Males unfazed by costly sex

Sex is costly. It can be time consuming, energetically demanding, and resource depleting. So, it makes sense to choose your mates wisely. Being choosy, however, might not always be for the best, at least not when it comes to sperm allocation in male bottletail squid. New research led by former Honours student Amy Hooper set out to investigate how male squid might allocate sperm to higher quality females after they’ve already mated. Despite being heavily sperm depleted, males were just as eager to mate with any female presented to him, even if she was of much lower quality. The results suggest that even when mating is very costly, social environment may be more important in determining mating strategy. The work was published in Animal Behaviour.

For an example of the press coverage, click here.

Three across the finish line

Congratulations to Will, Mel and Krys who all handed in their PhD theses recently!

On the front cover

Our work on cichlids will be featured on the front cover of the upcoming issue of Proceedings B. Congratulations to Topi, who not only led the research, but also took the amazing cover photo

Gobies on ABC radio

Robyn Williams covered the ecology of desert gobies on The Science Show. Listen to the interview here.

Lab retreat on the Mornington Peninsula

The lab group held its three-day retreat on the beautiful Mornington Peninsula, where we got to do some squid fishing, bush walking, swimming, and partake in a Master Chef style ‘cook off’.

A fish in the desert

Despite the extreme environment, Australia’s iconic Lake Eyre Basin is home to a range of aquatic animals – including fish. In fact, during massive floods, the desert is teeming with them. But such flood events are very rare. So, how do fish survive in the meantime? In a new study led by Krys Mossop, we showed that the survival of desert gobies hinges on constantly moving to new water sources. Specifically, we discovered that gobies from very different parts of the landscape were genetically similar, demonstrating that populations are much more connected than anticipated. These findings have implications for conserving species like the desert goby, and related fish that are endangered by habitat loss and degradation through human use of the desert’s scarce water resources.

Check out examples of the press coverage here, here, and here.

Power is a question of colour

We recently published a series of papers unlocking new insights into the mysterious evolution of colour diversity among fish, and how aggression by other species plays a part in patterns of colour diversity observed in the wild.

Check out the press coverage by Fairfax media here. For an interview about cichlid fishes on Triple R radio, download the podcast here.

Sex in troubled waters

In new research, we show for the first time that exposure to an environmentally relevant concentration of a widespread endocrine disrupting agricultural pollutant can alter male reproductive behaviour and morphology in a freshwater fish. This work was led by PhD student Michael Bertram, in collaboration with researchers from Åbo Akademi University in Finland, the University of Melbourne, and the Centre for Aquatic Pollution Identification and Management. We report that short-term exposure to a minute concentration (22 parts per trillion) of 17β-trenbolone—an anabolic growth-promoting steroid used extensively in livestock production worldwide—altered mating behaviour in male guppies. Exposed males performed fewer courtship dances (‘sigmoid displays’) and more ‘sneaking’ behaviour (i.e. unsolicited mating behaviour involving the male sneaking up from behind the female to copulate, without first performing courtship). In addition, exposed males gained significantly more mass, which was expected given the anabolic potency of this pollutant.

See examples of popular media coverage of this research HERE and HERE

Nicaragua fieldtrip

Recently Will travelled to Nicaragua in Central America to sample Neotropical cichlids. The project involved collecting cichlids across Lakes Nicaragua and Managua.

Lab retreat in Hobart

The research group recently spent three days in Hobart for some team bonding. Here we are about to get stuck into some local Tasmanian produce for dinner.

ISBE Poster prize

Congratulations to Will, who won best poster prize at the International Society for Behavioural Ecology Conference in New York. His poster was titled “Who care’s more? brood defence behaviours in a Neotropical cichlid fish”.

Australian Society for Fish Biology and Australian Society for Limnology Joint Congress and award success

The ASFB/ASL joint congress was held in Darwin in July this year, with Nick M and Krys attending. Highlights included special sessions on Science Communication in the Public Sphere, co-organised by Krys, and an overall conference focus on indigenous engagement. Krys received the ASFB’s Gilbert P. Whitley Award (Senior) for an outstanding oral presentation on fish or fisheries for her talk on dispersal behaviour in desert gobies. Both Nick and Krys were appreciative of generous Society support via travel grants.

Thanks to all the fish

The Faculty of Science at Monash has produced a series of short videos as part of its Science Stories series to capture the people behind the science. Check out Bob’s video HERE

Madrid Lab work

As part of an ongoing international collaboration, Will conducted analysis on cichlid samples collected from Nicaragua, at the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales in Madrid, Spain and at the Universität Basel, Switzerland between March and June.

Sydney field trip

In early November 2013, Marcus and a very diligent field assistant, Michael Bertram, went up to Lane Cove National Park, Sydney to collect delicate skinks. The skinks were to be used as part of Marcus’ PhD research investigating behavioural syndromes in the species. In addition, skinks were caught using three trapping methods (mealworm fishing, pitfall traps and hand capture) to determine whether certain trapping techniques preferentially capture individuals with a particular behavioural type. In between fishing for lizards, Marcus and Michael indulged in cheese and wine whilst enjoying the natural views from their park cabin.

Sexual selection in the sea

Biologists have uncovered new insights into the mating tactics of the peculiar southern bottletail squid, a small species found in the sandy shallows of Southern Australia. Research led by PhD student Benjamin Wegener found females eat the ejaculates of their mates, a trait never before associated with cephalopods, the group that includes squid, octopus, cuttlefish and nautilus. Moreover, the study revealed smaller females tended to eat the most ejaculates of their mates, potentially decreasing the chances of successful fertilization of her eggs.
(Photo: Kade Mills)

Check out some examples of popular press coverage here , here  and here.

Lab retreat at Daylesford

The research group recently enjoying a wonderful three-day retreat in Daylesford, Victoria.(Photo: Nori Kawasaki)

Science tests the size debate

Women take into account male body shape, height and size of genitalia to determine the sexual appeal of men. Before clothing, the non-retractable human penis would have been conspicuous to potential mates. This has generated suggestions that penis size partly evolved due to female choice. We show, based upon female assessment of digitally projected life-size, computer-generated images, that penis size interacts with body shape and height to determine male sexual attractiveness. Our results support the hypothesis that female mate choice could have driven the evolution of larger penises in humans. In a broader context, our results show that pre-copulatory sexual selection can play a role in the evolution of genital traits.

Watch a youtube video discussing the science here
Check out a write-up in The Conversation here

Congratulations to Nick Moran!

Congratulations to Nick Moran, who was awarded a Great Artesian Basin Coordinating Committee (GABCC) top-up Scholarship for his research.

Congratulations to Ben Wegener!

Congratulations to Ben Wegener (PhD student) for getting the cover in the latest issue of Behavioural Ecology for his paper Strategic male mate choice minimises ejaculate consumption.
(Photo: Julian Finn/Museum Victoria)