University of Tasmania, Australia

Dr James Worth

Research Fellow

BSc (Hons) PhD

Contact Details

Publications

• Worth, JRP. Sakaguchi, S, Tanaka, N, Yamasaki, M, and Isagi, Y (2012) Northern richness and southern poverty: Contrasting genetic footprints of glacial refugia in the relictual tree Sciadopitys verticillata (Coniferales: Sciadopityaceae). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society (in press).
• Sakaguchi S, Qiu Y-X, Liu Y-H, Qi X-S, Kim S-H, Han J, Takeuchi Y, Worth JRP, Yamasaki M, Sakurai S, Isagi Y (2012) Climate oscillation during the Quaternary associated with landscape heterogeneity promoted allopatric lineage divergence of a temperate tree Kalopanax septemlobus (Araliaceae) in East Asia. Molecular Ecology, 21, 3823–3838.
• Worth JRP, Marthick JR, Jordan GJ, Vaillancourt RE (2011) Low but structured chloroplast diversity in Atherosperma moschatum (Atherospermataceae) suggests bottlenecks in response to the Pleistocene glacials. Annals of Botany 108, 1247-1256.
• Worth J, Burridge C, While G, Wapstra E (2011) Development of 13 microsatellite loci in the spotted snow skink Niveoscincus ocellatus (Squamata: Scincidae). Conservation Genetics Resources, 3, 287–290.
• Othman RNA, Jordan GJ, Worth JRP, Steane DA, Duretto MF (2010) Phylogeny and infrageneric classification of Correa Andrews (Rutaceae) on the basis of nuclear and chloroplast DNA. Plant Systematics and Evolution, 288, 127-138.
• Worth JRP, Jordan GJ, Marthick JR, McKinnon GE, Vaillancourt RE (2010) Chloroplast evidence for geographic stasis of the Australian bird-dispersed shrub Tasmannia lanceolata (Winteraceae). Molecular Ecology, 19, 2949-2963.
• Worth JRP, Jordan GJ, McKinnon GE, Vaillancourt RE (2009) The major Australian cool temperate rainforest tree Nothofagus cunninghamii withstood Pleistocene glacial aridity within multiple regions: evidence from the chloroplast. New Phytologist, 182, 519-532.

Career Summary

After completing my PhD in 2009 at the University of Tasmania I spent 2 years in Japan at Kyoto University under a Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science post-doctoral research fellowship where I studied the conservation genetics and glacial history of a relictual and ancient Japanese conifer Sciadopitys verticillata (Umbrella Pine). In October 2012 I began a post-doctoral fellowship investigating the biogeography and conservation genetics of south eastern Australian cool temperate rainforest plants using Next Generation Sequencing technology, a collaborative project between the School of Plant Science and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney.

Research Interests

My main interests lie in biogeography and conservation of biodiversity. I have a particular interest in utilising both molecular and non-molecular techniques to better understand factors shaping the distribution and diversity of species, and how this information can be used to help conserve species into the future.

Research Areas

Ecology, Biodiversity and Conservation