Rate My Professor Andrew Thornhill

Dr Andrew Thornhill serves as Senior Lecturer in Plant Systematics and Director of the N.C.W. Beadle Herbarium within the School of Environmental and Rural Science at the University of New England. His academic journey began with a BSc in Environmental Science and an MSc from Monash University, where he conducted a master's project on carnivorous pitcher plants. He earned his PhD from the Australian National University, focusing on the plant family Myrtaceae. Following his doctorate, Thornhill pursued postdoctoral research on plant evolution, emphasizing Australian flora such as eucalypts and Acacia, alongside broad phylogenetic studies spanning various botanical groups and regions. Throughout his career, he has worked at renowned herbaria including the Australian National Herbarium (CSIRO, Canberra), Australian Tropical Herbarium (James Cook University, Cairns), University and Jepson Herbaria (University of California, Berkeley), and the State Herbarium of South Australia (Adelaide). He currently holds a Research Associate position at the State Herbarium of South Australia/University of Adelaide.

Thornhill's research centers on spatial phylogenetics, integrating large-scale molecular phylogenetics, geospatial data from herbarium collections, and statistical analyses to pinpoint regions of evolutionary diversity and endemism, thereby advancing understandings in evolution, ecology, and biogeography. His publications cover palynology, phylogenetics, systematics, and Myrtaceae biogeography, featuring comprehensive phylogenies of eucalypts and Australian Acacia, as well as analyses of California and Chilean floras. He employs plant fossils for molecular dating and investigates bryophyte phylogenetics. Key publications include "Phylogenomics and the rise of the angiosperms" in Nature (2024), "Phylogenetic measures of biodiversity and neo- and paleo-endemism in Australian Acacia" in Nature Communications (2014), "Flammable biomes dominated by eucalypts originated at the Cretaceous–Palaeogene boundary" in Nature Communications (2011), "Interpreting the modern distribution of Myrtaceae using a dated molecular phylogeny" in Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution (2015), and "Spatial phylogenetics of the native California flora" in BMC Biology (2017). In teaching, he coordinates BOTY203 Plant Diversity, BOTY390 Field Botany, and BOTY370 Mushrooms and Mosses – The Cryptogams, and contributes to EVOL211 Evolution and Biogeography and EVOL301 Biological Systematics.