Program Leader

Janet Lanyon is a Senior Lecturer in Zoology at the University of Queensland (UQ) where she is the program leader of the Marine Vertebrate Ecology Research Group (MarVERG). Janet has more than 25 years experience investigating the ecology of large marine vertebrates through study of their population dynamics, foraging and reproductive behaviour, nutrition and energetics. Janet's broad research program integrates field and laboratory studies of both wild and captive animals in tropical and subtropical waters. She is interested in identifying the factors affecting nutritional status, reproductive success and hence population viability of different species. In particular, Janet is interested in how quality and availability of food and processing of diet affects growth, body condition and reproductive rates through cycles of seasons and years to help understand how marine species manage variation in their environment. One of Janet's major research programs examines the population dynamics of dugongs in southern Queensland. This gives her plenty of opportunity to get out in the field to work with great animals and a wonderful team of people, and eat copious amounts of chocolate.

Some recent papers

Hunter ME, Broderick D, Ovenden JR, Tucker KC, Bonde RK, McGuire PM and Lanyon JM (2009) Cross-species comparison of Australian dugong and Florida manatee microsatellite loci and the characterization of highly informative marker-panels. Molecular Ecology Resources In press

Lanyon JM, Sneath HL, Ovenden JR, Broderick D & Bonde RK (2009) Sexing Sirenians: Validation of Visual and Molecular Sex Determination in both Wild Dugongs (Dugong dugon) and Florida Manatees (Trichechus manatus latirostris). Aquatic Mammals 35(2): 187-192.

Dudgeon CL, Noad MJ, and Lanyon JM (2008) Abundance and demography of a seasonal aggregation of zebra sharks Stegostoma fasciatum. Marine Ecology Progress Series 368: 269-281. (This also needs to be fixed on Christine Dudgeon's page)

McHale M, Broderick D, Ovenden JR, Lanyon JM (2008) A multiplexed PCR assay for gender assignment in dugong (Dugong dugon) and West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus). Molecular Ecology Notes 8: 669-670.

Broderick D, Ovenden J, Slade R and Lanyon J (2007) Characterisation of 26 new microsatellite loci in the Dugong (Dugong dugon). Molecular Ecology Notes. DOI 10.1111/j.1471-8286.

McHale M, Broderick D, Ovenden JR, Lanyon JM (2007) A PCR assay for gender assignment in dugong (Dugong dugon) and West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus). Molecular Ecology Notes doi: 10.1111/j.1471-8286.2007.02041.x

Skilleter GA, Wegsheidl C and Lanyon JM (2007) Effects of Grazing by a Marine Mega-Herbivore on Benthic Assemblages in a Subtropical Seagrass Bed. Marine Ecology Progress Series. 351: 287-300

Lanyon JM & Sanson GD (2006) Mechanical disruption of seagrass in the digestive tract of the dugong. Journal of Zoology London 270: 277-289

Lanyon JM & Sanson GD (2006) The degenerate dentition of the dugong (Dugong dugon) or why a grazer does not need teeth: morphology, occlusion and wear of mouthparts. Journal of Zoology London 268: 133-152.

Lanyon JM, Slade RW, Sneath HL, Broderick D, Kirkwood JM, Limpus D, Limpus CJ and Jessop T (2006) A method for capturing dugongs (Dugong dugon) in open water. Aquatic Mammals 32 (2): 196-201

Lanyon JM, Newgrain K and Teuku Sahir SA (2006) Estimation of water turnover rate in captive dugongs (Dugong dugon). Aquatic mammals 32 (1): 103-108.

Lanyon JM, Smith KM and Carrick FN (2005) Reproductive steroids are detectable in the faeces of dugongs. Australian Zoologist 33 (2): 247-250

Lanyon JM, Johns T & Sneath HL (2005) Year round presence of dugongs in Pumicestone Passage, south-east Queensland, examined in relation to water temperature and seagrass distribution. Wildlife Research. 32: 361-368.

Gales N. McCauley R, Lanyon JM and Holley D (2004) Changes in abundance of dugongs in Shark Bay, Ningaloo and Exmouth Gulf, Western Australia: evidence for large scale migration. Wildlife Research 31(3): 283-290

Marcos LA and Lanyon JM (2004) Dietary analysis of three sea snake species caught as trawl by-catch around the Swain's Reefs, southern Great Barrier Reef, Queensland. Proceedings Royal Society Queensland Vol 111: 63-71

Lanyon JM (2003) Distribution and abundance of dugongs in Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia. Wildlife Research. 30: 397-409

Lanyon JM, Sneath HL, Kirkwood JM and Slade, RW (2002) Establishing a mark-recapture program for dugongs in Moreton Bay, south-east Queensland. Australian Mammalogy. 24 (1): 51-56