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Contact Details

Phone
+64 3 479 7413
Email
neil.gemmell@otago.ac.nz
Position
Professor
Department
Department of Anatomy
Qualifications
BSc(Hons) PhD
Research summary
Evolutionary genetics and genomics, molecular ecology, conservation biology

Research

Professor Gemmell holds the Chair for AgResearch Centre for Reproduction and Genomics

Professor Gemmell's research blends ecology, population, conservation and evolutionary biology with recent technological spin-offs from the various genome projects. A recurring theme in his research is that of reproduction, with past and current projects spanning mating systems and mate choice, sperm-egg interactions, sperm function, sex determination, sex allocation, and inter-sexual genomic conflict. Professor Gemmell also has interests in several congruent fields of research, particularly the evolution of the mitochondrial genome, the evolution of microsatellite DNA, the evolution of sex determining mechanisms and the processes that lead to speciation.

Research interests:

  • Analysis of mating systems
  • The implications of the asymmetric fitness effects of mtDNA mutations
  • The evolution of microsatellites

Publications

Alvarez-Costes, S., Baker, C. S., Constantine, R., Carroll, E. L., Guhlin, J., Dutoit, L., Ferreira, S., … Gemmell, N. J., Gillum, J., … Rayment, W., … Te Aikā, B., Urban, L., & Alexander, A. (2025). Leveraging synteny to generate reference genomes for conservation: Assembling the genomes of Hector's and Māui dolphins. Molecular Ecology Resources, e14109. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1111/1755-0998.14109 Journal - Research Article

von Ammon, U., Jeunen, G.-J., Laroche, O., Pochon, X., Gemmell, N. J., Stanton, J.-A. L., & Zaiko, A. (2025). Investigating passive eDNA samplers and submergence times for marine surveillance. PeerJ, 13, e19043. doi: 10.7717/peerj.19043 Journal - Research Article

Scriver, M., Zaiko, A., Pochon, X., Stanton, J.-A. L., Belonovich, O., Jeunen, G.-J., … Gemmell, N. J., & von Ammon, U. (2025). Biodiversity monitoring in remote marine environments: Advancing environmental DNA/RNA sampling workflows. Marine Environmental Research, 206, 107041. doi: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2025.107041 Journal - Research Article

Piaggio, A. J., Robinson, S. J., Shiels, A. B., Taylor, D. R., Spock, D. R., Allira, M., … Gemmell, N. J. (2025). Evaluation of environmental DNA as a surveillance tool for invasive house mice (Mus musculus). Environmental DNA, 7, e70069. doi: 10.1002/edn3.70069 Journal - Research Article

Riordan, B., Dutoit, L., King, T., Beheregaray, L., Gemmell, N., Hickey, A., & Johnson, S. (2025). Thermal resilience in the endemic triplefins of New Zealand. Proceedings of the Genetics Otago (GO) Annual Symposium. Retrieved from https://blogs.otago.ac.nz/go Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

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