Researcher

Biography

B.A. (Honors), 2000, University of California, Berkeley
Ph.D., 2006, University of New Mexico

I am an evolutionary ecologist interested in how animals respond to change in their environment. I work in the field and the lab with a variety of organisms and questions. I also develop novel evolutionary and ecological theory.

Keywords: evolution, ecology, animal, reptile, mammal, plasticity, adaptation, parental effects, reproduction, temperature,...view more

B.A. (Honors), 2000, University of California, Berkeley
Ph.D., 2006, University of New Mexico

I am an evolutionary ecologist interested in how animals respond to change in their environment. I work in the field and the lab with a variety of organisms and questions. I also develop novel evolutionary and ecological theory.

Keywords: evolution, ecology, animal, reptile, mammal, plasticity, adaptation, parental effects, reproduction, temperature, climate, stress, theory

 

 


My Grants

ARC Discovery Project (DP170101147): Sex determination in dragons -- genetics, epigenetics and environment. Prof Arthur Georges, A/Prof Janine Deakin, Prof Stephen Sarre, Prof Tariq Ezaz, Dr Paul Waters, Dr Lisa Schwanz, Prof Jennifer Graves, Dr Clare Holleley


My Research Activities

My research asks: How do animals respond to change? In more scientific terms, research in my lab focuses on the evolution and ecology of phenotypic plasticity - when traits change as a function of the environment. When is plasticity adaptive, how does it evolve in different environments, and does it allow populations to track or adapt to changing conditions? I employ theoretical and empirical approaches to explore these questions, and mostly focus on vertebrate study organisms. My main research foci are temperature-dependent sex determination, parental effects, thermal biology, and sex allocation in mammals.

Topics of interest include:

  • Evolution and adaptation of plasticity
  • Effects of incubation temperature on reptile sex determination and hatchling phenotypes
  • The evolution of sex-determining mechanisms
  • Reproductive ecology
  • Parental care
  • Parental effects
  • Investment in sons vs. daughters in mammals
  • Physiological correlates of life-history trade-offs
  • Thermal Ecology
  • Alterations in behaviour and reproduction under parasitic infection
  • Ecoimmunology and endocrinology

My Research Supervision


Currently supervising

Claudia Crowther (PhD 2019 - )

Phil Pearson (U Canberra PhD 2018 - )

Rebecca Raynal (PhD 2018 - )

Kris Wild (U Canberra PhD 2018 - 2022)

Mitchell Hodgson (PhD 2017- 2021)

 


My Teaching

BIOS 4517 - Honours, Co-Convener

BIOS 3161 - Life in Arid Lands, Convener

BIOS 3011 - Animal Behaviour

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Location

Room 5108, Level 5 West
Biological Sciences South (E26)
UNSW, Kensington 2052


Contact

+61 (0)2 9385 0034