Professor Bronwyn Gillanders

Research Interests

I work on the ecology of temperate coasts that includes sheltered habitats (seagrasses, salt-marshes, mangroves) and exposed habitats (kelp forests & inhabitants).

My research focuses on aquatic ecology, with a strong emphasis on fish and fisheries ecology. One of our major gaps in knowledge concerns identifying origins (e.g. nursery habitats) and potential movements of organisms and determining past environmental histories. I am particularly interested in the use of chemical signatures (e.g. trace elements and isotopes) in ear bones to track movements. This interest is also being used to solve issues of sustainability of the giant Australian cuttlefish and freshwater fishes of the Murray River.

Current research interests and projects:

(1) Ecology of fishes on rocky reefs & in estuaries

(2) Population dynamics & fisheries

(3) Connectivity between estuarine & reef habitats, and among estuaries

(4) Population replenishment & movements of fish using trace elements in ear bones

(5) Biodiversity of fish & invertebrates at different spatial scales

(6) Native fish stocking of rivers

(7) Population structure in giant Australian cuttlefish

(8) Factors influencing otolith chemistry of fish

(9) Chemical marking of otoliths

Publications

Elsdon, TS, BK Wells, SE Campana, BM Gillanders, CM Jones, KE Limburg, DH Secor, SR Thorrold, BD Walther. 2008. Otolith chemistry to describe movements and life history parameters of fishes: hypotheses, assumptions, limitations, and inferences. Oceanography and Marine Biology: an Annual Review 46: 297-338.

Connell, SD and BM Gillanders (editors). 2007. Marine Ecology. Oxford University Press, Melbourne. 630 pages.

deVries, MC, BM Gillanders and TS Elsdon. 2005. Facilitation of barium uptake into fish otoliths: influence of strontium concentration and salinity. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 69: 4061-4072.

Gillanders, BM, KW Able, JA Brown, DB Eggleston and PF Sheridan. 2003. Evidence for connectivity between juvenile and adult habitats for mobile marine fauna: an important component of nurseries. Marine Ecology Progress Series 247: 281-295.

Entry last updated: Wednesday, 12 Sep 2012