Despite an inordinate fondness for whales and pandas in my formative years I only became aware that it might actually be worth pursuing a career in biology on a second year field trip to Heron Island in the mid-1980s. I attended Monash University as an undergraduate with the sole intention of becoming a psychologist, despite an academic history suggesting some aptitude for English literature and a not a great deal for most of the sciences. Needing another major to complete my psychology degree, zoology loomed as the most harmless. Subsequent exposure to the challenges and joys of biology were enough to convince me that even if the job prospects and future earnings appeared bleak it was worth persisting with. The latter had nothing to do with me marrying a dentist, albeit one with an honours degree in zoology.
My short attention span and gullible nature left me with true and undying loyalties for most of the planet's fauna at various times during my degree, depending on time of day and who I was talking to. I flirted with an honours project looking at the nutritional ecology of birds until it became apparent that I would have to kill a bunch of them after raising them from chicks. The inconsistent life philosophy that has supported me so well meant that I had no qualms about doing the same with herbivorous insects, specifically plague locusts. Having regarded bugs as an interesting novelty throughout much of my undergraduate training it came as somewhat of a surprise to realise that these animals were the missing piece in my career puzzle. Not only were they greatly understudied, but after several minutes in the field it was obvious that they were also key elements of virtually every terrestrial system. Perhaps even more importantly, I realised that I really liked them too.
The simple tabloid logic underpinning the study of insect-plant interactions (that the world is green despite being populated by millions of individuals from millions of ravenous insect species trying to find better ways of consuming plants) maintained its appeal. After honours I moved to La Trobe University, switched from locusts to caterpillars and completed my PhD in December 1994. I applied for a level A lectureship at Sydney the week I submitted and I've been here since April 1995.
| My current research interests revolve around 3 central themes and reflect my background as well as how this work has developed since completing my PhD. The opportunity to indulge in worthwhile projects in collaboration with dedicated and motivated colleagues, particularly postgraduate students, is one of the great privileges of academic life and anyone interested in honours or postgraduate work should contact me directly. |
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I still don't know why insects don't eat all plants.