Sebastian BUCKINGHAM

Supervisor: Dr Heloise Gibb

Lab Affiliations: Insect Ecology Group

Nicole COGGAN

Supervisor: Dr Heloise Gibb

Lab Affiliations: Insect Ecology Group

The rapid decline of small to medium-sized mammal species presents an urgent threat to Australia’s biodiversity. Omnivorous and insectivorous species such as the Numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus) and the Greater Bilby (Macrotis lagotis) are amongst those species that are in decline. The rapid disappearance of omnivorous mammals such as numbats and bilbies is likely to have had widespread effects upon ecosystem processes that are mediated by the activities of ground dwelling invertebrates such as Dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) and Termites (Isoptera), which are key providers of ecosystem processes including decomposition and nutrient cycling. In respect to the ecological roles provided by these invertebrates, termites act as primary decomposers of plant material and provide shelter by creating tree hollows, improve soil quality through their nesting activities, and contribute to the diets of a variety of species through their abundance in the landscape. Dung beetles, like termites, are another form of decomposer which feed on the dung of other species. A variety of exotic and native dung beetle species co-exist in Australia. Our native species are uniquely adapted to dry, pelleted marsupial dung, whereas the exotic species were introduced to remove the dung of ruminants such as cows which is unpalatable for many of our native dung beetle species. The prolonged absence of native mammal omnivores is likely to have impacted upon multiple aspects of dung beetle and termite ecology. For dung beetles, the restriction in the variety and abundance of marsupial dung available in the landscape for nesting and feeding upon potentially favours generalist over specialist-feeding species which would be unable to switch from their favoured food source. For termites, the decline of native omnivores could change the composition of species through the loss of a higher trophic-level predator. The overall potential for impact upon ground-dwelling invertebrate assemblages can have flow-on effects upon the ability of ecosystems to function efficiently. By studying the interactions between reintroduced and remnant populations of native omnivores with their associated invertebrate fauna, I aim to provide information that can be used to improve the success and sustainability of rehabilitation efforts for our native Critical Weight Range fauna.

Amanda DARE

Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Mike Clarke

Lab Affiliations: Avian Behaviour and Ecology Research Group

My research considers Bell Miner Associated Dieback (BMAD). I am interested in what makes a site attractive to Bell Miners for colonisation, the ecological consequences of colonisation, and the processes driving psyllid infestations.

Kevin Farnier

Supervisor: Dr Martin Steinbauer

Lab Affiliations: Insect-Plant Interactions

Insects use chemical, visual and tactile cues to identify host plants from non-hosts and to assess their suitability for eating and supporting the development of their offspring. Eucalyptus-feeding psyllids span species that only feed on one host (sometimes only a specific morphological leaf type) to species that use a range of hosts. My PhD will focus on how different cues mediate these interactions. I want to understand how the composition of eucalypt secondary metabolites has influenced the sensory capabilities of psyllids and how their responses enable them to exhibit different preferences for a genus of tree whose members produce many identical compounds.

David Jame

Supervisor: Prof George Stephenson

Lab Affiliations: Muscle-Cell Physiology Group

I am using the skinned muscle fibre technique to help characterise the effects on protein synthesis of various changes to the internal environment of a skeletal muscle cell. The aim is to gain a deeper understanding of the regulatory systems that govern skeletal muscle protein synthesis.

Nicola KHAN

Supervisor: Dr Kylie Robert

Lab Affiliations: Reproductive Physiology Group

The consequences of prolonged exposure to elevated stress are becoming increasingly important as animals are faced with a dramatically escalating number of stressors such as disturbance from tourism and noise, habitat fragmentation and an increased exposure to pollution. The primary focus of my studies is to determine the effect of chronic stress on offspring sex allocation in Zebra finches, and provide groundwork for manipulating sex allocation, which would be beneficial to conservation programmes as well as commercial enterprises, such as the poultry industry.

Sarah KELLY

Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Mike Clarke

Lab Affiliations: Fire Ecology Group

Noni LARKINS

Supervisor: Prof Graham Lamb Co-supervisor: Dr Robyn Murphy

Lab Affiliations: Muscle-Cell Physiology Group

My PhD research is currently concentrating on the properties of heat shock proteins in skeletal muscle. These molecular chaperones are essential in maintaining and protecting cellular processes from physiological and environmental stress. I am currently using techniques developed by the Muscle Cell Research Group, like mechanically skinned single muscle fibres and highly sensitive biochemistry, to address key questions regarding the quantification and movement of certain heat shock proteins in quiescent and stressed muscle. I hope my research will provide insight to the current understanding of stress responses caused by many damaging processes like aging, muscle disease and exercise.

