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 extensive 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.

Research Projects Currently or Recently Supervised

• Effect of climate change on reproduction and early life history traits of coral reef fishes

• Effect of coral bleaching on recruitment of reef fishes

• Role of habitat diversity in maintaining reef fish diversity

• Early life history effects on sex determination

• The evolution of animal societies

Selected Publications

Full Publication List

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 27: 927-931.

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 275: 2831-2839.

Wong, M.Y.L., Munday, P.L., Buston, P.M. and Jones, G.P. (2008). Fasting or feasting in a fish social hierarchy. Current Biology 18:R372-R373.

Wong, M.Y.L, Buston, P.M., Munday P.L. and Jones G.P. (2007). The evolution of animal societies: The threat of punishment enforces peaceful cooperation and stabilizes queues in a coral-reef fish.Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 274: 1093-1099.

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.

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.

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. (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.

Contact Details

Dr Philip Munday

Phone: +61 7 4781 5341