Non-permanent staff

Research interest

I am currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Research Institute for Development (IRD) in Montpellier, France. My current research focuses on the phylogenomics and evolution of the custard apple family – Annonaceae, and macroevolution of global tropical rainforests more broadly.

I am an evolutionary biologist and plant systematist, interested in macroevolutionary patterns and processes across different scales in time and space. My main research interests include understanding the drivers and mechanisms that have resulted in the uneven distribution of earth’s biodiversity across the Tree of Life. Particularly, I am interested in region-specific diversification dynamics, and understanding the origins and evolution of tropical rainforest systems, as well as the Australian flora and other biodiverse regions. In order to undertake these research endeavours, I engage in interdisciplinary research, and incorporate different approaches across the fields of evolutionary biology, systematics, taxonomy, biogeography, ecology, and physiology.

Publications

14. Nge, F.J., Biffin, E., Waycott, M., Thiele, K.R., (2021). Australian continental-island biogeography – insight from the starflowers (Calytrix: Myrtaceae). American Journal of Botany 109:291–308.

13. Nge, F.J., & Thiele, K.R., (2021). Review of the infrageneric classification of Adenanthos (Proteaceae)— the subsections of Adenanthos are polyphyletic. Nuytsia 32: 59–61.

12. Hayes, P.E.*, Nge, F.J.*, Cramer, M.D., Finnegan, P.M., Fu, P., Hopper, S.D., Oliveira, R.S., Turner, B.L., Zemunik, G., Zhong, H.T., Lambers, H. (2021). Traits related to efficient acquisition and use of phosphorus promote diversification in Proteaceae in phosphorus-impoverished landscapes. Plant and Soil 462: 67–88. *These authors contributed equally.

11. Nge, F.J., Kellermann, J., Biffin, E., Waycott, M., Thiele, K.R., (2021). Historical biogeography of Pomaderris (Rhamnaceae): continental vicariance in Australia and repeated independent dispersals to New Zealand. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 158: 107085.

10. Nge, F.J., Biffin, E., Thiele, K.R., Waycott, M., (2021). Reticulate evolution, ancient chloroplast haplotypes, and rapid radiation of the Australian plant genus Adenanthos (Proteaceae). Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 8: 616741.

9. Nge, F.J., Cambridge, M.L., Ellsworth, D., Zhong, H.T., Lambers, H., (2020). Cluster roots are common in Daviesia and allies (Mirbelioids; Fabaceae). Journal of Royal Society of Western Australia 103: 111–118.

8. Nge, F.J., Biffin, E., Thiele, K.R. & Waycott, M. (2020). Extinction pulse at Eocene–Oligocene boundary drives diversification dynamics of the two Australian temperate floras. Royal Society Proceedings B 287: 20192546.

7. Nge, F.J., Ranathunge, K., Kotula, L., Cawthray, G.R. & Lambers, H. (2019). Strong host preference of a root hemiparasite (Santalum acuminatum) limits its local distribution: beggars can be choosers. Plant and Soil 437: 159–177.

6. Płachno, B.J., Stpiczyńska, M., Świątek, P., Lambers, H., Miranda, V.F.O., Nge, F.J., Stolarczyk, P. & Cawthray, G.R. (2019). Floral micromorphology of the bird-pollinated carnivorous plant species Utricularia menziesii R.Br. (Lentibulariaceae). Annals of Botany 123: 213–220.

5. Płachno, B.J., Stpiczyńska, M., Świątek, P., Lambers, H., Cawthray, G.R., Nge, F.J., Silva, S.R. & Miranda, V.F.O (2019). Floral micromorphology and nectar composition of the early evolutionary lineage Utricularia (subgenus Polypompholyx, Lentibulariaceae). Protoplasma 256: 1531–1543.

4. Nge, F.J. & Lambers, H. (2018). Reassessing protocarnivory – how hungry are triggerplants? Australian Journal of Botany 66: 325–330.

3. Hammer, T., Macintyre, P., Nge, F.J., Davis, R., Mucina, L. & Thiele, K. (2018). The noble and the exalted: A multidisciplinary approach to resolving a taxonomic controversy within Ptilotus (Amaranthaceae). Australian Systematic Botany 31: 262–280

2. Nge, F.J., Keighery, G. & Thiele, K.R. (2017). A revision of the Calytrix acutifolia complex (Myrtaceae: Chamelaucieae). Nuytsia 28: 321–337.

1. Thiele, K.R. & Nge, F. (2017). Hibbertia sejuncta, a new, rare species from Western Australia, with notes on H. helianthemoides. Nuytsia 28: 115–117.

Formation and research experience

2022-now

Post-doctorant at IRD-DIADE, Montpellier, France

Topic: Diversification of tropical rain forests at a global scale, Annonaceae as a case study

2021

Postdoc at the University of Adelaide, Australia (Michelle Waycott's lab)

Topic: Phylogenomics of Australian Rhamnaceae

2017-2021 PhD in plant systematics and evolutionary biology, at the University of Adelaide

Topic: Diversification dynamics and evolution of the Australian temperate flora

Supervisors: Prof. Michelle Waycott, Dr. Ed Biffin, Dr. Kevin Thiele

2017 B. Sc., (Hons) First Class, at the University of Western Australia

Topic: Species delimitation in Banksia (Proteaceae): four new species in southwest Western Australia.

Supervisors: Dr. Kevin Thiele and Prof. Michelle Waycott