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SWEARER LAB |
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| Dr Stephen Swearer | |
| HOME | Room: 250 Tel: (+61) 3 8344 6253 email: sswearer(at)unimelb(dot)edu(dot)au |
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| STEVE SWEARER | ||
| MEMBERS | ||
| ALUMNI | ||
| RESEARCH | ||
| PUBLICATIONS | ||
| FUNDING | Current appointment |
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| LAB RESOURCES | ||
| LINKS | ||
page authorised by Stephen Swearer |
Personal History My formal education in marine biology started in high school; I spent two summers studying marine biology, ecology, and oceanography in Wallops Island, Virginia and on Mount Desert Island, Maine and then was fortunate enough to spend another summer as an intern at the Waikiki Aquarium in Honolulu Hawaii. |
The day I decided to be a marine biologist. Trincomalee, Sri Lanka (1977). |
I then decided to pursue a degree in Aquatic Biology at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island USA. During my undergraduate studies, I was fortunate enough to have a variety of research opportunities under the supervision of Steven Gaines and Mark Bertness working on recruitment dynamics in the acorn barnacle, Semibalanus balanoides. During this time, I still had in my mind my desire to work on coral reef fishes and luckily I managed to get a summer research assistantship working with Bob Warner (UC Santa Barbara) on spawning behaviour in the bluehead wrasse, Thalassoma bifasciatum, at the West Indies Laboratory on St. Croix, US Virgin Islands. This was a great experience for me and gave me my first taste of research with coral reef fishes. |
Hard at work before heading out for another day of spawning observations. West Indies Lab, US Virgin Islands (1989). |
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Upon completing my BSc, I was able to continue pursuing my interests in coral reef fish ecology by working with Marr Carr (UC Santa Cruz) and Mark Hixon (Oregon State University) on research investigating the role of predation on post-settlement survival at Lee Stocking Island in the Bahamas and then with Ross Robertson (STRI) and Jerry Wellington (U. Houston) on the spawning and recruitment dynamics of neotropical reef fishes in Panama. This latter project was what really convinced me to pursue a PhD in larval ecology of coral reef fishes with Bob Warner at UC Santa Barbara. Working at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama was a wonderful experience, which I continued to do during my PhD. It was a sad day when the research station in San Blas closed down. Of all of the research stations in the tropics I’ve been to, this one was truly special. How can you beat rolling out of bed, walking 3m to your own boat and then be to one of hundreds of patch reefs within minutes on pretty much any day? It was unbeatable in terms of research productivity and opportunity!
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Many hours spent looking at wrasse eggs under a microscope to assess quality and presence of parasites. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, San Blas, Panama (1991-1992). |
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My PhD had a few false starts, where I continued to conduct research in Panama on the reproductive biology of tropical wrasses as well as trying, unsuccessfully, to get up a research project on self-recruitment in endemic reef fishes on Guam. I eventually decided to return to St. Croix, where I conducted a multidisciplinary study investigating larval dispersal and retention and their relative importance to population replenishment in coral reef fishes. |
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So how did a coral reef fish ecologist with expertise in the Caribbean Sea end up in Australia at Melbourne University? Good question! I applied for a lectureship in marine larval biology that I found out about from an Australian friend of mine from my early grad school days. I got short listed which meant the University paid for me to come visit my mate in Melbourne and surprisingly to me, they offered me the position! And I haven’t looked back! |
Preparing for a dive off Malabar, Lord Howe Island (2002). |
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It’s taken me awhile to get familiar with new systems, but I’ve managed to keep my foot in the tropics a little and have broadened my research to explore similar questions within freshwater, estuarine, and temperate reef environments both in Australia and overseas. |
Deploying a CTD off the coast of Kapiti Island, New Zealand (2009). |
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Education Previous professional appointments Awards and scholarships Publications Technical reports Colton, M. and S. E. Swearer (2009) The conservation status of reef fish communities in Victorian waters. Final Project Report, Regional Catchment Investment Plan. Port Phillip and Western Port Catchment Management Authority, Frankston, Victoria, Australia. 50p. Jung, C. and S. E. Swearer (2009) Managing the health of reef fish communities. Final Project Report, Regional Catchment Investment Plan. Port Phillip and Western Port Catchment Management Authority, Frankston, Victoria, Australia. 15p. Nishimoto, M. M., and S. E. Swearer (1999) Otolith microchemistry links pelagic juvenile rockfishes to distinct water masses. In The ecological role of natural reefs and oil and gas production platforms on rocky reef fishes in southern California: Final interim report. (eds. Love, M., M. Nishimoto, D. Shroeder, and J. Caselle) 3C1-3C3 (U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division, USGS/BRD/CR-1999-007). Consultancies Swearer, Reconstructing pollution exposure histories using otolith microchemistry, University of California at Davis, 2005 Patterson, Swearer, Identifying sources or yellowtail kingfish around Lord Howe Island, NSW Fisheries, 2005 Swearer, Symonds, Black, Developing a hydrodynamic circulation model for the Lord Howe Island lagoon, NSW Marine Parks Authority, 2004 Downes, Barbee, Swearer, Ecology of freshwater fishes in Melbourne metropolitan waterways, Melbourne Water, 2003 Invited Seminars Teaching Graduate Knowledge Transfer University Service Faculty level Department level Professional Service Professional Society Memberships |
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