Professor Nigel Andrew

Professor of Entomology

P: 02 6773 2937

E: nigel.andrew@une.edu.au

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr Sarah Hill

Insect Ecology Lab Manager

Research Fellow: Future Keepers project

E: sarah.hill@une.edu.au

 

 

 

 

Dr Zac Hemmings

Postdoctoral Fellow

Dung Beetle Ecosystem Engineers (DBEE) program

E: zac.hemmings@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr Alva Curtsdotter

Postdoctoral Fellow

Project: Individual based modelling of dung beetles in response to climatic and nutritional variation

E: alva.curtsdotter@une.edu.au

 

 

 

 

Dr Alfonsina Arriaga-Jimenez

Postdoctoral Fellow

Project: Assessing the vulnerability of native dung beetles to a warmer and drier climate along environmental gradients.

E: aarriaga@une.edu.au

 

 

 

 

Dr Behnaz Ghaedi

Research Assistant

Dung Beetle Ecosystem Engineers (DBEE) program.

E: ghaedi.b@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

Mukta Mala

PhD Student

Project: Plants, microbes and arthropods interaction: manipulation of host plant defenses.

E: mmala@myune.edu.au

 

 

 

 

Sam Bawa

PhD Student

Project: Host Preference and Geographical Variations of Helicoverpa punctigera Wallengren (Lepidoptera; Noctuidae) Populations On Some Selected C4 Plants

E: abawa@myune.edu.au

 

 

 

Jessica de Souza-Vilela

PhD Student

Project: The Black Soldier Fly Larvae in Poultry Feed

E: jdesouz2@myune.edu.au

 

 

 

 

 

Tom Heddle

PhD Student

Project: Ecosystem services of dung beetles across temporal scales in northern New South Wales

Dung Beetle Ecosystem Engineers (DBEE) program

E: theddle@myune.edu.au

 

 

 

 

Renee Ulbrich

Masters of Natural Resources

Project: Effects of companion vines on subtropical Birdwing butterfly populations

 

 

Undergrduate Interns and volunteers

 

 

Conor Nest

 

 

 

 

Eric Sinclair

 

 

 

 

 

Lab Alumni -

Postdoctoral Fellows and Research Assistants

Georgia Pianko

Technical Officer DBEE Project and Undergraduate Lab Intern

 

Liwen Song

Visiting Researcher 2019/2020

Dr James O Hanlon (2017-2019

Postdoctoral Fellow

Project: Landscape scale effects of animal behavior: Are ants planting Australia’s forests?

 

Dr Jean Drayton (2016 - 18)

Postdoctoral Fellow

Project: Ecosystem services in a changing climate: climate change effects on dung burial by dung beetles and beetle mediated greenhouse gas emissions

 

Dr Kirsti Abbott (2014/15)

School of Ants (Australia) Coordinator

 

Dr Graham Hall (2010-15)

 

Dr Senshan Wang (2013/14)

Postdoctoral Fellow

Thermal tolerances of aphids under different dietary regimes

 

Zac Hemmings (2013)

​Thermal tolerances of high altitude ants.

 

Dr Nereda Christian (2010-2012)

The Sweep Net - Introduction and Extension of IPM in Northern NSW.

 

Rachel Lawrence (2010-2012)

The Sweep Net - Introduction and Extension of IPM in Northern NSW.

 

Dr Myung-Pyo Jung (2010-2011)

Thermal tolerances of meat ants.

 

Dr Md Habibullah Bahar (2010-2011)

Insect thermal physiology.

 

Dr Kerri Clarke (2007-2009)

​Ecology of insect herbivore assemblages: influence of climate, evolutionary history and plant traits.

 

PhD Students..

Min Raj Pokhrel (2020)

How does temperature, food quality and competition affect ability of dung beetles to find and keep resources?

 

Biniam Lakew (2020)

Project: Identification and epidemiology of vectors for Theileria orientalis

 

Nirosha Ranawaka (2020)

Population genetics and nest variation of Iridomyrmex purpureus (meat ant) around the New England Tablelands

 

Amrit Sidhu (2020)

Developing breeding grounds for dung beetles.

 

Isobel Roberts (2019)

The influence of climate on insect-plant communications

 

Kalifa al Kindi (2019)

Modelling of dubas bug habitat and population density in Oman based on association with human, environmental and climatological factors.

 

Sean Moore (2019)

Does thermal stress and resource limitation impact on ant communities?

 

Sue Jagger (2019)

Interactions between natural enemies of greenhouse whiteflies as control agents on greenhouse tomatoes

Zoology, University of New England

 

Zac Hemmings (2018)

The thermal games dung beetles play: assessing how temperature and competition influence a critical ecosystem service provider.

 

Behnaz Ghaedi (2017)

Impact of repeated stress exposures on the thermal tolerance abilities in the green peach aphid (Myzus persicae).

