Staff profile

Dr Trevor Edwards

Lecturer

Faculty of Science, Technology and Engineering

School of Life Sciences
Department of Botany

Biological Sciences II Room 469, Melbourne (Bundoora), Melbourne (Bundoora)

 

Qualifications

BSc (Hons) PhD

Membership of professional associations

Ecological Society of Australia; South African Association of Botanists; Honorary Associate Professor University of KwaZulu-Natal; Australian Plant Society

Area of study

Botany

Brief profile

 

Before immigrating to Australia I worked as a Research Fellow, Herbarium Curator and Director of the Botanical Gardens at the University of Natal in South Africa. During this period our research lab under took systematic research on the flora of the eastern seaboard of the subcontinent. Southern Africa overlaps in its longitudinal displacement with Australia and the floras share many adaptive features. This provides a great platform to undertake comparative research on evolutionary drivers of change. I am interested in how the isolation of Australia has driven different evolutionary outcomes for its flora. Dramatic differences exist in the mutualism assemblages for the 2 landmasses. Much of the Australian landscape is dominated by recent immigrants (neoendemics) which have filled vacuums left by the retreating ancient species assemblages (palaeoendemics). Our knowledge of these patterns and understanding of the process is in its infancy but is rapidly expanding with access to molecular phylogenies. These insights will have increasing importance in links between conservation, biogeography, reproductive success, and niche conservatism across a broad range of plant families. Projects in our lab (Plant Reproduction, Molecular Ecology & Evolution Lab.) include evolutionary and genetic themes that fall into this broad aegis.

Research specialisation

- Behavioural ecology

- Plant ecology

- Taxonomy and phylogeny

Teaching units

BOT2PDE - Ecology, Diversity and Evolution

BOT4HNA/B - Honours in Botany

Recent publications

Langlois, A. Mulholland, D.A. Duncan, G.D. Crouch, N.R. and Edwards, T.J. 2005. A novel 3-benzylchromone from the South African Lachenalia rubida (Hyacinthaceae), Biochem Systematics and Ecology 33: 961–966.

 Macmaster, G., Möller, M., Hughes, Edwards, T.J. & Bellstedt, D.U. 2005.A new species of Streptocarpus (Gesneriaceae) endemic to Madagascar. Adansonia, sér. 3, 27 (1): 131–136.  

Duncan, G.D. Edwards, T.J. 2005. 534. Lachenalia sargentii (Hyacinthaceae). Curtis’s Botanical Magazine 22,3: 176–184.  

Fynn R.W.S, Morris C.D, Edwards T.J. 2005. Long-term compositional responses of a South African mesic grassland to burning and mowing. Applied Vegetation Science 8: 5–12.

Gordon-Gray, K.D, Ward, C.J. & Edwards, T.J. 2006. Studies in Cyperaceae in southern Africa 38: the identities of Cyperus natalensis, C. crassipes and C. brevis. South African Journal of Botany 71(4): 133–138.

Gordon-Gray, K.D., Ward, C.J. & Edwards, T.J. 2006. Studies in Cyperaceae in southern Africa 39: Cyperus articulatus L. and Cyperus corymbosus Rottb. South African Journal of Botany 71 (4): 147–149.

Edwards, T.J. 2006. Notes on the Lamiaceae: a new Tetradenia and a new Thorncroftia from South Africa. South African Journal of Botany 72: 202–204.

Carbutt, C. & Edwards, T.J. 2006. The endemic and near endemic flora of the Drakensberg Alpine Region. South African Journal of Botany 72: 105–132.

Viljoen, A. Potgieter, C.J. & Edwards, T.J. 2006. Microdistillation and essential oil chemistry - a useful tool for detecting hybridisation in Plectranthus (Lamiaceae). South African Journal of Botany 72: 99–104.  

Hughes M., G. MacMaster, M. Möller, D. U. Bellstedt & T. J. Edwards 2006. Refugia, dispersal & divergence in a forest archipelago: a study of Streptocarpus in eastern South Africa. Molecular Ecology 14: 4415–4426.

Edwards, T.J. 2006. Two new Plectranthus species (Lamiaceae) and new distribution records from the Pondoland Centre of Plant Endemism, South Africa. Bothalia 35, 2: 149–152.

Goodall, J. Zacharias, P. Olckers, T. and Edwards, T. 2006. A contiguous quadrat sampling exercise in a shrub-invaded grassland patch, size matters but biggest is not best. African Journal of Range and Forage Science 23(2): 123–130.

McMurtry, D. Edwards, T.J. & Bytebier, B. 2006. A new species of Disa (Orchidaceae) from Mpumalanga, South Africa. South African Journal of Botany 72: 551–554. 

Beaumont, A.J. Edwards, T.J. & Smith, F.R. 2006. The first record of gynodioecy in a species of Gnidia (Thymelaeaceae) from South Africa. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 152: 219–233.

