PhD students
Katherine Cure
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Kathy came to the lab from Colombia with an interest in fish biogeography, macro-ecology, evolution and population connectivity. She recently defended her PhD thesis “Biogeography and ecology of baldchin groper Choerodon rubescens in a changing climate”. Kathy’s study was largely field based, covering over 1400km of the coast of Western Australia and focusing on recruitment processes of this endemic fisheries target species following a 2011 marine heat wave. Before coming to WA, she lived in six countries following her passion to discover the world’s oceans. She has been involved in research in Colombia, Belize, Costa Rica, Australia, Guam and the Philippines, and has also pursued alternative careers as a journalist, science communicator and naturalist. Kathy combines her passion for fish, science, art and people, and uses it for research, education and conservation. In the future, she wants to continue researching fish populations, ecosystem health and the relationship between people and the sea. She was awarded her PhD in 2016 and is presently working for the Australian Institute of Marine Science in Perth, looking at fish recruitment in the Kimberly region of NW Australia.
Website: www.aims.gov.au/our-people/dr-katherine-cure Email: katherine.cure@gmail.com YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXf7kCW2Jl_LQSKRBhPpACQ Google Scholar: http://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=jrTePbQAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao Blog: http://areos-aquas.blogspot.com.au/ |
Blanche D'Anastasi
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Blanche has a passion for applied conservation research, is a member of the IUCN Sea Snake Specialist Group and a contributor to the IUCN’s Global Status Review of Sawfish. Blanche has a professional back ground in conservation advocacy, law and policy, having worked primarily on coastal dolphin conservation and marine reserve campaigns. At present, Blanche specialises in the conservation genomics and ecology of threatened species. She undertook her undergraduate degree and Honours research, on the genetic connectivity of Endangered narrow sawfish, at James Cook University. Blanche is currently undertaking a multidisciplinary research project encompassing ecology and conservation genomics of Australia's true sea snakes in Western Australia, with a focus on management implications. Blanche is supervised by Dr. Vimoksalehi Lukoschek (principle supervisor), Dr. Lynne van Herwerden, Dr. Colin Simpfendorfer, James Cook University and Dr. Jean-Paul Hobbs, Curtin University. In the future Blanche plans to continue to work at the science-policy interface and to develop Australia's first sea snake science and management strategy.
Email: blanche.danastasi@gmail.com Facebook group: Australian sea snakes Twitter: @SeaSnakeBlanche Webpage: www.coralcoe.org.au/students/blanche-danastasi-3 |
Maarten De Brauwer
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Maarten is originally from Belgium, where graduated with a B.Ed in biology. After graduating he worked as a dive instructor throughout Asia for 6 years. In 2013 he started an Honours-project at the University of Western Australia, investigating the extinction risk of anemonefishes. He is currently following his passion for the ocean and research by pursuing a PhD at Curtin University, Perth. His research investigates cryptobenthic fauna found in soft sediment habitats in Indonesia and Philippines. His project looks at two aspects of these species: their ecology and their socio-economic value for local communities through dive tourism. Maarten completed his PhD in 2018 and has continued his research of Indonesian reef fishes as a Research Fellow at the University of Leeds, UK.
Email: maarten.debrauwer@curtin.edu.au Research blog: crittersresearch.wordpress.com |
Aisling Fontanini
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Aisling grew up along the coast in Western Australia where she developed a passion for the ocean. She graduated from University of Western Australia in 2012 before travelling to Sweden in 2013 for an honours project in cumulative environmental stressors on Baltic Sea invertebrates. Since then Aisling has begun her PhD at Curtin University continuing to investigate the impacts that multiple environmental stressors have on marine life. Her research aims to identify how pink snapper larvae and juveniles will be affected by low oxygen events, in conjunction with warming temperatures and ocean acidification.
Email: Aisling.Fontanini@postgrad.curtin.edu.au Twitter: @AshFontanini |
Stefano Montanari
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I am originally from Milano, Italy, 200 km away from the nearest beach. My interest for the marine environment developed during work and travel to places as distant as the Maldives, Red Sea and Central America. Awestruck by the beauty and isolation of Australia, I moved here in 2005 and have studied at JCU Townsville for both my Bachelor and Honours. Currently a PhD candidate, I am using a multidisciplinary approach to investigate fitness of hybrid butterflyfishes at the marine suture zone of Christmas Island, Indian Ocean. In my spare time I enjoy hitting tennis, cultivating plants and tinkering with mechanics. I finished my PhD in 2018 and now work in the College of Science and Engineering at James Cook University.
