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: Life History Empiricist
The Centre for Geometric Biology is currently seeking to recruit an experienced zooplankton biologist.
Fish reproductive-energy output increases disproportionately with body size
Published in Science.
Do good things come in small packages?
Martino Malerba and colleagues have used the artificially evolved large and small plankton cells to assess how efficiently cells of different sizes can utilise light, and if differences are predicted by current theories.
Quality as well as quantity can change as an evolutionary response to intensive harvesting of algae
Dustin Marshall and Kenre Monro were among a team of researchers investigated whether the productivity of desirable algal biochemicals, such as fatty- and amino acids, evolve differently depending on harvesting regimes.
Cell size, photosynthesis and the package effect: an artificial selection approach
Published in New Phytologist.
The energetics of fish growth
A new study led by Diego Barneche examining the theoretical underpinning of the growth patterns in fish, has found that the ‘cost of growth’ is paramount to determining how energy moves between levels in the food chain.
Biochemical evolution in response to intensive harvesting in algae: evolution of quality and quantity
Published in Evolutionary Applications.
Staff news
Giulia Ghedini awarded research fellow award, Martino Malerba collaborating across faculties, and Amanda Pettersen moving to Sweden.
Understanding how age and sex can influence host-pathogen interactions
PhD student Stephen Gipson and supervisor Matt Hall used a series of experimental infection trials to investigate how males and females of the freshwater crustacean, Daphnia magna respond to infection by two strains of a pathogen, Pasteuria ramosa, to test whether the age and sex of the host is a source of variation governing the evolution of infectious disease.
How do mutations affect growth and fermentation rates in yeast?
Through the lens of evolutionary biology, Aysha Sezmis and colleagues are examining why the brewer’s yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae converts glucose via a seemingly inefficient pathway.
Director’s message
2017 year in review, annual report, and a message from Director Dustin Marshall and Deputy Director Craig White.
