Associate Professor Steven Cooper

Biography/ Background

Associate Professor Steven Cooper is a Senior Research Scientist and Head of Biological Sciences at the South Australian Museum and an affiliate at the University of Adelaide, where he is a member of the Australian Centre for Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity. His research investigates the diversity, evolution and molecular ecology of Australian fauna, with a strong focus on subterranean and groundwater invertebrate fauna from the arid zone of Australia.

Awards & Achievements

He was awarded an Alexander von Humboldt fellowship in 2003 for research on subterranean faunas and was a visiting Conviron Fellow at the University of Sheffield, UK in 2008.

Research Interests

1.  Phylogeography of Australian fauna: the biogeographic history of organisms and factors that influence speciation. Collaborators: Prof. R. Butlin (University of Sheffield, UK), T. Kawakami (Kansas State University, US): morabine grasshopper evolution. Dr. M. Gardner (Flinders University), Mr. M. Adams (SA Museum): phylogeography.

2.  Molecular systematics and evolutionary origins of Australian arid zone fauna (Major project on the evolution of subterranean animals in central WA and arthropods from Mound Springs of the Great Artesian Basin; collaborators: Dr W. Humphreys, WA Museum, Dr C. Watts, Dr R. Leijs, SA Museum, Prof. A. Austin, Dr. M. Guzik, Dr. N. Murphy University of Adelaide, Dr S. Taiti Italy; Dr Joo-Lae Cho, Sth Korea. Ph.D students: Ms. T. Bradford, Ms. K. Abrams, Mr. A. Alford.

3. Conservation/ population genetics/ social behaviour/ systematic studies of bats,  reptiles, marsupials, wasps, spiders and polychaetes; collaborators: Assoc. Prof. S. Carthew, Dr M. Lancaster, Dr. D. Taggart, Prof. Andy Austin, University of Adelaide; Dr M. Harvey WA Museum. Dr. C. Kemper, Mr M. Adams SA Museum, Dr. A. Taylor, Monash University; Ph.D students: Mr T. Reardon, Mr. N. Fuller, Ms. K. Trengrove, Ms. E. Sparrow, Ms. Magda Halt, Mr. P. Oliver, Ms. S. Thompson, Ms. S. Potter.

4.  Evolution of social behaviour and the biogeographic history of Australian native bees (Assoc. Prof. M. Schwarz, Flinders University).

5. Molecular evolution of the globin genes in mammals and reptiles. collaborators: Assoc. Prof. R. Hope, University of Adelaide, Ms. V. Patel, Prof. J. Marshall-Graves, ANU).

 

Publications

2008-2009

Guzik M.T., Cooper S.J.B., Humphreys W.F. and Austin, A.D. (2009) Fine-scale comparative phylogeography of a sympatric sister species triplet of subterranean diving beetles from a single calcrete aquifer in Western Australia. Molecular Ecology (in press).

Kawakami T., Butlin R.K., Adams M., Paull D.J. & Cooper S.J.B. (2009) Re-examination of a proposed case of stasipatric speciation: phylogeography of the Australian morabine grasshoppers (Vandiemenella viatica species group). Molecular Ecology (in press).

Lancaster M. Cooper S.J.B., Carthew S. & Taylor A. (2009) Microsatellite markers for the Common ringtail possum (Pseudocheirus peregrinus) and their amplification in other Pseudocheirids. Molecular Ecology Resources (in press).

Bradford T., Adams M., Humphreys W.F., Austin A.D. & Cooper S.J.B. (2009) DNA barcoding of stygofauna uncovers cryptic amphipod diversity in a calcrete aquifer in Western Australia's arid zone. Molecular Ecology Resources (in press).

Halt M.N., Kupriyanova E.K., Cooper S.J.B. & Rouse G.W. (2009) Species status of Galeolaria caespitosa (Annelida, Serpulidae) inferred from nuclear and mitochondrial gene sequences and morphology. Invertebrate Systematics (in press).

Kawakami T., Butlin R.K., Adams M., Paull D.J. & Cooper S.J.B. (2009) Genetic analysis of a chromosomal hybrid zone in the Australian morabine grasshoppers (Vandiemenella, viatica species group). Evolution 63: 139-152.

Humphreys W.F., Watts C.H.S., Cooper S.J.B., Leijs R. & Bradbury J.H. (2009) Groundwater estuaries of saltlakes: buried pools of endemic biodiversity on the western plateau, Australia. Hydrobiologia 626: 79-95.

Cooper S.J.B., Saint K.M., Taiti S., Austin A.D. & Humphreys W.F. (2008) Subterranean archipelago: mitochondrial DNA phylogeography of stygobitic isopods (Oniscidea: Haloniscus) from the Yilgarn region of Western Australia. Invertebrate Systematics 22: 195-203.

Guzik, M.T., Abrams K.M., Cooper S.J.B., Humphreys W.F., Cho J-L., & Austin A.D. (2008) Phylogeography of the ancient Parabathynellidae (Crustacea: Bathynellacea) from the Yilgarn region of Western Australia. Invertebrate Systematics 22: 205-216.

Allford A., Cooper S.J.B., Humphreys W.F. & Austin A.D. (2008) Diversity and distribution of groundwater fauna in a limestone aquifer: does sampling alter the story? Invertebrate Systematics 22: 127-138.

Patel V.S., Cooper S.J.B., Deakin J.E., Fulton B., Graves T., Warren W.C., Wilson R.K. & Graves J.A.M. (2008) Platypus globin genes and flanking markers suggest a new insertional model for b-globin evolution in birds and mammals. BMC Biology 6:34.

Byrne M., Yeates D.K., Joseph L., Kearney M., Bowler J., Williams M.A., Cooper S.J.B., Donnellan S.C., Keogh S., Leijs R., Melville J., Murphy D., Porch N, Wyrwoll K.-H. (2008) Birth of a biome: Synthesizing environmental and molecular studies of the assembly and maintenance of the Australian arid zone biota. Molecular Ecology 17: 4398-4417.

Pestell A.J.L., Cooper S.J.B., Saint K.M. & Petit S. (2008) Genetic structure of the western pygmy possum, Cercartetus concinnus Gould (Marsupialia: Burramyidae), of southern Australia. Australian Mammalogy 29: 191-200.

 

Professional Associations

Treasurer of the Society of Australian Systematic Biologists.

Member of the editorial board of the CSIRO journal Australian Journal of Zoology.

Member of the Society of Australian Systematic Biologists, Evolution Society, European Society for Evolutionary Biology, Genetics Society of Australia.

Entry last updated: Tuesday, 9 Jun 2009