Thompson, D.I. Edwards, T.J. & Van Staden, J. 2006. Evaluating asymbiotic seed culture methods and establishing Disa (Orchidaceae) germinability in vitro: relationships, requirements and first-time reports. Plant Growth Regulation 49: 269–284.

Duncan, G.D. Edwards, T.J. 2006. Three new species of Lachenalia J.Jacq. ex Murray (Hyacinthaceae: Massonieae) from the Western and Northern Cape, South Africa. Bothalia 36: 147–155.

Ponsie M.E., T.J. Edwards and S.D. Johnson. 2007. A taxonomic revision of Bonatea Willd. (Orchidaceae: Orchidoideae: Habenariinae). South African Journal of Botany 73: 1–21.  

Johnson IM, Edwards TJ, Van der Bank H. 2007. Genetic variation and pollination biology in the threatened Gerbera aurantiaca (Asteraceae). South African Journal of Botany 73: 292–293.  

Hughes, M. MacMaster, G. Möller, M. Bellstedt, D.U. & Edwards, T.J. 2007. Breeding system of a plesiomorphic floral type: an investigation of small flowered Streptocarpus (Gesneriaceae) species. Plant Systematics and Evolution 262: 13–24.

Ponsie, M. Mitchell, M. Edwards, T.J. and Johnson, S.D. 2007. Phylogeny of Bonatea (Orchidaceae, Habenariinae) based on molecular and morphological Data. Plant Systematics and Evolution 263: 253–268.

Ponsie, M.E. Edwards, T.J. & Johnson, S.D. 2007. Habenaria transvaalensis Schltr. and Habenaria bonateoides M.Ponsie (Orchidaceae), revised descriptions and distributional records. South African Journal of Botany 73: 355–359. 

Duncan GD, Edwards TJ. 2007. Hyacinthaceae - A new pyrophytic Lachenalia species (Massonieae) from Western Cape, South Africa. Bothalia 37: 31–34  

Hankey, A.J. Edwards, T.J. 2008. Ledebouria mokobulaanensis A.J.Hankey & T.J.Edwards, (Hyacinthaceae) a new species from the high altitude grasslands of Mpumalanga. South African Journal of Botany 73: 214–217.

Douwes, E. Crouch NR, Edwards TJ, Mulholland DA. 2008. Regression analyses of southern African ethnomedicinal plants: informing the targeted selection of bioprospecting and pharmacological screening subjects. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 119: 356–364.

Crouch N.R. Douwes, E. Wolfson, E.M. Smith, G.F. Edwards T.J. 2008. South Africa’s bioprospecting, access and benefit-sharing legislation: current realities, future complications, and a proposed alternative. South African Journal of Science 104: 355–366.  

Edwards, T. Hughes, M. Möller, M. and Bellstedt, D. 2008. New Streptocarpus species (Gesneriaceae) from South Africa. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 158: 743–748.

Ponsie, M. E., Johnson, S. D. & Edwards, T. J. 2008. A morphometric analysis of species boundaries in the Bonatea cassidea complex. Nordic Journal of Botany 25: 257–267.

Van Zyl RL, Khan F, Edwards TJ, Drewes SE. 2008. Antiplasmodial activities of some abietane diterpenes from the leaves of five Plectranthus species. South African Journal of Science. 104: 62–64.

Spies, J.J., Spies, P., Reinecke, S.M., Kleynhans, R., Duncan, G.D. and Edwards, T.J. 2008. Lachenalia. In: Marhold, K. (ed.), IAPT/IOPB chromosome data 5. Taxon 57 (2): 554–555.

Beaumont A. J., Edwards T.J. Manning J. , Maurin O. , Rautenbach, M, Motsi MC. Fay MF, Chase MW & Van der Bank M. 2009. Gnidia (Thymelaeaceae) is not monophyletic: taxonomic implications for Thymelaeoideae and a partial new generic taxonomy for Gnidia. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 160 (4): 402–417. 

Ponsie, M. E. Johnson, S. D. & Edwards, T. J. 2009. A morphometric analysis of the Bonatea speciosa complex (Orchidaceae) and its implications for species boundaries. Nordic Journal of Botany 27: 166–177.

Potgieter C.J., Edwards T.J. Van Staden J. 2009. Pollination of Plectranthus spp. (Lamiaceae) with sigmoid flowers in southern Africa. South African Journal of Botany 75: 646–659.

Crouch, N.R. | Williams, V.L. | Edwards, T.J. &| Brueton, V.J. 2010. Drimia cooperi in KwaZulu-Natal, and the ethnomedicinal trade. Bothalia 40: 75–78.

Older publications

 Selected older publications

Edwards, T.J. Paton, A. & Crouch, N.R. 2000. A new species of Plectranthus (Lamiaceae) from Zimbabwe. Kew Bull. 55: 459–464.

Johnson, S.D. and Edwards, T.J.  2000. The structure and function of orchid pollinaria. Plant Systematics and Evolution 222: 243–269.

