Dr Mark McCormick

Reader

Reader (2004 - present) Senior Lecturer (2001-2004) Lecturer, JCU (1999 - 2000) Australian Research Fellow (1996 - 1999) Australian Postdoctoral Fellowship (1993-96) Marine Biology Dept., JCU Research Contractor for a number of government agencies in New Zealand and Australia (1986-88). BSc (Auckland), MSc (Auckland), PhD JCU. Member of the: ESA, Australian Coral Reefs Society, Australian Fish Biology Society, International Society of Reef Studies. Biological Editor for Coral Reefs

Research Interests

• Reef Fish Population Processes and Underlying Mechanisms

• Fish/Habitat Interactions and the Influence of Habitat Degradation on Fish Communities

• Larval Biology

• Fish Behaviour

• Behaviour and Chemical Ecology of Predator-Prey Interactions

• Parental effects

Recent and Current Projects Include

I have a very broad range of interests within the field of reef fish population dynamics. My major research field explores the links between life history stages of coral reef fishes, and how events in earlier phases influence subsequent population dynamics. To this end, I have active research programs in the field of maternal effects, larval development and growth, and how individual performance measures of larvae and juveniles influence survival within the confines of their social and physical environment.

I use field collections, observation and experiments in conjunction with laboratory experiments to address such questions as: the importance of starvation of larvae in tropical waters; the role of maternal condition in influencing fish population processes; whether mortality in the larval and juvenile phases are selective with respect to growth, size or body condition; the role of predator characteristics in influencing prey selection.

I have shown for a common damselfish that behavioural interactions that the mother experiences before laying a clutch of benthic eggs strongly influences the rates of development of the larvae and their subsequent growth, larval duration and mortality schedules. This was shown to be hormonally mediated, through a stress related mechanism. Field and laboratory manipulations have shown the relative importance of female feeding regimes, behavioural interactions and size in influencing the size of the larvae they produce. Paternal contributions have also been shown to be important in the laboratory.

I have used otolith microstructure to reconstruct growth histories and demonstrate the importance of size and growth selective processes in influencing larval survival. My students are currently exploring the utility of otolith shape as a proxy for fish condition. In this way, growth and otolith shape have been found to be useful predictors of cohort success.

I have an active research program exploring predator-prey interactions, and how these influence which prey survive. We have shown that chemical alarm signal are an important mechanism whereby newly settled fish can learn the identity of predators.

I am currently one of 16 CI’s in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (‘Innovative science for sustainable management of coral reef biodiversity ’) which receives $12M per annum to 2010. I also have an ARC Discovery grant to look at predator-prey dynamics in coral reef fishes (2009-2011).

I have been an editor for the international journal Coral Reefs since June 2004.

Recent and Currently Supervised Projects

• Role of parental effects in the development and growth of tropical reef fishes (Pomacentridae)

• Community dynamics associated with tropical fish spawning sites

• Selective processes throughout the life of tropical fishes

• Seasonal endocrine cycles and the regulation of sex change in sequential hermaphroditic reef fish

• Influence of bleaching on fish population processes

• Genetic examination of the mating system of a protogynous hermaphroditic reef fish

• The use by prey of chemical alarm cues in learning the identity of predators

• Indirect effects of predators on prey community composition

Future PhD Directions

• Role of fish quality at settlement to recruitment success

• Predator-selectivity for prey characteristics

• Influence of alarm signals on predator-prey dynamics

• Link between maternal effects and larval performance and survival

Teaching

MB2060 - Marine Ecology and Environmental Assessment

MB5430 - Marine Animal Behaviour

MB5300 - Sampling and Experimental Design

MB3050- Oceanography

Selected Publications (Since 2003)

Full publication List

1) McCormick MI (2003) Consumption of coral propagules after mass spawning enhances larval quality of a damselfish through maternal effects. Oecologia 136:37-45

2) Gagliano M, McCormick MI (2004) Feeding history influences otolith shape in tropical fish. Marine Ecology Progress Series 278:291-296

