Associate Director (Higher Degree Research)

Senior Fellow
Conservation biology, evolutionary ecology
Phone: +61 2 6125 52100
Fax: + 61 (0)2 6125 0746
E-mail: robert.heinsohn@anu.edu.au

My research interests lie in the conservation biology and evolutionary ecology of vertebrates. I have completed three long term field projects including the behavioural ecology of intensely social white-winged choughs (1985-present), cooperation and cheating in lions (1990-1995), and the evolutionary ecology of reverse dichromatism in Eclectus parrots (1997-present). My long term studies on large endangered parrots on Cape York Peninsula investigate their social organisation, availability of nest hollows, and the evolution of their unusual plumage colours. Increasingly, I am directing my research at the landscape level as I seek to identify the broad-scale processes shaping social evolution and the interactions between humans and wildlife. My current ARC funded research investigates the migratory movements of birds between Australia and its northern neighbours. Understanding our "northern connections" has important conservation implications and provides knowledge of the likelihood of transmission of pathogens such as avian influenza.

See more research details at: http://people.anu.edu.au/robert.heinsohn

Professional Activities

Conservation biology and landscape ecology of endangered vertebrates, including large parrots, social passerines, migratory birds, and reptiles

Academic Highlights

I completed my long term ARC-funded project on Cape York parrots in 2007 and commenced a new ARC Linkage project investigating the biological connections with our northern neighbours (PNG, Indonesia) brought about by migrating birds. The project entails fieldwork in PNG, Timor, and northern Australia to track migrating ducks using satellite telemetry and determine the connectedness of populations using genetic techniques. In 2007/2008 I have worked in collaboration with Libby Robin and Leo Joseph to run a workshop and edit an inter-disciplinary book titled "Boom and Bust: Bird Stories for a Dry Country". During this period I also authored another book on the wildlife of Cape York Peninsula. Six of my PhD students have completed their theses since 2006, and I am spending much of 2008 on sabbatical at UBC, Vancouver, collaborating on new projects concerning evolutionary biology and human-wildlife interactions.

Selected Publications

Heinsohn R and Cermak M (2008) Life in the Cape York Rainforest. 2008. 110 pp, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne Australia

Robin, L, Heinsohn, R, Joseph L (eds) (2009) Boom and Bust: Bird Stories for a Dry Country. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne Australia

McCallum HI, Roshier DA, Tracey JP, Joseph L, Heinsohn R (2008) Will Wallace’s line save Australia from Avian Influenza? Ecology and Society 13: 41-57

Beck NR, Peakall, R, Heinsohn R (2008) Social constraints and an absence of sex-biased dispersal drive fine-scale genetic structure in white-winged choughs. Molecular Ecology 17: 4346-4358

Heinsohn R (2008) The ecological basis of unusual sex roles in reverse-dichromatic Eclectus parrots. Animal Behaviour 76: 97-103

Blackmore CB, Heinsohn R (2008) Variable mating strategies and incest avoidance in cooperatively breeding grey-crowned babblers. Animal Behaviour 75: 63-70