Jump to Dustin Marshall | Keyne Munro | Robin Svensson | Marcelo Lagos Orostica | Chun-Yi Ted Chang | Amy Hooper | Matthew Thompson
Associate Professor Dustin Marshall
I am interested in variation, be it genetic or phenotypic, and how that variation affects the evolution and ecology of marine organisms.
Monash University researcher profile – Assoc Prof Dustin Marshall
Dr Keyne Monro (post-doctoral research fellow)
My research interests are:
- general questions about microevolutionary processes such as selection and adaptation
- the evolutionary ecology of benthic marine organisms.
I am an ARC Australian Postdoctoral Fellow.
Monash University researcher profile – Dr Keyne Monro
Dr Robin Svensson (post-doctoral research fellow)
My main research interests are invasion biology, ecological disturbance and chemical ecology.
Much of my work has focused on tests of well-known hypotheses in these areas, such as the Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis, the Dynamic Equilibrium Model and the Novel Weapons Hypothesis.
I primarily conduct manipulative field experiments in marine sessile systems, but I have also worked with bacterial communities and mathematical modelling.
Marcelo Lagos Orostica (PhD student)
My principal interests are:
- eco-physiology of intertidal animals, which are the specifics traits that allow them to live in this hostile habitat; and
- dynamics of non-indigenous invasive species from a community and evolutionary perspective. Here my question is how their eco-physiological characteristics can determine their invasive abilities?
Chun-Yi Ted Chang (PhD student)
My broad interest is in community ecology and marine invertebrate zoology.
My project combines these interests and focuses on studying the variation of marine hard-bottom invertebrate assemblages. In particular, I try to answer the question: are these assemblages historically contingent or environmentally deterministic?
Amy Hooper (Research Assistant)
I recently completed my honours in biology, where I investigated male mate choice in Southern bottletail squid, Sepiadarium austrinum. I examined how males adjust their sperm investment when they sequentially encounter females of different size (quality).
My current work in the MEEG lab involves investigating sexual conflict in hermaphrodites, using the invasive ascidian Ciona intestinalis as a model organism. This work includes a quantitative genetics experiment which aims to examine any trade-offs between investment in male and female traits within an individual. I am also investigating patterns of phenotypic variance in reproductive traits in C. intestinalis.
Matthew Thompson (Research Assistant)
In Honours, I investigated both the mechanism underlying phenotypic plasticity in a marine bryozoan, and whether the phenotypic response to conspecific density is, in fact, adaptive.
Overall, when colonies were grown at high conspecific density, they were smaller (though more elongate for their size), and had smaller lophophores than colonies from low conspecific density treatments. This phenotypic response was mediated primarily by the biological effects of conspecific neighbours, but was also affected by the physical effects associated with increased density.
Currently I am working with Dr Keyne Monro to quantify plasticity in the reproductive response of Diplosoma listerianum tointra- and inter-specific competition. This work involves weekly trips to Brighton Marina where we monitor the size and measure reproductive traits of D. listerianum.
Hayley Cameron (Research Assistant)
My broad interests are marine community ecology and phycology.
My current work within the MEEG lab includes investigating the role that oxygen competition between sessile invertebrate species plays in structuring benthic marine communities.
I am also involved in an international collaborative project which aims to eulicidate the extent to which predation promotes resistance to invasion in sessile marine invertebrate communities across latitudinal gradients.
