Luciana Möller

Luciana Möller
Flinders University · School of Biological Sciences

PhD

About

119
Publications
36,966
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3,926
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Introduction
I am a behavioural and molecular ecologist with broad research interests in the evolutionary biology of whales and dolphins. I am a Research Leader of the Cetacean Ecology, Behaviour and Evolution Lab (http://www.cebel.org.au/) and Deputy Head of the Molecular Ecology Lab (http://www.molecularecology.flinders.edu.au/) at the College of Sciences and Engineering, Flinders University of South Australia.
Additional affiliations
April 2009 - present
Flinders University
Position
  • Professor (Associate)
Description
  • test

Publications

Publications (119)
Article
Understanding the degree of genetic exchange between subspecies and populations is vital for the appropriate management of endangered species. Blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus) have two recognized Southern Hemisphere subspecies that show differences in geographic distribution, morphology, vocalizations and genetics. During the austral summer feed...
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Social systems are the outcomes of natural and sexual selection on individuals' efforts to maximize reproductive success. Ecological conditions, life history, demography traits and social aspects have been recognized as important factors shaping social systems. Delphinids show a wide range of social structures and large variation in life history tr...
Article
1. Determining the extent of variation in male mating strategies and reproductive success is necessary to understand the fitness benefits of social and cooperative behaviour. 2. This study assesses the reproductive success of male Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins in a small embayment population where different behavioural strategies of males have p...
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Marine ecosystems are highly dynamic, and their connectivity is affected by a complex range of biological, spatial, and oceanographic factors. Incorporating connectivity as a factor in the planning and management of marine protected areas (MPAs) is important yet challenging. Here, we implemented a novel integrative framework that uses intraspecific...
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Blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus) are the largest living animal and, like other baleen whales, became endangered due to whaling. Here, we used population genomics to infer the number, distribution and other characteristics of subspecies and populations. We used the largest DNA dataset in blue whales, both in terms of genomic markers (16,661 SNPs...
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As the use of coastal and offshore environments expands, there is a need to better understand the exposure of marine megafauna to anthropogenic activities that potentially threaten their populations. Individual satellite telemetry studies are often hampered by small sample sizes, providing limited information on spatiotemporal distributions of migr...
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Climatic changes have caused major environmental restructuring throughout the world's oceans. Marine organisms have responded to novel conditions through various biological systems, including genomic adaptation. Growing accessibility of next-generation DNA sequencing methods to study nonmodel species has recently allowed genomic changes underlying...
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Background High levels of standing genomic variation in wide-ranging marine species may enhance prospects for their long-term persistence. Patterns of connectivity and adaptation in such species are often thought to be influenced by spatial factors, environmental heterogeneity, and oceanographic and geomorphological features. Population-level studi...
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In 2015 it was estimated at least dozens of humpback whale calves are predated upon by killer whales along the Ningaloo Coast each year, with observations in recent years suggesting numbers could be several hundred. In this area, humpback whale calves were estimated to be killed in 67% of attacks during one calving season. During these predatory ev...
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Conservation management of wildlife species should be underpinned by knowledge of their distribution and abundance, as well as impacts of human activities on their populations and habitats. Common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) are subject to incidental capture in a range of Australia’s commercial fisheries including gill netting, purse seining and m...
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Restoration programs in the form of ex‐situ breeding combined with reintroductions are becoming critical to counteract demographic declines and species losses. Such programs are increasingly using genetic management to improve conservation outcomes. However, the lack of long‐term monitoring of genetic indicators following reintroduction prevents as...
Article
Heterogeneous seascapes and strong environmental gradients in coastal waters are expected to influence adaptive divergence, particularly in species with large population sizes where selection is expected to be highly efficient. However, these influences might also extend to species characterized by strong social structure, natal philopatry and smal...
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Conservation management of wildlife species should be underpinned by knowledge of their distribution and abundance, as well as impacts of human activities on their populations and habitats. Common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) are subject to incidental capture in a range of Australia’s commercial fisheries including gill netting, purse seining and m...
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Population genomic data sets have enhanced power to detect cryptic and complex population structure and generate valuable information for the conservation and management of wildlife species. Globally, killer whales (Orcinus orca) are considered to have a complex population structure due to their ability to specialize in a variety of ecological nich...
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Wildlife species are challenged by various infectious diseases that act as important demographic drivers of populations and have become a great conservation concern particularly under growing environmental changes. The new era of whole genome sequencing provides new opportunities and avenues to explore the role of genetic variants in the plasticity...
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An understanding of population structure and connectivity at multiple spatial scales is required to assist wildlife conservation and management. This is particularly critical for widely distributed and highly mobile marine mammals subject to fisheries by-catch. Here, we present a population genomic assessment of a near-top predator, the common dolp...
