Current / ALUMNI
Dr. Topi Lehtonen
Research Associate, 2017-2018
Initially funded by grants from the Academy of Finland and the Finnish Cultural Foundation, Topi's work at Monash has focussed on sexual selection and parental care in fish. Topi is currently continuing his sexual selection research in Finland.
Website: https://sites.google.com/site/lehtonentopi/
Email: topi.lehtonen@oulu.fi
Dr. Minna Saaristo
Research Associate, 2016-2018
Minna’s research in behavioural ecotoxicology explores the impact of anthropogenic contamination on animal mating systems. Minna was employed in the Wong lab under a grant from the Australian Research Council. She is now a senior research scientist with the Victorian Environment Protection Authority.
Email: minna.saaristo@epa.vic.gov.au
Dr. P. Andreas Svensson
Research Associate, 2007-2009
Andreas collaborated with Bob on an ARC-funded Discovery Project looking at sexual signalling and parental care in the Australian Desert goby. After finishing his position at Monash, Andreas won a prestigious Alfred Deakin Fellowship to work with Prof John Endler at Deakin University. Andreas is now back in Sweden, where he is currently a senior lecturer in evolutionary biology at the Linnean University.
Website: http://lnu.se/employee/andreas.svensson?l=en
Email: andreas.svensson@lnu.se
DR. Anna Senior
PhD Student, 2015-2019 (co-supervised with Dr. David Chapple).
Anna investigated the role of key threatening processes (habitat clearing and climate change) acting on the macroecology and behaviour of reptiles. Anna is now working as a teaching support staff member at Monash.
Email: anna.senior@monash.edu
DR. Nicholas Deal
PhD student, 2012-2019 (co-supervised with Dr. Topi Lehtonen)
Nick’s thesis investigated factors influencing filial cannibalism in fish. He is now working at Monash as a senior tutor.
Email: nicholas.deal@monash.edu
Dr. Michael Bertram
PhD student, 2015-2018 (co-supervised with Dr. Minna Saaristo); Research Associate, 2019
Michael carried out his PhD research investigating the effects of pharmaceuticals on fish behaviour. After several months working as a Research Associate in Bob’s lab following the submission of his thesis, Michael is now a postdoctoral research fellow at the Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Environmental Studies at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.
Email: michael.bertram@slu.se
DR. Patrick Tomkins
PhD student, 2013–2018 (co-supervised with Dr. Minna Saaristo)
Pat did his honours project in 2012 at Monash investigating the effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) on mosquitofish. He decided to continue with this line of research in 2013 and completed his PhD looking at the effects of androgenic pollutants on mating behaviour and reproductive morphology in fish.
Email: patrick.tomkins@monash.edu
DR. Noriyoshi Kawasaki
PhD student, 2009–2018 (co-supervised with A/Prof. Anne Peters and A/Prof. James Bourne, Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute)
Nori investigated alloparental behaviour in a cooperatively breeding primate, the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus), by exploring the potential fitness effects of alloparental infant-carrying and the mechanisms that underpin this behaviour.
Email: noriyoshi_k@hotmail.com
DR. Marcus Michelangeli
PhD student, 2013–2017 (co-supervised with Dr. David Chapple)
Marcus' PhD investigated how consistent individual differences in behaviour arise and influence a range of ecological contexts, including invasion dynamics, dispersal and urban adaptation. Marcus has since completed a postdoc at UC Davis with Prof Andy Sih, and will soon be commencing a postdoc with Prof Tomas Brodin at SLU, Sweden. Marcus' current research tries to understand how and when behavioural responses of individuals to environmental change can lead to broader ecological consequences, and long-term evolutionary shifts, across multiple levels of biology, from individual to communities, and species, from prey to predators.
Email: marcus.michelangeli@monash.edu
DR. Will Sowersby
PhD student, 2012–2015 (co-supervised with Dr. David Chapple and Dr. Topi Lehtonen)
Will completed his PhD investigating resource trait use, polymorphism, and parental care, in neotropical cichlid fishes. He went on to do a postdoc at Stockholm University and was recently a JSPS postdoctoral fellow at Osaka City University. He is now back in Australia working in local government.
Email: will.sowersby@zoologi.su.se
DR. Mel Klamt
PhD student, 2011–2015 (co-supervised with Prof. Jenny Davis and Prof. Ross Thompson, University of Canberra)
Mel completed her PhD investigating the ecological role of the platypus in running waters with a focus on their food webs and substrate interactions.
