The University of New South Wales
Evolutionary Ecology of Sexual Reproduction Research Group
Postgraduate Opportunities
The research group comprises two labs, headed by Dr Simon Griffith and Dr Rob Brooks, with six postdoctoral fellows and several postgraduate students. We are interested in recruiting PhD and honours students to work on a variety of projects including but not limited to the following.
á Behavioural ecology of the zebra finch in the wild and captivity
o Sex-specific growth rates in nestling zebra finches
o Personalities, maternal effects and fitness in zebra finches
o Are domestic zebra finches inbred?
o Extra-pair paternity in the wild zebra finch
á The function of extra-pair paternity
á The evolution of colour signals in birds
á Variation in egg size among female passerines
á Sexual conflict and egg size in birds
á Cooperative breeding in the apostlebird
á Transmission of information in the chestnut-crowned babbler
á Diet selection in the three morphs of the Gouldian finch
á The genetic population structure of a feral pest species
á The interaction between conservation and mating systems
á Mate choice and inbreeding avoidance in guppies
o The importance of genetic variation to mate choice in guppies
o Behavioural differences between inbred and outbred guppies
o The tradeoff between courtship, mating and growth in male guppies
o Behaviour of guppies in large semi-natural ponds.
á Evolutionary biology of ageing and performance in crickets
o Ageing in field crickets
o Physiological performance as a predictor of attractiveness in crickets
o Physiological performance – testing evolutionary theories of ageing
o The links between diet, condition-dependence and reproductive ageing
á Ecological and Evolutionary Genetics
o Developing sex-linked markers in guppies.
o Screening DNA microsatellites in guppies and crickets
o Constructing pedigrees from genetic markers
o Experimental tests of quantitative genetic sexual selection theory
o The evolutionary importance of intragenomic sexual conflict.
o The evolution of genomic imprinting.
o The evolution of X-Y recombination rates – the role of sexual conflict.
á Measuring selection on complex suites of traits.
á Evolutionary biology in native Australian flies (with Russell Bonduriansky)
o Mechanisms of sexual selection
o Condition dependence of body shape and sexual dimorphism
o Genetic architecture of body shape
o Condition dependence and genetic architecture
o Condition dependence of body shape
á Human Evolutionary Psychology (with co-supervision).