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Academic Research Interests
Ecology and physiology of marine algae. Algal biotechnology (large-scale algal culture systems and valuable products for microalgae). Physiology of algal/invertebrate symbiosis
Response of plants to fire and their allocation of resources to different modes of recovery, with special interest in the family Proteaceae. Histological and taxonomic studies of the Proteaceae.
Investigation of animal population biology, population dynamics, intraspecific variation and ecological genetics. Quantitative computer based measurement ofecological attributes using field data. Population dynamics and ecological genetics of colour and shape variation in grass-hoppers; population dynamics of the short-tailed shearwater; development and testing of new population estimation methods, and multivariate morphometric analysis in several species including singing honeyeaters and larval lampreys.
Molecular mechanism of hormone action in development; birth-related defects in metabolism; developmental biochemistry of liver and lung; mammalian tissue culture. Associate Professor Michael Calver
Behavioural ecology of predation, insect population ecology (including biological control) and ecosystem health in relation to human land use. Foraging ecology of seabirds and dolphins in Cockburn Sound, Western Australia: implications for interphyletic competition and environmental management. Laboratory and field trials of the crown weevil Trichosirocalus horridus for control of the slender thistle Carduus pycnocephalus.
Evolutionary biology. The use of ecological and genetic data to address questions about the life-history strategies of species. Breeding systems, dispersal patterns and population structures of aquatic invertebrates, birds and estuarine fish.
Industrial Biotechnology and Environmental Microbiology. Bioleaching of Copper Minerals. Biological Nutrient Removal from Wastewater. Microbiol production of Biocement. Computer controlled composting. Anaerobic digestion to convert waste compounds into renewable energy (methane gas).
Plant/microbe interactions particularly mycorrhizal fungi, nutrition of eucalypts and other plantation trees, edible fungi, plant disease/nutrient interactions, jarrah dieback.
Biological nitrogen fixation, biology of the root nodule bacteria (Bradyrhizobium, Mesorhizobium, Rhizobium, Sinorhizobium.). Molecular biology and physiology of acid tolerance in Rhizobium and Sinorhizobium,iron nutrition and siderophore production in Rhizobium leguminosarum bv viciae, properties of root nodule bacteria from indigenous legumes. Associate Professor Giles Hardy
Soil and plant health in natural and developed ecosystems. Biology, ecology, taxonomy and pathology and control of Phytophthora species. Biological control of plant diseases. Diseases in native ecosystems. Diseases of Eucalyptus globulus (Tasmanian Bluegum) plantations and horticultural crops.
Plant biotechnology and molecular biology: the application of cell and molecular techniques to analysis and improvement of crop plants. Associate Professor David Macey
Iron metabolism in humans and in animal models; biomineralisation in organisms, focusing in particular on the marine molluscs chitons and limpets
Conservation, propagation and utilisation of Australian native species. Salt tolerance and resistance to Phytophthora cinnamomi. Associate Professor Robert Mead
Toxicology and metabolism of fluorinated pesticides particularly fluoroacetate and 1,3 difluoro-2-propanol. Development of antidotes to combat accidental ingestion of toxins. Mode of toxic action of plant secondary compounds particularly in relation to plant-animal interaction.
Native Western Australian freshwater fish distribution patterns, biology (age and growth, reproduction, diets), habitat associations and conservation.
Molecular plant pathology; molecular mechanisms of microorganism-plant interaction; genetic engineering of plants for resistance to fungal diseases; fungal ecology; chitinases. Characterisation of recombinant genes for antifungal antibodies. Identification of SNP's in ectomycorrhizal fungi. Activation of defence gene expression in infected plants. Persistence of DNA and fead mycelium in doil. Identification of sntifungal genes in doil microorganisms. Identification of toxins produced by the necrotrophic fungus Rizoctonia solani.
Research in biological nitrogen fixation, especially the biology of the root nodule bacteria (Rhizobium, Bradyrhizobium, Sinorhizobium.).
The taxonomy, life cycles, ecology, bioenergetics and respiratory and vascular physiology of larval and adult lampreys. Life cycle and ecological data on teleosts, crabs and prawns in the Peel-Harvey, Swan-Avon estuaries and Wilson Inlet systems. This work is now being extended into inshore marine waters.
Molecular microbial genetics, prokaryotic stress response and survival, gene and protein expression and regulation, signal transduction pathways, molecular interactions between plants and microbes, research on the root nodule bacteria.
Construction of genetic tools to study regulated genes. Studies on regulatory proteins and their interaction with DNA Studies on expression of regulated genes. Proteomic analysis.
Seagrass ecology. Physiology of algae and seagrasses. Biological hydrodynamics. Seagrass transplantation. |