DR. Krystina Mossop
PhD student, 2010–2015 (co-supervised with Dr. David Chapple and Dr. Devi Stuart-Fox, University of Melbourne).
In her PhD research, Krys explored the implications of a changing environment and mechanisms of persistence in the desert goby, an arid-adapted fish found in Central Australia. Krys is now working as a grant writing consultant for Mind Your Way.
Email: krystina.mossop@monash.edu
DR. Nicholas Moran
PhD Student, 2012–2016 (co-supervised with Prof. Ross Thompson, University of Canberra)
Nick completed his PhD working with desert gobies and their aquatic communities in the Lake Eyre Basin in arid Central Australia. Nick’s research integrated behavioural ecology into community ecology by looking at how simple behavioural traits in gobies can have broad ecological effects on their communities. Nick is currently working on a MSCA Fellowship project at the Centre for Ocean Life - DTU Aqua, at the Technical University of Denmark.
Email: nicholaspatrickmoran@gmail.com
DR. Benjamin Wegener
PhD student, 2009-2013 (co-supervised with Dr. Devi Stuart-Fox, University of Melbourne, & Dr. Mark Norman, Museum Victoria)
Ben completed his PhD investigating sexual conflict and male reproductive strategies of the Southern bottletail squid. After transitioning into industry, Ben is now leading the advanced analytics division of Newgate Australia
Email: benjamin.wegener@newgateresearch.com.au
DR. Zoe Squires
PhD student, 2009-2013 (co-supervised with Dr. Devi Stuart-Fox, University of Melbourne, & Dr. Mark Norman, Museum Victoria)
Zoe completed her PhD looking at the benefits of polyandry in the dumpling squid. Zoe is now working as a policy officer at Victoria's Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning.
Email: zoe.squires@delwp.vic.gov.au
DR. Helene Lowry
PhD student, 2007-2009 (co-supervised with Assoc Prof. Alan Lill)
Helene completed her PhD on the behavior of a successful urban adapter, the noisy miner. She is now a full-time mum and a part-time demonstrator at Monash.
Email: helene.lowry@monash.edu
DR. John Morrongiello
PhD student, 2007-2009 (co-supervised with Dr. Nick Bond & Dr. Dave Crook, Arthur Rylah Institute)
John completed a PhD project examining reproduction and life-history strategies in the pygmy perch. He is now a lecturer at the University of Melbourne.
Email: john.morrongiello@unimelb.edu.au
Andrew Todd-Weckmann
HONOURS STUDENT, 2019
Andrew studied the effects of long-term fluoxetine exposure on mate choice in guppies.
Oscar Formoso
Honours student, 2018-2019
Oscar studied the effects of fluoxetine on male colouration in guppies.
Sarah Wiles
Honours student, 2018
Sarah studied how fluoxetine exposure and temperature stress interacted to influence reproductive behaviours and metabolism in fish.
Stephanie Hannington
Honours student, 2017-2018 (co-supervised with Dr. Minna Saaristo)
Steph investigated the impact of the antidepressant fluoxetine on foraging behaviour of fish. Steph is now studying to be a vet.
James Tanner
Honours student, 2017-2018 (co-supervised with Dr. Minna Saaristo)
James investigated the impact the antidepressant fluoxetine on boldness and exploratory behaviours and physiology of fish. James is now working as an environmental consultant.
Email: james.tanner@eriasgroup.com
Jack Fursdon
Honours student, 2016-2017
Jack investigated the impact of the antidepressant fluoxetine on the reproductive behaviour of guppies in the presence and absence of predation risk. He is now working as an environmental consultant.
Email: jbfur1@student.monash.edu
Wes Hart
Honours student, 2016 (co-supervised with Dr. David Chapple)
For his honours, Wes studied behavioural syndromes and sex differences in behaviour in the rainforest sunskink, Lampropholis coggeri.
Tiarne Ecker
Honours student, 2015-2016 (co-supervised with Dr. Minna Saaristo, Åbo Akademi University)
Tiarne investigated the impact of the antidepressant fluoxetine on pre and postcopulatory mechanisms of sexual selection in fish. Tiarne is now working at the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning.
Email: tiarne.ecker@gmail.com
Isaac Gravolin
Honours student, 2014 (co-supervised with Dr Ulrika Candolin, University of Helsinki)
Isaac investigated the effect of an invasive shrimp on male parental behaviour of three-spined stickleback in the Baltic Sea.
