Dr Craig Sherman
  Phone   +61 3 522 71406
Email   craig.sherman@deakin.edu.au
Position   Lecturer
Campus   Geelong
Research grouping   Marine and Freshwater Science
Ecophysiology, Sensory Ecology and Behaviour
Centre for Integrative Ecology

All organisms reproduce in one way or another. Indeed, many have evolved amazing ways to
ensure their reproductive success. I am interested in the evolution of mating systems and
how organisms ensure their reproductive success. I combine genetic and ecological
approaches to study sperm competition, cryptic female choice, population genetics, and local
adaptation. I use a range of terrestrial and marine taxa chosen because they provide ideal
systems to test a range of evolutionary questions.

Research interests

  1. Sexual selection - How sperm competition and gamete interactions determine reproductive success
  2. Mating system evolution - How different mating systems (asexual, sexual, self-fertilization) influence population structure and larval dispersal
  3. Adaptation - How selection acts over different spatial scales to result in locally adapted genotypes


Career

BSc (Honours), University of Wales, Bangor, UK (2000)
PhD, University of Wollongong, Australia (2006)
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Wollongong (2006 – 2008)
Lecturer, School of Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong (2007 – 2008)
Lecturer, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University (2009 – present)

Key publications

Sherman CDH, Wapstra E, & Olsson M (2010) Sperm competition and offspring viability at hybridization in Australian tree frogs, Litoria peronii and L. tyleri. Heredity 104, 141-147

Sherman C.D.H., Wapstra E., and Olsson M. (2009) Consistent male-male paternity differences across female genotypes. Biology Letters 5, 232-234

Sherman, CDH & Ayre, DJ (2008) Fine-scale adaptation in a clonal sea anemone. Evolution 62, 1373-1380

Sherman C.D.H., Wapstra E., Uller T., and Olsson M. (2008) Males with high genetic similarity to females sire more offspring in sperm competition in Peron’s tree frog, Litoria peronii. Proceedings of the Royal Society Series B-Biological Sciences 275, 971-978

Sherman CDH, Hunt A, & Ayre DJ (2008) Is life-history a barrier to dispersal? Contrasting patterns of genetic differentiation along an oceanographically complex coast. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 95, 106-116

View entire list of audited publications

 

PhD students

Student nameThesis title
Jake van Oosterom (Co-supervisor)Effects of life history strategies on gene flow in Antarctic echinoderms Emi Sherizan Ab RahimGenetic Diversity and Mating System in the Australian Blue Mussel Mark RichardsonEvolutionary Biology of the Invasive Northern Pacific Sea Star, Asterias amurensis. Adam CardiliniDetermining genetic and phenotypic variation of a successful invasive species within Australia, the common starling, Sturnus vulgaris  

 

Honours students

Student nameThesis title Amanda Pattersen (completed 2010, 1st Class Honours) Larvae nutrition of the blue mussel Mytilus edulis in a commercial hatchery Adam Cardilini (completed 2010, 1st Class Honours) Does compromised parental care constitute an ecological trap for Masked Lapwings breeding in suburbia? Amy Geels (completed 2010, 1st Class Honours) Gametic incompatibilities among populations of the intertidal sea star, Parvulastra exigua. Kim Weston (completed 2010, 1st Class Honours) Factors affecting settlement success and survival of hatchery reared mussel larvae.  

 

Teaching areas

Population genetics
Quantitative genetics
Sexual selection


Deakin University acknowledges the traditional land owners of present campus sites.

22nd September 2011