Edwards, T.J. 2000. Argyrolobium in Cape Plants a conspectus of the Cape Flora of South Africa ed. Goldblatt,P & Manning, J. Strelitzia 9.

Edwards, T.J. Beaumont, A. and Styles, D. 2001. New records and distributional disjunctions from South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Bothalia 31: 199–202.

Thompson, D. & Edwards, T.J. 2001. The breeding biology of Clutia pulchella (Euphorbiaceae). Plant Systematics and Evolution 226: 13–22.

Beaumont, A.J. Edwards, T.J. and Smith, F.R. 2002. Patterns of diversity among involucral bracts, inflorescences and flowers in Gnidia (Thymelaeaceae). Syst. Geogr. Pl. 71: 419–431.

Beaumont, A.J. Edwards, T.J. and Smith, F.R. 2002. Leaf and bract diversity in Gnidia (Thymelaeaceae): patterns and taxonomic value. Syst. Geogr. Pl. 71: 399–418.

Potgieter, C.J. & Edwards, T.J. 2002. The occurrence of long, narrow corolla tubes in southern African Lamiaceae. Syst. Geogr. Pl. 71: 493–502.

Carbutt, C. & Edwards, T.J. 2002. Cape elements on high-altitude corridors and edaphic islands: historical aspects and preliminary phytogeography. Syst. Geogr. Pl. 71: 1033–1061.

Thompson, D.I. Edwards, T.J. and Van Staden, J. 2002. The in vitro asymbiotic seed germination of Disa nervosa Lindl. Proceedings of the 16th World Orchid Conference (eds.) Clark, J. Elliott, W.M. Tingley, G. & Biro, J. Vancouver Orchid Society,

Thompson, D. Edwards, T.J. & Van Staden, J. 2002. In vitro germination of several South African summer rainfall Disa (Orchidaceae) species: is seed testa structure a function of habitat and a determinant of germinability? Syst. Geogr. Pl. 71: 597–606.

Duncan, G. & Edwards, T.J. A new species of Lachenalia. 2002. from Namaqualand, South Africa. Bothalia 32: 190–192.

Johnson, S.D. Edwards, T.J. Carbutt, C. & Potgieter, C. 2002. Specialization for hawkmoth and long-proboscid fly pollination in Zaluzianskya section Nycterinia (Scrophulariaceae). Botanical Journal of the Linnaean Society 138: 17–27.

Edwards,T.J. 2003. Two new Streptocarpus (Gesneriaceae) species from South Africa. Novon 13: 185–189.

Hughes,M. Moller,M. Bellstedt, D.U. Edwards, T.J. & Woodhead, M. 2003. EST and random genomic nuclear microsatellite markers for Streptocarpus. Molecular Ecology Notes 4: 36.

Bellstedt, D.U. & Edwards, T. J. 2003. A new species of Streptocarpus (Gesneriaceae) from the Pondoland Coast, South Africa. Edinburgh Journal of Botany 60: 409–414.

Carbutt, C. & Edwards, T.J. 2003. The flora of the Drakensberg Alpine Centre. Edinburgh Journal of Botany 60: 581–607.

Fynn, R.W.S. Morris, C.D. & Edwards, T.J. 2004. Effect of burning and mowing on grass and forb diversity in a long term grassland experiment. Applied Vegetation Science 7: 1–10.

Crouch, N.R. & Edwards, T.J. 2004. Ethnomedicinal (Muthi) plant nurseries. (2004). In : Indigenous Forests and Woodlands in South Africa Policy, People and Practice. Eds Lawes, M.J. Eeley, H.A.C. Shackleton, C.M. & Geach, B.G.S. University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, Pietermaritzburg.  

Johnson, S. D., Neal, P. R. Peter, C. I., & Edwards, T. 2004. Fruiting failure and limited recruitment in remnant populations of the hawkmoth-pollinated tree Oxyanthus pyriformis subsp. pyriformis (Rubiaceae). Biological Conservation 120: 31–39. 

Edwards, T.J. Crouch, N. & Styles, D. 2005. Drimia flagellaris (Hyacinthaceae) a new discovery from KwaZulu-Natal. South African Journal of Botany 71: 122–126.

Duncan, G.D., Edwards, T.J. and Mitchell, A. 2005. Character variation and a cladistic analysis of the genus Lachenalia Jacq.f. ex Murray (Hyacinthaceae). Acta Horticulturae 673: 113–120.

Edwards, T.J. 2005. A synopsis of Argyrolobium in South Africa. South African Journal of Botany 71: 380–417.

Potgieter, C. & Edwards, T. 2005. The Stenobasipteron wiedemanni (Diptera: Nemestrinidae) pollination guild in eastern South Africa. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 92: 254–267.

Research projects

Batesian mimicry collapse and new radiations in sun orchids (Thelymitra).

Red-white colour signals in Epacris impressa (Ericaceae); drivers of disruptive selection?

Evolution of scent cues in the Proteaceae.

Oligolectic bees and conservation in Swainsona.

Exaptation and irid invasions in Australia.