Honours supervisors and projects

Dr Paul Sunnucks

Molecular Ecology

Telephone: 9905 9593
Email: paul.sunnucks@sci.monash.edu.au

I am one of the two leaders of the Molecular Ecology Research Group (further information of projects and personnel). The MERG conducts research on a wide range of vertebrate and invertebrate animal species, applying a combination of field biology and molecular ecology to address questions about the functioning of animal populations, usually with applications in conservation planning and management.

These are examples of the sorts of projects for which I am responsible. It is not an inclusive list, because we always having applications for funding in review, and project availability may depend on the outcomes.

1. Hidden species in glacial refuges: comparative phylogenetics of forest organisms (reptiles, invertebrates, plants) in a model forest system.

We are studying the biodiversity, population biology and evolutionary ecology of organisms of the forest floor. Our research model at Tallaganda, southern NSW, encompasses 5 drainage catchments. These have been very differently affected by climate change through the Pliocene and Pleistocene. Our work is illuminating the patterns of biodiversity in response to these changes, and can make recommendations for forest management to maximize retention of biodiversity and ecological function. See Garrick et al. (2004) Phylogeography recapitulates topography: very fine-scale local endemism of a saproxylic ‘giant’ springtail at Tallaganda in the Great Dividing Range of south-east Australia. Molecular Ecology. 13, 3315-3330. for a paper that started with Ryan Garrick’s Honours project.

2. Island-hoppers or castaways? Population biology of forest organisms on ‘islands of bush in a sea of pine’.

Pine plantation is expanding in Australia, often replacing native forest. We are examining the impacts on the establishment of pine plantation on an ecologically important community living in decomposing logs. The study site is near Tumut in southern NSW, where 55,000 Ha of forest have been converted into a mosaic of remnants embedded in a matrix of pine forest. See Schmuki et al. (2006) Beetles on islands of bush in a sea of pine: impacts of habitat fragmentation on two species of Adeliini at Tumut, SE Australia. Molecular Ecology 15, 1481-1492. for a paper that started with Christina Schmuki’s Honours project.

3. Road ecology: assessing and mitigating the impact of highways on Victorian fauna.

Only ~ 4% of native woody vegetation remains in northern Victoria. Startlingly, the great majority of what remains (87%) is associated with roads – in ‘road reserves’ with or without roads. There has been relatively little research in Australia on the degree to which roads constitute barriers and an important ecological threat to organisms, nor into the extent to which the highly connected lattice of road reserves functions as a resource for biodiversity. We are using molecular population genetic and other ecological approaches to evaluate the impact of roads on the population viability of mammals, birds, reptiles and invertebrates.

General points

Work in our group typically entails one or more of field work in forests or other locations, handling invertebrate or vertebrate animals, molecular population biology including microsatellite analysis and mitochondrial DNA screening and sequencing, and population genetic and statistical analyses.
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