The University of Western Australia

Dr Monica Gagliano

Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Centre for Evolutionary Biology

Contact details

Address

Centre for Evolutionary Biology
The University of Western Australia (M085)
35 Stirling Highway
CRAWLEY WA 6009
Australia

Phone

6488 1361

Email

monica.gagliano@uwa.edu.au

Biography

2007 PhD Marine Ecology, James Cook University (Australia)
1999 MSc Marine & Fisheries Science (University of Aberdeen, UK & University of Cape Town, SA)
1998 BSc (Hon) Marine Biology (University of North Wales Bangor, UK)

Key research

My main research is broadly in evolutionary ecology with particular emphasis on the responses of individuals to changing environmental conditions and the proximate factors influencing these responses in the wild. I am particularly interested in the interplay between developmental physiology and parental effects, and the long-lasting demographic consequences of phenotypic variation induced early in life at the individual and population level. Specifically, I am involved in research on fluctuating asymmetry, compensatory growth, oxidative stress and senescence to determine the direction and strength of selection acting on the morphological and life history traits that contribute to fitness.

Publications

PLANT SIGNALLING & BEHAVIOUR
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Coming very soon - lots in preparation....




MARINE ECOLOGY - EFFECTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES ON MARINE LIFE
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Simpson SD, Munday PL, Wittenrich ML, Manassa R, Dixson D, Gagliano M & HY Yan (2011) Ocean acidification erodes crucial auditory behaviour in a marine fish. Biol. Lett. 7: 917-920

Baumann H & M Gagliano (2011) Changing otolith:fish size ratios during settlement in two tropical damselfishes. Helgoland Mar. Res 65: 425-429

Munday P, Gagliano M, Donelson J, Dixson D & S Thorrold (2011) Ocean acidification does not affect the early life history development of a tropical marine fish. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 423: 211-221

Gagliano M, Lema K, Depczynski M & S Whalan (2011) Use it and lose it: lipofuscin accumulation in the brain of a coral reef fish. J. Fish Biol. 78:659–666.

Botté E, Negri A, Codi King S, Gagliano M, Smith-Keune C, & DR Jerry (2010) Are damsels in distress? Combined effects of chlorpyrifos and temperature stress on the tropical damselfish Acanthochromis polyacanthus from the Great Barrier Reef (Australia). Comp. Biochem. Physiol. A Mol. Integr. Physiol. 157: S16.

Gagliano M, McCormick MI, Moore J & M Depczynski (2010) The basics of acidification: baseline variability of pH on Australian coral reefs. Mar. Biol. 157:1849–1856.

Wilson SK et al (2010) Critical knowledge gaps in current understanding of climate change impacts on coral reef fishes. J. Exp. Biol. 213:894-900. [in the special issue 'Survival in a Changing World' available online at http://jeb.biologists.org/content/vol213/issue6/]

Gagliano M, Dunlap WC, de Nys R & M Depczynski (2009) Ockham’s Razor gone blunt: coenzyme Q adaptation and redox balance in tropical reef fishes. Biol. Lett. 5:360–363.

Gagliano M & MI McCormick (2009) Hormonally-mediated maternal effects shape offspring survival potential in stressful environments. Oecologia 160:657-665.

McCormick MI & M Gagliano (2009) Carry-over effects: the importance of a good start. 11th Int Coral Reef Symp

Forster D & M Gagliano (2009) Biodynamic soil health and its potential role in future agricultural practices. 10th Intecol

Gagliano M (2008) On the spot: the absence of predators reveals eyespot plasticity in a marine fish. Behav. Ecol.19:733-739.

Gagliano M, Depczynski M, Simpson SD & J Moore (2008) Dispersal without errors: symmetrical ears tune into the right frequency for survival. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 275:527-534.

Gagliano M, McCormick MI & MG Meekan (2007) Survival against the odds: ontogenetic changes in selective pressure mediate growth-mortality trade-offs in a marine fish. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 274:1575-1582.

Gagliano M, McCormick M & MG Meekan (2007) Temperature-induced shifts in selective pressure at a critical developmental transition. Oecologia 152:219-225.

Gagliano, M & MI McCormick (2007) Maternal condition influences phenotypic selection on offspring. J. Anim. Ecol. 76:174-182.

Depczynski M & M Gagliano (2007) Andaman blennies bathe in the tropical sun rather than in the water. Coral Reefs 26:677.

Gagliano M & MI McCormick (2007) Compensating in the wild: is flexible growth the key to early juvenile survival? Oikos 116:111-120.

Gagliano M, Kowalewsky S & MI McCormick (2006) An alternative method for the preservation of tropical fish larvae. J. Fish Biol. 68:634-639.

