Dr. Conrad Hoskin

Background and Research Interests
My research interests centre on the evolution of phenotypic diversity by natural and sexual selection, and the implications for speciation, mate choice, phylogeography, phylogenetics, systematics and conservation. My interests are not taxon-specific but I think frogs are ideal study organisms and enjoy working with them. I am particularly interested in the processes that determine the outcome of secondary contact between lineages in hybrid zones.

I did my BSc(Hons) at The University of Queensland (UQ) with Prof. Craig Moritz on phylogenetics of the Cophixalus frogs, a diverse genus across the mountaintops of the Wet Tropics region in north-east Queensland. After several years working and travelling I then did my PhD at UQ (supervisors: Prof. Craig Moritz, Prof. Hamish McCallum & Dr Jeremy Austin), finishing in 2006. I studied a secondary contact zone between two lineages of the Green-eyed Tree Frog Litoria genimaculata, a rainforest species of the Wet Tropics region of north-east Queensland. This contact zone is a mosaic consisting of two different areas of overlap between the lineages (contact zones) in close proximity. I combined a range of genetic and phenotypic analyses with lab-based experimental tests of reproductive isolation to investigate the outcomes of secondary contact between the two lineages and the processes determining these outcomes. I found that speciation by reinforcement (a process driven by selection against hybridization) has occurred between the two lineages at one of the contact zones but not at the other. Further, I demonstrated that reinforcement between the two lineages has incidentally driven rapid (within approximately 7,000 years) allopatric speciation between populations within one of the lineages. I also studied Batrachomyia fly parasitism in the contact zones.

I will continue to research the Litoria genimaculata contact zone during an Australian Postdoctoral Fellowship, based in the lab of A/Prof. Scott Keogh at The Australian National University (mid 2007-mid 2010). I will investigate the determinants of whether or not the process of reinforcement occurred in this system, in particular, why speciation by reinforcement occurred at one contact zone but apparently not at the other. I aim to use fine-scale genetic and phenotypic analyses of both contact zones to assess the roles of selection and gene flow in each. I will also use genetic techniques to test hypotheses on the origin of the two contact zones.

Other research projects I am currently working on include: phylogeny and evolution of the Australian microhylid frogs, phylogeography and secondary contact in a complex hybrid zone between the lineages of the Ornate Nursery-frog (Cophixalus ornatus), phylogeny and evolution of the Lampropholis skinks, and the ecology and impact of Batrachomyia fly parasitism in Wet Tropics frogs.

Fellowships, Research Grants, Awards

• College of Science (The Australian National University) Small Equipment Grant (2007).
• Australian Postdoctoral Fellowship and research funding from the Australian Research Council (July 2007 - July 2010).
• Dean's Commendation for Outstanding Research Higher Degree Thesis 2006, The University of Queensland.
• Early Career Research Support from the ARC Environmental Futures Network for research trip to University of California, Berkeley (2006).
• Museum of Vertebrate Zoology (UC, Berkeley) visiting researcher fellowship (2006).
• School of Integrative Biology (UQ) Student Best Paper Prize (2006).
• University of Queensland Conference Travel Award to fund presentation at Australian Evolution Society conference (2005).
• Research funding from the Cooperative Research Centre for Tropical Rainforest Ecology and Management (2002-2004).
• Henri Seibert Student Award for the Best Talk on Evolution at the Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists 2003.
• University of Queensland Conference Travel Award to fund presentation at two international conferences ('Evolution' and 'Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists') (2003).
• University of Queensland Graduate School Research Travel Award for a five month research trip to the University of California, Berkeley (2003).
• Australian Postgraduate Award (PhD at The University of Queensland).
  

