Research

We are interested in the behavioural ecology of many different animal using an evolutionary framework. Our current research projects include:

Imperfect mimicry in ant mimicking spiders: Many species gain a selective benefit through mimicry by converging on the phenotypic attributes of another unrelated species, which has resulted in many examples of mimics bearing a striking resemblance to their model. It is assumed that natural selection should drive the evolution of accurate mimicry while eliminating inaccurate mimics from the population. Paradoxically, there are many instances of mimics that inaccurately resemble their model. There have been many hypotheses proposed to explain the occurrence of inaccurate mimics, with no one hypothesis providing a complete explanation. Here in the Behavioural ecology lab we have numerous research projects investigating different aspects of inaccurate mimicry to provide further insight into this widespread phenomenon.

Prevalence and variability of warning signals: Aposematic species advertise their unprofitability to predators with conspicuous warning signals. Many aposematic species show intraspecific variation in these signals even though selection is expected to favour invariable signals that facilitate avoidance learning by predators. Although aposematism is an effective antipredator strategy, warning signals are also surprisingly rare. In our research group, we are investigating what factors limit the prevalence of warning signals in prey communities and what maintains the observed signal diversity. We study community-level questions in Australian butterflies and use aposematic tiger moths as a model system to investigate within species variation.

Sperm transfer in spiders: In spiders, sperm transfer from the male to the female is indirect via secondary copulatory structures, the pedipalps. At the time of transfer, the sperm are not mobile and the ejaculate needs to move through narrow male and female ducts to the female sperm storage organ. In addition, copulation duration can be very short, often limited to just a few seconds. Finally, sexual cannibalism and genital damage limits male life-time mating opportunities. These features of the reproductive biology in spiders are likely to result in sperm transfer constraints. The impact of some behavioural factors on sperm transfer have been studied in a small number of species, with our study we hope to address the influence of the morphological structure and physical characteristics of the male and female reproductive ducts for sperm transfer in Australian spiders.

Parasitism in damselflies: Parasitism exerts intense selection pressure on the fitness and life history of host organisms. The prevalence and intensity of parasitism and its impacts vary among species, between populations, and even among individuals within a single population. Host-parasite interactions are also expected to be vary at different climatic conditions. In this study, we aim to study the geographical variation of parasitism and identify parasitism consequences and variation across different latitudinal gradients using damselflies as study system.

Dynamic signals in butterflies: Signals used for communication between animals often vary in time, changing in appearance or characteristics each second in the signaling event. In this project we study dynamic visual signals in butterfly sexual signalling using Eurema butterflies as models.

Broad patterns across animal traits: We are interested in how traits vary across species in different taxon.

Variations in spider brains: Spiders have high cognition and learning capabilities, even with relatively small brains. They play an essential role in regulating the density of insects across all trophic levels (herbivores, producers, consumers, predators). Spiders display prey preferences or generalist choices that involve complex strategies for hunting. Because of this crucial influence on the invertebrate community, studying the ecological and environmental aspects that affect the brain of spiders has been taking place in our laboratory. We are interested in understanding how evolutionary adaptation and plasticity have impacted the volume of their brains. Our research group is involved in studies about sociality, mimicry on morphology, metabolism rate and environmental pollution.

We are open for any interesting ideas that you might to bring.