Dr Luciana Möller

Research Fellow

Graduate School of the Environment
Macquarie University
Sydney, NSW 2109 Australia
Phone: 61 (2) 9850 7998; Fax: 61 (2) 9850 7972
E-mail: Luciana.Moller@gse.mq.edu.au

Research Interests

- Cetacean behavioural ecology and molecular ecology
- Social evolution in mammals
- Cetacean population genetics
- Management and conservation of marine mammals

Research Projects (click here for details)

- Genetic Benefits from Mate Choice in Marine Mammals
- Social and Genetic Structure of Coastal Dolphins
- Stock Structure of Sperm Whales in Australia
- Delphininae Phylogeny and Tursiops Phylogeography

Recent Work and Teaching Experience

- Postdoctoral Fellow. Graduate School of the Environment. Macquarie University, 2005.
- Honorary Associate. Graduate School of the Environment. Macquarie University, 2002-2004.
- Postdoctoral Fellow. Dept. of Biological Sciences. Macquarie University, 2004.
- Lecturer in “Management of Australasian Mammals” and “Wildlife Project”. Graduate School of the Environment, Macquarie University, 2004.
- Guest Lecturer in “Introduction to Environmental Studies” and “Coastal Management”. Graduate School of the Environment, Macquarie University, 2004.
- Guest Lecturer in “Techniques in Conservation Biology”. Dept. of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, 2003.
- Research Affiliate. Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Yale University, 2002–2003.
– Guest Lecturer in “Laboratory in Molecular Systematics”. Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Yale University, 2002–2003.

Fieldwork Experience

- Australia: 1997-2005.
- United States: 1995.
- Brazil: 1990-1995.
- Antarctic: 1994.

Journal Reviewer and Editorial Board

- Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B
- Animal Behaviour
- Marine Ecology Progress Series
- Conservation Genetics
- Biological Conservation
- Journal of Mammalogy
- Marine Mammal Science
- The Latin American Journal of Aquatic Mammals (Editorial Board)

Publications

Möller LM, Bilgmann K, Charlton-Robb K, Beheregaray LB (2008) Multi-gene evidence for a new species of bottlenose dolphin in southern Australia. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. In press.

Bilgmann K, Moller LM, Gales R, Harcourt R, Beheregaray LB. Common dolphins subject to fisheries impacts in Southern Australia are genetically differentiated: implications for conservation. Animal Conservation. Accepted conditional.

Möller LM, Harcourt RG (2008) Shared reproductive state enhances female associations in dolphins. Researh Letters in Ecology doi:10.1155/2008/498390

Möller LM, Wiszniewski J, Allen SJ, Beheregaray LB (2007) Habitat type promotes rapid and localized genetic differentiation in dolphins. Marine and Freshwater Research 58, 640-648.

Bilgmann K, Moller LM, Harcourt R, Beheregaray LB (2007) Genetic differentiation in bottlenose dolphins from South Australia: an association with local oceanography and coastal geography. Marine Ecology Progress Series 341, 265-276.

Bilgmann K, Griffiths OJ, Allen SJ, Möller LM (2007) A biopsy pole system for bow-riding dolphins: sampling success, behavioral responses, and test for sampling bias. Marine Mammal Science 23, 218–225.

Möller LM, Beheregaray LB, Allen SJ, Harcourt RG (2006) Association patterns and kinship in female Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) of southeastern Australia. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 61, 109-177.

Möller LM, Beheregaray LB (2004) Genetic evidence of sex-biased dispersal in resident bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus). Molecular Ecology 13, 1607-1612.

Beheregaray LB, Möller LM, Schwartz TS, Chao NL, Caccone G (2004) Microsatellite markers for the cardinal tetra Paracheirodon axelrodi, a commercially important fish from central Amazonia. Molecular Ecology Notes 4, 330-332.

Beheregaray LB, Schwartz TS, Möller LM, Call D, Chao NL, Caccone G (2004) A set of microsatellite DNA markers for the one-lined pencilfish Nannostomus unifasciatus, an Amazonian flooded forest fish. Molecular Ecology Notes 4, 333-335.

Möller, L.M.; S.J. Allen and R.G. Harcourt (2002). Group characteristics, site fidelity and abundance of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) in Jervis Bay and Port Stephens, southeastern Australia. Australian Mammalogy 24: 11-21.

Krützen, M.; Barre, L.M.; Möller, L.M.; Simms, C.; Heithaus, M.R. and Sherwin, W.B. (2002). A biopsy system for small cetaceans: darting success in populations of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops spp.) and extensive data on wound healing. Marine Mammal Science 18: 863-878.

Möller LM, Beheregaray LB, Harcourt R, Kruetzen M (2001) Kinship and alliance formation in wild male bottlenose dolphins. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 268, 1756-1762.

Möller LM, Beheregaray LB (2001) Coastal bottlenose dolphins from southeastern Australia are Tursiops aduncus according to sequences of the mitochondrial DNA control region. Marine Mammal Science 17, 249-263.

Möller, L.M. and R.H. Harcourt. (1998) Social dynamics and activity patterns of bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus, in Jervis Bay, southeastern Australia. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 120, 181-189.

Secchi, E. R.; M. Bassoi, A. Zerbini; L. Dalla Rosa; L. M. Möller, and C. Rocha-Campos (1997). Mortality of franciscanas, Pontoporia blainvillei, in coastal gillneting in southern Brazil: period 1994-1995. Reports of the International Whaling Commission 47: 653-658.

Möller, L. M.; P.C. Simões-Lopes; E. R. Secchi and A. N. Zerbini (1994). The use of photo-identification to study movements of bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus (Cetacea, Delphinidae) in the southern coast of Brazil. Proceedings of 6th Meeting of Specialists on Aquatic Mammals of South America. Florianópolis, Brazil: 5 - 8.

Secchi, E. R.; M. B. Campolim and L. M. Möller (1990). Notes on the stranding of two pigmy sperm whales, Kogia breviceps, in the southern coast of Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. Proceedings of 4th Meeting of Specialists on Aquatic Mammals of South America. Valdivia, Chile: 244 - 262.