CORAL REEF ECOLOGY LABORATORY
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Samantha Waller

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Position: PhD graduate (completed December 2005)

Education: 2000 BSc (Hons) University of Bristol, England

Awards and Grants:
  • International Postgraduate Research Scholarship (IPRS) and University of Queensland International Postgraduate Research Scholarship (UQIPRS) (2002-2005).
  • Grant from the Joyce W. Vickery Scientific Research Fund, Linnean Society of New South Wales (2003).
  • Micro-grant from PADI Project AWARE Asia-Pacific (2004).
  • Special Commendation for poster presentation at the Australian Neuroscience Society conference (2004).
  • Student Travel Awards to the Australasian Society for the Study of Animal Behaviour conference (2003 and 2004) and the Australian Neuroscience Society conference (2004)


Research Interests: Coral reef ecology, colour of animals, vision

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Sami, Uli & Lexa.
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Sam at Lizard Island
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Filming behavioural experiments
Research Project: Before coming to the University of Queensland, I undertook expeditions to Belize with Coral Cay Conservation (1998) and Indonesia with Operation Wallacea (2000). I also gained my PADI Divemaster and semi-closed rebreather qualifications. My PhD supervisors at UQ were Prof. Justin Marshall (VTHRC), Dr. Lexa Grutter, and Dr. Uli Siebeck.

Honours Project: "The effect of different wavelengths and polarisation of light on social interactions in guppies"

PhD project: "The role of ontogenetic colour change in social interactions in reef fish" 
It has been hypothesised that the striking ontogenetic colour changes often displayed by reef fish function as intraspecific camouflage allowing juveniles to go unrecognised as competitors by territorial adults. I tested this hypothesis using behavioural experiments with two species of damselfish (Pomacentrus amboinensis and Neoglyphidodon melas). As studies of animal colour and vision have been confounded by the traditional assumption that animals view the world the same as humans, the colour vision systems of these species were investigated using retinal anatomy and microspectrophotometry, allowing the colour vision capabilities of the juvenile and adult damselfish to be related to the observed behavioural output.


Conference Abstracts:

Waller, S. J., Siebeck, U. E. and Marshall, N. J. (2003). The possible role of ontogenetic colour change as intraspecific camouflage in damselfish. Australasian Society for the Study of Animal Behaviour.

Waller, S. J., Siebeck, U. E. and Marshall, N. J. (2003). Ontogenetic colour change and the role of the ocellus in damselfish (Pomacentridae): Does it function as intraspecific camouflage? Proceedings of the annual conference of the Australian Marine Sciences Association.

Waller, S. J., Siebeck, U. E. and Marshall, N. J. (2004). Ontogenetic colour change and the development of the visual system in a damselfish, Pomacentrus amboinensis (Pomacentridae). Proceedings of the Australian Neuroscience Society 15 : 137.

Waller, S. J., Siebeck, U. E. and Marshall, N. J. (2004). Ontogenetic colour change in the damselfish Pomacentrus amboinensis : Does the ocellus function as intraspecific camouflage? Australasian Society for the Study of Animal Behaviour.
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  • Home
  • The Cleaner Fish Chronicles
  • Research Projects
  • People
    • Dr. Lexa Grutter
    • Dr. Derek Sun
    • Halle Martineau
    • Olivia Cenne
    • Barbara Lainz
    • Eden Devon
    • PhD Graduates >
      • Maxi Eckes
      • Richard Smith
      • Lynda Curtis
      • Conor Jones
      • Penny McCracken
      • Laura Nagel
      • Devi Stuart-Fox
      • Gabriela Munoz
      • Samantha Waller
      • Justine Becker
      • Derek Sun
    • Masters Graduates >
      • Rachel Fogelman
      • Carlos Vargos
      • Marina Richardson
    • Honours Graduates >
      • Derek Sun
      • Peter Waldie
      • Gillian Clague
      • Jennifer Pickering
      • Jennifer Rumney
      • Jan-Maree Murphy
      • John McKiernan
      • Viviana Gamboa
      • Carrie Sims
      • Rose Penfold
      • Berilin Duong
      • Natsumi Nishigawa
      • Joanna Davis
      • Daniel Capps
      • Marty Deveny
      • Maxi Eckes
      • Lynda Curtis
      • Conor Jones
      • Carley Bansemer
    • Past Research Assistants >
      • Eva McClure
      • Cait Newport
      • Bronwyn Cameron
      • Nadia Aurisch
      • Christine Fury
    • Visiting Research Students >
      • Emilie David
      • Anais Ranica
      • Mathilde Bénézech
      • Nicolas Fournet Fayas
  • Publications
  • Grants
  • Media Stories
  • Collaborators
  • The Sustainable Marine Aquarium
  • Volunteer Opportunities
  • Links
  • Contact Us
  • Some of Our Volunteers
    • Marta Ferraro
    • Ofalia Ho