Email: stefanomontanari@gmail.com |
Dr Martin van Der Meer
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Martin was born in South Africa spending most of his childhood hiking, fishing and snorkelling along the east coast of the country. After completing a BSc (Hons) in Zoology from The University of the Witwatersrand, he spent the next few years searching for new and exciting projects. Whilst backpacking through Australia, he was offered a MSc (research) at James Cook University looking at the extinction risk of endemic species living on the edge at Elizabeth/Middleton Reefs and Lord Howe/Norfolk Islands. This interesting work saw him upgrade at the end of 2010 to a PhD with full scholarship and tuition waiver under the supervision of Lynne van Herwerden, Geoffrey Jones, Jean-Paul Hobbs and Morgan Pratchett. During his PhD he was awarded multiple grants and collaborated widely with various Marine Park managers, Universities and government organisations. Having completed his PhD in 2013, he currently works as an associate lecturer within the College of Public Health, Medical and Vet Sciences at James Cook University.
Email: martinhvandermeer@gmail.com |
Federico Vitelli
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I’m originally from Tuscany (Italy), where I grew up and did my Bachelor degree in Marine Biology at University of Pisa. I then moved to Western Australia and completed my Master degree by research at Edith Cowan University in Perth studying the diet of the herbivorous fish Parma mccullochi and its impact on the algal assemblages of the reef. After a short term work at the Department of Parks and Wildlife, I’m now doing my PhD at Edith Cowan University in collaboration with Curtin University under the supervision of Ass. Prof. Glenn Hyndes (ECU), Dr. Jean-Paul Hobbs (Curtin), and Prof. Euan Harvey (Curtin). My PhD project aims to understand causes and consequences of hybridisation in angelfish. Federico finished his PhD in 2019 and is now working as a marine biologist at Ocean Safari in North Queensland.
Email: f.vitelli@ecu.edu.au Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/profile/viewid=282849040&trk=nav_responsive_tab_profile Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Federico_Vitelli2/?ev=hdr_xprf |
Honours students
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Maarten De Brauwer – University of Western Australia, 2014
“Assessing extinction risk in anemonefishes” |
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Michelle Gay – Curtin University, 2014
“Ontogeny of behavioural response to olfactory cues during larval and settlement stages of a temperate fish species; Pagrus auratus (Family: Sparidae).” https://au.linkedin.com/in/michellegaymarine |
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Alexander (Sandy) Gorham – University of Western Australia, 2013
“Whale sharks as fish habitat: the applicability of island biogeography theory” https://au.linkedin.com/in/gorhamalexander |
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Madeline Green – James Cook University 2014
“A mitochondrial and genome wide genetic investigation of Galapagos shark (Carcharhinus galapagensis) populations in the southwest Pacific Ocean.” https://au.linkedin.com/in/madeline-green-88b8a857 https://twitter.com/mgreen_science |
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Georgia McDougall – James Cook University 2011
“Hybridisation and hybrid fitness: the case of Zebrasoma scopas and Z. flavescens”. |
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Stefano Montanari – James Cook University 2011
“Ecology and genetics of hybridising butterflyfishes (genus Chaetodon): towards a unified understanding of hybridisation and its implications for reef fishes.” |
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Sam Payet – Curtin University, 2014
“Hybridisation among grouper fish species (Genus Cephalopholis) at the East Indian Ocean suture zone: Taxonomic, fitness and evolutionary implications.” https://reefecology.kaust.edu.sa/Pages/payet.aspx |
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Nicole Ryan – University of Western Australia, 2013
“Spatial patterns in the diversity and structure of scleractinian coral communities across depth and exposure gradients at Christmas Island”. https://au.linkedin.com/in/nicole-ryan-6aaa1486 |
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Rosemary Steinberg – James Cook University, 2014
“Coupled genetic connectivity and biophysical oceanographic modelling techniques provide a holistic view of larval movement in an endemic reef fish, Amphiprion latezonatus”. |