3) Hoey A, McCormick MI (2004) Selective predation for low body condition at the larval-juvenile transition of a coral reef fish. Oecologia 139:23-29

4) Jones GP, McCormick MI, Srinivasan M, Eagle JV (2004) Coral decline threatens fish biodiversity in marine reserves. Proceedings of National Academy of Science USA 101:8251-8253

5) McCormick MI, Hoey AS (2004) Larval growth history determines juvenile growth and survival in a tropical marine fish. Oikos 106:225-242

6) McCormick MI, Smith SA (2004) Efficacy of passive integrated transponder tags to determine spawning site visitations by a tropical fish. Coral Reefs 23:570-577

7) Pratchett MS, Wilson SK, Berumen ML, McCormick MI (2004) Sub-lethal effects of coral bleaching on an obligate coral feeding butterflyfish. Coral Reefs 23:352-356

8) Sampey A, Meekan MG, Carleton JH, McKinnon AD, McCormick MI (2004) Temporal patterns in distributions of tropical fish larvae on the North West Shelf of Australia. Marine and Freshwater Research 55:473-487

9) Walker S, McCormick MI (2004) Otolith-check formation and accelerated growth associated with sex change in an annual protogynous tropical fish. Marine Ecology Progress Series 266:201-212

10) Bergenius MAJ, McCormick MI, Meekan MG, Robertson DR (2005) Environmental influences on larval duration, growth and magnitude of settlement of a coral reef fish. Marine Biology 147:291-300

11) Berumen ML, Pratchett MS, McCormick MI (2005) Within-reef variation in the diet and condition of coral-feeding butterflyfish (Pisces: Chaetodontidae). Marine Ecology Progress Series 287:217-227

12) Green BS, McCormick MI (2005) O2 replenishment to fish nests: males adjust brood care to ambient conditions and brood development. Behavioural Ecology 16:389-397

13) Green BS, McCormick MI (2005) Maternal and paternal influences determine size, growth and performance in a tropical reef fish larvae. Marine Ecology Progress Series 289:263-272

14) Larson JK, McCormick MI (2005) The role of chemical alarm signals in facilitating learned recognition of novel chemical cues in a coral reef fish. Animal Behaviour 69:51-57

15) Gagliano M, Kowalewski S, McCormick MI (2006) An alternative method for the preservation of tropical fish larvae in the field. Journal of Fish Biology 68:634-639

16) Green BS, Anthony KRN, McCormick MI (2006) Position of egg within a clutch is linked to size at hatching in a demersal tropical fish. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 329:144-152

17) Holmes TH, McCormick MI (2006) Location influences size-selective predation on newly-settled reef fish. Marine Ecology Progress Series 317:203-209

18) Jones GP, Santana L, McCook LJ, McCormick MI (2006) Resource use and the impact of three herbivorous damselfishes on coral reef communities. Marine Ecology Progress Series 328:215-224

19) McCormick MI, Holmes TH (2006) Prey experience of predation influences mortality rates at settlement in a coral reef fish, Pomacentrus amboinensis. Journal of Fish Biology 68:969–974

20) McCormick MI (2006) Mothers matter: crowded reefs lead to stressed mothers and smaller offspring in marine fish. Ecology 87:1104–1109

21) Smith-Keune C, Jerry DR, Evans BS, McCormick MI, Munday PL, Jones GP (2006) Development and characterization of eight new microsatellite markers for the haremic sandperch, Parapercis cylindrica (Family Pinguipedidae). Molecular Ecology Notes 6:1036 –1038

22) Almany GR, Peacock LF, Syms C, McCormick MI, Jones GP (2007) Predators target rare prey species in coral-reef fish assemblages. Oecologia 152: 751-761

23) Feary DA, Almany GR, Jones GP, McCormick MI (2007) Coral degradation and the structure of tropical reef fish communities. Marine Ecology Progress Series 333:243–248

24) Feary DA, Almany GR, McCormick MI, Jones GP (2007) Coral-reef fish settlement: is it affected by declining live coral cover? Oecologia 153: 727–737

