People

Ok, so we're not all about beetle sex, but we do all think that beetle sex is pretty cool. Art by oh little spark art. Check it out!

Megan Head (PI)

Born and raised in Canberra I moved to James Cook University to begin my undergrad in marine biology. During my degree I quickly realised that my passion lay in understanding biodiversity, so I moved to the ANU where I completed my degree with a focus on ecology and evolution. I conducted my honours with Prof Scott Keogh on chemical communication in water skinks. I then moved to the University of New South Wales to conduct my PhD under the supervision of Prof Rob Brooks looking at the evolutionary consequences of the costs of mate choice. After my PhD I spent two years at the University of Wisconsin investigating the role of sexual selection in speciation of three-spine sticklebacks. During this time I got to spend considerable time in the field on islands off the coast of British Columbia - what a beautiful place! After my time in the states I then spent 6 years as a post-doc in the UK - here I worked on a range of animals and questions including maternal effects in dung beetles at QMUL, nesting behaviour in sticklebacks at Uni of Leicester, and the evolution of parental care in Burying beetles at the University of Exeter. In 2013 I moved back to Australia and the ANU to take up a post-doc with Prof Michael Jennions, looking at all things mosquitofish and reproducibility in science. In 2017 I took up an ARC Future Fellowship to investigate how sexually transmitted infection influence the evolution of mating behaviour. In 2021, ANU became the permanent home of the "Head Lab".

Current Lab Members

Fatema Akhter (PhD student; co-supervised by Michael Jennions)

I was born in a beautiful city in Bangladesh. I completed my Bachelor of Science in Fisheries from Chittagong Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (CVASU), Bangladesh and for my undergraduate result, I received the prestigious University Gold Medal and Dean’s Award. I completed my Master’s Degree in Fish Biology and Biotechnology from the same uni. Being in love with teaching I started my career as a Lecturer in the Dept. of Fish Biology and Biotechnology, CVASU, and served in that position from November 2017 to August 2022 (currently I am on study leave). From the very beginning of my career, I worked with fish and have done much work in the field of reproductive biology and physiology of fishes, although I had interests in the behavioral biology of fish. Currently, in my Ph.D. program, I am working on sexual conflict in Mosquitofishes and how environmental manipulation modulates the level of conflict among them. I would like to develop my skill in the area of behavioral biology and expertise in this area in the future after returning back to my country.

Md Mahmud Al Hasan (PhD student; co-supervised by Michael Jennions)

I grew up in Bangladesh, where I completed my Bachelor's degree in Fisheries and Marine Resource Technology discipline. My main area of research is the stress response in organisms. During my undergraduate studies, I worked with microalgae to investigate how stress can induce the production of biofuels. I also took part in various research projects, including the study of morphometrics in mud crabs, behavior and sexual traits in Guppies and Stinging catfish. Afterward, I moved to Germany (DAAD scholar) to do my Masters in Aquatic Ecology from the University of Bremen. While there, I conducted research on thermal stress physiology of European Seabass juveniles. Currently, I am working on my PhD, which focuses on how inbreeding affects the response to early-life thermal stress in Guppy fish. I am interested in both the behavior and the physiological mechanisms behind this response. In my free time, I enjoy traveling and have a long list of destinations I still hope to visit. I also enjoy playing cricket, football and watching psychological thriller movies.

Diego de Moura Campos (PhD student)
I was born and raised in the most beautiful country in the world: Brazil! I obtained my BSc degree in Biological Sciences at the University of São Paulo (USP). Since undergrad my main interests have been animal ecology and evolution, in particular the intersection between disease ecology and animal behaviour. During my master's degree I developed research on the chytrid fungus dynamics in tropical terrestrial frogs at the University of Campinas (UNICAMP). For my PhD, I am focusing on the role of microbes and parasites in sexual selection in all sorts of animals. I also have a big passion for science communication and teaching, I believe that is the way we can improve the world around us

Madison Fink (PhD student)
Canberra born and raised, I am interested in all things animal and environment. I'm especially interested in invertebrates who have had an immense amount of time to develop an amazing diversity. I am also a keen lover of the environment, and intend on doing everything I can to conserve its ecological processes.
Maddie completed her honours (co-supervised with Fransisco Enciinas-Viso -CSIRO) looking at the effects of urban greenspaces on pollinator diversity in 2020, and she is now back to do a PhD looking at the role of Psyllids in Eucalypt dieback.

