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Dr. Nicolai
Konow PhD (JCU), MSc, BSc (U. Copenhagen).
In
my research, I use the seemingly infinite biological
versatility of fishes as model systems to study the
historical role of structural and functional innovations
in shaping the current ecological tasks of these hugely
successful organisms. Generally, I deploy an eco-morphological
approach - combining anatomical, functional, behavioural
and ecological techniques, all in a phylogenetic framework,
to link the capabilities of organisms to their ecosystem
function. I focus on 'structural' and 'functional innovations';
those derived bones, muscle segments, joints and other
features that historically have played, and currently
exert an augmented role in the evolution of organisms
and lineages.
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quest for these 'features that tweak evolution' has in
the past taken me through projects using widely different
fish-groups as models: I studied visual acuity in alepocephalid
deep-sea fishes (tube-shoulders and slick-heads), which
rely on elaborate temporal foveae with multiple banks
of photoreceptors to live on e.g. the mesopelagic plateaus
off Greenland and Portugal (MSc, U. Copenhagen, 1999).
I quantified the function of a derived, but surprisingly
common intramandibular lower jaw joint in coral reef fishes
on the Great Barrier Reef. Using a super-tree approach,
this functional innovation was linked to recent adaptive
radiations of biting feeding behavioural ecology in coral
reef fishes (PhD, James Cook University, Queensland, 2005).
Currently, I am in my first post-doc (at Hofstra University
- New York, 2006-) studying the functional disparity and
convergent evolution of raking, a novel prey-processing
behaviour relying on a unique tongue-bite apparatus found
in salmonid and osteoglossomorph (bony-tongued) fishes.
This work involves enthusiastic students, really funky
fish and all the sophisticated equipment available to
modern experimental biologists (digital particle image-velocimetry,
sonomicro-metry, high-speed video and electromyography)
but also 'classics', such as dissections, clear-staining
and drawing. As I am keen to advise students, and a self-confessed
gadget-freak, this is ample reparation for withdrawing
me from SCUBA-diving the lukewarm and gin-clear waters
of the Great Barrier Reef. I am always looking for students
with a strong track-record and an independent nature.
If you fit the bill and take interest in the above realm
of biological research to the extent that you want to
conduct research and publish papers, then please email
me for more information. If you want to read more, please
visit my personal website. |
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