Geometric biology allows us to understand the dynamics of how living things convert energy flows into mass, at all scales of biological organisation.
The size and shape (together, the ‘geometry’) of organisms ultimately determine these flows.
The Geometric Theory of Biology allows us to predict how things function, grow, and change; be they tumours, schools of fish, or whole forests.
A new paper led by Centre researchers Diego Barneche, Craig White and Dustin Marshall and published in the prestigious journal Science has confirmed what field biologists have long suggested: that larger mothers reproduced disproportionately much more than smaller ones. The findings clash with current theories and the results have major implications for fisheries, the value placed on marine protected areas, the impacts of climate change and the 20% of people globally who rely on fish for protein.
The Centre for Geometric Biology is currently seeking to recruit an experienced ecologist who specialises in life history theory. This position will be with Professor Dustin Marshall and based within the School of Biological Sciences at Monash University’s Clayton Campus.
Published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
PhD student Karin Svanfeldt and supervisors Keyne Monro and Dustin Marshall have been using colonial bryozoans to determine how selection affects zooid longevity, and how it compares with our knowledge of modular organisms from studies on plants.
The Centre’s Diego Barneche and Dustin Marshall have collaborated with Scott Burgess of Florida State University to compile a dataset of 1,078 observations of fish egg size taken from 192 studies, enabling them to test multiple life history theories, including the prediction that in environments with stable food regimes the most effective strategy to maximise reproductive rates is to produce many small eggs.
Published in Global Ecology and Biogeography.
Uruguayan researchers Daniel and Hugo Naya have joined forces with the Centre’s Craig White to investigate how body mass in mammals affects the relationship between energy expenditure and climate.
Professors Dustin Marshall and Craig White will be speaking about their experiences as academics looking for postdocs, and we invite students and interested early career researchers to join us armed with questions about how to go about getting a postdoc, what to expect from a postdoc and ‘conversations you should have’ when starting a postdoc.
Published in Evolutionary Biology.
Martino Malerba, Maria Palacios and Dustin Marshall tested three ecological theories that differ in their predictions on how size algal cell size should mediate responses to fluctuating resources such as nitrogen and phosphorus.
