Natural History and Conservation Biology. I am very interested in basic natural history and what it can tell us about the ecology, evolution and behaviour of species. Much of this research is based on dissection and measurement of museum specimens - a greatly under utilised biological resource. We also use this information and field and lab based studies to address conservation issues of threatened and endangered animals (some aspects of this are covered in our conservation genetics page).
Current and ongoing projects:
Diet and reproduction of southern African elapid snakes
I've measured and looked inside many hundreds of African elapids in museums in South Africa. These data will be combined with data that Rick Shine and Bill Branch have collected and will be interpreted in light of a phylogeny for African elapids, once I get that finished!
Diet and reproduction in Australian death adders
Carol Spencer, Rick Shine and I have joined forces and put together a data set on over 1000 museum specimens from Australia and New Guinea that documents sexual size dimorphism, diet and reproductive characteristics of all death adders.
Past projects:
Museum based ecology and evolution
It's true - you can study the ecology and evolution of animals that live in jars.......
Shine, R, WR Branch, JK Webb, PS Harlow, T Shine, JS Keogh. 2007. Ecology of cobras (Aspidelaps, Hemachatus, and Naja, Elapidae) from southern Africa. Journal of Zoology, London. In Press.
Whiting, MJ, L Reaney, JS Keogh. 2007. Ecology of the velvet gecko, Homopholis wahlbergii, in southern Africa. African Zoology. In Press.
Clemann, N, DG. Chapple, J Wainer. 2004. Sexual dimorphism, diet and reproduction in the Swamp Skink, Egernia coventryi. Journal of Herpetology 38:461-467. PDF.
Keogh, JS, WR Branch, R Shine. 2000. Feeding ecology, reproduction and sexual dimorphism in the water snake Crotophopeltis hotamboeia in Southern Africa. African Journal of Herpetology 49:129-137. PDF
Keogh, JS, V Wallach. 1999. Allometry and sexual dimorphism in the lung morphology of prairie rattlesnakes, Crotalus viridis viridis. Amphibia-Reptilia 20:377-399. PDF
Shine, R, JS Keogh, P Doughty, H Giragossyan. 1998. Costs of reproduction and the evolution of sexual dimorphism in a "flying lizard" Draco melanopogon (Agamidae). Journal of Zoology (London) 246:203-213. PDF
Shine, R & JS Keogh. 1996. Food habits and reproductive biology of the endemic Melanesian elapids: Are tropical snakes really different? Journal of Herpetology 30:238-247.
Ecology and conservation of reptiles used in the Indonesian skinning industry
I spent several months working in southern Sumatra with Peter Harlow and Rick Shine measuring thousands of pythons, goannas and files snakes as they worked their way through the reptile skinning industry in Indonesia. We used this data to examine size cohorts, diet, reproductive potential and other aspects of the ecology of these animals that might tell us something about the level at which they can be harvested from the wild. I also did phylogenetic work on the blood pythons to clarify their taxonomic status for conservation biologists.
Keogh, JS, D Barker, R Shine. 2001. Heavily exploited but poorly known: Systematics and biogeography of commercially harvested pythons (Python curtus group) in Southeast Asia. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 73:113-129. PDF
Shine, R, PS Harlow, Ambariyanto, Boeadi, Munpuni, JS Keogh. 1998. Monitoring monitors: A biological perspective on the commercial harvesting of Indonesian reptiles. Mertensiella 9:61-68.
Shine, R, PS Harlow, JS Keogh, Boeadi. 1998. The influence of sex and body size on food habits of a giant tropical snake, Python reticulatus. Functional Ecology 12:248-258. PDF
Shine, R, PS Harlow, JS Keogh, Boeadi. 1998. The allometry of life-history traits: Insights from a study of giant snakes (Python reticulatus). Journal of Zoology (London) 244:405-414. PDF
Shine, R, PS Harlow, JS Keogh, Boeadi. 1996. Commercial harvesting of giant lizards: The biology of water monitors, Varanus salvator, in Southern Sumatra. Biological Conservation 77:125-134. PDF
Shine, R, PS Harlow, JS Keogh & Boeadi. 1995. Biology and commercial utilization of acrochordid snakes, with special reference to karung (Acrochordus javanicus). Journal of Herpetology 29:284-292.
Other stuff
Keogh, JS. 1995. The importance of systematics in understanding the biodiversity crisis: The role of biological educators. Journal of Biological Education 29:293-299.