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Identifying threatened populations and quantifying their vulnerability is crucial for establishing priorities for conservation and providing robust information for decision-making. Lahille’s bottlenose dolphins have been long subjected to by-catch mortality in gillnet fisheries in coastal waters of southern Brazil, particularly in the Patos Lagoon...
Article
The blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is a listed endangered species under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. A distinct population of blue whales, the eastern Indian Ocean pygmy blue (EIOPB) whale, migrates along the Western Australian coast to the Banda Sea in Indonesia. Their distribution and the del...
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Phylogeographic inference has provided extensive insight into the relative roles of geographical isolation and ecological processes during evolutionary radiations. However, the importance of cross-lineage admixture in facilitating adaptive radiations is increasingly being recognised, and suggested as a main cause of phylogenetic uncertainty. In thi...
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Varying levels of population structure may arise from interactions between intrinsic behavioral and demographic factors and extrinsic environmental factors. Social organization, habitat use, resource partitioning, or even individual preferences are putative drivers of population genetic differentiation over fine spatial scales. Here, genome-wide da...
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Social relationships in female mammals are usually determined by an interplay among genetic, endogenous, social and ecological factors that ultimately affect their lifetime reproductive success. However, few studies have attempted to control for, and integrate these factors, hampering our understanding of drivers underlying female sociality. Here,...
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Informed conservation management of marine mammals requires an understanding of population size and habitat preferences. In Australia, such data are needed for the assessment and mitigation of anthropogenic impacts, including fisheries interactions, coastal zone developments, oil and gas exploration and mining activities. Here, we present large-sca...
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Social relationships represent an adaptive behavioral strategy that can provide fitness benefits to individuals. Within mammalian societies , delphinids are known to form diverse grouping patterns and show a variety of social systems. However, how ecological and intrinsic factors have shaped the evolution of such diverse societies is still not well...
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Infectious diseases are significant demographic and evolutionary drivers of populations, but studies about the genetic basis of disease resistance and susceptibility are scarce in wildlife populations. Cetacean morbillivirus (CeMV) is a highly contagious disease that is increasing in both geographic distribution and incidence, causing unusual morta...
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Ranging behaviour and temporal patterns of individuals are known to be fundamental sources of variation in social networks. Spatiotemporal dynamics can both provide and inhibit opportunities for individuals to associate, and should therefore be considered in social analysis. This study investigated the social structure of a Lahille's bottlenose dol...
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Male mammals employ a wide variety of mating strategies in order to increase their reproductive success, which in turn influence their social behavior. In some populations of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops spp.), males cooperate in small groups or alliances to gain access to females for mating. However, the occurrence of these male cooperative group...
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As marine predators experience increasing anthropogenic pressures, there is an urgent need to understand their distribution and their drivers to inform spatial conservation planning. We used an ensemble modelling approach to investigate the spatio-temporal distribution of southern Australian bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops cf. australis) in relation...
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As marine predators experience increasing anthropogenic pressures, there is an urgent need tounderstand their distribution and their drivers to inform spatial conservation planning. We used an ensemble modelling approach to investigate the spatio-temporal distribution of southern Australian bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops cf. australis) in relation t...
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Defining intra-population community variation in group living mammals provides insights about the impact of environmental, social, and anthropogenic factors on population sub-structuring. Here, we use generalised affiliation indices (GAIs) and social network analysis to investigate social cohesion and intra-population community structure of souther...
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Little is known about the population ecology of the recently described bottlenose dolphin species Tursiops australis. The classification of this species is still under debate, but this putative species is thought to be comprised of small and genetically distinct populations (including sub-populations under increasing anthropogenic threats) and is l...
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Genetic datasets of tens of markers have been superseded through next-generation sequencing technology with genome-wide datasets of thousands of markers. Genomic datasets improve our power to detect low population structure and identify adaptive divergence. The increased population-level knowledge can inform the conservation management of endangere...
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Phylogeography can provide insight into the potential for speciation and identify geographic regions and evolutionary processes associated with species richness and evolutionary endemism. In the marine environment, highly mobile species sometimes show structured patterns of diversity, but the processes isolating populations and promoting differenti...
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Information on site fidelity and ranging patterns of wild animals is critical to understand how they use their environment and guide conservation and management strategies. Delphinids show a wide variety of site fidelity and ranging patterns. Between September 2013 and October 2015, we used boat-based surveys, photographic identification, biopsy sa...
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This study provides the first assessment of the occurrence, distribution and abundance of cetaceans in shelf and coastal waters off the western Eyre Peninsula, eastern Great Australian Bight, South Australia. We undertook aerial line-transect surveys to estimate the abundance of common dolphins, and to assess the occurrence and distribution of othe...