Publications

Journal articles

• Hoskin CJ & Higgie M. (in press). A new species of velvet gecko (Diplodactylidae: Oedura) from north-east Queensland, Australia. Zootaxa.
• Hoskin CJ. (in press). Breeding behaviour of the barred frog Mixophyes coggeri. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum.
• Couper PJ, Hamley B & Hoskin CJ. 2008. A new species of Phyllurus (Lacertilia: Gekkonidae) from the Kilkivan district of south-eastern Queensland. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 52(2): 139-147.
• Hoskin CJ. 2008. A key to the microhylid frogs of Australia, and new distributional data. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 52(2): 233-237.
• Hoskin CJ & McCallum H. 2007. Phylogeography of the parasitic fly Batrachomyia in the Wet Tropics of north-east Australia, and susceptibility of host frog lineages in a mosaic contact zone. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 92:593-603. Download PDF.
• Couper PJ, LD Leim, & Hoskin CJ. 2007. A new velvet gecko (Oedura: Gekkonidae) from south east Queensland, Australia. Zootaxa 1587:27-41. Download PDF.
• Hoskin CJ. 2007. Description, biology and conservation of a new species of Australian tree frog (Anura: Hylidae: Litoria) and an assessment of the remaining populations of Litoria genimaculata Horst, 1883: systematic and conservation implications of an unusual speciation event. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 91:549-563. Download PDF.
• Gray MM, Hoskin CJ & Bardeleben C. 2006. Isolation of polymorphic tetranucleotide microsatellite markers for the green-eyed tree-frog (Litoria genimaculata). Molecular Ecology Notes 6: 859-861. Download PDF.
• Bardeleben C, Gray MM & Hoskin CJ. 2006. Isolation of polymorphic tetranucleotide microsatellite markers for the ornate nursery-frog, (Cophixalus ornatus). Molecular Ecology Notes 6: 888-890. Download PDF.
• Hero J-M, Morrison C, Gillespie G, Roberts JD, Newell D, Meyer E, McDonald K, Lemkert F, Mahony M, Osborne W, Hines H, Richards S, Hoskin C, Clarke J, Doak N & Shoo L. 2006. Overview of the conservation status of Australian frogs. Pacific Conservation Biology 12: 313-320. Download PDF.
• Hoskin CJ & Higgie M. 2005. Minimum calling altitude of Cophixalus frogs on Thornton Peak, northeastern Queensland. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 51: 572. Download PDF.
• Moritz C, Hoskin C, Graham CH, Hugall A & Moussalli A. 2005. Historical biogeography, diversity and conservation of Australia's tropical rainforest herpetofauna. In: Phylogeny and conservation. Eds: Purvis A, Gittleman JL & Brooks T. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 243-264.
• Hoskin CJ, Higgie M, McDonald KR & Moritz C. 2005. Reinforcement drives rapid allopatric speciation. Nature 437: 1353-1356. Download PDF.
• Hoskin CJ. 2004. Australian microhylid frogs (Cophixalus and Austrochaperina): phylogeny, taxonomy, calls, distributions and breeding biology. Australian Journal of Zoology 52: 237-269. Download PDF.
• Hoskin CJ & Couper PJ. 2004. A new species of Glaphyromorphus (Reptilia: Scincidae) from Mt Elliot, north-east Queensland. Australian Journal of Zoology 52: 183-190. Download PDF.
• Hoskin CJ, Couper PJ & Schneider CJ. 2003. A new species of Phyllurus (Lacertilia: Gekkonidae) and a revised phylogeny and key for the Australian leaf-tailed geckos. Australian Journal of Zoology 51: 153-164. Download PDF.
• Couper PJ, Schneider CJ, Hoskin CJ & Covacevich JA. 2000. Australian leaf-tailed geckos: phylogeny, a new genus, two new species and other new data. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 45: 253-265. Download PDF.
• Chapman A, Bradford MG & Hoskin CJ. 1999. Sap suckers: a novel bird 'guild' in wet sclerophyll forests of tropical north Queensland. Emu 99: 69-72. Download PDF.
  

Other publications

• Hoskin C. 2007. In the zone: the origin and future of the Kuranda Treefrog. Wildlife Australia 44(4): 12-15.
• Goosem MC, Hoskin C & Dawe G. 2007. Report: Nocturnal noise levels and edge impacts on amphibian habitats adjacent to Kuranda Range Road. James Cook University, Cairns.
• Hoskin CJ. 2005. Beautiful Nursery-frog. Nature Australia 28: 20-21. Download PDF.
• Hero J-M, Morrison C, Gillespie G, Roberts JD, Horner P, Newell D, Meyer E, McDonald K, Lemkert F, Mahony M, Tyler M, Osborne W, Hines H, Richards S, Hoskin C, Clarke J, Doak N & Shoo L. 2004. Conservation status of Australian frogs. Froglog: Newsletter of the Declining Amphibian Populations Task Force 65: 2-3. Download PDF.

Conference presentations

• Hoskin CJ, McDonald KR & McCallum H. 2007. Oral presentation: Big yellow maggot: phylogeography and ecology of a frog/fly relationship. The Australian Society of Herpetologists, Albany (Australia).
• Hoskin CJ & Moritz C. 2003. Oral presentation: Reproductive character displacement across a contact zone in the Green-eyed Tree Frog Litoria serrata. Evolution 2003: Joint meeting of the Society for the Study of Evolution, Society of Systematic Biologists, and American Society of Naturalists. Chico (California).
• Hoskin CJ & Moritz C. 2003. Oral presentation: Character displacement across a mosaic contact zone in the Green-eyed Tree Frog Litoria genimaculata of the Wet Tropics, north-east Australia. 2003 Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. Manaus (Brazil). (Prize for best student talk in the field of Evolution)
• Hoskin CJ, Higgie M, McDonald KR & Moritz C. 2005. Oral presentation: Reinforcement drives rapid allopatric speciation in a rainforest frog. Australian Evolution Society. Fremantle (Australia).
  

Last modified May 2008