Dr Andrew Mather

Research Assistant

Effects of dust pollution on the motor and cognitive performance of people on Groote Eylandt

a.mather@uq.edu.au

Research History 

As a teenager I discovered an unquenchable passion for marine and aquatic fish, which led me to UQ to study Science, with majors in Zoology and Marine Biology. While studying I worked in a Molecular Genetics lab, and decided to combine the skills I had learned and did an Honours project studying population genetics and cryptic diversity of marine mussels. I stayed in the same lab for my PhD, investigating how historical changes in landscapes drive patterns in genetic diversity of freshwater fish, completing my doctorate in 2016. 

Since then I have worked on several projects as a postdoctoral researcher, investigating genetic connectivity in corals on the Great Barrier Reef, phylogenetics of parasitic scale insects and their plant hosts, the historical loss of diversity in native cycad species, cryptic diversity in hairy caterpillars, and quantitative genetics/evolution of fruit flies and zebrafish.

I have recently begun helping the Wilson Performance Lab with their project investigating the effects of manganese pollution on Groote Eylandt.

Publications

1. Mather, A.T., Farrell, J., Perkins, L., Zalucki, M. and L. Cook. Location of nests of Australian processionary caterpillars (Ochrogaster lunifer Herrich-Schäffer) reflects cryptic species. Austral Entomology (in Review). 

2. Mather, A.T., Hanson, J.O., Pope, L.C. and C. Riginos. 2017. Comparative phylogeography of two co-distributed but ecologically distinct rainbowfishes of far-northern Australia. Journal of Biogeography 45(1):127-141. 

3. Mather, A.T., Hancox, D. and Riginos C. 2015. Urban development explains reduced genetic diversity in a narrow range endemic freshwater fish. Conservation Genetics 16(3): 625-634. 

4. Thomas Huelsken, Heike Wägele, Björn Peters, Andrew Mather & Michael Hollman. 2011. Molecular analysis of adults and egg masses reveals two independent lineages within the infaunal gastropod Naticarius onca (Röding, 1798) (Caenogastropoda: Naticidae). Molluscan Research 31(3): 141-151.