Kelly A. Shepherd

Kelly A. Shepherd serves as an Adjunct Lecturer in the School of Biological Sciences at The University of Western Australia. Her research centers on Australian plant systematics with emphasis on Amaranthaceae and Malvaceae families, contributing to biodiversity documentation and conservation efforts through taxonomic revisions and species discovery.

Her primary research interests include new species identification (46% of her fingerprint), seed morphology (23%), and cladistic analysis (18%). She investigates floral structures like bracts and spadices while examining evolutionary relationships within Western Australia's unique ecosystems, particularly the Goldfields and arid interior regions.

Recent publications (2020-2025) reveal a dual focus: traditional taxonomy describing novel species (e.g., Tecticornia and Thomasia) and genomic approaches for conservation through the GAP initiative. Her work bridges morphological studies with modern genomic resources to address Australian flora preservation.

No scientific awards are documented in the provided text.

Dr. Shepherd has supervised one student as indicated under 'Supervised Work (1)'. While specific grants aren't listed, her leadership in the Genomics for Australian Plants initiative demonstrates involvement in major research infrastructure projects with nationwide collaboration.

She is a core contributor to the Genomics for Australian Plants (GAP) framework initiative, a multi-institutional effort developing genomic resources for Australian flora conservation. Her research network includes 20+ collaborators across Australian botanical institutions as evidenced by the GAP publication.