I specialise in the ecology of fresh waters and gained a PhD in this area from Monash University in 1986. Since then I have conducted freshwater research in Western Australia, California and Victoria, and worked for conservation and water agencies in Victoria before moving to Tasmania in 1992.
Research Interests
My five active areas of research in freshwater systems are: 1. How habitat complexity influences inter- and intra-specific interactions; the aim here is to understand better how phenomena operating at different scales affect structure of assemblages of mobile organisms. 2. The use of benthos in biological monitoring and impact assessment, including the design and analysis of ecological field studies. 3. The impacts of introduced freshwater and riparian (bankside) organisms. 4. The physical limnology, ecology and management of shallow lakes. 5. Conservation of biodiversity in inland waters.
Research Areas:Teaching
In addition to supervision of graduate students in my research areas, I teach population and community ecology, freshwater ecology, quantitative methods as applied to the full range of zoological topics, evolutionary ecology as applied to life cycles of animals and am involved with field teaching in several units. I also teach selected applied quantitative methods to external students via UniTas, and co-ordinate Honours Zoology.
UnitsSelected Publications:- B.J. Robson, L.A. Barmuta, 1998, 'The effect of two scales of habitat architecture on benthic grazing in a river', Freshwater Biology, 39, pgs. 207-220
- M.G. Read, L.A. Barmuta, 1999, 'Comparisons of benthic communities adjacent to riparian native eucalypt and introduced willow vegetation', Freshwater Biology, 42, pgs. 359-374
- L. Yeates, L.A. Barmuta, 1999, 'The effects of willow and eucalypt leaves on feeding preference and growth of some Australian aquatic macroinvertebrates', Australian Journal of Ecology, , 24, pgs. 593-598
- M.E. Jones, Barmuta L, 2000, 'Niche complementarity in sympatric Australian dasyurid carnivores', Journal of Mammalogy , 81, pgs. 434-447
- Barmuta L, C.E.A. McKenny, R. Swain, 2001, 'The responses of a lotic mayflys Nousia sp (Ephemeroptera: Leptophlebiidae) to moving water and light of different wavelengths
', Freshwater Biology, 46, pgs. 567-573
Full Publication List Current and Supervised Project/s:
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