 

Matt Binns (2016)

Predicting the effect of climate change on community structure and function: an assessment using temperate grassland invertebrates.

Peter Serov (2014)

Evolution of the Anaspidacea (Crustacea: Malacostraca: Syncarida).

 

Michelle Yates (2014)

Ecosystem Services Within a Semi-Arid Agricultural Landscape:  The Importance of Weed Species and Native Plants in Supporting Aphid Parasitoids and Plant Pollinators.

 

Tom Mooney (2013)

Response of soil invertebrates to petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated soils at Macquarie Island.

 

Sabine Nooten (2012)

Impacts of Climate Change on Plant-Insect Interactions. PhD at Macquarie University

 

Austin O'Malley (2012)

Spacial patterns in truffle-like fungi distribution, mutualistic interactions with mammals, and spore dispersal dynamics.

 

Chanthy Pol (2011)

The potential impact of climate change on Nezara viridula (L.) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) and its parasitoid,Trichopoda giacomelii Blanchard (Diptera: Tachinidae) in Cambodia and Australia: Ecological, behavioural and physiological assessments.

 

Melissa Danks (2011)

The swamp wallaby Wallabia bicolor: a generalist browser as a key mycophagist.

 

Siobhan Rothsey (2006)

The effect of the earth's magnetic field and other orientation cues on direction seeking in four crustaceans (three intertidal - Amphipoda and Isopoda, one freshwater - Decapoda).

 

Sydney Jordan (2006)

Burrowing behaviour in the Australian Mygalomorphae.

 

 

Masters

Rebecca DiODnato

Master of Environmental Science Student

Project: THE FUTURE KEEPERS: The influence of a novel/warmer environment on ant nest development

 

Bianca Bishop

Coleoptera assemblage structure and morphology on Acacia host-plant species along an environmental gradient: the implications of climate change

 

Ariella Moser

Feasibility of using detector dogs to detect high risk plant pests.

 

Aimee Leatham

Invertebrates of the Little Desert: developing protocols to allow Conservation Volunteers to collect and manage unique invertebrate communities

 

Lucy Smith (2019)

Environmental variables driving habitat differentiation in two sympatric pademelon (Thylogale) species in northeast NSW

Sarah Silcocks (2016)

Investigation of the influence of single food plant nutrition on the fitness of two stick insect species: Dryococelus australis and Extatosoma tiaratum

Mahoba Alderah (2013)

Population genetics and stable Isotope analysis of meat ants (Iridomyrmex purpureus)

 

Gia Minh Hoang (2012)

Response of aphids to their host plants and artificial diets under controlled temperatures.

 

Thi Phuong Chi Nguyen (2012)

Thermal biology of diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella).

 

Dwi Ristyadi (2008)

Influence of pesticide type and adjacent crop vegetation on arthropod community structure through a soybean/sorghum cropping cycle.

 

Ahmed Eid (2008)

Abundance/occupancy of fruit fly assemblages: associations with decaying stone fruit under different shading regimes.

 

​Rowen Shee (2007)

Beetle (Coleoptera), fly (Diptera) and earwig (Dermaptera) species richness, abundance and assemblages in urban sclerophyll remnants in south east Queensland, Australia.

 

Honours

Ethan Towns (2020)

 

 

Hannah Smart (2019)

Ants as Dispersal Agents for Phasmid Eggs.

 

Sandie Manns (2105)

Seed dispersal by burier and roller dung beetles

 

Sigrid Mackensie (2015)

Project: Impacts of macrocyclic lactones on dung beetle larval performance

 

Zac Hemmings (2013)

Thermal Tolerance in Ants

 

Tom Mooney (2007)

Comparison of dung beetle assemblages and dung specificity between pasture and native forest on the New England Tablelands, NSW.

 

Michelle Yates (2008)

Ant morphology trait and assemblage structure: patterns in remnants and pasture habitat along an environmental gradient.

 

Katy Barstow (2008)

Leaf miner and plant faller diversity on Acacia: importance of climate, plant evolutionary history and plant traits.

 

Mitch Smidt (2008)

Comparison of herbivore assemblages from Acacia species on the New England Tablelands, NSW.

 

Lab Interns

Geogia Pianko, Bachelor of Zoology, UNE.

Hannah Smart, Bachelor of Zoology, UNE.

Molly Barlow, Bachelor of Zoology, UNE.

Anja Betz. Institut für Insektenbiotechnologie, Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen, Giessen, Germany

Nicolas Meyer, AGROSUP Dijon, Higher Education National Institute in Agronomy, France.

 

Undergraduate Researchers

Andrea Grady (2013)

 

Melissa Chenery (2016) Advanced Science Project (third year): Assessing the effects of thermal stress on ants in relation to diet preferences and nest development

 

 

 

 

 

Insect Ecology Lab

Natural History Museum (W77)

University of New England

Armidale NSW 2031

Australia

nigel.andrew@une.edu.au

61 (0)2 6773 2937