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Senior Lecturer, College of Science & Engineering, James Cook University

I was appointed in 2011 as a Lecturer in the School of Marine & Tropical Biology. For the first 3 years I am on an Australian Biological Resources Study (ABRS) Postdoctoral Fellowship resolving the diversity, systematics and taxonomy of several reptile and frog groups of eastern and northern Australia (Oedura geckos, Lampropholis skinks, microhylid frogs, and some Carlia skinks and Litoria frogs).

My research program consists of two broad, overlapping components: 1. evolution, ecology and conservation, and 2. systematics and taxonomy. Needless to say my interests are broad and I incorporate a variety of field, lab and experimental techniques in my research. I am particularly interested in processes of population divergence (particularly in mating traits) and the formation of new species. My main study system is hybrid zones between lineages of Green-eyed Treefrogs (Litoria serrata and L. myola) in rainforests of the Wet Tropics region of north-east Australia. These hybrid zones are fascinating and current projects revolve around determining the importance of reinforcement (increased premating isolation due to selection against maladaptive hybridisation) in speciation. Other projects I am currently working on include: targeted surveys for ‘missing’ and declined frogs; ecology and systematics of dipteran parasites of frogs; conservation of highly localised Queensland frogs and reptiles; and the invasion and impact of the Asian House Gecko in Australia.

Much of my research has involved frogs and reptiles but this has been largely a product of their suitability for the research questions to date. My interests are taxonomically broad.

Experience

  • 2011–present
    Lecturer, James Cook University

Education

  • 2006 
    University of Queensland, PhD