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Professor Michael Bull
Contact Details
Key Responsibilities
- Professor of Biological Sciences
- Associate Head of Faculty (Research)
Teaching
- Biodiversity & Conservation
- Ecology
- Australian Reptiles
Research
Social Organisation in lizards
The conventional wisdom is that lizards have little social organization beyond
territoriality. I am interested in Australian skinks that seem to have far more
cohesive social structuring. We are studying sleepy lizards, Tiliqua rugosa,
and various species of the genus Egernia, including Egernia stokesii,
Egernia striolata, Egernia whitii, Egernia multiscutata and Egernia
inornata. We have been able to show long term pair fidelity, offspring
recognition, and family group associations. We are exploring the evolution and
functions of these social behaviours. We are collaborating with Dr Steve
Donnellan and Dr Michael Gardner from the SA Museum in using microsatellite DNA
analysis to get clues about the relatedness among interacting species and to
work out the parentage of juveniles. We are also interested in the nature of the
signals lizards use to recognise each other. We are investigating the costs and
benefits of various forms of sociality, including the implications of enhanced
parasite transmission in social groups. In new projects we have expanded our
taxonomic spread to include the NZ tuatara and the Solomon Islands skink
Corrucia zebrata in comparative studies of social behaviour.
Parapatry
We are interested in explaining the ecological processes that result in
parapatric boundaries, when closely related species have distributions that abut
but do not overlap, or only overlap by very small amounts. We have been
exploring this question both by computer simulation models, and by exploring
real parapatric boundaries. The boundary where we have been concentrating our
research is between two tick species that infest large reptiles. The work
includes a long-term observation to record the fine scale dynamics of the
boundary structure, and a number of experimental manipulations in the lab and
field to explore potential mechanisms for the boundary maintenance. In
particular we are now able to comment and investigate effects of climate change
on the dynamics of this interaction, and more generally on the distributional
range of any species.
Host- parasite Ecology
We have been using the reptile ticks to explore ecological interactions between
hosts and parasites. In this natural host-parasite system there are few obvious
adverse effects on hosts, although we can manipulate tick loads to test this. We
are also investigating how the hosts influence the tick population dynamics, and
the role of blood parasites transmitted to hosts by the ticks in the population
interactions. We have discovered a number of new protozoan and nematode endo-parasites
of the reptiles we study, and we are exploring the mechanisms of transmission,
and the dynamics of infections and the impact of host and parasite on each
other. These basic empirical data sets are being used to develop more detailed
models of host-parasite interactions, with important implications for
conservation of populations confined to small habitat fragments, and to the risk
of spread of exotic pathogens. A component of this research is to explore the
role of social networks in host (lizard) populations in the spread of parasites
and diseases.
Lizard Conservation
The pygmy bluetongue lizard was considered extinct until it was re-discovered in
1992. We are involved in research to advice local landholders on appropriate
ways of retaining the few isolated populations and in developing strategies for
population translocations and augmentations. Research involves, ecological,
genetical and behavioural studies of the lizards and their interactions with the
environments where they are found. This work is part of a large collaboration
with the SA Museum and with the SA Department of Environment and Heritage.
Current and recent researchers in the Ecology Lab
Previous Students
- Post doc:
Cathy Smallridge: Ecology of a lizard blood parasite, Hemolivia mariae
Greg Johnstone: Social behaviour of Egernia stokesii
- Postgraduates:
Juergen Stein: Blood parasites of Egernia stokesii
Glen Duffield: Social group structure of Egernia stokesii: field population studies
Mike Gardner: Genetic studies of social groups in Egernia stokesii
Elvira Lanham: Functions of grouping behaviour in Egernia stokesii
Tim Milne: Conservation Ecology of the pygmy bluetongue lizard, Tiliqua adelaidensis
Adam Main: The impact of parasitic ticks on Tiliqua rugosa
Travis How: Monogamy within a season in Tiliqua rugosa
Tabatha Griffin: Biodiversity in a semi arid site
Genaya Misso: Recognition mechanisms in Egernia stokesii
Nick Souter: Habitat requirements for Tiliqua adelaidensis
Radika Michniewicz: Long term fidelity in Tiliqua rugosa
Greg Kerr: Home range maintenance in Tiliqua rugosa
Clare Griffin: Maintenance of asexual clones in the lizard Menetia grayi
Evy Arida: Conservation ecology of Egernia stokesii
Current Students
- Postgraduate students
Jaro Guzinski: Population structure of reptile ticks
Stephanie Godfrey:
Parasite and social networks in tuatara
Aaron Fenner:
Social interactions in pygmy bluetongue lizards
Melissa
Pettigrew: The impact of grazing on pygmy bluetongue lizards
Stephan Leu: Space
use by sleepy lizards
Sandra Parsons: Dynamics of gut bacteria in sleepy lizards (co-supervised from
ANU)
Julie Hagen:
Ecology of Corrucia zebrata
Supriyah Lath: Selection of refuges by sleepy lizards
- Honours students 2006/7
Zonnie Auburn: Visual perception in sleepy lizards
Tegan Whittard: burrow characteristics of pygmy bluetongue lizards
Annabel Smith: Population genetics of pygmy bluetongue lizards
Caroline Wohfeil: Food choice in sleepy lizards
Holly Fellows: Dynamics of burrow use by pygmy bluetongue lizards
Research Project Coordinator
Dale Burzacott
Other Professional Roles
See publication list
Abstracts
Field sites
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