woodrow I.E. (2008) Variation in huperzine A and B in Australasian Huperzia species. Biochemical Systematics and Ecology 36: 612–618. doi.org/10.1016/j.bse.2008.05.006

Crozier Y.C., Jia, X.C., Yao J.Y., Field A.R., Cook J.M., Crozier R.H. (2007) Microsatellite primers for Ficus racemosa and Ficus rubiginosa. Molecular Ecology Notes 7: 57–59. doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-8286.2006.01523.x

Grice, A.C., Field A.R. and McFadyen R.E.C. (2004) Quantifying the effects of weeds on biodiversity: beyond blind Freddy’s test; 14th Australian Weeds Conference Proceedings. Sindel B.M. and Johnson S.B. Eds. researchgate.net/publication/247311765