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Dr Greg Johnston

Contact Details

     Phone: +61 8 8201 5677
     Fax: +61 8 8201 3015
     Email:  greg.johnston@flinders.edu.au
     Location:  Room 155, Biological Sciences building (building 40)

Key Responsibilities

  • Senior Lecturer in Biodiversity & Conservation
  • Conservation Biologist with Zoos SA (Royal Zoological Society of SA)
  • Course Coordinator for Graduate Certificate, Diploma and Masters Degree in Biodiversity

Teaching

  • BIOD1102 - Biodiversity & Conservation 1
  • BIOD2100 - Biodiversity & Conservation 2
  • BIOD3001 - Biodiversity & Conservation 3
  • BIOL7004 - Scientific Method & Data Presentation

Research

My position at Flinders University commenced in February 2008 and is jointly funded by the Royal Zoological Society of South Australia (Zoos SA). I have been a conservation biologist with Zoos SA since 2000.

 

My interests are broad, lying in the general areas of evolution, ecology, behaviour and conservation. I have worked on mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and scorpions in Australia, New Guinea, the Middle East and Central America.

 

I am currently involved with several projects that bring scientific approaches to applied conservation. These include optimising methods for translocating bilbies, wallabies and woma pythons.

 

I am also involved in a study of reproductive biology of Australian pelicans (Pelecanus conspicillatus) that I began in 1990. This project focuses on parent-offspring conflict and sibling rivalry in this fascinating species, which shows facultative brood reduction by siblicide.

 

See publication list

Community Service

Research Group

Postgraduate Students
  • Julie Riordan - ecology cormorants to assess whether fishing is affecting their diet and reproductive success.

  • Rachel Correll - size and shape in extant kangaroos with a view to interpreting the ecology of fossil kangaroos (co-supervised with Gavin Prideaux).

  • Josh Griffiths – experimental reintroduction of bilbies - co-supervised with Sue Carthew at University of Adelaide).

  • Leah Kemp - experimentally reintroduction of South Australian Mainland Tammar Wallabies - co-supervised with Sue Carthew at University of Adelaide).
Honours Students
  • Angharad Johnston – development of microsatellites for Australian pelicans

  • Kellie Howell – the role of food in sibling conflict in Australian pelicans

  • Chelsea Simms – parent-offspring conflict in budgerigars

  • Bronwyn Bade – movement and home range in echidnas

  • Samantha Blight – terrestrial vertebrate response to fire on Kangaroo Island (co-supervised with Duncan Mackay)

  • Sally South – evolution of melanism in dragon lizards

Alumni

2008
  • Jade Adams - demography of urban marbled geckoes (First class Honours) 

  • Michael Geen - influence of colour, body size and posture on heat flux in reptiles (First Class Honours)

  • Jennifer Munro – ecology of an endemic South Australian scorpion (First Class Honours)

2007
  • Beiha-Malen Yanez  - Ecology of brush-tailed possums in urban parklands (Honours)

  • Alice Dunbar - Function of spots in diamond firetail finches (Honours)
2006
  • Carly Roworth - Behavioural ecology of the tawny dragon lizard (Honours)

  • Ingrid Stirneman - Dietary carotenoids and immunocompetence in diamond firetail finches (First Class Honours)
2004
  • Amy Campain - Bats in urban environments (Honours)

  • Danae Taylor - The ecology of marbled geckoes in urban parklands (Honours)

  • Karen Young - Birds as indicators of the ecological value of street trees in the urban landscape (First Class Honours)
2003
  • Devi Stuart-Fox – evolution of colour variation and species richness in dragon lizards (PhD)

  • Joanne Lee - The importance of hypogeous fungi in the diet of reintroduced Brush-tailed Bettongs (Honours)

 


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