Dr David Roberts

Associate Research Fellow

Room 35 G03C
dgr@uow.edu.au

Lab: +61 2 4221 4266

Research Interests

My research spans multiple taxa and habitats and seeks to address fundamental questions in ecology and evolution, but also direct the management of rare and threatened taxa, and taxa underpinning valuable commercial and recreational fisheries. My current appointment is connected to a project aimed at effecting genetic rescue of Australia’s arid zone plants, focusing on critically endangered plants in the genus Acacia.

Ecological genetics of terrestrial plants, and marine and estuarine fish and invertebrates

Marine and estuarine ecology

Fish and fisheries biology

Conservation biology

Representative Publications

Whelan, R. J., Roberts, D. G., England, P. R. & Ayre, D. J. 2006. The potential for genetic contamination vs. augmentation by native plants in urban gardens. Biological Conservation 21, 842-852.

Roberts, D. G., Ayre, D. J. & Whelan, R. J. 2007. Urban plants as genetic reservoirs or threats to the integrity of bushland plant populations. Conservation Biology 21, 842-852.

Roberts, D. G., Gray, C. A., West, R. J. & Ayre D. J. 2009. Evolutionary impacts of hybridisation and interspecific geneflow on an obligately estuarine fish. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 22, 27-35.

Roberts, D. G., Gray, C. A., West, R. J. & Ayre D. J. 2010. Marine genetic swamping: hybrids replace an obligately estuarine fish. Molecular Ecology 19, 508-520.

Roberts, D. G., Gray, C. A., West, R. J. & Ayre D. J. 2010. Gamete compatibility between marine and estuarine Acanthopagrus spp. and their hybrids. Journal of Fish Biology 77, 425-431

Roberts, D. G. & Ayre D. J. 2010. Panmictic population structure in the migratory marine Sparid Acanthopagrus australis (Günther) despite its close association to estuaries. Marine Ecology-Progress Series 412, 223-230.

Perrin C. & Roberts D. G. 2010. Ten polymorphic microsatellite markers for the endangered Australian Eastern Bristlebird, Dasyornis brachypterus. Conservation Genetic Resources 2, 357-359.

Roberts, D. G., Gray, C. A., West, R. J. & Ayre D. J. 2011. Temporal stability of a hybrid swarm between migratory marine and estuarine fishes Acanthopagrus australis and A. butcheri. Marine Ecology-Progress Series 421, 199-2004.

Roberts, D. G., Baker, J. & Perrin, C. 2011. Population genetic structure of the endangered Eastern Bristlebird, Dasyornis brachypterus; implications for conservation. Conservation Genetics. DOI 10.1007/s10592-011-0210-4.

Coulson, L. A., Perrin, C., Roberts, D. G., Minchinton, T. E. & Ayre, D. J. 2011. Can limited dispersal or abiotic interaction explain the declining abundance of the whelk Morula marginalba at its range edge? Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 103, 849-862.