Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment

School of Life and Environmental Sciences

Dr Stuart Linton
  Phone   +61 3 522 71237
Email   stuart.linton@deakin.edu.au
Position   Senior Lecturer
Campus   Geelong
Research grouping   Marine and Freshwater Science
Ecophysiology, Sensory Ecology and Behaviour

My laboratory is interesting in examining how herbivorous invertebrates, such as the Christmas
Island red crab, Gecarcoidea natalis, can digest leaf litter. In particular we interested in how
these crabs produce endogenous cellulase and hemicellulase enzymes to digest the plant structural
compounds, cellulose and hemicellulose. We are also interested in how the Malpighian tubules of
insects can metabolise organic compounds such as drugs and insecticides.



Research interests

  1. Examination of the adaptations of invertebrates to herbivorous diets.
  2. Determination of the effects of insecticides on non-target animals.
  3. Uptake, excretion and metabolism of morphine by forensically important insects


Career

Lecturer, Deakin University ,2004
Post Doctoral Scientist, The Heart Research Institute
Post Doctoral Fellow, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
PhD, The University of New South Wales

Key publications

Allardyce, B. J. and Linton, S. M. (In press) Functional morphology of the gastric mills of carnivorous, omnivorous, and herbivorous land crabs. Journal of Morphology.

Allardyce, B. J. and Linton, S. M. (2008) Purification and characterisation of endo-{beta}-1,4-glucanase and laminarinase enzymes from the gecarcinid land crab Gecarcoidea natalis and the aquatic crayfish Cherax destructor. Journal of Experimental Biology 211, 2275-2287

Linton, S. M. and Greenaway, P. (2007) A review of feeding and nutrition of herbivorous land crabs: adaptations to low quality plant diets. Journal of Comparative Physiology B 177, 269-286

Linton, S., Barrow, L., Davies, C. and Harman, L. (In Press) Potential endocrine disruption of ovary synthesis in the Christmas Island red crab Gecarcoidea natalis by the insecticide pyriproxyfen. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology - Part A: Molecular & Integrative Physiology

View entire list of audited publications

 

PhD students

Student nameThesis title
Ben AllardyceEnzymatic digestion of cellulose by land crabs Sam ParryMetabolism of organic compounds by the Malpighian tubules of insects.  

 

Teaching areas

Animal Biology
Biology form and function
Biochemistry
Biochemical Metabolism


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

8th February 2013