Barrett, Matthew David   (1974 - )

The Barrett family moved to the Kimberley, WA, in 1981. The father farmed; the mother supervised the kids' School of the Air lessons. Their two children, Mathew and Russell both became botanists.

Matthew has broad interests in the evolution and specialisation of plants and fungi, including systematics, reproductive ecology, biogeographic patterns, and the adaptation of traits that contribute to rarity or weediness.

Education

- University of Western Australia, Bachelor of Science, 1998.
- University of Western Australia, Doctor of Philosophy, 2006

Career

Matthew worked at Kings Park and Botanic Garden and then Assistant Research Professor, University of Western Australia (2012-2019) before becoming a post-doctoral researcher at James Cook University Cairns Campus from April 2019.

He has a particular interest in the adaptive consequences of polyploidy (whole genome duplication), that are inferred to have occurred numerous times during the evolution of vascular plants, and contributed significantly to their evolutionary success.

He also conducts research into the systematics and ecology of fungi. The tectonic isolation of Australia and subsequent biotic exchange with south-east Asia is moderately well documented for plants and animals, but few fungi have been investigated to date.
Decades of molecular systematics research have identified numerous novel species and genus-level fungal lineages from the Australian Monsoon Tropics, suggesting that it represents a unique fungal biome, with links to both southern Australia and south-east Asia.

Source: Extracted from:
Australian Geographic, Issue 102 (Apr-Jun, 2011)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_David_Barrett
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21388594
https://www.jcu.edu.au/australian-tropical-herbarium/contact/staff-profiles/matt-barrett
Portrait Photo: 2009, M.Fagg, ANBG Photo Collection.

Collecting localities for 'Barrett, M.D.' from AVH (2025)

Data from 6,722 specimens