Bigger is better when it comes to female fish and feeding the planet
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.
Research fellow position: ecologist specialising in life history theory
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.
How does parental environment influence the potential for adaptation to global change?
Published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
Death is not the end, especially if you are a colonial organism
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.
Can we predict egg size of marine fish by looking at the predictability of the environment?
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.
Global environmental drivers of marine fish egg size
Published in Global Ecology and Biogeography.
How does size affect the maintenance of a constant body temperature?
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.
Student session: Applying for a postdoc
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.
Resources mediate selection on module longevity in the field
Published in Evolutionary Biology.
Sizing-up the impacts of fluctuating resources on body size
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.