Poster
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Information on site fidelity and ranging patterns of wild animals are critical to understand how they use their environment and guide conservation and management strategies. Delphinids show a wide variety of site fidelity and ranging patterns, but the factors driving such patterns remain unclear. We used boat-based surveys, photo-identification, bi...
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Due to their worldwide distribution and occupancy of different types of environments, bottlenose dolphins display considerable morphological variation. Despite limited understanding about the taxonomic identity of such forms and connectivity among them at global scale, coastal (or inshore) and offshore (or oceanic) ecotypes have been widely recogni...
Poster
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Assessments of demographic parameters and site fidelity are essential to understand the dynamics of wild populations and for their efficient conservation and management. We investigate sex-specific abundance, apparent survival, temporary emigration, site fidelity and ranging patterns of southern Australian bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops cf. australi...
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Assessing the vulnerability of species to anthropogenic threats is an essential step when developing management strategies for wild populations. With industrial development forecasted to increase in Spencer Gulf, South Australia, it is crucial to assess the ongoing effects of anthropogenic threats to resident and migratory species. Expert elicitati...
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Assessments of demographic parameters are essential to understand the dynamics of wild populations, and for their efficient conservation and management. Here, sex‐specific abundance, apparent survival and temporary emigration of southern Australian bottlenose dolphins ( Tursiops cf. australis ) in Coffin Bay (CB), South Australia, is investigated....
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Modelling dolphin distribution is key for understanding their ecology and for their conservation and management. Information on the distribution and preferred habitats of southern Australian bottlenose dolphins Tursiops sp. is lacking, particularly in metropolitan areas where the species is under threat from anthropogenic activities. Here, we used...
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LAJAM Special Volume on Tursiops in the Southwest Atlantic Ocean is introduced.
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Cetacean biopsy sampling is a widely used technique with undisputable scientific value. Although it is generally considered as a harmless technique with no apparent long-lasting effects, studies have recommended examining behavioral responses to evaluate potential impacts on individuals, groups and sampled populations. In this study, we evaluated i...
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Captive breeding programs are often a necessity for the continued persistence of a population or species. They typically have the goal of maintaining genetic diversity and minimizing inbreeding. However, most captive breeding programs have been based on the assumption that the founding breeders are unrelated and outbred, even though in situ anthrop...
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Maintaining genetic diversity within captive breeding populations is a key challenge for conservation managers. We applied a multi-generational genetic approach to the captive breeding program of an endangered Australian freshwater fish, the southern pygmy perch (Nannoperca australis). During previous work, fish from the lower Murray-Darling Basin...
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Little is known about the ecology and behavior of southern Australian bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.). This hinders assessment of their conservation status and informed decision-making concerning their management. We used boat-based surveys and photo-identification data to investigate site fidelity, residency patterns, and the abundance of south...
Article
Population-level conservation is required to prevent biodiversity loss within a species, but it first necessitates determining the number and distribution of populations. Many whale populations are still depleted due to 20th century whaling. Whales are one of the most logistically difficult and expensive animals to study because of their mobility,...
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Delphinids show a wide range of social structures. However, studies investigating the influence of genetic relatedness and maternal kinship on school associations are limited to a small number of relatively well-studied delphinid species. This study investigated biparental genetic relatedness and potential maternal kinship structure in schools of s...
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Research in reintroduction biology has provided a greater understanding of the often limited success of species reintroductions and highlighted the need for scientifically rigorous approaches in reintroduction programs. We examined the recent genetic-based captive-breeding and reintroduction literature to showcase the underuse of the genetic data g...
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Unusually low genetic diversity can be a warning of an urgent need to mitigate causative anthropogenic activities. However, current low levels of genetic diversity in a population could also be due to natural historical events, including recent evolutionary divergence, or long-term persistence at a small population size. Here, we determine whether...
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We conducted a mark-recapture (MR) analysis from 8 years (2005–2012) of photo-identification data collected systematically to investigate demographic parameters of a community of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) inhabiting the Patos Lagoon Estuary and adjacent marine coast in southern Brazil. Under the most parsimonious model of Pollock’s r...
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Despite bottlenose dolphins being well studied in several regions around the world, there is very limited information about the reproduction of these animals in the Southwestern Atlantic Ocean (SWA). In this study, data from a long-term mark-recapture and stranding monitoring program were used to estimate life history traits of female bottlenose do...
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Knowledge about the ecology of bottlenose dolphins in the Southwestern Atlantic Ocean is scarce. Increased by-catch rates over the last decade in coastal waters of southern Brazil have raised concerns about the decline in abundance of local dolphin communities. Lack of relevant data, including information on population structure and connectivity, h...