I am a PhD Candidate working at the intersection of plant evolutionary biology, genomics, biogeography, and tropical botany, focusing on the Indo-Malayan, Australasian, Oceanian, and Neotropical biogeographic regions. My current project integrates plant population genomics, phylogeography and tropical dendrochronology within the interdisciplinary framework of the PacificPeopleForest Horizon Europe Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Network, which aims to explore the history, archaeology, and botany of the Mariana Islands in the Western Pacific.
Keywords
Plant Evolutionary Biology · Population Genomics · Phylogenomics · Biogeography · Phylogeography · Interdisciplinary Research · Tropical Dendrochronology · Tropical Botany · Mariana Islands · Pacific Islands
Research interests
I am fascinated by how genomic data can uncover the hidden evolutionary and biogeographical histories of plant species written across centuries, millennia and millions of years.
As genomic variation accumulates across generations and through shallow and deep evolutionary time, DNA preserves traces of diversification, migration, adaptation, and demographic changes. My current research explores how genomic data can help reconstruct past human-mediated plant dispersal and landscape transformation in the Mariana Islands, investigating how successive waves of prehistoric human migration and early modern colonial exchange reshaped Pacific Island ecosystems. In parallel, this research aims to investigate the dendrochronological potential of tropical tree species to evaluate their suitability for dating archaeological remains.
PhD Project Framework
Further details on the PacificPeopleForest project and ongoing research activities will be added soon. Check the official website in the meantime.
PhD Supervisors
Publications
Žerdoner, A., Susca, F., Krak, K., Mandák, B., Kadereit, G. Tracing Sticky Trails: The Historical Biogeography of Australia’s Glandular Goose-foots (Dysphania, Chenopodioideae, Amaranthaceae). bioRxiv preprint (2026) doi: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.06.01.728730. Submitted to the Journal of Biogeography;