Rate My Professor Matt Larcombe

Associate Professor Matthew Larcombe is a plant evolutionary ecologist in the Department of Botany at the University of Otago. He completed his PhD at the University of Tasmania in 2014 on exotic gene flow from plantation to native eucalypts. His research interests encompass diversification, hybridisation, biogeography, and conservation. Larcombe investigates plant niche construction through evolutionary time using species distribution data, climate data, ecological niche modelling, and phylogenetics. He examines how competition and evolutionary flexibility influence limits to biodiversity. His studies on the distribution of phylogenetic, functional, and endemic diversity reveal low correlations in conifer trees, amplified by climate change. In collaboration with Professor Janice Lord and Professor David Orlovich, he contributes to native forest restoration in New Zealand by improving seed biology, incorporating mycorrhizal fungi, and utilising species distribution modelling. The Department of Botany, with his involvement, leads the One Billion Trees project.

Larcombe teaches BIOL123 Plants: How They Shape the World, BTNY301 Plant Ecology, BTNY465 Plant and Environment, ECOL211 Ecology of Communities and Ecosystems, ECOL212 Ecological Applications, and ECOL313 Ecology Field Course. He received a Marsden Fast-Start grant in 2019 for research on plant diversification processes and the OUSA Supervisor of the Year award as Overall Winner in the Division of Sciences, along with the Divisional Winner in Sciences in 2024. Key publications include 'Patterns of reproductive isolation in Eucalyptus – a phylogenetic perspective' (Molecular Biology and Evolution, 2015), 'Managing Australia's eucalypt gene pools: assessing the risk of exotic gene flow' (Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, 2016), 'On the persistence of reproductive barriers in Eucalyptus' (Annals of Botany, 2016), 'Assessing the invasive potential of Eucalyptus globulus in Australia' (Biological Invasions, 2013), 'Development of microsatellites using Next-Generation Sequencing for Acacia crassicarpa' (Journal of Tropical Forest Science, 2018), and 'Trophic facilitation in forest restoration: Can Nothofagus trees...' (Ecology and Evolution, 2024). His contributions advance understanding of reproductive barriers, gene flow risks in forestry, and conservation strategies for plant communities.