Past lab members

Kaylee McDonald (Honours student)
For her honours Kaylee investigated trade-offs between immunity and reproduction in Guppies. She subjected males to an immune challenge and then looked at how having to mount an immune response affected male investment into pre- and post- copulatory sexual traits.

Tina Gopalan (Special Topics student)
Tina conducted an undergraduate project investigating how an immune challenge affects guppy investment in the antipredator behavior (swimming performance & hiding duration). Tina is now doing her honours in the "Marsh Lab" looking at how fire affects the diet of greater gliders.

Isabella Howard (Honours student)
Izzy's honours looked at the effectiveness of nest boxes in the post fire recovery of arboreal mammals. Izzy has since gone on to work as a fieldwork assistant.

Zhuzhi Zhang (MPhil student)
Zhuzhi conducted his masters in the lab looking at how water availability influences reproductive behaviour and sexual conflict in seed beetles. He is currently at the University of Sydney doing his PhD.

Upama Aich (PhD student co-supervised with Micheal Jennions)
I was born and raised in Bangladesh- a country famous for its people and their hospitality (although, I could be an exception). I studied Zoology for Bachelors (Hons.) and Masters at the University of Dhaka. My Masters work included a study on the colonization of the butterfly Pachliopta aristolochiae and its host plant to understand the role a host plant plays for the development and characterization of this unpalatable (toxic) butterfly. My research interests also covered the status of butterflies and birds in Bangladesh and the study of butterfly diversity in a tropical urban habitat. For my PhD, I will be primarily working with mosquitofish focusing on the effect of male age on their reproductive success. During my time in Canberra, I also need to learn how to ride a bike, learn how to swim and possibly learn how to survive till the end of a PhD.

Constanza Leon (Research Assistant)
Coni conducted her PhD on the genetics and behaviour of White-Winged Choughs with Rob Heinsohn at the Fenner School. She worked with us looking after the lab and conducting experiments on seed beetles and guppies, but now she has sadly left us. Coni now works for the ACT government researching issues to do with the environment and sustainability.

Maider Iglesias Carrasco (Postdoctoral Research Associate)
Maider is currently in Seville working on seed beetles.

Ophia Zhang (Masters student cosupervised with Dan Noble)
For her masters Ophia explored how acclimation ability is affected by developmental environment by manipulating the thermal environment of seed beetles. She now works as a research assistant for Dan doing all things lizardy.

Krish Sanghvi (Honours student Co-supervised with Loeske Kruuk)
Krish spent his honours looking at how stressful larval and adult environments affect aging in seed beetles. He is currently doing his PhD at Oxford

Elroy Kwan Au (Special topics student, Summer scholar)
For his special topics project Elroy looked at immune anticipation in mosquitofish and for the summer scholar program he is currently working on two projects one working out methods to use photos to individually identify rabbitfish (in collaboration with Rebecca Fox) and the other looking at toxicity and warning colouration in Eucalypt beetles (in collaboration with Iliana Medina). In 2019 Elroy did honours with Sasha Mikheyev (ANU)

Alan Vincent (Honours student co-supervised with Micheal Jennions)
In 2018 Alan received a first class for his honours thesis looking at the effects water availability on sexual conflict in seed beetles. After his honours he worked for a few years as an environmental consultant in Canberra. He is now back at ANU doing his PhD with Marcel Cardillo.

Lauren Harrison (Masters student co-supervised with Michael Jennions)
Lauren completed her Masters project looking at the Winner-Loser effect in mosquitofish at the end of 2017. This work was published in Biology Letters (see paper #54 on the publications page). Lauren is now conducting a PhD with Michael Jennions.

Sophie Johns (Masters student Co-supervised with Michael Jennions)
In 2018 Sophie moved handed in her Masters thesis and moved to Canada.

Jigisha (International exchange research student)