Assoc. Prof. Jaco le Roux
Stellenbosch University
Jaco is an Associate Professor of Botany at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. His background is in population genetics and phylogeography, and he applies these approaches to better understand the microevolutionary dynamics of plants, and particularly introduced, non-native species. Jaco’s research also aims to disentangle the patterns and pathways of historical extreme long-distance dispersal to explain peculiar plant distributions. In addition, he is interested in plant-microbial interactions (legumes and nitrogen-fixing rhizobia) and their role in facilitating establishment of non-native legumes, and how these impact on native plant-mutualist ecological networks.
Key publications
Thompson GD, Bellstedt DU, Byrne M, Millar MA, Richardson DM, Wilson JRU, and Le Roux JJ (2012) Cultivation shapes genetic novelty in a globally important invader. Molecular Ecology, 21: 3187–3199. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2012.05601.x
Hui C, Richardson DM, Pyšek P, Le Roux JJ, Kučera T, and Jarošík V (2013) Increasing functional modularity with residence time in the co-distribution of native and introduced vascular plants. Nature Communications, 4: 2454. DOI:10.1038/ncomms3454
Le Roux JJ, Strasberg D, Rouget M, Morden CW, Koordom M, and Richardson DM, (2014) Relatedness defies biogeography: the tale of two island endemics (Acacia heterophylla and A. koa). New Phytologist, 204: 230-242. DOI: 10.1111/nph.12900
Gildenhuys A, Ellis AG, Carrol SP, and Le Roux JJ (2015) Combining natal range distributions and phylogeny to resolve biogeographic uncertainties in balloon vines (Cardiospermum Sapindaceae). Diversity and Distributions, 21: 163-174. DOI: 10.1111/ddi.12261
Thompson GD, Bellstedt DU, Richardson DM, Wilson JRU, and Le Roux JJ (2015) A tree well travelled: global genetic structure of the invasive tree Acacia saligna. Journal of Biogeography, 42: 305-314. DOI: 10.1111/jbi.12436