Dr Philip Munday

Principal Research Fellow

QEII Research Fellow (2008 -2012),Australian Research Fellow (2003-2007); Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellow 2003. Australian Postdoctoral Fellow (1999 - 2002). BSc (Hons.) PhD James Cook University Member of: Australian Coral Reef Society, International Coral Reef Society, Australian Marine Science Association, Ecological Society of America.

Research Interests

• Impact of climate change on reef fishes
• Role of habitat in structuring fish communities
• Evolution of habitat specialisation
• Labile sex allocation in fish
• Ecology of gobiid fishes

I have very broad interests in the population, community and behavioural ecology of reef fishes. Much of my research has focused on the role of habitat in structuring reef fish communities, from the scale of individual coral colonies up to whole ocean basins. I have students working on a wide range of projects related to fish-habitat associations.

My current research focuses on understanding and predicting the impacts that climate change will have on populations and communities of coral reef fishes, both directly through changes in the physical environment and indirectly through effects on coral reef habitat. Using a range of laboratory and field experiments I am investigating the effects of climate change on the reproductive and early life history performance of reef fishes.

My other major research interest is the ecology and evolution of labile sex allocation in fishes. I have conducted expensive research on bi-directional sex change in reef fishes to help establish the functional role and evolutionary advantage of this mode of sex change in animals.

Selected Publications

Munday, P.L., Dixson, D.L., Donelson, J.M., Jones, G.P., Pratchett, M.S., Devitsina, G.V. and Døving, K.B. (2009). Ocean acidification impairs olfactory discrimination and homing ability of a marine fish. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 106: 1848-1852.

Munday, P.L., Leis, J.M., Lough, J.M., Paris, C.B., Kingsford M.J., Berumen, M.L. and Lambrechts, J. (2009). Climate change and coral reef connectivity. Coral Reefs 28: doi: 10.1007/s00338-008-0461-9.

Nilsson G.E., Crawley N., Lunde I.G. and Munday P.L. (2009). Elevated temperature reduces the respiratory scope of coral reef fishes. Global Change Biology, doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2008.01767.x

Munday, P.L., Jones, G.P., Pratchett, M.S. and Williams, A.J. (2008). Climate change and the future for coral reef fishes. Fish and Fisheries 9: 261-285.

Munday, P.L., Kingsford, M., O’Callaghan, M. and Donelson, J. (2008). Elevated temperature restricts growth potential of a coral reef fish. Coral Reefs. Doi 10.1007/s00338-008-0393-4

Pratchett, M.S., Munday, P.L., Wilson, S.K., Graham, N.A.J., Cinner, J.E., Bellwood, D.R., Jones, G.P., Polunin, N.V.C. and McClanahan, T.R. (2008). Effects of climate-induced coral bleaching on coral-reef fishes: ecological and economic consequences. Oceanography and Marine Biology Annual Review 46: 251-296.

Dixson, D.L., Jones, G.P., Munday, P.L., Planes, S., Pratchett, M.S., Srinivasan, M., Syms, C. and Thorrold, S.R. (2008) Coral reef fish smell leaves to find island homes Proceedings of the Royal Society London B 10.1098/rspb.2008.0876

Munday, PL, Jones, GP, Sheaves, M, Williams, AJ and Goby, G (2007). Vulnerability of fishes of the Great Barrier Reef to climate change. pp357-392. In Climate Change and the Great Barrier Reef: A Vulnerability Assessment. J. Johnson and P. Marshall (Eds.). GBRMPA, Townsville.
Link to full text or pdf

Wong, MYL, Buston, PM, Munday, PL and Jones, GP (2007). The threat of punishment enforces peaceful cooperation and stabilizes queues in a coral-reef fish. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 274(1613): 1093-1099.
Link to full text or pdf

Munday, P.L., Buston, P.M. and Warner, R.R. (2006). Diversity and flexibility of sex-change strategies in animals. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 21: 89-95.
Link to Full Text or pdf

Munday, P.L., White, J.W. and Warner, R.R. (2006). A social basis for the development of primary males in a sex-changing fish. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 273: 2845-2851.
Link to Full Text or pdf

Kroon, F.J.,  Munday, P.L., Westcott, D.A., Hobbs, J-P.A., and Liley N.R. (2005). Aromatase mediates sex change in each direction. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 272: 1399-1405.
Link to Full Text or pdf

Munday, P.L. (2004) Habitat loss, resource specialisation and extinction on coral reefs. Global Change Biology, 10: 1642-1647.

Munday, P.L., vanHerwerden, L. and Dudgeon, C. (2004) Evidence for sympatric speciation by host shift in the sea. Current Biology, 14: 1498-1504.

Munday, P.L. (2004) Competition among coral-dwelling fishes: the lottery model revisited. Ecology , 85: 623-628. 

Munday, P.L. (2002) Bi-directional sex change: testing the growth-rate advantage model. Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology 52: 247-254.

Munday, P.L. (2002) Does habitat availability determine geographic scale abundances of coral-dwelling fishes? Coral Reefs 21: 105-116.

Munday, P.L., Jones, G.P. and Caley, M.J. (2001) Interspecific competition and coexistence in a guild of coral-dwelling gobies. Ecology 82: 2177-2189.

Munday, P.L. (2001) Fitness consequences of habitat selection and competition among coral-dwelling fish. Oecologia 128: 585-593.

Full publications list