Welcome to the Coral Reef Ecology Laboratory based in the School of Biological Sciences at The University of Queensland, Brisbane. Our research interests are in coral reef ecology and marine parasitology. We also incorporate other fields in our research including evolutionary biology, molecular biology, parasitology, and animal behaviour. We use field observations to generate hypotheses which are tested using field and laboratory experiments.
Specific projects include:
Cleaning symbiosis as a model system for developing and testing models of non-kin cooperation in multispecies mutualisms.
The ecological significance of cleaning behaviour in reef fishes.
The direct and indirect effects of cleaner fish on the coral reef community.
Interactions between larval coral reef fish and parasites.
The effects of parasites on fish physiology.
The taxonomy of gnathiid isopods and their identification using DNA .
The role of colour and pattern in communication among animals.
The molecular and colour pattern biogeography of cleaner fish.
Sustainable amateur marine aquaria.
In collaboration with our colleagues from around the world, our research group is interested in a variety of ecological questions about the significance that cleaning behaviour and parasites may have in the marine environment.