Email: isaac.gravolin@monash.edu
Brooke Melki-Wegner
Honours student, 2014 (co-supervised with Dr. David Chapple)
For her honours project, Brooke investigated the impact of tail loss (both complete and partial tail loss) on the behaviour of the delicate skink, using a behavioural syndromes approach. Brooke is now a registered nurse.
Shannon Walsh
Honours student, 2014 (co-supervised with Dr. David Chapple)
Shannon compared urban and non-urban populations of the delicate skink from the Sydney region to examine whether urban populations are bolder and are more likely to respond to novelty. Shannon now works for the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning.
Jack Eades
Honours student, 2013-2014 (co-supervised with Dr David Chapple)
Jack investigated sexual differences in behaviour in the mosquitofish, focusing on repeatability of behaviours and behavioural syndromes. He found that there were differences in the repeatability of behaviours related to invasion success, and that correlations between behaviours were present. Sex differences in behaviour were also detected. Jack is now working at a bank.
Alisha McLennan
Honours student, 2013-2014 (co-supervised with Minna Saaristo, Åbo Akademi University)
Alisha investigated the impact of pharmaceutical contaminants on anti-predator behaviour in fish. Alisha is now working as a senior communications officer at the Australian Government Department of Human Services.
Matthew Warr
Honours student, 2012 (co-supervised with Dr. John Morrongiello, CSIRO)
Matt investigated life-history trade-offs between the expression of female sexual ornaments and egg size/fecundity in sex-role reversed pipefish. Matt is now living and working in the UK.
DR. Amy Hooper
Honours student, 2009-2010
Amy investigated male reproductive investment in the southern bottle tail squid. Since then she has completed a PhD at the University of New South Wales.
Email: amy.hooper@student.unsw.edu.au
Emma Jensson
Honours student, 2009-2010
Emma investigated vocal communication and signal reliability in common marmosets.
Skye Boyd-Gerny
Honours student, 2009-2010 (co-supervised with Dr. Adrian Dyer)
Skye studied the interactions between Australian native bees and flowering plants. Her recently published honours research on the influence of bees in the evolution of flower colouration in Australia has attracted widespread media attention.
Sarah Simmonds
Honours student, 2009-2010 (co-supervised with Dr. David Chapple)
Sarah conducted several laboratory experiments to examine the social and exploratory behaviour of the delicate skink (Lampropholis delicata) and the garden skink (L. guichenoti). Several behavioural differences were identified that might act to improve the success of the delicate skink during the introduction process. Sarah is currently working as a science communicator.
Lexie Slingerland
Honours student, 2009
Lexie investigated environmental variation affecting parental care in the Australian desert goby. After spending several years living in the UK, Lexi is now back in Australia working as an environmental consultant.
DR. Leonardo Guida
Honours student 2008-2009 (co-supervised with Dr. Phil Byrne)
Leo examined multimodal signalling in humans. He learnt all about the fantastic software available for generating faces and recording voices. After completing a PhD, Leo is now working for the Australian Marine Conservation Society.
Email: leonardo.guida@monash.edu
Nicholas Symons
Honours student 2008-2009
Nick investigated parental care in the Australian desert goby and spent most of his time sifting through hours of video footage or, otherwise, scrubbing fish tanks. His honours work was published in Plos One and was covered in the Mx newspaper.
Juni Hoel
Honours student 2008 (co-supervised with Assoc Prof. Alan Lill)
Juni worked on roost site selection and anti-predator behaviour in the invasive common myna. She spent most of the time, driving around Melbourne and trying to devise ways to test the anti-predator response of her test subjects.
Zac Billingham
Honours student, 2007-2008 (co-supervised with Dr. David Chapple)
Zac is now working as an environmental consultant and completing a PhD exploring the molecular systematics of Australian crane flies.
Email: Zac.Billingham@ghd.com
Dr. Huon Clark
Honours student, 2007-2008 (co-supervised with Dr. Nick Bond)
Huon investigated habitat selection and behaviour in carp gudgeons. After completing a PhD on fiddler crabs at the Australian National University, Huon relocated to Perth, where he is now working as an environmental consultant on subterranean fauna.
Email: huon.clark@uwa.edu.au
Bec Wellard
Honours student, 2007 (co-supervised with Jeff Weir, Dolphin Research Institute)
Bec completed her Honours project looking at the impact of boat traffic on acoustic communication in dolphins in Port Phillip Bay in collaboration with The Dolphin Research Institute. Since then, Bec has been travelling the world doing cetacean research. After completing a PhD on killer whales at Curtin University, Bec now works for Project Orca and the Centre for Marine Science and Technology at Curtin University.