25) Frisch A, McCormick MI, Pankhurst NW (2007) Reproductive periodicity and steroid hormone profiles in the sex-changing coral-reef fish, Plectropomas leopardus. Coral Reefs 26:189–197

26) Frisch AJ, Walker SPW, McCormick MI, Solomon-Lane TK (2007) Regulation of protogynous sex-change by competition between corticosteroids and androgens: an experimental test using sandperch, Parapercis cylindrica. Hormones and Behaviour 52:540–545

27) Gagliano M, McCormick MI (2007) Compensating in the wild: is flexible growth the key to early juvenile survival? Oikos 116:111-120

28) Gagliano M, McCormick MI (2007) Maternal condition influences phenotypic selection on offspring. Journal of Animal Ecology 76:174-182

29) Gagliano M, McCormick MI, Meekan MG (2007) Temperature-induced shifts in selective pressure at a critical developmental transition. Oecologia 152:219–225

30) Gagliano M, McCormick MI, Meekan MG (2007) Survival against the odds: ontogenetic changes in selective pressure mediate growth-mortality tradeoffs. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B: Biological Sciences 274:1575–1582

31) Hoey J, McCormick MI, Hoey AS (2007) Variation in energy partitioning along depth gradients: sex-specific effects in a coral reef fish. Coral Reefs 26:603–613

32) McCormick MI, Larson JK (2007) Field verification of the use of chemical alarm cues in a coral reef fish. Coral Reefs 26: 571–576

33) McCormick MI, Meekan MG (2007) Social facilitation of selective mortality. Ecology 88:1562–1570

34) Munkres KP, Bay LK, Jerry DR, McCormick MI, van Herwerden L (2007) Development and characterization of microsatellite markers for parentage analyses of the coral reef damselfish (Pomacentrus amboinensis: Pomacentridae). Conservation Genetics 8: 987-990

35) Sampey A, McKinnon AD, Meekan MG, McCormick MI (2007) Glimpse into guts: A first overview of the feeding of tropical shorefish larvae. Marine Ecology Progress Series 339:243-257

36) Walker SPW, Ryen CA, McCormick MI (2007) Rapid larval growth promotes sex change and growth acceleration in a protogynous hermaphrodite, Parapercis snyderi Jordan & Starks 1905. Journal of Fish Biology 71:1347–1357

37) Donelson JM, McCormick MI, Munday PL (2008) Parental condition affects early life-history of a coral reef fish. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 360:109-116

38) Grutter AS, Pickering JL, McCallum H, McCormick MI (2008) Impact of micropredatory gnathiid isopods on young coral reef fishes. Coral Reefs DOI 10.1007/s00338-008-0377-4

39) Holmes TH, McCormick MI (2008) Influence of prey body characteristics and performance on predator selection. Oecologia

40) Jones DB, Jerry DR, McCormick MI, Bay LK (2008) Development of nine microsatellite markers for Pomacentrus amboinensis. Molecular Ecology Resources doi: 10.1111/j.1755-0998.2008.02295.x

41) Lemberget T, McCormick MI (2008) Replenishment success linked to fluctuating asymmetry in larval fish. Oecologia

42) McCormick MI, Larson JK (2008) Effect of hunger on the response to, and the production of, chemical alarm cues in a coral reef fish. Animal Behaviour 75:1973-1980

43) McCormick MI, Manassa R (2008) Predation risk assessment by olfactory and visual cues in a coral reef fish. Coral Reefs 27:105–113

44) Penfold R, Grutter AS, Kuris AM, McCormick MI, Jones CM (2008) Interactions between juvenile marine fish and gnathiid isopods: predation as a defence against micropredation. Marine Ecology Progress Series 357:111–119

45) Walker SPW, McCormick MI (in press) Fish ears are sensitive to sex-change. Biology Letters

46) McCormick MI (in press) Indirect effects of heterospecific interactions on progeny quality through maternal stress. Oecologia