Corals light the way to a healthy partnership
Corals know how to attract good company. New research finds that corals emit an enticing fluorescent green light that attracts the mobile microalgae, known as Symbiodinium, that are critical to the e
ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
James Cook University Townsville
Queensland 4811 Australia
Phone: 61 7 4781 4000
Email: info@coralcoe.org.au
Miguel did his Honours at University of Lisbon, in which he studied the ontogenetic patterns in native clingfishes. He then moved to Townsville where we completed a Master of Applied Sciences in 2004. During this first stay in Townsville, Miguel compared the patterns of sex change in Labrid fishes of Rottnest Island, under the guidance of Professor Geoff Jones. From 2005 to 2008 he lived in St. Andrews, Scotland where he completed his PhD under the supervision of Professor Anne Magurran. During his time in St. Andrews, Miguel studied the reproductive behaviour of female Trinidadian guppy. More specifically, he examined the variables that influence female mating decisions in Poecilia reticulata and how these affect their fitness, as well as the fitness of their offspring. Miguel has just recently applied for a postdoctoral fellowship in Portugal where he aims to keep on studying female reproductive decisions, but this time by using brain transcriptional profiling to identify the neural genomic processes underlying such critical behaviour.
Polyandry, where females mate multiply during the same reproductive season, is widespread among most taxa. Whenever the sperm of two or more males compete for fertilization, as in polyandry, then the opportunity for mechanisms of post mating selection such as sperm competition and/or female cryptic choice arise. The result of these postmating selection mechanisms is that one sperm is favoured over the other, theoretically shaping the selection of male phenotypes. We investigated whether polyandry promotes directionality or diversification of male phenotypic traits in Trinidadian guppies. This question was addressed by comparing the multivariate dispersion of the phenotypes of offspring from multiple and single sires. Our results suggest that polyandry promotes diversification rather than directionality of male phenotypic traits, with offspring sired from multiple fathers having greater dispersion of phenotypes than offspring sired by single fathers. Furthermore, only offspring of polyandrous descent are more phenotypicaly diverse than their fathers. These results support fitness benefits associated to brood diversification as a driver of polyandry.
Corals know how to attract good company. New research finds that corals emit an enticing fluorescent green light that attracts the mobile microalgae, known as Symbiodinium, that are critical to the e
A study led by researchers at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University found fish become anxious and more cautious when water quality is degraded by sediment, an e
Queensland’s coastal shark numbers are continuing a 50-year decline, in sharp contradiction of suggestions of ‘exploding’ shark populations, according to an analysis of Queensland Shark Control
The future of the world’s coral reefs is uncertain, as the impact of global heating continues to escalate. However, according to a study published today in Nature Climate Change, the response of the
Who: Julian Cribb Where: JCU HY002, UQ CMS Meeting Room When: Monday 20 March 2006, 11.00am-12.00pm
The Lizard Island Doctoral Fellowships Program provides financial support for field-intensive coral reef research at Lizard Island Research Station on the Great Barrier Reef by outstanding PhD student
Who: Go Suzuki, Kyoto University Where: ARC Centre of Excellence Conference Room, James Cook University, Townsville with video link to Centre for Marine Studies, UQ, Brisbane When: 1.00pm Monday 23
Who: Lead by Meir Sussman Where: ARC Centre of Excellence Conference Room, JCU, Townsville with video link to Centre for Marine Studies, UQ, Brisbane When: 4.00pm, Thursday 26 April 2007
Dr. Frank Thomalla is a Research Fellow at the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) where he leads the Stockholm-based group of the “Risk, Livelihoods and Vulnerability Programme” and at the re
Dr Troy Day is a theoretical evolutionary ecologist at Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada (http://www.mast.queensu.ca/~tday/index.html). His primary research interests are in the evolution of in
Who: Lead by Dr Sophie Dove Where: Video link ARC Centre of Excellence Conference Room, JCU, Townsville and Centre for Marine Studies, UQ, Brisbane When: 4.00pm, Thursday 10 May 2007
Who: Lead by Professor Terry Hughes Where: Video link ARC Centre of Excellence Conference Room, JCU, Townsville and JCU Cairns, Room B1.108 When: 12.00pm, Monday 14 May 2007
ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
James Cook University Townsville
Queensland 4811 Australia
Phone: 61 7 4781 4000
Email: info@coralcoe.org.au