Dr Melanie Lancaster

Biography/ Background

After completing my undergraduate degree at La Trobe University, Melbourne, my PhD investigated hybridisation among three species of fur seal on subantarctic Macquarie Island. My research aimed to understand how species do or do not avoid breeding with one another, as well as highlighting potential implications of human impacts (seal harvesting) on the evolutionary trajectories of species. Through a combination of field work and extensive laboratory work genetically identifying pure-species and hybrid fur seals, my research found a high level of hybridisation in this small population - unprecendented in seals and high among mammals. Genetic paternity analysis showed that while hybrids are produced, hybrid males sire fewer offspring than pure males, indicating a potential fitness cost to hybridisation and female mate choice in this system.

Qualifications

BSc (Animal Science), Hons., La Trobe University, 2001

PhD, La Trobe University, 2007

Research Interests

My current research has strong conservation and management focuses, and investigates the effects of forest fragmentation on some of our native mammals. Habitat fragmentation can pose a serious threat to biodiversity. South-eastern South Australia is one of Australia's main softwood plantation regions and most remnant patches of native vegetation are surrounded by pine plantations or agricultural land. Currently, we know very little about whether mammals are able to move through these potentially hostile habitats and whether population connectivity (dispersal and gene flow) is reduced as a result of fragmentation. My research forms part of a large project funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC Linkage Grants) and industry partners, on the "Conservation genetics and socio-ecology of marsupials in fragmented populations of south-eastern South Australia: towards a regional biodiversity management plan".

Research Funding

Funding has been awarded to the following grants on which I am a primary or co-investigator:

 

2008-09: Wildlife Conservation Fund ($10,000)

2008-09: Native Vegetation Council of South Australia ($15,400)

2007-08: Australian Antarctic Division ($37,500)

2007-08: Department for the Environment, Heritage, Water and the Arts, SA ($16,532)

2007-08: Wildlife Conservation Fund ($10,000)

2007-08: Native Vegetation Council of South Australia ($12,000)

 

 

Publications

Lancaster ML, Arnould JPY, Kirkwood R (in press) Genetic status of an endemic marine mammal, the Australian fur seal, following historical harvesting. Animal Conservation (accepted 7 October 2009).

Lancaster ML, Cooper SJB, Carthew S, Taylor AC (2009) Microsatellite markers for the Common ringtail possum (Pseudocheirus peregrinus) and their amplification in other Pseudocheirids. Molecular Ecology Resources. doi: 10.1111/j.1755-0998.2009.02729.x.

Goldsworthy SD, McKenzie J, Page BC, Lancaster ML, Shaughnessy PD, et al. (2009) Fur seals at Macquarie Island: post-sealing colonisation, trends in abundance and hybridisation of three species. Polar Biology 32, 1473-1486. doi:10.1007/s00300-009-0645-y.

Sands CJ, Lancaster ML, Austin JJ, Sunnucks P (2009) Single copy nuclear DNA markers for the onychophoran Phallocephale tallagandensis. Conservation Genetics. doi:10.1007/s12686-009-9004-0.

Lancaster ML, Goldsworthy SD, Sunnucks P (2007) Multiple mating strategies explain unexpected genetic mixing of New Zealand fur seals with two congenerics in a recently recolonised population. Molecular Ecology, 16, 5267-5276. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2007.03586.x.

Lancaster ML, Bradshaw CJA, Goldsworthy, SD, Sunnucks P (2007) Lower reproductive success in hybrid fur seal males indicates fitness costs to hybridization. Molecular Ecology, 16, 3187-3197. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2007.03339.x.

Lancaster ML, Gemmell NJ, Negro S, Goldsworthy S, Sunnucks P (2006) Menage a trois on Macquarie Island: Hybridisation among three species of fur seal (Arctocephalus spp.) following historical population extinction. Molecular Ecology, 15, 3681-3692. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2006.03041.x

Vorburger C, Lancaster M, Sunnucks P (2003) Environmentally-related patterns of reproductive modes in the aphid Myzus persicae, and the predominance of two "superclones" in Victoria, Australia. Molecular Ecology, 12: 3493-3504. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-294X.2003.01998.x.

Entry last updated: Thursday, 8 Oct 2009