Janelle MOLLICA

Supervisor: Prof Graham Lamb Co-supervisor: Dr Robyn Murphy

Lab Affiliations: Muscle-Cell Physiology Group

My PhD is focused on the regulation & role of calcium-dependant proteases, called calpains, in skeletal muscle physiology.

Evelyn NICHOLSON

Supervisor: Dr Brian MaloneCo-supervisor: Garry Peterson and Richard Hill (DSE)

Lab Affiliations: Fire Ecology Group

My PhD project addresses the current knowledge gap about how the frequency and interval with which fire occurs in a landscape influences the distribution, diversity and relative abundance of small reptiles. The study looks at small reptiles in the heathy woodlands of south-western Victoria and is carried out in collaboration with the Department of Sustainability and Environment and the Wimmera and Glenelg-Hopkins Catchment Management Authorities. Overall, the results of this study indicate that the availability of habitat is the most important influence on species distribution and abundances, while fire has a secondary influence on some species. The striped worm-lizard, Aprasia Striolata, for example, only occurs at sites with deep, soft soils and is more likely to occur at sites that have experienced fire at higher frequencies and shorter intervals.

Natasha ROBINSON

Supervisor: A/Prof Mike ClarkeCo-supervisors: Andrew Bennett (Deakin), Dr Brian Malone, Dr Richard Peters

Lab Affiliations: Fire Ecology Group

Refuges for Birds within Fire Prone Landscapes is the focus of my PhD. The term “refuge” refers to patches of vegetation within a fire scar that provides habitat for fauna after a fire. My study addresses the spatial properties of recent and past fire histories on avian fauna in the Victorian foothill forests. I will be looking at how different fire severities, fire histories and severity patch size influences bird species richness and abundance. In particular, I would like to find out the relative importance of naturally created refuges to those that are a result of previous prescribed burning.

Hassan RUDAYNI

Supervisors: Dr Giuseppe Posterino & Prof George Stephenson

Lab Affiliations: Muscle-cell research group

My PhD is focused on the quantification of glucose uptake in the mammalian skeletal muscle. The general aim of my project is to develop a technique for directly measuring the uptake of a fluorescent glucose analog (2-NBDG) across the surface membrane of a single intact fibre.

Katayo SAGATA

Supervisor: Dr Heloise Gibb Co-supervisors: Nigel Andrew (UNE) and David Warton (UNSW)

Lab Affiliations: Insect Ecology Lab

My research focus is on impact of climate gradients on the role of honeydew in ant-Hemiptera-plant interactions. Unused honeydew excreted by sap-sucking Hemipterans acts as keystone resource in forest systems and promotes ant-driven ecosystem processes. Ants that feed on large amounts of honeydew are competitively superior and ecologically dominant. Warmer future climate is expected to facilitate outbreaks of herbivorous insects in response to higher plant primary productivity. If this happens we can expect ants feeding on honeydew to become ecologically dominant and invasive ants expanding their range.

Lisa SPENCE-BAILEY

Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Mike Clarke Co-supervisor: Dr Brian Malone

Lab Affiliations: Mallee Fire and Biodiversity Project

The aim of most fire management in southern Australia is to maintain an unspecified ‘mosaic’ of patches of differing time-since-fire in a landscape. Unfortunately, there is very little understanding about how this landscape-scale of management affects the many reptile species dwelling in fire-affected ecosystems. My project examines how the properties of fire-induced mosaics within the landscape affect reptile species richness, diversity and assemblage composition in the fire-prone mallee habitats of south-eastern Australia.

Rick TAYLOR

Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Mike Clarke Co-supervisor: Dr Brian Malone

Lab Affiliations: Fire Ecology Group

The primary focus of my research is to develop a better understanding of bird responses to fire in the semi-arid mallee shrublands of southern Australia to inform more effective fire management. Specifically, I am investigating the following topics in my thesis: 1. Investigating bird responses to fire-affected structural attributes to facilitate effective fire management; 2. An application of the focal-species approach to identify critical post-fire age habitat for birds; 3. Investigating the relative value of two dominant fire-management strategies (i.e., (a) maximising the extent of long-unburnt habitat and (b) maximising post-fire age heterogeneity in the landscape) for individual bird species from a landscape perspective; 4. Investigating how the richness (and diversity) of bird species groups (total species, threatened species, rare species) are influenced by the two dominant fire-management strategies (see above)