Welcome to our lab group! We study the interplay between evolutionary and ecological processes in shaping biodiversity. Our current research focuses on freshwater fish and lake food webs in New Zealand including Rēkohu/ Chatham Island. Our interests include intraspecific niche variation, life history evolution, phylogenetic comparative methods, and the effects of salinisation and altered connectivity on populations and food webs.

Lab News

Congratulations to Nathan Silcock for graduating with a MSc on population monitoring and food web ecology of wetland tuna/eels!

New publication from Amirah Norhayati's mesocosm experiment looking at how microplastic pollution affects lake food webs

Welcome to new lab members Lisa Solly, whose MSc will investigate the success of wetland restoration by catchment groups, and Joe Renwick, whose PhD will examine life history variation in common smelt on Rēkohu Chatham Island

Congratulations to Eva de Jong for submitting her MSc thesis on how fish communities respond to gravel extraction techniques in rivers

We are located at the University of Otago (Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka), in Ōtepoti Dunedin on the South Island of Aotearoa New Zealand. Our home is the Department of Zoology (Te Tari Mātai Kararehe), and our field sites include lakes, streams and wetlands throughout Rēkohu and the South Island.