Professor Shaun Collin is a world leader in comparative neurobiology and vision. He has a BSc (Hons) and a MSc from The University of Melbourne and a PhD from The University of Queensland.
Shaun is a Winthrop Professor at The University of Western Australia and a Western Australian Premier’s Research Fellow. His research centres around using a range of vertebrate models to investigate their sensory systems (vision, olfaction, audition and electroreception) in the context of evolution, development and plasticity. Shaun heads a large laboratory (The Neuroecology Group) dedicated to investiogating the neural basis of behavior in a range of vertebrates with a particular focus on sharks. His research on light detection and its impact on biodiversity and health in WA concentrates on a range of aquatic animals from shallow water reef ecosystems to the deep-sea.
He has held many of the world’s most prestigious fellowships in places such as the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in the United States (US); the Marine Biology Laboratory in Woods Hole in the US; The University of Tuebingen in Germany; the University of Montreal in Canada; the University of Washington (Friday Harbor) in the US; and The University of Queensland in Brisbane.
Shaun is the author of over 160 international scientific publications on sensory systems of primarily aquatic vertebrates including two books.
Key research
Western Australia has an exceptionally rich biodiversity that is ranked second in the world in terms of its endemism. The habitats for native animals are unsurpassed from arid deserts to rainforests to estuarine mangroves to deep ocean canyons. Management of these different ecosystems is dependent on a sound understanding of the diverse fauna and how it is likely to fair in the face of coastal development, farming, recreation and climate change. Within every ecosystem, the ability to detect light by all living things is crucial for survival e.g. for setting circadian rhythms, avoiding predation, finding food and reproductive success.
As a Premier’s Fellow, I have introduced a series of innovative technologies combined with both basic and applied research to trace the evolution of light detection and image formation and to explore the impacts of light on biodiversity, sustainability of animals native to Western Australia and (animal and human) health.
In addition to research on vision, we also investigate the neural basis of behaviour and sensory ecology. Using models from the extant relatives of the first vertebrates (agnathans) to marine mammals, various aquatic sensory systems (including olfaction and electroreception) are investigated to establish broad concepts of plasticity and adaptation to environments as diverse as coral reefs and the deep-sea.
We are currently working together with the aquaculture and fisheries industries to develop improved diets and fishing methods, respectively. Our multidisciplinary research galvanises existing strengths in eco-physiology, neuroscience and marine science at UWA and within other sectors in Western Australia (WA Museum, Murdoch University, WAMSI and AIMS), providing a world class platform for research and educational outreach.
- Company:The University of Western Australia
- Short Bio:School of Animal Biolog
- www.uwa.edu.au