Bay, LK, Buechler K, Gagliano M & MJ Caley (2006) Intraspecific variation in the pelagic larval duration of tropical reef fishes. J. Fish Biol. 68:1206-1214.

Gristina M, Fiorentino F, Garofalo G, Gagliano M, Morizzo G & S Cusumano (2006) Protection effects on European spiny lobster (Palinurus elephas Fabricius, 1787) in the Isole Egadi Marine Reserve. Biol. Mar. Med. 12:404-409.

Gagliano M & MI McCormick (2004) Feeding history influences otolith shape in tropical fish. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 278: 291-296.

Gristina M & M Gagliano (2004). Performance of traditional rush and modern plastic traps on the capture of Palinurus elephas (Fabricius, 1787) in laboratory tanks. Fish. Res. 66: 235-239.

Gagliano M, Fiorentino F & S Ragonese (2002) New record of Caulerpa racemosa in the south-western Sicilian waters. Naturalista sicil. 26 (3-4):155-159.

Gagliano M, Gancedo U, Coca J & AG Ramos (2002) Real time remote sensing monitoring of the western Mediterranean. Biol. Mar. Med. 9:870-873.

Gagliano M, Tuya F, Martin-Garcia J & O Ayza-Mascarell (2002) Experimental evaluation on fish assemblages associated with artificial structures: a preliminary study. Biol. Mar. Med. 9:754-757.


OTHER AREAS OF RESEARCH (philosophy, shamanism, integral ecology)
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Gagliano M (in review) Persons as Plants: Returning to the Dream of Nature.

Forster D & M Gagliano (2009) Biodynamic soil health and its potential role in future agricultural practices. 10th Intecol

Funding received

2011: UWA Research Collaboration Award Scheme ($15,000)

2011: UWA Research Development Award Scheme ($29,578)

2009: UWA Postdoctoral Research Fellowship ($226,866)

2007: AIMS@JCU Postdoctoral Research Fellowship ($60,000)

Languages

English
Italian
Spanish

Previous positions

2007-2009 James Cook University & Australian Institute of Marine Science, Queensland (Postdoctoral Research Fellow)

Useful links

I am a member of the UWA Ocean Institute. Visit at http://www.uwa.edu.au/oceans

New and noteworthy

16TH - 21ST SEPTEMBER 2012

1ST SYMPOSIUM ON PLANT SIGNALLING & BEHAVIOUR

Perth, Western Australia


Visit the web site of the meeting here http://spsb2012.com/ and book these dates in your diary!

Current projects

PLANT SIGNALLING & BEHAVIOUR
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SOUND COMMUNICATION IN PLANTS: Plants produce sound waves in the lower end of the audio range as well as an overabundance of ultrasonic sounds. Over the last 35 year, these ultrasonic emissions have been measured and described numerous times. By capturing the ultrasonic signals emitted by plants under different environmental conditions, I am exploring the ecological significance of these sounds to communication among plants and between plants and other organisms.

LEARNING ABILITIES & MEMORY IN PLANTS: I am experimentally testing non-associative (e.g. habituation) and associative (e.g. classical conditioning) learning in plants.

Useful links:

http://www.plantbehavior.org/
http://www.linv.org/
[on newly emerging studies on plant memory and learning, plant-plant communication, as well as plant intelligence]

http://www.oryngham.com/
http://eden3.net/research/art/index.html
[about science & art working together]



MARINE ECOLOGY
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BUDGETING THE COST OF LIVING IN A CHANGING CLIMATE: by measuring the aggregation of “waste material” that naturally accumulates in animals as a consequence of physiological stress or damage, I am quantify the cumulative costs of living in tropical marine species distributed across optimal and suboptimal environments.

LIFE HISTORY STRATEGIES IN CORAL REEF FISHES: many small coral reef fish live very short lives in ordered societies that are hierarchical in nature. Opportunities to reproduce depend on being the right sex at the right time to maximise individual fitness. We are exploring the occurence of and selective pressure on these fishes to evolve rapid sex change responses to changing social or environmental conditions (in collaboration with Dr Martial Depczynski, Australian Institute of Marine Science).

EFFECTS OF ACIDIFICATION ON CORAL REEF FISHES: I primarily work with small coral reef fishes, which can be readily manipulated in field and laboratory experiments to address process-oriented questions on developmental and physiological trade-offs in an acidifying marine environment (in collaboration with Dr Phil Munday, James Cook University)

AN EYE ON THE SPOT: using the Ambon damselfish as a model, I am exploring the functional role of eyespots in fishes in a predatory environment and in the context of sexual selection, and how this relates to other taxa.

Research profile

Research profile and publications