Effects of ants and ant-mediated dispersal on speciation rates, biogeography and diversity of angiosperms.

这项工作旨在提高我们对进化中生态学中长期存在的问题的一般理解，即是什么过程使一些种群变得多样化，另一些种群变得不同，为什么扩散模式随着地理而变化，物种形成和灭绝如何在空间、时间和分类群之间变化？在回答这些问题时，我们将解决一些保护方面最基本的问题，包括什么因素使物种在地理上稀有，哪些物种最容易受到气候变化的威胁，以及什么因素导致像广安希思和芬博斯这样的栖息地具有如此异常的生物多样性。

This work seeks to improve our general understanding of longstanding questions in ecology in evolution, namely what are the processes that have allowed some groups to become diverse and others not, why does dispersal mode vary with geography, and how do speciation and extinction vary across space, time and taxon? In answering these questions, we will address some of the most fundamental questions in conservation, including what are the factors that make species geographically rare, which species are most at risk for climate change, and what are the factors that have led habitats like the Kwongan Heath and Fynbos to be so exceptionally biodiverse.