Research Interests

I am interested in the evolution of interspecific relationships in animals, in particular mutual and commensal relationships between pairs of species.  While many mutual and commensal relationships are well documented, the vast majority of these involve plants, fungus or bacteria as one of the parties.  My interest lies in those pairs of animals that live together and rely on the other, and the consequences of this behaviour—an area that has attracted much less attention. 

My study of the phenomenon of Mistletoe nesting by birds explored this premise and attempted to elucidate the mechanisms behind this behaviour in a plant-animal relationship.  The Hooded Parrot Project will explore the nature of the nesting association between the parrot and the moth, as well as the examining the presumably commensal relationship between the parrot and the termite, in whose mound the parrot nests. 

A great deal more work is required on a variety of bird-invertebrate nesting interactions.  While these interactions have been recognised since the middle of the last century, there has been almost no experimental studies that describe the consequences of these relationships.  Understanding the nature of these relationships feeds in to habitat requirements and conservation measures for either or both species in the relationship.

As a list maker and an almost obsessively neat person I have a fascination with order and a correct place for things.  In biology this interest expresses itself in taxonomy.  Using modern methods that combine molecular and well as morphological and behavioural characteristics to reconstruct relationships among organisms is a potentially thrilling challenge.  Belying its image as stuffy and boring, the detective work involved in recreating speciation events and understanding relationships is an area that I intend to pursue further as my career progresses.