Dr Leslie Chisholm

Biography/ Background

Leslie Chisholm is a Research Associate in the Marine Parasitology Laboratory in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences (SEES) at The University of Adelaide. She is also a member of the Australian Centre for Evolutionary Biology & Biodiversity at The University of Adelaide. She attained her BSc (1985) and MSc (1988) degrees at the University of Guelph, Canada in Marine Biology and Marine Ecology, respectively. Her MSc studies focused on the secondary production of copepods in the tropical waters off Jamaica, West Indies. She then switched to the study of marine parasites and worked with Dr Mary Beverley-Burton for 7 years at The University of Guelph investigating the taxonomy and systematics of monogenean (flatworm) parasites of marine fish. Monogeneans are a class of ectoparasites that commonly infect the skin, fins, gills, oral cavity, nasal tissue, urogenital system (cloaca, rectal gland, oviducts) of elasmobranch and teleost fish. They have a direct life-cycle (i.e. require no intermediate host) and as such they can proliferate rapidly on fish cultured in sea-cages and held in public aquaria. In 1995 Leslie won a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) scholarship and embarked on a PhD in the Parasitology Department at The University of Queensland (UQ) in Brisbane. Her work was mostly based at the UQ owned Heron Island Research Station on the southern tip of The Great Barrier Reef. There she investigated the biology and taxonomy of a family of monogeneans (Monocotylidae) that infect sharks and rays. After completion of her PhD in 1997, she took up a two-year NSERC Postdoctoral Award followed by a Research Associate position in the lab of Dr Ian Whittington to further her studies on the ecology of monocotylids on sharks and rays. In late 2001, she moved to Adelaide where she is currently employed in SEES. Her first love is monogeneans from sharks and rays but she has recently extended her interests to those that infect gamefish such as marlin, tuna and swordfish. She has expertise in rearing minute monogenean larvae to explore their hatching strategies and infection biology. She is often consulted by public aquaria for advice on identification and eradication of monogeneans infecting sharks and rays. She is currently editor of the International Ichthyoparasitology Newsletter which is published online annually and can be viewed at http://www.diplectanum.dsl.pipex.com/newsletter/

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

2008-present: Collection Manager, Parasitology Section, The South Australian Museum

2002-2008: ARC Research Associate, SEES, The University of Adelaide.

1999-2001: ARC Research Associate, Department of Microbiology & Parasitology, UQ.

1997-1999: NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Parasitology, UQ.

1995-1997: Part-time Research Assistant and PhD Student, Department of Parasitology, UQ.

1989-1994: Research Associate, Department of Zoology, The University of Guelph, Canada.

1992-1993: Consultant (Part-time), Department of Fisheries and Oceans. New Brunswick.

1988-1989: Research Associate/Consultant, Ecological Services for Planning (ESP), Guelph, Canada.

1987: Technician, Department of Zoology, University of Toronto, Canada.

1985-1988: Teaching Assistant, The University of Guelph, Canada.

Qualifications

BSc (Hons), The University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, 1985

MSc, The University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, 1988

PhD, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, 1997

Publications

Note: only publications from 2006 onwards are listed here. For a full list of my research publications, see the downloadable Word file at the bottom of this page.

Perkins E.M., Donnellan S.C, Bertozzi T., Chisholm L.A. & Whittington I.D.  In press.  Looks can deceive: Molecular phylogeny of a family of flatworm ectoparasites (Monogenea: Capsalidae) does not reflect current morphological classification.  Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution

Theiss S.M., Kyne P.M. & Chisholm, L.A.  in press. Distribution of the porcupine ray Urogymnus asperrimus (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) in Australian waters, with new records from Queensland.  Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, Nature 55: X-XX.

Chisholm L.A. & Whittington I.D. 2009.  Dendromonocotyle urogymni sp. nov. (Monogenea, Monocotylidae) from Urogymnus asperrimus (Elasmobranchii, Dasyatidae) off eastern Australia.  Acta Parasitologica 54: 113-118.

Chisholm L.A. & Whittington I.D.  2009.  Malalophus jensenae n. g., n. sp. (Monogenea: Monocotylidae) from the gills of Aetomylaeus vespertilio (Myliobatidae) off northern Australia.  Systematic Parasitology 73: 81-86.

Glennon V., Perkins E.M., Chisholm L.A. & Whittington, I.D.  2008.  Comparative phylogeography reveals host generalists, specialists and cryptic diversity: Hexabothriid, microbothriid and monocotylid monogeneans from rhinobatid rays in southern Australia.  International Journal for Parasitology 38: 1599-1612.

Vaughan D., Chisholm L.A. & Christison K.  2008.  Overview of South African Dendromonocotyle (Monogenea: Monocotylidae), with descriptions of 2 new species from stingrays (Dasyatidae) kept in public aquaria.  Zootaxa 1826: 26-44.

Chisholm L.A. & Whittington I.D. 2007.  Review of the Capsalinae (Monogenea: Capsalidae).  Zootaxa 1559: 1-30.

Glennon V., Chisholm L.A. & Whittington I.D.  2007.  Experimental infections, using CFSE, of 2 rhinobatid (Elasmobranchii) species by unciliated larvae of the monogenean Branchotenthes octohamatus (Hexabothriidae): invasion route, host specificity and post-larval development.  Parasitology 134: 1243-1252.

Chisholm L.A. & Whittington I.D.  2007.  The oncomiracidium of Nasicola klawei (Monogenea: Capsalidae: Capsalinae).  Parasitology Research 100: 467-471.

Glennon V., Chisholm L.A. & Whittington I.D.  2006.  Three unrelated species, 3 sites, same host – monogenean parasites of the southern fiddler ray, Trygonorrhina fasciata, in South Australia: egg hatching strategies and larval behaviour.  Parasitology 133: 55-66.

Glennon V., Chisholm L.A. & Whittington I.D.  2006.  Redescription of Calicotyle australis Johnston, 1934 (Monogenea: Monocotylidae) from the type-host Trygonorrhina fasciata (Rhinobatidae) off Adelaide, South Australia, including descriptions of live and silver stained larvae.  Systematic Parasitology 63: 29-40.

Glennon V., Chisholm L.A. & Whittington I.D.  2006.  Pseudoleptobothrium aptychotremae Young, 1967 (Monogenea: Microbothriidae) redescribed from a new host, the southern fiddler ray, Trygonorrhina fasciata (Rhinobatidae) in South Australia with a description of the larva and post larval development.  Acta Parasitologica 51: 40-46.

Chisholm L.A. & Whittington I.D.  2006.  Revision of Capsaloides (Monogenea: Capsalidae) with a redescription of C. magnaspinosus Price, 1939 from the nasal tissue of Tetrapterus audax (Istiophoridae) collected off Nelson Bay, New South Wales, Australia.  Zootaxa 1160: 1-20.

 

 

Professional Associations

Member of the Australian Society for Parasitology

Files

• LESLIE_CHISHOLM_PUBLICATION_LIST.doc [72.5K] (application/msword)

Entry last updated: Tuesday, 26 May 2009