E&E Seminar: Sexual deception and its reversibility

Native Australian orchids have featured strongly in Rod's research, where he has explored a range of fascinating ecological, biochemical, molecular and evolutionary questions.

schedule Date & time
Date/time
13 Aug 2020 12:00pm - 13 Aug 2020 1:00pm
person Speaker

Speakers

Dr Rod Peakall, Division of Ecology and Evolution, RSB, ANU
next_week Event series
contact_support Contact
Michael Jennions

Content navigation

Description

Native Australian orchids have featured strongly in Rod's research, where he has explored a range of fascinating ecological, biochemical, molecular and evolutionary questions. With support from national and international collaborators, some of the significant advances he and his team have made include: (1) The discovery of many new to science floral volatile compounds and experimental confirmation that they can control pollinator specificity, pollinator switching and speciation in orchids. (2) The confirmation that strong-pollinator mediated isolation can be a primary reproductive barrier in plants. (3) The unexpected finding that the highly specialized pollination strategy of sexual deception can be reversible, enabling new radiations of species with more generalised pollination. In this talk Rod will provide an overview of his long and distinguished career researching orchids, and remind us of the beauty of these floral gems.
 

Biography

Rod Peakall is a Professor in Evolutionary Biology at the Australian National University. His research on sexually deceptive orchids, in particular, has captured the imagination of the public, educators and scientists around the world. This research, along with his photography and videography, has featured in TV documentaries, popular articles and textbooks in both biology and chemistry. He has published more than 170+ articles in leading international journals spanning multiple fields of research. He is also the first author of the popular software package, GenAlEx-Genetic Analysis in Excel, which has attracted more than 17,000 Google Scholar cites, demonstrating its far-reaching impact.

Location

Please note: this seminar will be held in the Seminar Rm and via Zoom, details are included below.

Eucalyptus Seminar Room, Rm S205, Level 2, RN Robertson Building (46)

Link to join Webinar
https://anu.zoom.us/j/92471562262 

Passcode: 304530

Canberra time: please check your local time & date if you are watching from elsewhere

Upcoming events in this series

Emily Stringer & Jarrod Sopniewski, UC
7 Aug 2025 | 1 - 2pm

This seminar is presented by Dr Emily Stringer and Dr Jarrod Sopniewski, Postdoctoral Research Fellows from the Centre for Conservation Ecology and Genomics at the University of Canberra.

View the event
Distinguished Prof Natalia Dudareva, Purdue University
11 Aug 2025 | 1 - 2pm

Plants synthesize an amazing diversity of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that facilitate interactions with their environment, ranging from attracting pollinators and seed dispersers to protecting themselves from pathogens, parasites, and herbivores.

View the event